First off, this is a huge blowout win, so really any criticism isn't going to count for much. We won this game by dominating the boards, hitting the outside shot, and some very dumb moves by orlando. The busted 3-1 break with a no one guarding within 15 feet turnover was pretty much the end of the game.
Z had a dominant game. As good as Howard is offensively, he had trouble vs the bigs. Both Gooden and Z schooled him. All of Z's strengths were on display tonight, offensive rebounding, the shots outside the key, and the ability to finish inside. He also played solid D, avoiding foul trouble, and making Howard work for his shots. On top of that, Z got 2 steals, forced a couple more turnovers he won't get credit for, and had some VERY nice passes. The guy was throwing no looks and behind the backs, very entertaining.
Gooden had a good one too. Basically, Marshall I don't think got his rhythm going, but Drew was on today, he brought huge hustle, efficiency on the offensive end, and grabbed 10 boards to finish with a double-double in 26 minutes of play.
Eric Snow had a good offensive game and even made the highlight reel by absolutely school Francis in the open court. The box isn't going to show it, but he harrassed Francis on the other end. All 21 of Stevie's points were off tough shots or getting fouled inside on layups.
People have been quick to criticize Lebron in this one. He took some bad shots i'll give you that. There were a couple fades from 20 feet in a double team with 15 ticks left on the shot clock, so those were bad. Outside of that, Lebron's mistakes were mainly off penetration. He would take it into the key and get triple teamed, get into the air, and then have some pretty limited options from there. Most of the time, he'd pull off the pass or get enough contact to go to the line though. He got 6 boards and 4 assists, which is where I think his averages are going to be this year. What Lebron showed is that he can be our Shaq. When he gets doubled down low, he can pass it to the open guy, and even if the open guy is Eric Snow, its still a good chance for a score.
Offensive execution was pretty good tonight. The Cavs got the shots they wanted. At one point in the 4th, the line up of Lebron, Z, Luke, Jones, and Marshall was in the game. This line up was darn near unstoppable offensively. You had Z and Lebron who could command doubles down low while Jones, Marshall, and Luke were parked at the perimeter. This basically led to wide open 3's by our gunners. Mike Brown only let this go on for a few minutes while Cleveland rattled off like 3 straight 3 pointers and extended its lead.
I don't see why Brown didn't just call the bench in at 7 minutes when the game was way out of reach. After all, you wouldn't want to see any guys get hurt or anything. Lebron did sit out about the last 10 minutes though.