Start Bass at SF, Turner at SG and KO at PF

[rondohondo]

PG: AB         / Thomas
SG:Turner    / Smart
SF Bass       / Crowder
PF: KO        / Jerebko
 C: Zeller    / Sully

- AB starts to defend Irving
- Turner has a better chance of defending and initiating the offense against JR Smith than Lebron
- Bass has the size and athleticism to body up Lebron
- KO provides 3 pt shooting and playmaking at pf, best suited to guard Love than any other cavs big man
- Zeller did a decent job on Mozgov,

-Off the bench Smart and IT compliment each other in the back court. This way we could have Smart or Bradley guarding Irving the majority of the time he is out there

- Crowder subs for Bass at SF , that way we have a strong body on Lebron at all times

- Sully can play center or PF whenever Thompson or Mozgov is in to provide rebounding against those guys

- Jerebko provides spacing and hustle off the bench .

Thoughts?

[Drucci]

I like this idea, it's bold and it could work. I'm not so sure about your point on Turner having an easier time initiating the offense against JR Smith though, because Cleveland could choose to put LeBron on Turner defensively, since they know that the is our de facto point guard and that if you stop him you basically stop our offense.

I would also rather start Smart or Thomas in place of Bradley but otherwise I really like this lineup, I hope Stevens uses it for at least one stretch so we can see if it works!

[rondohondo]

I like this idea, it's bold and it could work. I'm not so sure about your point on Turner having an easier time initiating the offense against JR Smith though, because Cleveland could choose to put LeBron on Turner defensively, since they know that the is our de facto point guard and that if you stop him you basically stop our offense.

I would also rather start Smart or Thomas in place of Bradley but otherwise I really like this lineup, I hope Stevens uses it for at least one stretch so we can see if it works!

well if they put Lebron on Turner when he is the SG, that means JR Smith will have to cover Bass. Simply post up Bass and let him go to work on Smith.

[littleteapot]

I like this idea, it's bold and it could work. I'm not so sure about your point on Turner having an easier time initiating the offense against JR Smith though, because Cleveland could choose to put LeBron on Turner defensively, since they know that the is our de facto point guard and that if you stop him you basically stop our offense.

I would also rather start Smart or Thomas in place of Bradley but otherwise I really like this lineup, I hope Stevens uses it for at least one stretch so we can see if it works!

well if they put Lebron on Turner when he is the SG, that means JR Smith will have to cover Bass. Simply post up Bass and let him go to work on Smith.

I would be thrilled if I was the Cavs and Brad tried this. I just smother Turner with Lebron - I don't think he'll be able to get it in the low post. Even if he does, I just double Bass and make him pass it out which is probably his biggest area of weakness in his game.

[rondohondo]

I like this idea, it's bold and it could work. I'm not so sure about your point on Turner having an easier time initiating the offense against JR Smith though, because Cleveland could choose to put LeBron on Turner defensively, since they know that the is our de facto point guard and that if you stop him you basically stop our offense.

I would also rather start Smart or Thomas in place of Bradley but otherwise I really like this lineup, I hope Stevens uses it for at least one stretch so we can see if it works!

well if they put Lebron on Turner when he is the SG, that means JR Smith will have to cover Bass. Simply post up Bass and let him go to work on Smith.

I would be thrilled if I was the Cavs and Brad tried this. I just smother Turner with Lebron - I don't think he'll be able to get it in the low post. Even if he does, I just double Bass and make him pass it out which is probably his biggest area of weakness in his game.

Maybe , but we could have Smart start instead of Bradley so we have another ball handler in there to get the ball down to Bass against Smith if they put Lebron on Turner

PG: Smart
SG: Turner
SF: Bass
PF: KO
 C: Zeller

so we have 3 ball handlers in there with Smart,Turner and KO
- don't give up shooting by replacing Bradley with KO in the starting lineup
- We keep Smart and Bradley split up so one can guard Kyrie at most times
- This lineup also helps with rebounding with Bass,Ko and Zeller in there

Also like the different ranges on offense for our front court
Zeller provides a big man attacking the rim
Bass from mid range
KO from 3pt range

[littleteapot]

I think if we have Smart in there, with a super big lineup, the Cavs just won't respect our ability to hit 3s.

This is sort of the whack-a-mole issue we have in this series. If we put in shooters and big guys, Lebron just takes out our top ball handler and we won't have good enough ball handling. If we put in ball handlers and big guys, they just pack the paint with even bigger guys and we can't score. If we go small, they'll kill us on the boards and points in the paint.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but I'm leaning towards just leaving Turner on Lebron and trying to compete in every other area of the game. I think in general if we try to out-size them we are just going to lose. Mozgov is bigger than anyone we have, Tristan Thompson was a handful for us last night regardless of matchup, Lebron basically has the body of a PF and Love is a better skilled big than anyone we have.

[Celtics18]

TP for some creative basketball thinking, rondohondo. 

I don't think Stevens will go so far as to start Bass at the three.  I'd like to see him at least start Crowder instead of Turner, though.  I'd prefer for Evan Turner to have no minutes guarding Lebron James.  It's a terrible, terrible match up.

Maybe?

Smart
Turner
Crowder
Bass
Olynyk

Smart on Irving.
Crowder on Lebron.
Brandon on Love. 

Plenty of shooting and plenty of ball handling.

That's my favorite line up . . . I think. 

