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Cavaliers center Andrew Bynum needs to be able to get the ball in order to try shots like this one earlier this season.
(Chuck Crow, The Plain Dealer)
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- Cavaliers center Andrew Bynum said he doesn't really have a preference for getting the ball when he's being fronted by an opponent.
"You can only do it two ways,'' Bynum said after practice on Wednesday at Cleveland Clinic Courts. "You can throw it over the top or you can move the ball. Like I said, right now, I think we should move the ball and play our backside action.''
This is the latest wrinkle as the Cavs try to get used to playing with a traditional dominant big man like Bynum. In the first half of Tuesday's 119-116 loss to Portland, the Cavs had success getting the ball in to Bynum, who responded with 13 points on 6 of 12 shots. But when the Trail Blazers began to front him, or double team him, in the second half, the Cavs couldn't figure out how to get him the ball. As a result, he finished with the same 13 points on 6 of 12 shots, plus two turnovers trying to retrieve the ball and make something happen.
"I'd love to get him the ball,'' Brown said when asked about the obvious differences between Bynum's first and second halves on Tuesday. "But right now, we don't know how to get him the ball when teams front him. So in the first half, that's part of Portland's defensive philosophy, I think in their mind, they feel like they can play every post player straight up. You can't play Andrew Bynum straight up, I don't care who you are. If you play him straight up and you allow us to throw him the ball, he's going to make plays. He's either going to score it or he's going to make the right pass out if you try to go double team.
"I think they realized that at halftime and they made an adjustment. They started fronting him. The reality is for us right now as a young team that really hasn't played a ton with a big like that, we have a tough time. You watch any game we play and teams front him, we have a tough time getting him the ball. Sometimes it brings us to a standstill and makes us real stagnant offensively. We just have to try to keep figuring out what we can do to get him the basketball when teams decide to front him.''
Brown wasn't overly forthcoming when asked his preference for getting the ball to Bynum when he's fronted.
"We have something,'' he said. "We ran it late in the game. We just didn’t execute it well. We got Andrew the ball, and I think he turned it over, or stepped out of bounds or something like that. But we have a couple of things that we like, where we feel we can get him the ball anytime that we want to. The one thing that we like most we just put in not too long ago. So it’s taking some time to get a rhythm down with it. We have to execute it the right way and know our counters that we have to run or execute if he’s not open, so that we’re able to get into a rhythm."
Of course, another option when Bynum is double teamed is to get the ball to Tristan Thompson, whose man usually has gone to double team. After Brown was ejected on Saturday in Miami, assistant coach Jim Boylan used that strategy. When Chris Bosh and Shane Battier double teamed Bynum, Boylan had the Cavs get the ball to Thompson, who scored the team's first three baskets of the second half and made two free throws while being fouled on another shot attempt. That helped the Cavs get back in the game after they'd fallen behind by 19.
Bynum sounded as if he'd be fine with that option if it means the Cavs offense doesn't grind to a halt while players are trying to get him the ball.
"I have to get better position for myself, and it will be easier to see,'' he said. "But what we can do is not hold the ball and wait -- just move it.''