Talking Basketball...CAVALIERS Basketball
The CavsHQ Blog

We've Moved!

....at least for the time being.  Ohio.com, home of the Akron Beacon Journal, has decided to add us to their list of blogs.  You can now find CavsHQ at www.ohioverticals.com/blogs/cavshq, or by clicking here.  

Thanks for stopping by, and come see what's going on at Ohio.com, as we talk about what is going to be a great season for the Cavaliers.  

Thanks,

Mike Curry
www.ohioverticals.com/blogs/cavshq
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We've Moved!

...at least for the time being.  Ohio.com, home of the Akron Beacon Journal, has decided to add us to their list of blogs.  You can now find CavsHQ at www.ohioverticals.com/blogs/cavshq, or by clicking here.  

Thanks for stopping by, and come see what's going on at Ohio.com, as we talk about what is going to be a great season for the Cavaliers.  

Thanks,

Mike Curry

 del.icio.us  Digg 

We've Moved!

...at least for the time being.  Ohio.com, home of the Akron Beacon Journal, has decided to add us to their list of blogs.  You can now find CavsHQ at www.ohioverticals.com/blogs/cavshq, or by clicking here.  

Thanks for stopping by, and come see what's going on at Ohio.com, as we talk about what is going to be a great season for the Cavaliers.  

Thanks,

Mike Curry

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Carmelo Anthony - Some Thoughts

Don't know if you saw Bill Livingston's article today about the LeBron-Carmelo rivalry, but I strongly disagree with one of the things he wrote.  

The thing that ticked me off was this line: "Anthony is a very good scorer, but it is the only blade in his scabbard."  

First off, that's a completely inapt metaphor, because all scabbards contain only one blade.  What he means is arrows in a quiver, or some other similar metaphor.  That's just sloppy.

Second, Anthony isn't just a "very good scorer." He is an elite scorer. When it comes to putting the biscuit in the basket, Anthony has been a top-5 guy over the last two seasons.  And right now, today, he is the third-most dangerous scorer in the league, behind only LeBron and Dwayne Wade (Kobe's legs aren't what they used to be).  It's ridiculous to brush off  Anthony's scoring prowess when we're talking about a guy who scores 26 points per game on 49% shooting.  

Third, Anthony is also a very solid rebounder, with a rebound rate matching LeBron's last season.  If LeBron gets to count it among his skills, so does Anthony.

I know that yesterday I showed how his statistics paled in comparison to LeBron's last year, but that tells you much more about LeBron than Carmelo.  And Anthony's habit of drawing negative attention to himself is another matter, one that causes problems that don't show up on the stat sheet.  And while I was comparing Indiana's Danny Granger to Anthony last week, that was in praise of Granger, not to denegrate Anthony.  

At the end of the day, there just no doubt that Carmelo Anthony is a world-class talent, a superstar player who should not be dismissed as "just a scorer."

Other notes:

Dave Berri (who's Wages of Wins and Win Score metrics I would use more often if I could ever understand them) has an interesting thought about former Cavalier Shannon Brown, who is currently a Charlotte Bobcat.  Essentially, the Bobcats are telling Brown to worry about things other than shooting the ball.  But despite the fact that he's trying to do that, he's still warming the bench while other players, like Adam Morrison, are getting minutes simply because they shoot all the time.  I agree with Berri's contention that scoring is rewarded greater than other facets of the game.

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What to Watch For - Cavs v. Nuggets

What to Watch For - Cavs v. Nuggets

1.  Is the LeBron James - Carmelo Anthony rivalry still a rivalry?

It wasn't that long ago that people wondered who should be the Rookie of the Year in 2004, LeBron or Carmelo Anthony.  LeBron won the award, but there were plenty of people who thought that Anthony deserved to win after leading his team to the playoffs, including Magic Johnson, Tracy McGrady and Michael Wilbon.  As recently as 2006 people wondered if Carmelo rivaled LeBron because of his late-game heroics, something that James had been struggling with that season.  And prior to this Summer in Beijing, it had been Anthony, and not James, who had been Team USA's top scorer in international play, an arena specially suited to Carmelo's skill set.  

