Cavaliers report
Game plan hiding little
Opposing teams beginning to welcome James handling the ball, knowing what to anticipate
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter
<!-- begin body-content -->CLEVELAND - There are very few secrets in the NBA, especially what happens on the court.
At one time this season, the Cavaliers had a valuable offensive plan they could use late in games: put their most talented player in the best play-making position.
From early on, a 123-120 come-from-behind win over the Philadelphia 76ers in November being the catalyst, when offense was needed coach Mike Brown would put LeBron James at point guard.
With Larry Hughes drawing defenders away, James often ran high pick-and-rolls with either Zydrunas Ilgauskas or Drew Gooden. Opposing teams didn't exactly know how to handle it and, with James' athleticism and passing skills, there were several options to attack and points seemed to flow freely.
Those days, however, have become rare and the Cavs, perhaps, have been slow to recognize it, even though the league hasn't.
Instead of it being a change-up, the strategy has become more standard in the fourth quarters recently and the effectiveness has mostly ceased. Over the past five games, James has managed a total of 14 points in the fourth quarter and, on three occasions, the Cavs have scored 17 points or less as a team.
Opposing teams have figured out they can use James running the point to their advantage, changing the way they play pick-and-rolls. Not to mention that Hughes hasn't been healthy for two months now.
``With LeBron at the point, it has become really easy to force the ball out of his hands,'' said one NBA scout, who's been watching the Cavs for the past week. ``Or you can make him take at long jumper at the end of the (shot) clock, which is exactly what you want even if he makes it.''
What that scout is reporting back to his team is what has been on the opposition's reports for weeks now. When James is at the point, which often happens late in the game when Brown has been reluctant to play Eric Snow, opposing teams have been immediately double-teaming him to force him to pass and making it almost impossible to drive to the basket.
It has also become a by-the-book practice that when James tries to run pick-and-rolls with his big men, the defense is what is called a ``hard show.'' After James' teammate sets the pick, his defender jumps out in front of James to block his path, also known as a ``show.''
``That way LeBron is forced to usually move away from the basket,'' the scout said. ``Teams have been doing it to the Cavs for a while now. It would be much easier for them if they ran some of their offense through Ilgauskas and let it go out to LeBron so defenders have to close in instead of waiting back.''
Don't think the Cavs haven't seen it and heard it, but breaking habits in March isn't easy.
``I've got to mix that up a little bit and take LeBron off the ball some, move him around a little bit,'' Brown said. ``Teams are so locked into stopping him and they're going into it as soon as he crosses half court.''
In Thursday's victory over the Chicago Bulls, Brown left Snow in to run the point during the fourth quarter. However, often the ball ended up stopped in James' hands with little chance to create.
``That is something E. Snow and I have talked about,'' James said.
``It is much easier to double me when I bring the ball up than when I come off screens. We have to look at it.''
