Should the Cavs Look to Gibson or Snow?

If anything good happened to the Cavs last night, it was Larry Hughes. Hughes is too banged-up to stay with Parker or get to the basket himself, which means he's useless. He's no pure point guard, so don't look for him to become a distributor. Yanking him from the starting line-up wouldn't be a gamble for Brown--it's the only sane thing to do.

The question is, would they go with Daniel Gibson or Eric Snow? On the surface, this looks like an easy offense/defense decision. But in terms of raw speed, which is a lot of Parker's game, Gibson's in better shape. And while Boobie is looking like the second-most scoring-est Cav, Snow has playoff experience and understands the mid-range game.

It probably comes down to how the Cavs approach guarding Parker. Snow is stronger, a more sound defender, and more likely to keep Parker in check. On the other hand, that assumes he can be checked. If Brown's thinking that his player should just hang on for dear life, then Gibson might be the better choice. Think about it this way: if Parker's going to get around Snow, the basket's guaranteed. Gibson will make mistakes, but in theory he can stay with Parker all the way to the hoop.

Obviously, it's not going to be an either/or decision. We'll probably see more of both players, as well as a healthy dose of Pavlovic. Should be interesting, though, to see if one emerges as the clear favorite, or who Brown has on the floor in certain key situations. Provided there are any of those in this series.

More at the FanHouse: Final Finals Showdown

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

6-08-2007 @ 3:18PM

JAB said...

Gibson,..he has the hot hand right now. He almost shot them back in the game late in the 4th qtr.

6-08-2007 @ 3:32PM

G said...

Gibson is playing better than hughes, so he should be in...

6-08-2007 @ 4:15PM

md3td said...

gibson will tank under pressure. quit acting like he's some kinda savior, it was the old pistons for gods sake. he won't get some calls driving to the basket and he'll turn into an authentic nba crybaby (save your duncan comments... he's got the "rings of respect")

6-08-2007 @ 4:19PM

Bob said...

if you understood anything about the cavs or basketball,youd realize what a useless question you asked......sheesh.....and to md3td?you must be a pistons fan with ur untruthful flame on gibson....

6-08-2007 @ 5:50PM

hykedoe said...

well, im a spurs fan so hopefully they stay with Hughes.

6-08-2007 @ 6:07PM

Rokclimber said...

No Brainer. You start with the hot hand, which currently is Gibson. Then depending on how the game progresses, you use all 3. Hell, put Lebron on Parker if you have to.

It is a team game. Different players for different situations. If they need some offense, Gibson seems to be hot. If parker is killing Gibson and you need some D, try the others or double teaming.

Thats why they have coaches and assistant coaches. To know who to play, when, where, why and how, as the game dicates.

6-08-2007 @ 7:17PM

C.Page said...

I hope Brown use his instint and not change his game plan and leave Larry Huhes off the starting line-up. Larry Hughes is the reason they are where they are today. A bunch you yoyos for opening the off and play less defence. History shows he was right. You cant teach players at the stage of their life to how to shoot. Verigan ca't shoot and should play less minutes. Brown stay the course

6-08-2007 @ 7:29PM

MUSIC said...

IF GIBSON PLAYS WHICH WILL BE THE RIGHT MOVE FOR
COACH BROWN, POPOVICH SHOULD COUNTER BY PUTTING PARKER ON HIM AND TELLING HIM NO MATTER WHAT STAY AT HOME ON HIM.
THIS CAVS TEAM OTHER THAN GIBSON DO NOT SHOOT THE BALL FROM THE OUTSIDE THAT WELL.

6-08-2007 @ 8:04PM

malatic said...

I think we're forgetting another important person here. Damon jones and gibson should be the 1...2 punch for the cavs offensive attack...... And for petes sake" Play like a team that made to the nba finals.....

6-08-2007 @ 8:15PM

Damon jones can single handedly give you 15,pts and 5 ast if you use him properly. As for mr. gibson, his offensive awareness clearly mentors that of his teamate King james...aka...The chosen one". Gibson clearly feeds off of the momentom his team gives off. The last thing a team like the cavs wants to do is keep a rising star in the shadows.