Still, despite the comparisons, there is no comparison.  While Carmelo Anthony is a quality player and an All-Star, LeBron James has become the best basketball player on the planet.  While Anthony was putting up an impressive line of 25.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game last season, LeBron was leading the league in scoring at 30.0 points per game while adding 7.9 rebounds and 7.2 assists.  LeBron has guided the Cavaliers into the second round of the Playoffs three straight seasons, with one (short) appearance in the NBA Finals, while Anthony's Nuggets have been bounced out of the first round every year Anthony has been in the league.  LeBron is the one who draws comparisons to Michael, Magic and Oscar, while Carmelo seems to draw only controversy with his suspension in 2006 for throwing a punch against the Knicks, and another suspension for his DUI arrest earlier this year that cost him the first two games of the regular season.

But at the very least, Carmelo Anthony will always be the first stick against which LeBron is measured.  The entered the league into similar situations, and have shared many spotlights.  And Anthony is an excellent player, better than most fans realize thanks to his poor decisions and the Nuggets' lack of playoff success.  He is certainly the equal of 2nd-tier superstars like Tracy McGrady, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce and Dirk Nowitzki.  

But when Anthony and the Nuggets come into Cleveland tonight, there will no longer be any discussion about who is the better player.  We're all living in LeBron's world now, and the young man casts a shadow that Carmelo will never be able to escape.

(Though it must be some consolation that the Nuggets have owned the Cavaliers since Melo's arrival, winning 7-of-8 games over the Wine and Gold.)

2.  Will the Cavaliers be able to keep the Nuggets off the offensive glass?

The Cavaliers' recent rebounding struggles have been well-documented, and while they have been able to survive sizeable rebounding deficits to the Pacers, Bulls and Bucks, there is less room for error against a team with as much talent as the Nuggets.  Denver comes into the game 5th overall in total rebounds at 44.6 per game, but the team is only 24th in offensive rebounds at 10.3 a game.  The overall rebounding number is a bit misleading, however, as the Nuggets play at a pace that generates more possessions, and therefore more rebounding opportunities, than most teams.  While the Nuggets are 5th overall in rebounding, they are still being outrebounded by their opponents by 1.3 rebounds per game.  The Cavs, despite their recent poor showings on the glass, are still outrebounding their opponents by 2 rebounds per game. 

Offensive rebounds allowed the Bucks and Bulls to stay in the game despite shooting around 40% from the field.  The Nuggets are far more efficient in scoring the ball than those teams, and they will absolutely kill the Cavaliers if the home team doesn't do a better job of getting their hands on the ball.  At the same time, the Nuggets have proven that they can be easily frustrated by tough, aggressive defenses, something that Cavs head coach Mike Brown has preached from day one.  How hard the Cavs are willing to work on the defensive end should be the difference in tonight's match-up.

3.  Will the shooters start making some shots?

The Cavs were lucky that LeBron was making his outside shots on Tuesday, because the rim was sealed for the rest of the Cavaliers.  With the exception of the still-smoking Delonte West, the Cavs backcourt of Williams, Gibson and Szczerbiak combined to shoot just 3-of-22 from the field.  After watching the Cavs let the Bucks hang around on Tuesday, many fans were concerned with the defense and the rebounding, and rightfully so.  But if the Cavs had gotten even a respectable 40% (9-of-22) from that trio, they would have won the game with ease.  LeBron's high-scoring performance was more out of necessity than anything else, as the guys being paid big bucks to put the ball in the hoop were doing anything but.  


Go Cavs.

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HQPQ - Cavs v. Bucks

The CavsHQ Postgame Quick Hits from the Cavs victory over the Milwaukee Bucks last night:


The Good:

1.  LeBron James was once again fantastic, scoring 41 points (again) on 16-for-24 shooting, while grabbing 5 rebounds, dishing off 6 assists, and coming up with 3 steals.  LeBron's jump shot is finally coming around, as he converted 0 -of-16 of his shots outside the key.  And all you math majors out there will notice that those stats add up to LeBron going an amazing 8-for-8 inside the key tonight.  This was the first game this season where James played more than 40 minutes, but he certainly made the most of it.  

