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'Dribble, drive and hope' probably isn't best game plan
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
Published on Thursday, May 01, 2008
CLEVELAND: The Cavaliers lost Game 5 of their playoff series against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night because they abandoned their offense.
Heck with abandon.
For the final few minutes — and, at least, since the Cavs took an 87-82 lead — they did not run an offense.
LeBron James is a wonderful player, probably the best in the NBA.
There are times when the ball needs to be in his hands, and when the Cavs need to run the play Delonte West described as ''everybody get out of the way and let LeBron do his thing.''
But not every time. And especially not every time starting when the Cavs have a five-point lead in a series-clinching game with 1:47 left.
At that point, the Cavs had everything in line.
They had the ball, ahead by five, at home, with the crowd as loud as it had been all game.
Wizards center Brendan Haywood was on the bench with six fouls, leaving Darius Songaila to guard Zydrunas Ilgauskas. At 7-foot-3, Ilgauskas has a 6-inch height advantage.
The Cavs got the ball four more times — once on the last possession with 3.9 seconds left.
Where did Ilgauskas spend most of his time? About 20 to 25 feet from the basket, setting picks as James dribbled.
Not once did Ilgauskas go to the block to take advantage of a matchup. Not once did the Cavs appear to run a play, an offense with motion and movement and picks away from the ball.
Their approach: Give the ball to James, let him dribble and dribble and dribble, then late in the shot clock, drive and make something happen.
This can work. It has worked. But think how much more dangerous James is getting the ball coming around a screen.
That's what happened in Game 1 — the Cavs ran plays late in the game, and James made shots because he was going to the basket aggressively.
Late in Game 5, there were no plays. Just dribble, drive and hope.
The Cavs' possessions went this way: With the shot clock winding down, James tried a 26-foot 3-pointer with 1:17 to go. He has made those
shots in the past, but it was late in the shot clock, and it appeared that he went for the dagger over DeShawn Stevenson.
James missed badly — and conceded it was a bad shot. Was it ever. It opened the door for the Wizards, who scored on a rebound putback by Caron Butler.
The next possession, James again dribbled at the top of the key, then drove. He passed to Daniel Gibson. His 3 was an open shot, so it counts as a good shot, but it came with less than two seconds on the shot clock and after everyone had stood around and watched James dribble.
After the Wizards cut the lead to one, James again dribbled the time away and drove and passed. The Cavs eventually got the ball to Joe Smith in the middle of the floor.
Smith missed a 4-foot jumper, and Ilgauskas missed a follow. After a flurry, the Wizards came down with the rebound. Butler got a driving layup to bounce around and in, and James could not get his to go at the buzzer.
Yes, Songaila jumped into him.
Yes, a foul could have been called.
Maybe it should have been called.
But the Cavs aren't in the position of needing the call if, in the two minutes before, they run an offense that gets them good shots and does more than rely on one guy to either make or create the shot.
It's tough to say anything negative about James, who had 34 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists — and became the first player since Larry Bird in 1984 to get that many points, rebounds and assists in consecutive playoff games.
He's a great player.
And when a team needs one play, one shot — as it did Sunday — it's one thing to run the spread to let James go.
It's quite another to run it for as long as the Cavs did, and they ran that ''offense'' longer than the last two minutes.
The Cavs shot 36 percent (27-of-75). They took 25 3s and seemed to rely on the 3 when taking the ball to the basket at the least would have drawn a foul. It seemed like every time the Wizards drove in the fourth quarter, a foul was called. The Cavs didn't force the issue, especially when they were ahead.
The Cavs don't need to look beyond themselves when explaining this loss. They had command and a chance to close out the series.
They still need just one win to end it, but now they're going back to Washington, to play a game they never should have had to play.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/
CLEVELAND: The Cavaliers lost Game 5 of their playoff series against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night because they abandoned their offense.
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