Game 2 Changes...Thompson starts

[celticinorlando]

Knew this was coming. Cleveland trying to defend the paint with TT on Al. Interested to see how CBS responds.

I would start the same group moving Al onto TT and Brown onto Love. Tatum on Smith. Morris on LBJ.

It does take one shooter off the floor for Cleveland but TT seems to play his best vs Boston. Could start Baynes on him but who do you sit?

As for the Cavs..they have some pretty tough match ups now...Love cannot guard Tatum or Brown.

[MikeJelly]

Has it been reported he's starting? I haven't seen that yet

[celticinorlando]

Has it been reported he's starting? I haven't seen that yet

Tyronn Lue all but declares Tristan Thompson a starter for Game 2 against Boston @clevelanddotcom

[footey]

Makes sense.  Morris no longer starting I guess, unless you sit Tatum, which I highly doubt. Or keep Morris in starting lineup, move Al to cover Thompson, and Tatum guards Love.

[celticinorlando]

Makes sense.  Morris no longer starting I guess, unless you sit Tatum, which I highly doubt. Or keep Morris in starting lineup, move Al to cover Thompson, and Tatum guards Love.

Think Boston keeps the same line up shifting Brown or Tatum over to Love

If Boston starts Baynes then you most likely sit Morris and have Brown or Tatum on James. That scream foul trouble.

[KGBirdBias]

Good because it just means they have one less scorer\shooter on the floor. Who does TT cover when the ball starts moving and Stevens PnRs them to death. I expect Horford to get up at least 10 3-point attempts tomorrow.

[celticinorlando]

Good because it just means they have one less scorer\shooter on the floor. Who does TT cover when the ball starts moving and Stevens PnRs them to death. I expect Horford to get up at least 10 3-point attempts tomorrow.

Who defends Tatum or Brown? Love cannot defend Tatum. That is a big advantage for Boston.

Al needs to pull TT out of the lane and go to work on him. But Boston has to rebound.

[Erik]

Knew this was coming. Cleveland trying to defend the paint with TT on Al. Interested to see how CBS responds.

I would start the same group moving Al onto TT and Brown onto Love. Tatum on Smith. Morris on LBJ.

It does take one shooter off the floor for Cleveland but TT seems to play his best vs Boston. Could start Baynes on him but who do you sit?

As for the Cavs..they have some pretty tough match ups now...Love cannot guard Tatum or Brown.

I don't think that Tristan Thompson can guard Horford. Horford is incredibly quick for his size and he's bigger than TT. He's just going to face him up and take him off the dribble, do a pump fake, get a foul or a dunk, etc.

This move is for the offensive end. They want to force us to play Baynes to remove 1 LeBron defender.

[celticinorlando]

Knew this was coming. Cleveland trying to defend the paint with TT on Al. Interested to see how CBS responds.

I would start the same group moving Al onto TT and Brown onto Love. Tatum on Smith. Morris on LBJ.

It does take one shooter off the floor for Cleveland but TT seems to play his best vs Boston. Could start Baynes on him but who do you sit?

As for the Cavs..they have some pretty tough match ups now...Love cannot guard Tatum or Brown.

I don't think that Tristan Thompson can guard Horford. Horford is incredibly quick for his size and he's bigger than TT. He's just going to face him up and take him off the dribble, do a pump fake, get a foul or a dunk, etc.

This move is for the offensive end. They want to force us to play Baynes to remove 1 LeBron defender.

Lue in the Cleveland.com article sighted that TT defends AL better than anyone out there.


"Lue, not one who typically cites analytical data when announcing decisions, said that Thompson was No. 1 in the league over the last three years guarding Horford out of all defenders who had taken him on for at least 30 possessions."

[Vermont Green]

I was wondering what adjustments Cleveland would do.  Their main offense was pick and roll with LeBron and Love, forcing a switch, and then LeBron would give the ball to Love to post up.  That did not work and really made their offense stagnant.