2.  Anderson Varejao is starting to become as common to the top 3 as LeBron James.  Varejao had another great game, scoring 13 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the line, and 3-for-3 from the free throw stripe.  Andy also grabbed 10 rebounds in just 23 minutes, and was all over the court, making life hard for the Bucks' Charlie Villeneuva and Andrew Bogut.  Varejao has become the most consistent of the Ilgauskas-Wallace-Varejao big man triumverate, and he has done a great job in helping the Cavaliers get through the malaise that still sometimes infects the team on offense, constantly cutting his way into the lane and working the offensive glass.  

3.  The Cavaliers had no turnovers in the second half.  Well, the stat sheet will say one turnover, thanks to a 24-second violation that LeBron took in the waning seconds, keeping the final Cavalier total at 99 and disappointing an arena full of chalupa-loving Cavs fans. The Cavaliers are doing a very good job of taking care of the ball in the second half of games.  Over the last three contests, the Cavaliers are averaging 


The Not-So-Good:

1.  The backup shooting guards were genuinely atrocious tonight, as Wally Szczerbiak and Daniel Gibson combined for 0 points on 0-for-9 in 47 combined minutes.  The Cavaliers have gotten much more out of Delonte West (11 points tonight, a ridiculous 56% from the field for the season) than this observer expected, but Gibson and Szczerbiak have been woefully inconsistent.  Gibson's shot is very flat, and he's shooting just 22% from the field and 21% from 3-point range in his last 5 games.  Wally has been more inconsequential that outright bad, but he's only shooting 12.5% from beyond the arc in the last 5.  The Cavaliers have been very lucky to have #23 out there to pick up the scoring slack for these two, because lately the team is not getting the scoring they expect from their designated jump shooters.

2.  The Cavaliers still allowed the Bucks to grab too many offensive rebounds.  Milwaukee came up with 17 offensive rebounds tonight, helping them stay in the game despite shooting just 38% from the floor.  The Cavaliers have given up an average of 17.6 offensive rebounds per game over their last three games.  Part of the problem has been Ben Wallace's lack of rebounding, as he once again pulled down just 4 rebounds (with 0 points) in 21 minutes.  

3.  A quiet moment for Herb Score, who passed away at age 75 on Tuesday.  As a kid growing up in the 80's, Herb Score was the voice of the Cleveland Indians as I began to understand and appreciate the game.  Cavaliers radio announcer Joe Tait worked with Score on Indians broadcasts in the 70's, and he had a nice tribute to Score prior to tonight's game.  Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer has the story


The Questions:

1.  What exactly is the Bucks' gameplan?

Woe to the Bucks fan.  A few years ago it got to the point where Bucks fans were actually petitioning to bring in Bill Simmons, of ESPN.com fame, to be the GM.  With Scott Skiles, the Bucks have their third head coach in three seasons, and have a combined 57-115 (33% winning percentage) in that span.  It's low tide for a team that once teamed Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) on an NBA Championship team.

And now, they seem to have built their team around a head coach (Skiles) who has a history of losing his players after just a few seasons, a non-stop shooter (Michael Redd) who is looking less like a superstar and more like a rich-man's Ben Gordon, and a second-tier wingman (Richard Jefferson) who is a Robin desperately needing a Batman.  The Bucks also had the misfortune of choosing Andrew Bogut over Chris Paul and Deron Williams in the 2006 NBA Draft.  At the moment, they already have $55 Million in salary committed for the 2010-2011 season, meaning that without a trade, this is their team for the foreseeable future.  

At least they have their awesome old logo

2.  What's it like to have this kind of fall-back plan?  

Buck's player and former UCLA Bruin Luc Mbah a Moute is a rookie trying to make his name in the league with his size, athleticism and defense.  But it turns out that Mbah a Moute is also a Camaroonian prince.  Unlike Austin Carr, I'm not sold on Mbah a Moute's chances in the league, though he has the physical tools to be a quality overall defender.  But if this whole NBA thing doesn't work out, "prince" looks nice next to "former NBA player" on a resume.

