The Bulls' Joakim Noah was an offensive non-factor when covered by Ilgauskas in Monday night's Cavs playoff game win. In fact, Chicago's overall offense dipped significantly when Ilgauskas was on the court.
John Kuntz, The Plain Dealer Zydrunas Ilgauskas (left) and Joakim Noah (right) battle for a rebound.
Cleveland Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas has taken some criticism from fans on website forums for alleged defensive failings in the first two games of the playoff series against the Chicago Bulls.
The Cavaliers have won both games, and a look at what their defense has done with Ilgauskas on the court proves that he’s been quite helpful in shutting down the Bulls.
Ilgauskas came off the bench to play 16 minutes, 26 seconds in Game 2, and his defense – especially against Bulls center Joakim Noah – was a key to the Cavs’ 112-102 win.
Noah scored 25 points. But Ilgauskas covered Noah for 13 minutes, 43 seconds, and in that span, Noah scored just two points. Even that basket, with seven minutes left in the game, couldn’t be fairly charged to Ilgauskas. Both teams were scrambling when Noah got a fastbreak dunk off a Flip Murray pass, after the Cavaliers had run a failed fastbreak going the other way.
For the game, in Ilgauskas’ 16:26 on the court, Cleveland outscored Chicago, 32-27. Projected to a full 48-minute game, the Cavs held Chicago to 79 points (per 48 minutes) when Z played. When he was on the bench, the Bulls scored 75 points in 31:34. That projects to 112 points per a 48-minute game.
Also, Ilgauskas was playing for the entire 6:54 that LeBron James rested on the bench. James, besides his wondrous offensive skills, is considered one of the NBA’s premier defensive players.
The case can be made that if Ilgauskas’ defense hadn’t helped the Cavs from a 77-76 deficit when he entered the game for a second time, with 1:24 left in the third quarter, to an 87-86 lead with 6:41 left in the game, the Cavs might not have won. Yes, it was the narrowest of leads, but had Ilgauskas not shut down Noah and played solid help defense, the Bulls would have most likely gone ahead by a few points.
Ilgauskas’ second blocked shot of the game came late in the third quarter, an impressive denial of Noah from behind.
In the two playoff games, the Bulls have scored just 43 points in the 25:28 Ilgauskas has played. That projects to just 80 points per 48 minutes. Ilgauskas’ importance is further highlighted by James’ being on the bench for 9:48 of the big guy’s playing time.
Clearly, if Ilgauskas’ defense was as bad as some observers say, the Cavaliers couldn’t limit opponents as they do with him on the court. During the course of the regular season, in fact, and like in most seasons, the Cavaliers had a better plus-minus points ratio with Ilgauskas playing than they did with him not playing.
A two-time all-star as picked by the Eastern Conference coaches, Ilgauskas’ main problem as a defender is one of perception. At 7-3, and, no doubt, slowed over the years by the effects of five surgeries for broken feet, Ilgauskas is an easy target, one that stands out when an opponent gets to the basket and scores. Observers notice him being scored over.
Fact is, most big guys do get scored over when athletic opponents get to the hoop, and most don’t always look pretty trying to defend the pick-and-roll, as Ilgauskas is asked to do some 30 feet from the basket. And, like Ilgauskas, most do have occasional matchup problems.
But Ilgauskas compensates for his shortcomings – again, not uncommon to most big men – with a game intelligence and non-stop hustle that usually puts him in the right place at the right time. Ironically, that might hurt him in terms of perception, because if Ilgauskas wouldn’t be where he should be when a Dwyane Wade or Manu Ginobili soars for a dunk or twists in a layup, he wouldn’t be as noticable and thus as open to ridicule.
