Adjustments for Game 2

[crimson_stallion]

Don't start Olynyk with Mozgov in there, what a freaking dumb move.

When either Thompson or Mozgov is on the floor, one of Sully or Zeller should be on the floor. Always.

Why? 

I don't see Mozgov running out to challenge Olynyk at the three point line...and if he does, it just opens up the lane to attacks off the dribble.

Could actually be a great strategy since Mozgov is really the only thing resembling a rim protector that Cleveland has. 

One of our strengths is that we have a LOT of bigs who can shoot from distance.  Put Bass/Sully/Zerebko on the court with Olynyk and force Love and Mozgov to make that decision - do they run out to defend the perimeter, or do they let those guys shoot?  If they decide to do the former it opens up the lane for drives to the basket, and if they do the latter our bigs can kill them with threes.   

Not a bad strategy.

[crimson_stallion]

Start Thomas and Olynyk, go down shooting.

Thought about this for fun factor alone. 140 to 120 point games would be nuts.

Starting lineup:

Thomas-Bradley-Datome-Jerebko-Olynyk

Run and shoot, run and shoot.

The C's aren't going to be able to out gun the Cavs. Kyrie and LeBron will live in the paint and free throw line with that lineup. That's a definite sweep there.

Do you know that statistically, Olynyk is actually a better defender inside than Zeller?

Last I saw Olynyk was allowing a PER of about 16 against PF's and 18 against C's, while Zeller was allow a PER of about 22 against opposing centers.

The Real Plus/Minus stats show a similar result, with Olynyks DRPM stats actually not being as bad as you'd think.

Olynyk is also a better rebounded than Zeller, especially on the offense end, along with a better passer, a better outside shooter, and better at putting it on the floor and driving to the basket.  Zeller is really only better at shotblocking and pick-and-roll offense.

[crimson_stallion]

I'd love to see us Gerald Wallace for some D on LeBron and rotate a group of guys over him.

Funnily enough, I was thinking this myself yesterday, before the game.  Crowder and Wallace are probably the two guys who are best equipped to slow Lebron - if nothing else Wallace is pure hustle and will battle to the death.

[Csfan1984]

Well I don't know if you do too many adjustments after 1 game. But I watched the game a second time to confirm some stuff and took notes. Before posting adjustment ideas going to point out the bad. The following is in no particular order of importance just listing. Bad calls won't be addressed. Will do second posting when I get more time.

1. Consistency. Guys played well in spurts (even AB for 3 full minutes). No one played a full game of excellence as Irving and LeBron did. They made very tough shots all game for the Cavs.
 
2. Rebounds a lot of them were weird bounce stuff that Cavs came up with. It could have gone either way.

3. Bad turnovers that killed runs.

4. Turner not pushing the pace.

5. AB lost/invisible

6. IT's D.

7. Too much lineup mixing. It look like guys were not comfortable.

8. The weak Zone.

9. Losing assigned guys way too much in transition.

10. Slow rotations with failure to get hands up/to sides.

11. Bad pick & roll D.

12. Turner's D

13. Crowder match-up on Love

14. Too much reseting when a play breaks down.

15. Free throws

16. To much score watching

17. Sully trigger shy

Well sure I missed a few but those were some issues I noticed.

IT, Smart, Crowder, Bass and KO seems to be a good combination.
Turner, AB, Jerekbo, Zeller

[krumeto]

Well I don't know if you do too many adjustments after 1 game. But I watched the game a second time to confirm some stuff and took notes. Before posting adjustment ideas going to point out the bad. The following is in no particular order of importance just listing. Bad calls won't be addressed. Will do second posting when I get more time.

1. Consistency. Guys played well in spurts (even AB for 3 full minutes). No one played a full game of excellence as Irving and LeBron did. They made very tough shots all game for the Cavs.
 
2. Rebounds a lot of them were weird bounce stuff that Cavs came up with. It could have gone either way.

3. Bad turnovers that killed runs.

4. Turner not pushing the pace.

5. AB lost/invisible

6. IT's D.

7. Too much lineup mixing. It look like guys were not comfortable.

8. The weak Zone.

9. Losing assigned guys way too much in transition.

10. Slow rotations with failure to get hands up/to sides.

11. Bad pick & roll D.

12. Turner's D

13. Crowder match-up on Love

14. Too much reseting when a play breaks down.

15. Free throws

16. To much score watching

17. Sully trigger shy

Well sure I missed a few but those were some issues I noticed.

IT, Smart, Crowder, Bass and KO seems to be a good combination.
Turner, AB, Jerekbo, Zeller

I say lets get Pareto-optimal and settle for the 2-3 that can be corrected/improved on.

3. Bad turnovers that killed runs.  - Especially live-ball TOs directly to James. IT was good, but had 3 TOs directly to Cavs players. Smart had one right ATO. Stronger with the ball.

2. Rebounds a lot of them were weird bounce stuff that Cavs came up with. It could have gone either way. - the team sounds very aware of that.

9. Losing assigned guys way too much in transition - Cavs on the run have too much weapons - James has to have 2 defenders on the run or it is automatically 2 points. That frees up either the 5 or some of the wings. With that said, Turner had a couple of slow retreats that resulted in a 3.

I am optimistic for Game 2. We had several chances to make this one more interesting and every time we either TOed uncharacteristically or had bad luck (KOs 3pointer in 4th was 75% in and went out).