3.  How will the Cavaliers handle Western Conference teams this week?

The Cavs have gotten fat on their Central Division opponents, with wins over the Bucks and the Indiana Pacers, and two wins over the Chicago Bulls.  Now they welcome the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz to Cleveland on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.  The Cavaliers are 1-1 against the Western Conference this season, and they will make it very difficult for the Cavaliers to extend their current 5-game winning streak.  

Go Cavs.  Still loving this "basketball every other day" thing.

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What to Watch For - Cavs v. Bucks

What to keep an eye on when the Cavs and Bucks match up tonight at the Q:

1. Which new addition has made a bigger impact for the Bucks, new coach Scott Skiles or trade acquisition Richard Jefferson?

The Bucks added two new faces this offseason, bringing in former Bulls coach Scott Skiles as a defensive-minded head coach, and trading Yi Jianlian to the New Jersey Nets for Richard Jefferson on draft day. The jury is still out on both in this young season.

The Bucks brought in Skiles to assert his defense-first attitude on a team that finished worst in defensive efficiency last year, giving up 112.8 points per 100 possessions. Through the first seven games of the season, the Bucks are "only" allowing 97.9 points per game, 19th in the league, and giving up 102.9 points per 100 possessions, good for 14th overall. Unfortunately for Skiles, the Bucks have had problems defensively over the last three games, giving up 103 points per game to the Wizards, Celtics and Suns last week. Skiles and his schemes will be put to the test by the Cavaliers' new, more active offense.

As for Jefferson, he has been solid, dropping in 18.3 points per game while adding 5.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists. Jefferson is a solid player, but he's not quite an All-Star, and it's hard to tell what the Bucks were doing in acquiring Jefferson but trading away Mo Williams for a bag of balls a few months later. With Williams, the Bucks might have had enough offense in the backcourt to keep things interesting, but there's just no reason to expect that a Jefferson and Michael Redd combination can amount to anything more than a .500 team.

2. Will Michael Redd play?

Redd has missed the last three games with an ankle injury, and is questionable for tonight's game. Redd was averaging 21.3 points per game in the Bucks' first four games, and the Bucks were 2-2 when he went down. Last season Redd beat up on the Cavaliers, with 25.5 points, 6.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game, and he hit this mean 3-pointer to give the Bucks one of their three wins over the Cavs last year.

With Redd, the Bucks are a much bigger threat when they come into the Q tonight. Without Redd, I don't see how the Bucks are going to score enough points to keep up.

3. How will Mo Williams match up with his Bucks' replacement, Ramon Sessions?

The Cavaliers were able to acquire Mo Williams from the Bucks during the summer in exchange for Joe Smith and Damon Jones. It was a very good trade for the Cavaliers, but one of the reasons the Bucks were able to part with Williams for so little was because they had Sessions waiting in the wings. Sessions is off to a hot start for Milwaukee, averaging 17.2 points, 6.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game, numbers that are eerily similar to what Williams averaged last year (17.2 points, 6.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds).

Williams may be looking for a little revenge against his old team, and Sessions will be looking to prove the Bucks made the right choice in turning the point guard duties over to him. Should be fun to watch.

Go Cavs.

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NBA Week in Review - November 9, 2008

Stuff that happened this week in the league that you might have missed.

- Ok, everyone knows, but the Detroit Pistons traded Chauncey Billups andAntonio McDyess to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson. Also, there was a presidential election.

- Antonio McDyess was bought out by the Nuggets, agreeing to take $6 Million not to play for the Nuggets. McDyess can now negotiate with other teams, including his former team the Detroit Pistons. McDyess can join any team he wishes, but if he wants to return to Detroit, he'll have to wait 30 days from his release to return to the Pistons. The Cavaliers, Lakers, and Celtics are among the many teams interested in bringing in McDyess, but right now nobody seems certain of which way McDyess is leaning.