6-08-2007 @ 9:09PM

emil skocpol said...

From a Spurs fan: Somebody to stop Parker?? Good luck. So you slow down his scoring..don't forget that he has an enviable assist record.

6-08-2007 @ 9:13PM

patt said...

YOU START GIBSON AND SNOW, SNOW ON TONY PARKER ON DEFENSE,HE THEIR BEST DEFENDER, LET LEBRON RUN OFF SCREENS, JUST LIKE DETROIT DOES HAMILTON, GIBSON IS YOUR SCORER. AND PLAY DAMON JONES MORE,SASHA COMES IN LIKE MANU G FOR SAN ANTONIO.

6-09-2007 @ 1:30AM

justme said...

Rockclimber must have missed game 1. LeBron WAS on Parker and we all saw his stats.
From all the suggestions here, one thing is clear...there is NOT an easy or obvious answer for the Cavs.
The Spurs are simply a very tough team on both ends of the court, have a deep bench and a great coach.

6-09-2007 @ 2:27AM

Mike C said...

They have to go with Snow because he has finals experience and they need to make they don't "overexpose" Gibson in the finals experience. Keep him as that spark plug off the bench. Plus, they should activate Shannon Brown and give them some explosiveness with the second unit. You have to respect Hughes for giving it all he can but he is barely at 80 percent. Brown has no experience but play him for 10 minutes and see what he can do. Of course this is probably mute because Mike Brown says he isn't putting Gibson in the starting lineup and probably will stay with LH and SP.

6-09-2007 @ 6:35AM

Michel said...

Gee, I'll bet it took a kollege edukation to figgur this one out. Shoals, you're a frikkin' genius! why hasn't some NBA team picked you up for their coaching staff??
I'll bet you could even let the players know that whoever scored the most points wins the game!
What a progidy you are!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

6-09-2007 @ 9:59AM

md3td writes "gibson will tank under pressure. quit acting like he's some kinda savior, it was the old pistons for gods sake."

Dude, I was talking about Game 1 against the Spurs. Did you fall asleep in the 4th quarter? If not, then you would have seen Gibson draining jumper after jumper that, along with a couple of LBJ 3's almost got them back in the game.

Michel,..was there a point to be made somewhere among all that rambling?

6-09-2007 @ 10:02AM

Justme,..you are exactly right!! Need to get a body on Parker. His play won the game for the Spurs. Most of what Duncan got was served up by Parker or due to the attention he demanded!! One thing is for certain, win or lose, this is the FINALS, and the Cavs simply can not let Parker keep weaving through traffic and waltzing to the rim, or even in the paint. I would put some hard (but legal) fouls on him the first couple of times his toe touched the paint!

6-09-2007 @ 10:04AM

If you are Cleveland, there are many positives you can take from your experience in game 1. Despite playing an appalling offensive game on the Spur's floor, the Spurs only managed to beat you by 9. The Spurs can not expect to rely on Cleveland's offense to misfire like that the entire series. It won't. In addition holding the 3-time champs to 85 points on their own floor is a pretty good defensive effort, although they could do even better by making Parker work harder and being more physical with him. It was only game 1. I would wait until the fat lady sings before I celebrate!! On a night when the Spurs offense and defense were clearly playing at a higher level than Cleveland, and on their own floor, they still had to stave off a late Cleveland rally and won by a relatively slim margin all things considered. THAT is what I would emphasize to the Cavs. Hey, the Spurs had it all going right on their home floor, and you could not get a shot to fall, and they still needed almost every second of the 48 minutes to beat you!! Half-full or half-empty? They won, but I saw a Spurs team that was very beatable and they can't count on every bounce to continue to fall their way. When it doesn't, I think the Cavs can win a couple of games in this series (and if they can manage to make it a long series,..they just MIGHT be able to steal it from a better, deeper, more talented Spurs team).

6-09-2007 @ 1:32PM

GDB said...

I think everyone is missing the point, The cavs really only one legit player..King James...while The spurs have five...Duncan, Parker, Manu, Bowen and Horry. You start focusing on either player and the others will light you up. The cavs are in trouble.

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