Redz West is Best
Redz West iz Best
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Re: Season Opener | Cavs @ Celtics Oct. 28th, 8:00PM (ET)
I've watched the game 2 times. My thoughts:
* We do not have anyone to guard players like Leon Powe (bruisers) unless Ben Wallace is in the game. I suppose Lebron could guard him but if a team has a good player like Pierce at SF then who guards him?
* Mo Williams was the Mo Williams I thought we were getting aka Stephan Marbury/Jason Terry Type tonight. At least Marbury does pass. Hopefully he will rebound. Rondo was getting a full head of steam blowing by Mo. Rondo would blow by anyone doing that. Mo needs to pick him up earlier.
* Free Throws by Lebron in the 4th: Im sure it has been said a billion times already in this thread that it is unexceptable.
* The Key run of the game was the 3rd quarter like everyone has been saying. Boston hit two 3pointers and made a layup to start the 3rd period. This is fine because this happens all the time especially against top teams like Boston. They made it close again. Time Out MB (properly). Posting up Z after a time out to get things under control is fine. Lebron had 6 straight points get us back up by 4 points, and then when Boston made it a point to stop that, NOBODY STEPPED UP FOR US to continue attacking the rim. Since Delonte wasn't doing much since the 1st quarter, I think Sasha who proved he could drive to the hole should have been in the game instead of Wally.
* Boston hit some big shots to keep them in the game. Paul Pierce was smooth and is as crafty a scorer as their is in the NBA.
* The refs made some bad calls to get the Celtics to the line especially when Pierce was envolved. He has evolved into a godson of league somehow.
* The Celtics bench thoroughly outplayed the Cavs Bench. During that early 4th quarter run. Leon Powe and Tony Allen played great.
* The 3rd quarter was bad but I thought the Celtics hit some big shots 3 -3pointers and attacked the rim while we just missed some jumpers kind of like they did in the 1st quarter. Where the game was lost/won was in the 4th quarter. Mo pretty much sucking offensively and then not holding up defensively, Delonte not doing much except wasting space though he did make some good help defensively plays, and Lebron not being Lebron. Andy and Z played okay offensively in the 4th. However, our best help defender the whole night was Delonte and that is not a good thing when that happens. You can not except a guard to help out against Leon Powe and Garnett all game.
* Mo was a negative throughout the fourth until he had a steal, assist on a Lebron monster dunk and then that clutch 3pointer to cut it to 3, but he was part of the problem to have the Celtics go oup by so much earlier in the quarter. He needs to not turn the ball over. If he is going to do that, then we might as well have kept Delonte as our PG and gone out got a legit post scorer.
* No post scoring. No Post scoring. Ouch. We might need it if we don't figure things out. Just a SF/PF that can hit the baseline/free throw medium range jumper ala Joe Smith. It will be a glaring whole all year until we fix it. Thats the area of the court that is open when the focus is on Lebron. Mo Williams needs to dribble to that area and make a play from it whether it be him pulling up or him drawing other players. he didn't have much penetration all game.
* We were worried about Delonte on defense guarding Ray Allen. We should be worried about Wally on the defense end guarding anyone. He gets no respect from the refs and he doesn't have any athleticm to make up for his slow feet. If the refs would let him body up physically he would be better off but they don't these days.
* Lets not forget that these are the Celtics with 3 great players including Paul Pierce who played out of his mind at times this game with the help of some dubious foul calls getting him to the free throw line.
* Small ball didnt' really work against the Celtics nor did playing 5 bench players at once.
* It was an evenly played game throughout. No need to be so negative. It was a good game, we just came up on the short end.
* Disecting the stat sheet:
Leon Powe +12, 5-7 FG, 13 points. We had Wally against him. We thought Wally could guard a player who just posts up with strength. It was no match. LoWright was even worse. They 8 fouls in 25 minutes.
Delonte West 35 minutes and only 4 field goal attempts. He hit 2 nice shots in the first quarter. Then missed two in the beginning of the 3rd. That was it. Hopefully he is more aggressive next game. he should be allowed to be aggressive as a scorer from the 2spot i would think. He played well defensively except for one time where Tony Allen just blew by him.
Lebron james -3 +/-, This almost never happens in close games. 36 minutes in a close game. Those 4 lesser minutes probably are the minutes he needed to get back in the positive for the game. Lebron playing 40 minutes a game means he usually gets to play against some bench guys on the other team for a few minutes. Remember that.
Boobie - 2-8 FG, it wont cut it. Besides the one play where he dribbled for like 15 seconds straight he distributed the ball well. However, he didn't do much when we played the 3guard lineup.
Mo/Z - 4 turnovers each. Z should never have more than 2 in a game. Mo didn't drive the ball enough to warrant 4 turnovers.
Mo/West - 4 total assists, Lebron 6 assists. Hmmmm.
Pavs - I thought despite his 3 turnovers (couple offensive) that he played aggressive and is man enough to guard Pierce. I thought for this game he should have played more.
Mo - 3 3pointers - Despite his bad game he still hit a big 3 with a couple minutes to go. Maybe we need Delonte playing the point and Mo playing the 2 guard on offense. I dunno. come on Mo be the point!
