The Daily Dose: Dose: King Seeks Throne
The fascinating Finals struggle between the Cavaliers and Warriors leads off today’s Dose, which also covers Wednesday’s most important NBA news and updates.
Matthew Dellavedova‘s heroics in the Finals have overshadowed the notoriety he gained in earlier rounds of the playoffs, and his herculean effort in Game 3 already has a place in Cavaliers’ lore. That he was hospitalized after the game for dehydration isn’t surprising, and fortunately he’s since recovered and will start Game 4. He even told coach David Blatt not to limit his playing time, though Blatt may not have a choice if Delly shows signs of exhaustion too early on Thursday.
The Cavs got more positive injury news, for once, when Iman Shumpert‘s shoulder MRI came back negative. He has a bruise that doesn’t imperil his status for Thursday’s game, and it’s a best-case scenario since he injured the same shoulder he’d dislocated back in December. Shumpert is averaging a mere 5.3 points on 26.3 percent shooting in the Finals, but he’s playing solid defense (with 3.3 steals and 0.7 blocks) in 34 minutes per game, and his 1.3 triples per game are at least stretching Golden State defensively.
LeBron James has garnered tons of headlines and it’s impossible not to reiterate the majesty of his accomplishments through three Finals games. His 123 points are the most scored to begin a Finals in NBA history and his averages speak volumes: 41.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 8.3 assists. He’s shooting 41.0% from the field but is a respectable 35% from downtown and is feasting in the paint with 66.7% shooting on 9.0 attempts per game within five feet. Throughout these playoffs only Blake Griffin (10.6) averaged more shots within five feet. The Cavs had 30 drives on Tuesday, 23 of which came from LBJ.
The Cavs want to nearly grind the game to a halt, eliminating the Warriors’ fastbreak opportunities and seizing up their offensive engine, and so far it’s worked. Anyone watching the Finals knows that LeBron is completely dominating Cleveland’s offense, but a quick look at some ‘SportsVU’ info drives home the magnitude of his role.
LeBron is holding the ball for 6+ seconds during 63% of his touches in the Finals. (Up from 37% in the regular season.)
LeBron is taking 7+ dribbles during 43% of his field goal attempts. (Up from 26% in the regular season.)
LeBron is taking 48% of his field goal attempts with seven or fewer seconds left on the shot clock. (Up from 30% during the regular season.)
LeBron has a usage rate of 42.4% and an assist rate of 54.3%. (Up from 32% and 43.5%, respectively.)
The absence of Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving obviously play a huge role here, but both LeBron and David Blatt deserve praise for re-writing their offensive blueprint to maximize their strengths (aka LeBron).
The Warriors’ fourth-quarter surge in Game 3 coincided with Stephen Curry‘s aggressive play and David Lee‘s brief time on the court during his NBA Finals debut. Andrew Bogut wasn’t doing much to keep Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson from imposing their will in the paint, and Lee at least gave the Warriors an offensive weapon in the post. In addition to his 11 points on 4-of-4 FGs and 3-of-5 FTs, Lee snared four rebounds and handed out two nice assists — he also committed five fouls in 13 minutes, but he can be forgiven for some rust after playing a grand total of 68 minutes in the playoffs prior to Tuesday.
Lee’s offensive impact was crystalized by SportsVU, who point out that Golden State averaged 1.54 points with Lee as a screener on Tuesday, but just 0.85 on all other ball-screen possessions. Steve Kerr confirmed that Lee has earned a spot in the rotation, saying, “David was terrific. David helped us big time get back into that game … You’ll see more of David Lee.”
Lee’s reemergence could be even more crucial for Golden State if Draymond Green‘s back injury continues to bother him. He said that during Game 3 his back “locked up at all times; pain with explosion, jumping and contact.” It showed in his play, as he shot just 2-of-10 from the field in 30 minutes while posting his worst +/- rating of the postseason (-14).
Green also needs to start knocking down open 3-pointers to give the Warriors an offensive release valve. He and Andre Iguodala are a combined 40-of-140 from downtown in the playoffs (28.6 percent) and Cleveland has taken notice — they’re cheating off both forwards and Timofey Mozgov has been the primary defender on Iguodala for substantial stretches in the Finals.