With Thompson on the floor, assuming Horford takes him, Al can sag and help but I don't think they will switch.  That frees up Thompson to rebound but I am still OK with this.  I still put Morris on LeBron and let Tatum take Love (Love just stands in the corner anyway).  He will have to concentrate on boxing out but I think he can keep Love off the boards.  They could also try to post Love directly but that also takes them out of their flow.

At the other end, assuming Thompson takes Horford, Love will have to take Morris or Tatum (my guess is that Love takes Morris).  Either way, Love ends up on a quicker player.  We need to exploit this advantage.  I prefer this to starting Baynes and putting Tatum on LeBron.

[PhoSita]

Not surprising.  Question is, does Love start also?

Going big seems like the most sensible play for Cleveland.   Bron-Love-Thompson frontcourt has dealt with Horford teams before.

[Erik]

Knew this was coming. Cleveland trying to defend the paint with TT on Al. Interested to see how CBS responds.

I would start the same group moving Al onto TT and Brown onto Love. Tatum on Smith. Morris on LBJ.

It does take one shooter off the floor for Cleveland but TT seems to play his best vs Boston. Could start Baynes on him but who do you sit?

As for the Cavs..they have some pretty tough match ups now...Love cannot guard Tatum or Brown.

I don't think that Tristan Thompson can guard Horford. Horford is incredibly quick for his size and he's bigger than TT. He's just going to face him up and take him off the dribble, do a pump fake, get a foul or a dunk, etc.

This move is for the offensive end. They want to force us to play Baynes to remove 1 LeBron defender.

Lue in the Cleveland.com article sighted that TT defends AL better than anyone out there.


"Lue, not one who typically cites analytical data when announcing decisions, said that Thompson was No. 1 in the league over the last three years guarding Horford out of all defenders who had taken him on for at least 30 possessions."

Interesting that he's #1 in the league. He's definitely their best chance because Kevin Love is a poor defender. I just don't see anyone stopping this version of Al Horford.

You brought up advanced analytics.. Horford is currently the 2nd best VORP in the playoffs behind LeBron James. He's playing better than James Harden.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2018_advanced.html

[celticinorlando]

If I am Boston I stay with the game 1 line up. Always can bring Baynes off the bench if needed. Cannot afford to sit Tatum and cannot afford to have to start Brown on LBJ.

[jpotter33]

Yeah, it only took terrible Lue a game 1 shellacking to make the right change. 

Love at center was always a dumb move given how terrible it made their interior defense. Cleveland's biggest advantage over us in the past has always been their size in the frontcourt with Lebron, Love, and Thompson, which we simply couldn't handle in the past. Just look how much Thompson killed us on the boards in his short stint yesterday. Granted, things are a bit different this year with Baynes, along with Big Al playing the best ball of his career.

This puts Brad into an interesting position. I'm not sure what the right lineup move is. Keeping Morris in the starting lineup will certainly create even more mismatches on the offensive end for us, but I'm not sure how to matchup defensively. If you keep Morris on Lebron, which is the main point for him to be in there, that would leave either Tatum or Al on Love. I'd rather Al be on Love, as I don't see how Tatum can guard Love on the post, but on the other hand Tatum will be eaten alive on the glass by Thompson.

If you go back to Baynes, that means either Morris (your main Lebron defender) or Tatum (your leading playoffs scorer) has to come off the bench, which is far from ideal.

I imagine we stay with Morris starting for now, put Al on Love and Tatum on Thompson, and try to mitigate any rebounding issues through a group effort of crashing the boards. And if that doesn't work, I imagine Brad will substitute early and go bigger with Baynes. We just have to hope we can take advantage of our mismatches on the offensive end by staying small.

[Tr1boy]

Knew this was coming. Cleveland trying to defend the paint with TT on Al. Interested to see how CBS responds.

I would start the same group moving Al onto TT and Brown onto Love. Tatum on Smith. Morris on LBJ.

It does take one shooter off the floor for Cleveland but TT seems to play his best vs Boston. Could start Baynes on him but who do you sit?

As for the Cavs..they have some pretty tough match ups now...Love cannot guard Tatum or Brown.

Who started in game 1 in place of Thompson?