AV Sideshow - had a decent game. 9points 9 rebounds 3 steals.
I've watched the game 2 times. My thoughts:
* We do not have anyone to guard players like Leon Powe (bruisers) unless Ben Wallace is in the game. I suppose Lebron could guard him but if a team has a good player like Pierce at SF then who guards him?
* Mo Williams was the Mo Williams I thought we were getting aka Stephan Marbury/Jason Terry Type tonight. At least Marbury does pass. Hopefully he will rebound. Rondo was getting a full head of steam blowing by Mo. Rondo would blow by anyone doing that. Mo needs to pick him up earlier.
* Free Throws by Lebron in the 4th: Im sure it has been said a billion times already in this thread that it is unexceptable.
* The Key run of the game was the 3rd quarter like everyone has been saying. Boston hit two 3pointers and made a layup to start the 3rd period. This is fine because this happens all the time especially against top teams like Boston. They made it close again. Time Out MB (properly). Posting up Z after a time out to get things under control is fine. Lebron had 6 straight points get us back up by 4 points, and then when Boston made it a point to stop that, NOBODY STEPPED UP FOR US to continue attacking the rim. Since Delonte wasn't doing much since the 1st quarter, I think Sasha who proved he could drive to the hole should have been in the game instead of Wally.
* Boston hit some big shots to keep them in the game. Paul Pierce was smooth and is as crafty a scorer as their is in the NBA.
* The refs made some bad calls to get the Celtics to the line especially when Pierce was envolved. He has evolved into a godson of league somehow.
* The Celtics bench thoroughly outplayed the Cavs Bench. During that early 4th quarter run. Leon Powe and Tony Allen played great.
* The 3rd quarter was bad but I thought the Celtics hit some big shots 3 -3pointers and attacked the rim while we just missed some jumpers kind of like they did in the 1st quarter. Where the game was lost/won was in the 4th quarter. Mo pretty much sucking offensively and then not holding up defensively, Delonte not doing much except wasting space though he did make some good help defensively plays, and Lebron not being Lebron. Andy and Z played okay offensively in the 4th. However, our best help defender the whole night was Delonte and that is not a good thing when that happens. You can not except a guard to help out against Leon Powe and Garnett all game.
* Mo was a negative throughout the fourth until he had a steal, assist on a Lebron monster dunk and then that clutch 3pointer to cut it to 3, but he was part of the problem to have the Celtics go oup by so much earlier in the quarter. He needs to not turn the ball over. If he is going to do that, then we might as well have kept Delonte as our PG and gone out got a legit post scorer.
* No post scoring. No Post scoring. Ouch. We might need it if we don't figure things out. Just a SF/PF that can hit the baseline/free throw medium range jumper ala Joe Smith. It will be a glaring whole all year until we fix it. Thats the area of the court that is open when the focus is on Lebron. Mo Williams needs to dribble to that area and make a play from it whether it be him pulling up or him drawing other players. he didn't have much penetration all game.
* We were worried about Delonte on defense guarding Ray Allen. We should be worried about Wally on the defense end guarding anyone. He gets no respect from the refs and he doesn't have any athleticm to make up for his slow feet. If the refs would let him body up physically he would be better off but they don't these days.
* Lets not forget that these are the Celtics with 3 great players including Paul Pierce who played out of his mind at times this game with the help of some dubious foul calls getting him to the free throw line.
* Small ball didnt' really work against the Celtics nor did playing 5 bench players at once.
* It was an evenly played game throughout. No need to be so negative. It was a good game, we just came up on the short end.
* Disecting the stat sheet:
Leon Powe +12, 5-7 FG, 13 points. We had Wally against him. We thought Wally could guard a player who just posts up with strength. It was no match. LoWright was even worse. They 8 fouls in 25 minutes.
Delonte West 35 minutes and only 4 field goal attempts. He hit 2 nice shots in the first quarter. Then missed two in the beginning of the 3rd. That was it. Hopefully he is more aggressive next game. he should be allowed to be aggressive as a scorer from the 2spot i would think. He played well defensively except for one time where Tony Allen just blew by him.
Lebron james -3 +/-, This almost never happens in close games. 36 minutes in a close game. Those 4 lesser minutes probably are the minutes he needed to get back in the positive for the game. Lebron playing 40 minutes a game means he usually gets to play against some bench guys on the other team for a few minutes. Remember that.
Boobie - 2-8 FG, it wont cut it. Besides the one play where he dribbled for like 15 seconds straight he distributed the ball well. However, he didn't do much when we played the 3guard lineup.
Mo/Z - 4 turnovers each. Z should never have more than 2 in a game. Mo didn't drive the ball enough to warrant 4 turnovers.
Mo/West - 4 total assists, Lebron 6 assists. Hmmmm.
Pavs - I thought despite his 3 turnovers (couple offensive) that he played aggressive and is man enough to guard Pierce. I thought for this game he should have played more.
Mo - 3 3pointers - Despite his bad game he still hit a big 3 with a couple minutes to go. Maybe we need Delonte playing the point and Mo playing the 2 guard on offense. I dunno. come on Mo be the point!
AV Sideshow - had a decent game. 9points 9 rebounds 3 steals.