- The Nuggets won their first game with Chauncey Billups coming back to his hometown in Denver, defeating the Mavericks at home. Billups had 15 points.

- The new-look Pistons are still adjusting to the arrival of Allen Iverson, losing games to the New Jersey Nets and Boston Celtics.

- The Celtics did an absolute job defending the Pistons, holding Iverson and Rasheed Wallace to 10 points apiece, and Richard Hamilton to just 3 points. On the flip side though, the Pistons did manage to hold Kevin Garnett to just 8 points and Paul Pierce to just 7 points. Not exactly a battle of superstars in Boston on Sunday.

LeBron James has taken over the scoring lead, averaging 28.1 points per game after two 41-point performances against the Bulls.

Tony Parker is currently in second place at 27.8 ppg, but he'll be falling out of the list soon as he's out for four weeks with an ankle sprain suffered in the Spurs' loss to the Heat on Friday.

- The Utah Jazz suffered their first loss of the season Sunday against the New York Knicks, 107-99, dropping them to 5-1 on the season. The Jazz will be in Cleveland on Saturday.

- The Jazz loss leaves the Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks as the only undefeated teams left in the league, both at 4-0. The Lakers and Hawks play late Sunday, meaning that the Cavaliers have played seven games in a span where those teams have played only four. That will all balance itself out in the end, but so far the Lakers and Hawks are getting a lot of rest in the first two weeks of the season.

- On the flip side of the standings, the Washington Wizards are the only team without a victory, going 0-5 during the first two weeks of the young season. The Wizards are giving up the most points in the league at 108.8 point per game, and are an absolute mess right now without Gilbert Arenas, to the point where Antawn Jamison refused to get into the huddle during a timeout in their most recent loss, to the Orlando Magic.

Carmelo Anthony lost a bet playing NBA Live 09, and lost his trademark cornrows as a result.

Go Cavs.

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HQPQ - Cavs v. Pacers

The CavsHQ Postgame Quickhits for the Cavs' hard-fought victory over the Indiana Pacers.

The Good:

John Kuntz/PD
1. Anderson Varejao doing all the dirty work, and having his best all around game in two seasons. Varejao finished with a career-high 18 points and 8 rebounds, and he was the catalyst the Cavs needed down the stretch. Varejao came into the game with 11:06 left in the fourth quarter and the Cavs trailing 79-72, and proceeded to score 7 straight points, 3 off a spinning layup and a foul, 2 off a steal that he took all the way to the other end, and 2 more on an offensive rebound that he slammed back home. That cut the Pacer lead to 3, and got the home crowd roaring. Varejao was the perfect example of the Cavs' bench depth, giving the Cavs a boost when Ben Wallace proved completely ineffective.

2. Zydrunas Ilgauskas kept the Cavs in the game in the first half, going 4-of-6 from the field and 6-of-6 from the line for 14 first half points. He also managed to limit himself to just one turnover, while coming up with 3 blocks.

3. LeBron James's Friday wasn't as good as his Wednesday, but it was still pretty good. LeBron finished with 27 points, 9 rebound, 8 assists and 4 blocks, the last of which was a game-saver, as he charged back to block a T.J. Ford layup that would have cut the Cavalier lead to 2 with 39 seconds left. LeBron also managed to hit his first 3-pointer of the season, a shot that gave the Cavaliers a 7-point lead with 1:15 left in the game.

The Bad:

1. After a four straight very good games, Ben Wallace was completely lost last night, failing to grab a rebound or score a point in 19 minutes. The Cavs went into the game with a major advantage in the frontcourt, but they were outrebounded 44-30, giving the Pacers 13 extra shots last night. That was the only reason the Pacers were even in the game, as the Cavaliers shot 52% from the field.

2. While the Cavs were able to keep T.J. Ford in check - don't ask me how - they once again had major problems keeping a stop-and-pop scorer from scoring. On Wednesday it was Ben Gordon who dropped 31 points on the Cavs, and last night it was Danny Granger going off for 33 points 13-of-21 shooting. Granger is becoming a very good player, keeping the defense off balance with strong drives and accurate outside shooting. He was really getting into with LeBron down the stretch, and could be said to get the better of James if it wasn't for that amazing block by LeBron in the last minute.