[Ragingrondo]

START JARED SULLINGER FOR REBOUNDING

[Drucci]

Get Bradley going and restore his confidence (he looked like a rookie in game 1, and had like 3 airballs... it's mind-boggling). And if you see he doesn't get it, pull him out immediately instead of keeping him in the game, I thought Stevens went too long with Bradley even when he was obviously killing us, instead of replacing him with Thomas (I like the Smart/Thomas backcourt).

[rondohondo]

1) AB should get 1st crack at Irving, but if he starts going off on him , put Smart's size and strength on him , and let AB cover knucklehead JR Smith .

2) Crowder should be getting the majority of minutes at SF when Lebron is in there .  Maybe even put Bass on Lebron and go with a big lineup of SF- Bass , PF- KO , C - Sully or Zeller

3) Sullinger needs to come in the game when Thompson comes in . Sully is our best chance of getting defensive rebounds .  if Thompson and Mozgov are in the game together , we should have Sully and Zeller in there

4) KO should only be guarding Kevin Love and Thompson , Mozgov is too strong for him  .

 

[iadera]

Start Thomas and Olynyk, go down shooting.

Thought about this for fun factor alone. 140 to 120 point games would be nuts.

Starting lineup:

Thomas-Bradley-Datome-Jerebko-Olynyk

Run and shoot, run and shoot.

Defensively speaking, that would be our funeral.

[iadera]

Start Thomas and Olynyk, go down shooting.

Thought about this for fun factor alone. 140 to 120 point games would be nuts.

Starting lineup:

Thomas-Bradley-Datome-Jerebko-Olynyk

Run and shoot, run and shoot.

The C's aren't going to be able to out gun the Cavs. Kyrie and LeBron will live in the paint and free throw line with that lineup. That's a definite sweep there.

Do you know that statistically, Olynyk is actually a better defender inside than Zeller?

Last I saw Olynyk was allowing a PER of about 16 against PF's and 18 against C's, while Zeller was allow a PER of about 22 against opposing centers.

The Real Plus/Minus stats show a similar result, with Olynyks DRPM stats actually not being as bad as you'd think.

Olynyk is also a better rebounded than Zeller, especially on the offense end, along with a better passer, a better outside shooter, and better at putting it on the floor and driving to the basket.  Zeller is really only better at shotblocking and pick-and-roll offense.

Olynyk is generally better than Zeller, so I am not surprised in what you say.

My opinion is that Stevens perfectly compensates the lack of all-star players in our team with outstanding team play which is occasionaly violated by Evan Turner, which is why he will be traded away in the postseason. He shows, now and there, some offensive skills, but just doesn't fit in BS's system.
We all know what we are missing in this series. And not just in this series. A rim protector. Just with Mozgov on our side we'd take this series into the game no.7. Yes, this is how good we are.

[GreenWarrior]

see if Durant is healthy. some how get him here for the next game. other than that the only thing we could do is pull a Tanya Harding.

[Who]

I don't think Sully is a great matchup rebounding wise for Tristan Thompson. Thompson is much quicker, more agile and more of a leaper. I think Thompson's quickness will make it difficult for Sully to keep a body on him. Cleveland really spread out that offense when Thompson is in the game at the center position.

I think Jerebko is probably the best guy matchup wise to try and box out Thompson. More quickness and agility. Better chance of keeping his body in between the hoop and Thompson than a slow big like Sully.

[SHAQATTACK]

Cavs are not deep.....it took 40 minutes for Their big three each to put away the Celtics .

Either the Cavs aren't that good or the Celtics are better than people think.

It took THREE of the the best players in the league  playing nearly the whole game to put the Celtics down.

Even if the Celtics are swept ......I hope each game is huge pita for Cavs.......as I will be pulling for every team they meet to beat them.

[Csfan1984]

For adjustments
1. Target match ups and force contact to get fouls. Hopefully get more space from defenders to allow easier passing.

2. Give AB his normal plays at 2nd stint in. If hot ride him if not stay away please. Don't do early till spacing talked about above happens.

3. Move the ball more and avoid less resets. Make the Cavs stay in a rotation till they break down.

4. Try to attack Love and Irving (not LeBron). This means things can't go through Turner so much.

5. I like what IT and Smart were able to do on offense. Lets see them paired more minutes.

6. Let's see AB play PG spot while Turner is SG more in a rotation.

7. Need more Sully vs Love the match up can be at least a wash if Sully gets going.

8. Crowder, Gigi, and Crash all need time on LeBron not Smart or Turner. LeBron needs to be bodied all game with a fresh man. Make LeBron's 40 minutes feel like 60.

9. Big man rotation should be Bass/KO at PF and Sully/Zeller at C when Moz is in. When Moz is out get Jerekbo max minutes with KO moving to Center; this is to create excellent space for attacking the paint with no shot blocker.

Well that is what I got. Do like a lot of people's suggestions too. So much suggestions probably means we need a lot of luck and special play to pull out wins.

[CelticGuardian]

Playoff series are about making adjustments from game to game. Should be interesting to see what Stevens does but here are some suggestions:

1) AB guarding Irving
2) Less Turner more IT4
3) More crowder on LBJ
4) Less TURNOVERS!!!
5) Make LBJ beat you, focus on stopping everyone else
6) BOX OUT! End every defensive possession with a rebound
7) Due to the last one, maybe more Sully

I agree with everything in this list.

Crowder, Bass, and Sullinger may have to start on game 2. We need to win those box out battles and hustle plays. That's the only way we have a chance. Isaiah should stay on the bench, I liked what Jerebko did out there!

Don't sleep man, we know Brad constantly changes his lineups, the Cavs better hope they don't have us down by a point in the final seconds of the 4th.