Cavalier fans and CavFanatics … it’s A.C., checking in. What’s happening?The big news is obviously Kyrie’s injured finger that’ll keep him out for the next four weeks. It’s a big blow, but as professionals, you have to stay focused, carry on and try to get some wins.
With Kyrie out, I still say our best option is to be a running team. This way, everybody gets a chance to participate and help carry the load. This team needs 15 fast break points every night to be competitive. When we don’t get those, it’s tough to win in the halfcourt.
You can run without Kyrie. You just have to get in that mindset right from the opening tip. The best way to run the fastbreak is to move the ball by passing anyway, not through the dribble. Move bodies – station to station. In the old days, the Celtics ran the best fastbreak with the slowest team in the league. They moved the ball, quickly, station to station.
So, I think that we’re going to have to focus more on rebounding, focus more on individual defense and run at every opportunity we get. I don’t see any other way we can do it.
We’ve been running a lot of our offense through Andy, and that’ll have to continue. We’re going to have to do a lot of high pick-and-rolls with Andy and let Andy read it. And hopefully somebody will step up and start making some shots.
Winning without your best player has to be a joint effort. I can’t see any one guy going from 10 points a game to 20 points a game. I don’t see that. So that means we have to have more guys who aren’t scoring having to score, and take that mentality. We need more production off the bench and the starters to average three, four more points than they’re used to. I don’t see us having one guy that’s going to come in and save the day.
The Cavs will also probably have Dion on the ball more. In Summer League, he played his best on the ball.
He’s going to have to grow up fast, because if they’re going to put the ball in his hands on a consistent basis, he’ll have to take care it – we can’t afford turnovers. And he’ll have to pace himself because he’s going to play more stressful minutes and you have to pace yourself for situations like those – where you’re prone to turnovers.
It’s also times like these that you love having a player like Boobie Gibson – a versatile guy who can play the point and the two. And provide some veteran leadership in the backcourt.
Coming off an injury-plagued season, I think Boobie’s playing very well. He’s having a solid year. Along with Zeller, he’s one of the only guys you can depend on off the bench. They’ve been pretty solid, pretty consistent off the bench.
And again, you saw a different second unit with Zeller out there this weekend. He made the whole second team more cohesive. Things just seem to fit better when he’s in there.
And I thought Tristan had a nice weekend, put up some solid numbers. I know he’s getting frustrated, having his shot blocked in the low post. But he’ll figure it out.
I’d like to see him pass the ball back out of a crowd and re-post after he grabs a board in traffic.
If he gets the possession and has three or four guys on him – find a teammate and re-post. He’s getting his shot blocked too much in those situations, and it’s got to be frustrating. Nobody likes getting their shot blocked. And he has to be a little more creative on how to get shots off. Guys are as big and strong as he is on this level. You can dunk all your points home. He’s got to get a little more creative on how to finish around the basket.
He’ll be busy against the Sixers frontline again this Wednesday. They’ll play the same game on Wednesday at The Q. It won’t be any different. They might try to run a little more on Wednesday, but they don’t really look to run. They’re not built to run, with guys like Brand and Hawes.
The Sixers like to execute in the halfcourt and beat you because they execute better than you do.
After Wednesday, the Cavaliers hit the road for another tough trip.
We can beat Orlando, but Miami’s gonna be tough. And in that building they play a wide-open style. LeBron’s having another great year. And Memphis is playing better ball than Miami. They’re playing the best ball in the league right now. They’re extremely tough. They’re built for the postseason.
It’s going to take a big effort by the Cavs to get wins on that trip, but it can be done.
I’ll probably Tweet some thoughts about those games from the road. I’m finally giving in to Twitter and I’m actually enjoying it.
My iPad and I, we have some misunderstandings. I have some conversations with it every now and again. It’s been a love-hate relationship, but right now, we have a little treaty.
But I enjoy Twitter and I think I’ve got around 5,300 followers. It’s fun. I do mostly tweeting out myself. I don’t answer a lot of followers during the game. Very simple stuff, I’ll answer. But I’m not quick enough yet to do that during a game. I don’t know how Fred does it!
I’ll wish the viewers a Happy Thanksgiving on our FSO broadcast on Wednesday night, but I’ll wish all you reading now a healthy, safe Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy some good food and your family and friends and some football.
And when we return next week for leftovers, let’s hope we bring a couple wins home with us.