The New Answer Is Better Than The Standard Solution

Linas Kleiza had played over 20 minutes in the playoffs just twice going into Thursday’s Game 2. Both times he was a minor part of the offense. With Dahntay Jones a foul magnet for the officials AND overmatched by Kobe Bryant (who isn’t?), George Karl had to get inventive. His first idea was to bring out the mascot/energy burst, Birdman. Unfortunately, where Birdman had tons of advantages in the Mavericks series, he’s deadweight in this one. Bryant scorched him around the baseline. Gasol worked him in the post. It was bad all over. Anderson couldn’t answer offensively, because he has no offensive moves to speak of.

And so, instead of keeping with the same pattern that had won them games before and hoping it would somehow start working, George Karl turned to Kleiza.

Surprise!

Kleiza comes in. He’s big enough to guard Bryant and Odom. He’s fast enough to help and recover. And he’s got range. Everyone looks at Bryant’s performance last year and assumes Kleiza was murdered by Bryant. But for the most part last year, Karl (God knows why) decided to have Kenyon Martin guard Kobe Bryant. Which would be like the Magic having Rafer guard LeBron. Kleiza is the kind of guy that can slip in between on Bryant. Bryant loves beating guys who are much, much worse than him and humiliating them (Dahntay Jones) and guys that defend him pretty well (Battier, Artest). Guys that just make him work but who he can get his on, he doesn’t go for the kill on. He’s still Kobe freaking Bryant, but he’s the Kobe you want.

Conversely, once Billups and Nene started to realize Kleiza was worth passing to, it got Melo into the act. 16 points on 5-8 shooting AND 8 boards. A guy playing a 2/3 wing combo with 8 boards? HUGE.

Behind this is a deeper development. If you want to be effective in the playoffs, you have to be willing to make adjustments and not just stick with what brung you. All the guys are on your team for a reason. Even the scrubs. If something’s working, stick with it. If it’s not working, adjust and go to something else until you find what works. It would be easy for SVG to stick with Rafer Alston and not go to Anthony Johnson. But he’s noticed Johnson provides them a change of pace guy. It would be easy to stick with Redick in the starting spot, since he played Ray Allen well. But he doesn’t have the advantages that Lee has. If Lee starts to struggle, he can re-insert Redick. If Turkoglu is hot, let the Turkish Wonder roll. If he’s struggling, turn to Mikael Pietrus. The key? Don’t be afraid to make adjustments that don’t jive with what your plan has been so far.

Conversely, you’ve got Mike Brown and Phil Jackson. The sum of their teams’ parts is greater than that of their opponents. But when their opponents have forced them into matchup on matchup, it’s been difficult for them. They still have the better team. But they’re limited by their previous success into being unwilling to adjust. And they have to get beyond that if they want to make the Finals. Because they’re not THAT much better than their opponents.

Jackson is in a better position. If you look at Game 2, the Lakers played terrific in the first half. They lost the rebounding advantage by two, and then only because of team rebounds. They had fewer turnovers, shot better from the arc, blocked more shots, and outscored the Nuggets bench. But they may have discovered in this game that they NEED a big body down low. Gasol is a fantastic overall player, and had bursts of aggression tonight. But most of them were with attention driven by Bynum. I’ve been overtly critical of Bynum, but tonight he was fantastic. Yeah, he didn’t rebound well, but he was getting putbacks and playing strong. He got buckets. That’s huge for not forcing the action outside. Now, maybe it’s conditioning. With Bynum’s notoriously weak work ethic, it wouldn’t surprise me. Plus, the kid is coming off a significant knee injury. So maybe he’s just not up to speed. That’s fine. You’ve got to let Josh Powell have a shot at the lineup. You can’t just hang Odom and Gasol out there and expect them to battle Nene and a suddenly brutalizing Martin. A big body to take pressure off Gasol is better than a more talented overall lineup. You’re just neutralizing an advantage that Denver has, which puts it back to Bryant and Gasol versus Melo and Billups. Which you know you can win. His refusal to recognize that Derek Fisher has become a disaster is most damning. Okay, fine, you don’t think Farmar’s playing smart basketball. The numbers don’t support that. But if Derek Fisher is taking runner pull up jumpers from the arc with a hand in his face? And they’re not falling even close? You go away from it. Ariza gave you twenty points. That’s great. But he’s got a bad handle. You know this. So don’t put him in a position to have to do more than he can. You’ve got other guys. Use them.

Mike Brown is a little more screwed. Szczerbiak has become a “one good game, five bad games” shooter with limited defensive potential. After that, you’ve got Joe Smith who’s a very nice archeological find, and can hit some big shots, but isn’t going to be hanging with anyone fast and athletic. Maybe most damning for this Cleveland team is just that. They don’t have anyone outside of you know who to defend long, athletic shooters. The Magic? They’re essentially Dwight Howard + a zillion long, athletic shooters. The Cavs don’t have many places to go here. They have to keep hanging with what worked all season to get them over the hump. But Orlando has the book on them. Run out three pointers. Rebound. Let LeBron score, and don’t allow easy open shots. Use your athleticism to get in front of them.

Now, that sum of those parts will be enough to get them three wins in that series. The fourth? That one may come down to who’s got the shooters touch.

This was why I was one of the few people to pick Orlando in this series.

Guys who can create their own shot and hit them:

Cleveland:

LEBRON JAMES

Mo Williams

Delonte West, kind of.

Orlando:

Dwight Howard

Rashard Lewis

Hedo Turkoglu

Mikael Pietrus

Courtney Lee

Guys Who Can Clean Up Open Shots:

Cleveland:

Varejao

Ilgauskas

Delonte West

Daniel Gibson (kind of)

Orlando:

JJ Redick

Rafer Alston

Anthony Johnson

Marcin Gortat

Tony Battie

TROUBLE.

I like Cleveland tomorrow night and LA on Saturday. But if their coaches don’t start to understand that there are going to have to be adjustments, there’s going to be worrying signs. Both of these teams need a demoralizing domination game. And the matchups just don’t favor them.

******

I haven’t had a chance to relate this yet, but I have picked Orlando in seven, and LA in 6.