Why Not Just Try Moving Closer to the Basket?

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">CLEVELAND - Let's see, the Cavaliers' LeBron James scored 32 points...

The rest of the team had 49...

James was 13-of-19 from the field...

The rest of the team was 20-of-55...

James was 3-of-7 on 3-pointers...

Everyone else was just shooting too many 3-pointers, as in 4-of-22...

Final score: Rockets 90, Cavs 81.

The Cavs' star played a wise 44 minutes, seldom forcing shots. But his teammates seemed clueless. Veterans Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones were cold from the outside, as they combined to shoot 4-of-19 on 3-pointers.
Yes, 3-point shooting is their speciality, but there are nights when the shots don't fall -- and why not take a step or two closer? What's wrong with an 18-footer? Is there a law against that? It sure seemed liked it, as Jones and Marshall took only four shots not from 3-point range.

There are no nights when the Cavs should have nearly 40 percent of their field-goal attempts (29-of-76) coming from 3-point range. That's just lazy offense, a refusal to pass the ball a few times to find a better shot nearer to the basket.

Coach Mike Brown will need to demand more from a team that, other than Drew Gooden and James, is very, very experienced and should play smarter.
In the past five games, Jones is 2-of-22 on 3-pointers, 0-of-4 on 2-pointers. If he actually drove to the basket, the man defending him would probably pass out in shock and foul him.

Yes, shooters have to keep shooting -- but they can find different shots to take.

Jones was hardly the only MIA on this night.

Drew Gooden played 27 minutes in the first three quarters, scoring only six points. He was 2-of-6 from the foul line. He had six rebounds and never left the bench in the fourth quarter. It's obvious that Brown didn't appreciate something from Gooden, be it defense, effort or focus.

He stuck with Marshall, who was having a miserable shooting night (4-of-16).
Some will say the Cavs looked so sluggish on this Thursday night perhaps beginning with their 91-84 victory in Milwaukee only 24 hours earlier. Then there's Larry Hughes, who is out for two months with surgery on the right middle finger of his shooting hand.

But there's something else going on, something that has to change. Brown is going to have to work a little more on offense, or else the Cavs will soon lapse back into throwing the ball to James and watching him dribble, dribble, dribble until he creates his own shot.

It would have been easy for James to do that Thursday, but he resisted the temptation. He was often double-teamed, and he kept passing to open teammates.

Who continually missed.

With Hughes playing, the Cavs had two players who could make something out of nothing, whose speed and driving skills are so strong, they could get to the basket and get off a decent shot.
Now, only James can do that.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas is an inside presence, but the Cavs have been inconsistent all season in finding ways to put the ball in his hands. He had 17 points and 10 rebounds Thursday.

If the Cavs are going to survive as a playoff team without Hughes, they can't be 8-of-18 from the foul line, as was the case Thursday. They can't take quick shots just because they are behind and trying to get back into the game quickly with the aid of 3-pointers.</div>

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