more on point 1 - it's no surprise that big z is pretty useless in the playoffs. he was last year and the year before. i think the idea for him being out there is to get dwight howard out of the paint using his 18 footer, and on defense to use his length to possibly get some boards. but that doesn't work when z isn't hitting his jumper or isn't involved on offense. what hurts us more is how ineffective he is against the screen and roll. he is so freaking slow that when they do their screen and roll with hedo and dwight, z shows hard and has to run (slowly) back to dwight. meanwhile a guard is covering dwight and has to wait longer to rotate out to the three point shooters while z is lumbering back to the paint. this leaves pietrus wide open for 3 where he's knocked them down consistently (unlike delonte).
but if you put andy in for z, he shows hard and gets back to the paint fast enough for the guard to cover the three point line. this was clear throughout the fourth quarter when we used a small lineup. we covered all their three point shooters, so the magic had to either drive, shoot a contested 2 or throw it into dwight. but unless dwight was within 8 feet of the basket, it was an almost automatic turnover because he doesn't really have any post moves and andy is very annoying.
it's pretty clear that if we play small we can win this series. mike brown is a very slow learner. think about this - why do you think lebron tipped off against superman in overtime? why not put Z in there? it's because he wanted our small lineup on there for the entire overtime. then why why why why, mike brown, would you put a bigger, slower guy (ben wallace) on a jumpshooter (rashard lewis) in the final inbounds play for the magic? the lineup we had was perfect - west on hedo and lebron on lewis. mike brown really let his team down by putting in a big, slow post defender in to defend a jumpshooter in a situation where everyone in the world knew lewis or turkaglu was going to shoot a 3.
if i were mike brown this is what i would do: first off, tell my team to stay home on three point shooters. go with a small lineup with lebron playing power forward throughout the game. rotate your bigs in to foul dwight, saving andy for the fourth quarter. in the first quarter, use Z to try to get howard out of his game by firing away his 18 footers and challenging him on the boards. on the pick and roll, stay home on 3 point shooters and foul dwight like crazy. if Z doesn't have 2 fouls within the first 4 minutes of next game, he's really not doing his job. joe beast is like the shorter, smarter version of Z. he should foul out next game.
as for our backcourt, play delonte for the entire game and mo for almost the whole game. play either boobie, sasha or szcerbiak, depending on who's gonna show up. the disparity in bench production doesn't matter; we just need one guy to get into double figures by knocking down shots. the more important thing is that we play small and play fast. we need to kill them in transition and disrupt the flow of their offense with good rotation on defense. we need to force dwight howard to make plays in the post and foul shots. let superman get 30. the magic cannot win without good three point shooting, and they won't get that if we play small.
i have no faith in mo's jumpshot anymore. sure he'll get his points, but he's been missing some crucial spot-up 3's, and he's forcing the issue too much. at one point he called off lebron so he could drive to the basket, where he lost it out of bounds. by the time we got it back, there was less than 1 second on the shot clock. we all know it's not a good sign when everyone clears out for lebron and he goes 1-5. why would it be a good idea for mo to do the same thing? just like last year, the second best player on the cavs is delonte. he needs to be featured more because he has a mismatch on him almost every time. tonight when rafer defended him, delonte immediately took him to the post and scored. when hedo guarded him, he took him off the dribble and pulled up for a wide open bucket. when they play him close he drove right to dwight howard and finished. the only aspect of his game that is lacking is his spot up shooting. i remember him missing 2 wide open corner 3's, which resulted in a score on the other end - a 6 point swing each time.
on point number 2 i will say this - boobie plays better at home and he looks hungry. he's not a defensive liability especially when the magic go with anthony carter, who can knock down 3s and pass but is slow and has no post up game. we only need one guy to step up off the bench to knock down shots and he'll take the call.
for point 3, i still believe we're the best team in basketball. we finished with the best record, had the biggest point differential and swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs. as long as we keep our heads together and not panic, we will be fine. that might sound too easy, but it seems like confidence is very hard to attain in the NBA. for example, Z was a pretty decent 3 point shooter in the regular season. but in this series, he's chucked it every time he's been in the corner, open or not, and not one has gone in. he's forcing it and rushing it - a sign of panic. i think if we keep our composure, amp up the tempo and play focused, cavaliers basketball, we can win 3 in a row.. actually i believe we can blow them out 3 times in a row if we play our best, no matter how well the magic play.
point 4 - lebron. even though it took mike brown 3 quarters to realize that we should be playing small, lebron almost won it for us on a 40 foot jumpshot. any time he is on the floor, we have a chance of winning.
