Surviving the Warriors - Cavs v. Warriors Postgame Quick Hits
Posted November 29th, 2008 by Michael Curry
Postgame Quick Hits from last night’s thorough dismantling of the Golden State Warriors
The Good:
1. After a slow start when their trademark defensive intensity was missing, the Cavaliers shut down the Warriors offense in the second and third quarters, holding Golden State to just 32 points combined over the two periods. The Cavaliers did the same thing to Oklahoma City on Wednesday, holding the Thunder to 38 points in the second and third quarters. While the offense is getting a lot of attention at the moment, the Cavaliers have been able to shut down opposing teams for long stretches of time, and that has turned these games into laughers. LeBron James hasn’t played a fourth quarter minute in a week.
2. LeBron and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had matching 9-for-13 shooting nights, with LeBron scoring 23 points and Z finishing with 21 in just 19 minutes. Z has been excellent lately, and over the last five games he is averaging 15.8 points in just 22.6 minutes a night, while shooting 59% from the field. He’s also really taking advantage of the lack of even decent post defenders on opposing teams, getting good low position and scoring relatively easily. He still forgets to dribble on occasion, but Z is taking advantage of the extra attention teams are now paying to Mo Williams.
3. While Ben Wallace finished with 9 rebounds in just 21 minutes and really kept the crowd excited with his offensive rebounds, I thought that Wally Szczerbiak’s 9 rebounds were more interesting. While I still believe the Cavaliers will trade Szczerbiak this season to upgrade the roster, Wally is really starting to contribute consistently. If he can rebound effectively, the Cavaliers can use Wally and LeBron in the two forward spots, which really puts pressure on opposing defenses.
The Bad:
Not a good shooting night for Delonte West (4-for-12) and J.J. Hickson (1-for-6).
Another backup point guard lit up the Cavaliers, as C.J. Watson finished with 17 points.
Seriously, I’m going to have to cut this back to fewer bad things if the team keeps playing like this.
The Questions:
1. How are the Cavaliers shutting down these quality shooting guards? Physically speaking, there’s just no way that Delonte West can handle big guards like Stephen Jackson, Joe Johnson and Vince Carter. But West, combined with the rest of the defensive scheme, has kept the big guards off the scoreboard, and that has been the hallmark of their recent defensive excellence.
Vince Carter - 12 points, 3-12 shooting - 23.6 ppg this season
Joe Johnson - 4 points, 1-8 shooting - 23.0 ppg this season.
Stephen Jackson - 11 points, 2-11 shooting - 21.4 ppg this season
I really don’t have an explanation for how the Cavaliers have been so effective in completely shutting down the opposing team’s designated perimeter scorers, but they have, and in impressive fashion.
2. Why in the world would the Warriors acquire Jamal Crawford from the Knicks? They already have Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette to provide perimeter scoring, and when Monta Ellis returns from injury there will be a significant shortage of shots to go around. There have been rumors that the Warriors are shopping Maggette, who just signed a 5-year, $50 Million contract last Summer. But the Clippers were the only team willing to give Maggette that kind of money, and I can’t imagine there are many takers.
3. How do the Warriors find all these quality young players? For all of their recent struggles, the Warriors have done a good job of finding young, talented players and bringing them along when other teams aren’t interested. The Warriors picked up undrafted rookie Anthony Morrow, and all he did wad drop 37 points in his first start. They found Kelenna Azubuike, a player that was cut by the Cavaliers a few seasons ago, and turned him into a 14.4 point per game scorer off the bench. While the Warriors have made mistakes with the veterans they choose to bring in, they have done a great job finding diamonds in the rough.
Go Cavs. More to come on the game tonight against the Bucks.