Plus, I think Thomas and Zeller could give us some real offensive pop off the bench. 

[More Banners]

No doubt our lack of ball handling gets exposed in a series. Major need this offseason. Smart. Just isn't an NBA point. Bradley 2.0. Hard to play both and score. One might have to go.

Play Turner and IT together more. Let AB and Smart take turns being all over Irving.

Crowder would be my starting SF, Turner and Bradley at G, and KO/Zeller. KO's size and court vision beat out Bass' intangibles. And we need to use as much size as possible.

Jerebko and Sully off the bench, with Smart and IT.

Then, pray.

[PhoSita]

So the answer defensively is to get slower and less athletic in the starting lineup?

[littleteapot]

I still don't think Olynyk should be playing in this series. His size didn't seem to help him - Tristan Thompson was absolutely killing him in the post and he had 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 TO.

[CelticsFanFromNYC]

So the answer defensively is to get slower and less athletic in the starting lineup?

At this point, any   lineup we put out there to cover one of our deficiencies only creates another problem in a different aspect of our game. Main problems are.  no defensive big, not enough ball handlers WHO CAN ACTUALLY SCORE especially BEHIND THE ARC . (IT is really the only one) I'm pretty sure this is nothing new to anyone

[PhoSita]

So the answer defensively is to get slower and less athletic in the starting lineup?

At this point, any   lineup we put out there to cover one of our deficiencies only creates another problem in a different aspect of our game. Main problems are.  no defensive big, not enough ball handlers WHO CAN ACTUALLY SCORE especially BEHIND THE ARC . (IT is really the only one) I'm pretty sure this is nothing new to anyone

I agree.

I think that all the Celtics can do is try to put out lineups that load up their strengths on one side and hope that will be enough to create some kind of small advantage, for small stretches of the game.

The Celtics could put Crowder in the starting lineup and go for their best defensive look -- Smart, Bradley, Crowder, Bass, Zeller.

That lineup will have a really tough time scoring if the Cavs actually try.

Alternatively, the Celts could trot out Thomas, Bradley, Datome, Jerebko, and Olynyk and just try to spread the floor as much as possible for Thomas and Bradley to attack.

[Atzar]

So the answer defensively is to get slower and less athletic in the starting lineup?

At this point, any   lineup we put out there to cover to substitute one of our deficiencies only creates another problem in a different aspect of our game. Main problems are.  no defensive big, not enough ball handlers WHO CAN ACTUALLY SCORE especially BEHIND THE ARC . (IT is really the only one) im pretty sure this is nothing new to anyone

Zeller is actually a serviceable defensive big.  He held his own last night. 

We have three problems in my opinion:  LeBron is LeBron, Kyrie is Kyrie and we can't keep Thompson off of the glass. 

LeBron and Kyrie are skilled enough to beat our first line of defense.  JR Smith and Love are excellent shooters; we can't leave them to help on the slasher.  Zeller is the only one in the paint to help out, and when he rotates Thompson just runs right to the rim.  It falls to one of the perimeter guys to rotate in and box Thompson out, which is a heck of a lot easier said than done. 

[Celtics18]

So the answer defensively is to get slower and less athletic in the starting lineup?

At this point, any   lineup we put out there to cover one of our deficiencies only creates another problem in a different aspect of our game. Main problems are.  no defensive big, not enough ball handlers WHO CAN ACTUALLY SCORE especially BEHIND THE ARC . (IT is really the only one) I'm pretty sure this is nothing new to anyone

I agree.

I think that all the Celtics can do is try to put out lineups that load up their strengths on one side and hope that will be enough to create some kind of small advantage, for small stretches of the game.

The Celtics could put Crowder in the starting lineup and go for their best defensive look -- Smart, Bradley, Crowder, Bass, Zeller.

That lineup will have a really tough time scoring if the Cavs actually try.

Alternatively, the Celts could trot out Thomas, Bradley, Datome, Jerebko, and Olynyk and just try to spread the floor as much as possible for Thomas and Bradley to attack.

I don't like either of those lineups.  The first one has nobody who can create off the dribble.  That's a nightmare. 

The second one will obviously get hammered defensively.

We have the personnel to at least attempt to balance offense and defense.

[CelticGuardian]

PG: AB         / Thomas
SG:Turner    / Smart
SF Bass       / Crowder
PF: KO        / Jerebko
 C: Zeller    / Sully

- AB starts to defend Irving
- Turner has a better chance of defending and initiating the offense against JR Smith than Lebron
- Bass has the size and athleticism to body up Lebron
- KO provides 3 pt shooting and playmaking at pf, best suited to guard Love than any other cavs big man
- Zeller did a decent job on Mozgov,

-Off the bench Smart and IT compliment each other in the back court. This way we could have Smart or Bradley guarding Irving the majority of the time he is out there

- Crowder subs for Bass at SF , that way we have a strong body on Lebron at all times

- Sully can play center or PF whenever Thompson or Mozgov is in to provide rebounding against those guys

- Jerebko provides spacing and hustle off the bench .

Thoughts?

I don't think Lebron is looking to go off on us, he's contempt playing point guard and allowing the new guys to get their shine so putting our biggest body on Lebron might not be a need at this point, I do think we should put Crowder on him though.

If Lebron does explode, it would be a very embarrassing way for the Cavs to ge through the first round with their juiced up team.