Hey, Cavalier fans! It’s Austin – checking in as the squad gets ready for Atlanta and the Eastern Conference Finals. What’s happening?
Nothing could have been better for the Cavs than to get a nice five-day break before the ECF. I think the Boston series took a toll on us and, unfortunately, Kevin got hurt in the process. And then the Chicago series was old school basketball. This series should be perfect for our style of play.
The break is especially helpful for Kyrie, who needed it after that tough Chicago series. But if there was a silver lining to the physical play in both series, it was the emergence of Tristan and Delly.
Tristan really came of age in that Chicago series. He was huge! He established himself in the league with his play. He and Delly both.
It’s funny: Delly’s great series culminated in Game 6 with his scoring, but he had been wearing Derrick Rose and Aaaron Brooks down the whole series. Like Tristan, he really made a name for himself. Put it this way: Delly went into the series unknown and came out of it a household name.
But that’s the way the playoffs usually unfold. Role players really step up and play bigger parts. The stars are going to do their thing, and at this level, every team has more than one. But the role guys accentuate what the stars do. And that’s what you have to have. When you get to this level, you have to have those guys.
In many ways, that’s how you got to this level in the first place – help from the bench, as opposed to other teams that don’t get that support from the bench on a consistent basis.
When Kevin Love went down, Coach Blatt and the staff had to caulk together his production from other places. And the role players that were called upon did exactly that.
Again, you’re just trying to get a little something from everybody. With Tristan, you’re going to get the rebounding. With James Jones, you’re going to get the scoring. So you have to balance the two and know when to use them. That’s Coach’s biggest concern: when to use them and how to use. And he’s done a good job of when to insert them into the game.
But Coach Blatt has really been pushing almost all the right buttons in his first playoff run. And I really think people need to stop second-guessing him. He knows what he’s doing, and what’s happening now is they’re starting to bond as a team – everything’s starting to fit. They understand how he’s going to react to certain situations and what to do.
One of Coach Blatt’s biggest attributes, I think, is that he lets his players have input. That, to me, is huge. All the great ones listen to their players, even Gregg Popovich. In fact, Popovich might do it more than anybody. Players must have input, because it makes players buy in, it helps them take ownership of it.
People who make those critiques about Coach in that respect don’t have any idea what’s going on in the locker room or on the bench.
Two guys that have bought in and have taken ownership are Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith. Both of them have played different roles this season but they stayed focused, they stayed productive and didn’t let it bother them. That’s a tribute to both of those men, as far as their understanding of basketball and their understanding of our team situation.
And what’s funny about their situation at this point of the season is that when J.R. got here, you knew he was a great offensive player, but his defense took everyone by surprise. It’s been the exact opposite for Shump. We saw all season what a great defender he was – but it wasn’t until the playoffs that we realized how effective he was on the offensive end. I never thought he could produce like that. He shoots mid-range shots, he penetrates, he shoots three-point shots. He just doesn’t like to be clotheslined!
And then there’s the team’s leader, LeBron. His play was fantastic – as always – but I want to focus on his postgame interviews.
He almost never takes the podium alone. He’s usually up there with Kyrie or Kevin and in the last game, Tristan and Delly.
Those are not only bonding moments, but those are moments in which those guys listen to how he reacts to the questions the reporters are asking – and it gives them more insight into the culture that he’s building here. He’s letting the young guys understand: This is what it takes to win at this level – at a consistent, championship-level.
When those guys get older, they will say that the three or four years that I played with LeBron took me to a whole different level.
Now they have to put all that in perspective and focus on the Hawks.
From watching the Wizards series, I think you can’t allow them, individually, to beat you off the dribble. They’re like San Antonio – they’re good when they can ‘read’ you. And if you break down against them off the dribble, the next pass is what they read. So if you’re able to not allow that, you keep them guessing.
That’s what Washington did to them. They wouldn’t allow them too many situations where they can read your defense.
And as far as Atlanta taking three of four against us this year – that really doesn’t bother me. Not at this point in the season.
We’re a different team than we were in those earlier meetings. At the beginning, we were just getting together and clicking. Then we caught them when they were red hot. And that last meeting, we were still growing and figuring things out and it also happened to be at the end of a pretty grueling stretch. And they definitely stymied us. But we’re not at that point anymore.
Even though we’re shorthanded, it’ll still be interesting to see how they deal with us. Because we have just as good of athletes and we move the ball as well as they do. And I just think if we don’t let Korver go off, we’ll be fine. Washington shut him down; they didn’t give him many open looks.
I’d really love to take Game 1 down there at Philips Arena. That’s always the game an away team can get. And that would show how strong we are.
We just need to come out in that first game and put some doubt in their minds. I think the last series shook them up a little bit and the pressure is on the home team in Game 1. Now it’s time to go down there and get it done.