Running Thoughts from tonight’s game in New York against the Knicks:

First Quarter:

-  The Cavaliers are a much, much better team than the Knicks.  But with that being said, playing an up-tempo team like the Knicks, on the road, on the second night of a back-to-back, that’s not something that you’d like to do.  The Cavs will have to stay disciplined, as they will have chances to go on long runs like they did last night, when the defense is working and the offense is exploiting the Knicks.

-  The Cavs start out at expected, running out to 10-0 lead to start the game.  The Knicks’ defense looks awful, and the Cavs look comfortable working against it.  The only concern at this point is that we have seen the Cavs take their foot off the gas and settle for jump shots after building large early leads, and that could definitely happen against this Knicks team.

-  The Knicks fight back in the middle of the first quarter, cutting the 10 point lead to six, 19-13.  They are getting some easy buckets inside, and that’s keeping them within striking distance.

-  LeBron is getting a switch off the pick-and-roll that is leaving him guarded by David Lee at the top of the circle.  The Knicks aren’t even trying to keep the original defender (Quentin Richardson) in front of LeBron, switching even when neither LeBron nor Varejao is feinting towards the hoop.  The defense switches on these types of plays because they have to stay in front of the offensive players.  But when the offense isn’t going towards the hoop, you can come around the screen and defend without switching, which avoids the mismatch.  The defensive gameplan of the Knicks is just dumb right now.

-  Well, LeBron is somehow on pace to match Kobe’s 61-point performance of two nights ago, as he has 20 first-quarter points and the Cavs lead by twelve, 36-24.  There’s no doubt that LeBron is locked in on scoring, and I wouldn’t be shocked if he really tries to score 62 tonight.  I don’t think that’s good for the Cavs as a whole, but against the Knicks, on a night like tonight, it probably isn’t the worst thing possible.  A little glimmer of ego and competitiveness wouldn’t kill LeBron.

Second Quarter:

-  LeBron sat for less than three minutes to start the second quarter, getting back into the game earlier than usual despite the fact that the bench bunch was holding it’s own.  He might back off sometime later, but at this moment, consider the quest for 62 officially on.

-  This is what we call “overthinking.”  The Cavs have the most dangerous scorer in the league, and instead they’re running a two-man game with Daniel Gibson and Zydrunas Ilguaskas.  If they would keep giving the ball to LeBron, they’d be playing well.  But the rest of the team is sucking it up out there, LeBron isn’t even touching the ball, and a recent run by Al Harrington has the Knicks back to within one, 43-42.  The Cavaliers were dominating the game when LeBron was a one-man show, then the other players got involved and the lead disappeared.  There’s a correlation there.

-  LeBron starts touching the ball again to great success, including a two, a three and a great pass to Ben Wallace for a last-second layup to end the half, and the Cavs lead 57-52 at the break.  I was incredibly frustrated in that second quarter, watching Mike Brown and the coaching staff watch the team jump out to a 15 point lead, then go away from what got them there.  Tonight’s game is easy: give the ball to LeBron and let him to go to work.  There’s nothing tricky about it fellas, stop trying to fix what ain’t broken.

Third Quarter:

-  It’s more of the same in the third quarter, as the Cavalier offense thrives when LeBron has the ball, and sputters when Mo Williams and Daniel Gibson put the ball on the floor.  The Cavalier defense has been unimpressive, and the team has given up 7 offensive rebounds, which in turn has allowed the Knicks to shoot 8 more shots than the Cavaliers through the first three quarters.  The Cavs are still in control of this game, but they’ll need to be more aggressive offensively and defensively to avoid running into trouble should the Knicks suddenly get hot from the field.

Fourth Quarter:

-  The Cavs are running the pick and roll with LeBron setting the pick now, the play that was talked about a lot when Mo first signed with the Cavs.  So far it hasn’t worked especially well, as now the Knicks aren’t switching, and the play is ending with LeBron deep on the perimeter with the shot-clock winding down.  Maybe it would be a little more effective if LeBron would execute the “roll” part of the pick and roll.

-  LeBron is currently getting some work on his left leg, hopefully it’s just a cramp.  Fortunately, the Cavs have the next three days off for everyone to get back healthy in time for Sunday’s game against the Lakers.

-  It’s getting tight folks, as two David Lee free throws cut the Cavalier lead to just one point, 100-99 with under two minutes remaining.

-  LeBron with an impossible pass to Z for the layup to stretch the Cavs lead to four points, 104-100.  It’s not a 30-foot three-pointer, and it’s not a dunk, but that play had an astounding degree of difficulty, and LeBron pulled it off to give the Cavs a two-possession lead with less than a minute remaining.

-  Al Harrington, who has been nothing short of brilliant tonight, finally misses a wide-open 3, the Cavaliers corral the rebound, and two LeBron free throws later, the Cavs are ahead 106-100.

-  LeBron with an absurd rebound to end the game, giving him his tenth rebound of the night and a triple-freaking-double to go along with his 52 points.  LeBron added 11 assists and 2 blocks in what was a complete individual performance, even if the overall team effort (and LeBron’s own defensive effort on Harrington) was a bit lacking.  It all adds up to a 107-102 win for the good guys, and a well deserved break as we wait for the Lakers to come to Cleveland on Sunday.

-  Special praise to Wally Szczerbiak, who had a quiet double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and gave LeBron some solid support.

Go Cavs.  Fun win.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 at 8:12 pm and is filed under Running Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.