Before progressing to Wednesday’s news, I’ll mention that Aaron Bruski explored the nuances of Golden State’s gameplan in the Wednesday Dose, while Ed Isaacson (with an assist from Dr. A) has covered all angles of the draft in Rotoworld’s ‘Draft Preview’ columns.
You can follow me on Twitter (@Knaus_RW) for stats, draft news, injury updates and RW article links throughout the offseason!
King for a Day
Former Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro has accepted a front office job with the Nuggets, whom he worked for prior to joining Sacramento in 2013. It didn’t take him long to resume a high-profile job in Denver despite what sounds like a smorgasbord of dysfunction that led to his ouster in Sacramento.
Pertinent details for his dismissal abound, including reports that D’Alessandro led the push to fire coach Mike Malone. That earned him the ire of Kings players including DeMarcus Cousins, who was pleased with Malone, and the firing was reportedly viewed as “a personal vendetta.” D’Alessandro even argued against hiring Malone’s eventual replacement, George Karl. A spat with former assistant Shareef Abdur-Rahim (reportedly because Abdur-Rahim wanted to draft Elfrid Payton instead of Nik Stauskas) led D’Alessandro to ban him from joining the Kings’ Summer League team last summer.
The Kings’ former GM was finally “stripped of decision-making power” once Vlade Divac was hired as VP of operations this spring. It’s surprising that it didn’t happen sooner, given the pattern of petty obstinacy and poor decisions that emerges in this thorough report from beat writer Jason Jones. D’Alessandro rejoins a Nuggets’ front office which isn’t exactly a model of consistency.
A Smattering of “Headlines”
The word “headlines” without quotes would be too strong for anything non-Finals related that happened on Wednesday, but we can quickly run down the top stories in rapid-fire format.
Kyrie Irving, who was released from the hospital this weekend, expects to shed his soft cast in one week. Irving’s broken kneecap is expected to require 3-4 months of rehab but he didn’t have any ligament or cartilage damage and his odds of playing on opening night are very good.
Nike will replace Reebok/Adidas as the official brand for NBA jerseys beginning in the 2017-18 season.
Shabazz Napier (hernia surgery) plans to play for the Heat at Summer League, pending a full recovery from his April 1 surgery. Napier will earn a guaranteed $1.3 million next season.
The Lakers are expected to pick up Robert Sacre‘s $981k team option for the 2015-16 season.
Nikola Jokic, a second-round pick of the Nuggets in 2014, said that he will join the Nuggets during Summer League. Jokic has a good chance to make the roster but fantasy owners should be monitoring him through binoculars at this point.
Pierre Jackson (Achilles) declared himself 100% healthy. There’s a good chance that he’ll play in Summer League but it is unclear which team(s) he’ll suit up for, as the 76ers waived him last season.
A quick note from Game 3. With 18 seconds left in the game, Matthew Dellavedova secured an inbounds pass (barely) on the sideline but pressure from Klay Thompson caused him to throw the ball directly to the Warriors. The refs reviewed the play and determined that Thompson “was standing out of bounds when he touched ball” and therefore the Cavs regained possession.
That all makes sense. Heat writer Ira Winderman made an interesting point, however, writing on Twitter, “[I] still don’t understand that if Dellavedova has possession inbounds and Klay is out of bounds when touching ball, that ball is out-of-bounds. If that’s the case, a player defending near sideline could merely step out of bounds, reach out to touch ball, and force an inbounds situation.”
By rule any player out of bounds cannot touch the ball before re-establishing both of their feet inbounds on any play, so it follows that an actively out-of-bounds player can’t touch the ball. The following rule is from the “Official Rules of the NBA: 2014-15”:
“Section II—Ball
a. The ball is out-of-bounds when it touches a player who is out-of-bounds or any other person, the floor, or any object on, above or outside of a boundary or the supports or back of the backboard.”
The question remains valid and this rule could theoretically be used by a (very) savvy and dexterous defender to stop play at opportunistic times when the ball is near the baseline. This is the type of referee minutia that doesn’t raise an eyebrow during the regular season, but it makes you contemplate nuances to the rule when seen under the magnifying glass of the NBA Finals.
Enjoy Game 4!
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