This is not meant to be a confrontational topic, but Sam has been a controversial figure on this board since he got here. In this game, he showed us why he is here. In the playoffs, open shots are hard to come by - while Eddie is a great open shooter, he basically has two shots he can create on his own: the pump fake-single dribble 3 pointer, and the pump fake-single dribble 19 foot jump shot.
Sam came into the game tonight and steadied the team by hitting a variety of shots, but more importantly, he forced the Cavs to adjust to him defensively. Instead of sagging off Rondo (who had an awful 1st quarter) by his 4th or 5th possession they had shifted to putting LeBron on him defensively to take away his post up game. One of our bench's biggest flaws (there aren't many) is an inability for players to create their own shots when a play doesn't work or is defended well. Sam gives us a guy who can make a shot, either for himself (usually) or for someone else (sometimes) on a broken play or late-clock situation. I love Eddie, and he's served us well, but he simply cannot do this for our team.
Also, when Rondo is off his game, which is still gonna happen from time to time (remember, the kid would still be a college senior had he not left early), Sam can come in and run the offense well as he did tonight. Games and situations like this are exactly why he is an asset to our team. We owe a lot of tonight's victory to Sam for pulling us close to the Cavs so our starters could pull away in the late 2nd/early 3rd quarter.