3. While the Cavs could expect Granger to have a good night, they also did nothing to slow down Marquis Daniels, who finished with 17 points, 7 assists and 11 rebounds, including a whopping 5 offensive rebounds. Daniels was also a major threat in the transition game, where Indiana scored nearly all of its points. With the Cavaliers sporting a shorter backcourt, big guards like Daniels can be a problem, and he was last night.

The Questions:

1. Can the Pacers win with the way they play?

Hard to tell right now, but the Pacers definitely play an interesting style. While their half-court sets are uninspiring, the team does a great job of turning long rebounds into transition buckets. It's not quite the Suns in their heyday, but I was impressed with how they attacked off missed shots, especially long rebounds. They could definitely surprise teams that start to settle for long jumpers, which the Cavaliers did during the big Pacer runs. The Pacers could be a sleeper team if they can start putting the pieces together.

2. Who would most GMs rather have, Danny Granger or Carmelo Anthony?

With Granger coming into his own as a star in the league, it's interesting to figure out where he is in the pecking order of scoring wings. While Anthony has established himself as a great scorer in the league, he also brings with him a mess of baggage, and may have plateaued as a player. Meanwhile, Granger is developing into very dangerous scorer, with a Melo-esque long- and mid-range game. But also like Anthony, Granger is not especially active on the boards, doesn't do anything exciting defensively, and isn't much of a passer.

If Granger continues to develop, he could find himself in the top-tier of scoring wings very soon. Compared side-by-side, Anthony is the better player, but I wouldn't be surprised if some front office personnel would prefer to have Granger's workman like persona to Anthony's habit of attracting the wrong kind of attention.

3. How will the Cavs respond to their first back-to-back game of the season?

Expect this to be addressed further in the What to Watch For for Saturday night's contest in Chicago. The Cavs played 19 back-to-back games last season, going 8-11 in the second game. The deeper Cavalier bench should give the team a better chance to win more of these second-night games this season.

Go Cavs.

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What to Watch For - Cavs v. Pacers

What to watch for tonight as the Cavaliers take on the Indiana Pacers at the Q:

1. Are the Pacers giant killers? The Pacers are 1-2 on the year, but their one victory was a 95-79 shellacking of the Boston Celtics at home. The Pacers have had an even tougher schedule than the Cavaliers through the first two weeks, facing the Pistons, Celtics and Suns, and were competitive at the very least in their two losses. Holding the Celtics to 79 points is pretty impressive, and if the Pacers can bring that kind of defensive intensity to bear, they could catch the Cavaliers by surprise. The Pacers are also a good 3-point shooting team, which can keep them in the game if they make their shots.

2. How will the Cavs deal with T.J. Ford? Ford is the quintessential Cavs-killing point guard, a guy with tremendous speed and a knack for slipping past his defender and getting into the lane. The Cavs had a tough time containing Derrick Rose on Wednesday, and Ford presents similar matchup problems. Ford had 23 points on Wednesday when he matched up with Steve Nash, and he could put up similar numbers tonight. The Cavaliers interior defense has been superb this season, but the perimeter defense is still very much a work in progress.

3. Will LeBron James one-up Amare Stoudemire? In the Pacers' last game, Amare Stoudemire dropped 49 points while grabbing 10 rebounds, dishing off 6 assists, nabbing 5 steals and picking up 2 blocks. Yes, that's a lot of "ing" phrases, but when someone is putting up numbers like that, it can leave you at a loss for words. LeBron is coming off a 41-9-6-4 night of his own, and should be able to take advantage of some suspect Indiana defenders. I'm not expecting a 50-point night, as LeBron's minutes could be cut short with the Cavs headed to Chicago for a back-to-back game Saturday, but I expect LeBron to make his presence known tonight.

Go Cavs. I am really expecting the team to get fat on these weak Central Division opponents this weekend.

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