INDEPENDENCE: When the Cavaliers were trying to pull off another stunning victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, they had possession in the final minute and trailed by four.
They needed a good look, preferably something that included Kyrie Irving. But with one second remaining on the shot clock, Anderson Varejao hoisted a 20-footer essentially from the 3-point line. Varejao missed the shot, the Celtics grabbed the rebound and the Cavs’ comeback had ended.
The Cavs have committed 18 shot-clock violations through 20 games, which is tied for the third-most in the league. Not included in that total are countless other possessions that ended like the one Tuesday, where Varejao hoisted a bad, low-percentage shot just to beat the buzzer.
“We’re getting into what we call late-clock situations way too often,” said Cavs coach Byron Scott, who addressed the issue with his players again during practice Thursday. “Our pace of play has to be faster. The way we want to play and the way we want to get the ball moving from side to side and then look to attack means you have to get the ball up the court a lot faster.”
The Detroit Pistons have the most shot-clock violations with 31, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The New Jersey Nets are next with 19, and the Cavs are tied with the Sacramento Kings at 18.
Scott has been hounding point guards Irving and Ramon Sessions to play faster for weeks, in part for this reason. He wants the point guards to push the tempo and look for easy baskets in transition as much as possible. When the opportunity isn’t there, pull it out and run the offense.
The belief is by pushing the tempo at the start of the possession, it will leave more time to run sets out of the offense. It just isn’t always working that way.
“They’ve done it probably 50 percent of the time,” Scott said. “We have to get it to about 80 percent.”
Irving has been at his best lately when he has been on the attack, particularly in the fourth quarter. Now Scott wants to eliminate the possessions when the point guards are walking the ball up the court, wasting precious seconds the Cavs have proved they need on the back end of possessions.
Irving is in favor of playing faster. His pace has already quickened from the start of the season, but it seems the faster he plays, the faster Scott wants him to go.
“I just pick and choose when I push the ball and when I don’t,” Irving said. “[Scott] obviously likes for me to push it more. As our relationship continues to grow, I think we will find that middle ground where I’m pushing the ball, but still controlling the pace of the game.”
A faster tempo also means more turnovers. Scott said up to 15 turnovers a game is allowable in the system he wants to run, but no more. The Cavs have struggled with turnovers much of the season, committing 20 or more seven times. But they’ve averaged 15.7 in their past three games.
“The way I want us to play, you’re going to have to live with a certain amount of turnovers,” Scott said. “But you can still be a very good up-tempo basketball team and not turn the ball over 17-18 times a game. You just have to be smarter.”
Injury report
Anthony Parker (back) has been ruled out for tonight’s game against the Orlando Magic, meaning Mychel Thompson is likely to get the start again at shooting guard.
Daniel Gibson (neck) and Tristan Thompson (ankle) are both questionable. Neither practiced Thursday, and Scott didn’t shed anymore light on Gibson’s mysterious ailment.
“His movement is better, better range [of motion],” Scott said. “I think he’s feeling a whole lot better than he was a couple of days ago.”
No cheering for Mavs
Cavs fans became Mavs fans last spring when the Dallas Mavericks kept LeBron James from winning an NBA championship. Plenty of Cavs fans bought into gimmicks such as “Cavs 4 Mavs” websites and T-shirts, but with the Mavericks coming to Cleveland on Saturday for their only appearance this season, Scott doesn’t want to hear any cheers for the defending champions.
“I don’t want them cheering for the Dallas Mavericks,” Scott said. “This is our home. I understand how a lot of fans here feel about Dallas winning, but that was in June. That was seven months ago. That’s over with. It’s a new season. When they come here, you might have one player that a lot of fans cheer for, but as a team, do not cheer for the Dallas Mavericks.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
