The Cavaliers plan to fight size with speed when they face the Boston Celtics in the season-opener Wednesday.
One night after facing LeBron James and the Heat in Boston, Kevin Garnett and the Celtics arrive in Cleveland to start the Cavaliers' season on Wednesday.INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- Byron Scott has a plan for all 85 inches of Shaquille O'Neal. He has a plan for 6-foot-11 Kevin Garnett, too. It's the same as the one he's using against 6-9 Glen Davis and 6-11 Jermaine O'Neal, and any other enormous Boston Celtics player.
The new-look, and big-man-lacking Cavaliers will not exactly try to stop them in Wednesday's season-opener at The Q.
The plan is more to work around them. Quickly.
"The only way you counter size is with speed," Scott said. "One of my [Tuesday] messages to our guys is we do ourselves a disservice if we don't run after every miss, every turnover, every loose ball, every make. We want to see if we can get up and down the floor and put them in a running game for 48 minutes."
Welcome to the new version of the Cavaliers, the team whose only true center is 7-0 backup Ryan Hollins. Anderson Varejao will start at that position, but the 6-11 Brazilian is more naturally a power forward. Four other players check in at 6-9. Big and tall, they are not.
With Scott's Princeton offense, the Cavaliers hope to use their nimble and active centers to their advantage by drawing the Celtics' big men away from the basket and by not allowing Boston's defense to set up against their transition offense.
Defensively, the goal is to exhaust behemoths like O'Neal, and occasionally mix in some of Varejao's trademark peskiness.
"I've got to be physical," Varejao said. "I've got to try to make him catch the ball far from the basket because you know how big he is and how strong he is. If he gets the ball under the rim, it's going to be tough to guard him."
That's the problem the Cavaliers will face all season with their height-challenged lineup, so it makes sense to have the biggest test out of the way in the first game of the regular season.
"It's going to be good to find definition as far as what type of team we're going to be," forward Antawn Jamison said. "It's a pretty good measuring stick for us."
The problem is, this Cavaliers team still isn't entirely sure of its identity when it comes to player rotation, at least. Point guard Mo Williams returned to the team Tuesday after spending five days away following the death of his father-in-law. Scott said Williams is questionable, and even if he can play, isn't sure if he'll start.
"We've added some things, so we need to get him back up to speed on what we're doing," Scott said. "The good thing about Mo is that he's pretty fast at learning the things we've been doing."
The simple plan -- even with tweaks in Williams' absence -- is to run a little, and run some more.
"If we don't do that, we're facing their halfcourt defense every single time and it's going to be tough," Scott said. "They're one of the better defensive teams in this league. We've got to be smart. We've got to do what we've been doing all preseason and training camp long -- run.
"We've just got to make sure we come out and play our style of basketball, our brand of basketball," Scott continued.
Let the races begin.
Mo a no-go? Williams announced his return to Cleveland via Twitter at about 4 a.m. Tuesday.
"Home sweet home," he Tweeted. "Bout to get a lil shut eye."
The starting point guard returned to Cleveland after spending five days in Mississippi to be with family after the death of his father-in-law. He woke in time for Tuesday's 11 a.m. practice, but was not available to talk to reporters.
Williams played in just one preseason game, scoring 11 points on 3-for-9 shooting in 25 minutes. He missed the beginning of training camp with a groin injury, and Scott said he was concerned about both Williams' conditioning and injury rehab.
Varejao missed all but two games of the preseason after his grandfather died the second day of training camp. The forward said he was able to offer some comfort to Williams when he returned to the team Tuesday.
"I just told him I went through that not too long ago," he said. "You just have to be strong. It's going to take some time for him and his family and his wife's family to be OK, but I believe it's normal. It's something we've got to go through in life."
Shaq as Delonte's mentor? Former Cavaliers guard Delonte West will not be with the Celtics Wednesday, as he serves the second of a 10-game suspension after pleading guilty to a weapons charge over the summer in Maryland.
West's time in Cleveland was turbulent as he dealt with self-admitted bipolar disorder, and ended with rumors that there was a locker-room rift between him and LeBron James.
O'Neal told reporters in Boston on Tuesday that he vouched for West when the Celtics considered signing him in the off-season, and confirmed that West had locker room issues with everyone but the 7-1 center.
"He got out of control a lot of times and usually when people get out of control they shut their buttons off to somebody they respect," O'Neal said. "I know he respected me because I can get out of control too. I had to yoke (sic) him up once or twice, tell him to 'let it go, bro.'
"Last year I don't think he respected anybody but me on that team," O'Neal said. "So I was able to talk to him. Not only that, he's on the big 'p.' So if he messes up with the big 'p' he can get the 'j.' Know what I mean? Peanut butter and jelly. Probation and jail. He's going to be cool and we're going to keep him in line."
Joe Tait has pre-operative procedure: Cavaliers Hall of Fame radio announcer Joe Tait underwent a pre-operative heart catheterization Tuesday at The Cleveland Clinic, the team announced late Tuesday evening. He is slated to undergo surgery at an yet-to-be determined date next week, when he will undergo a double bypass, as well as replacing the aortic valve.
The team said there was no specific timetable for his return, but looks forward to his return to the microphone this season.