Atlanta — The Cavaliers index is up today, as traders responded to their three-game winning streak.  Futures, however, remained unchanged as investors were still wary of the team’s inconsistency and the general softness of their last three opponents.

It sounds like I know what I’m talking about, right.  Like I missed my calling and I should’ve joined the financial media.  Yeah, right.  Although, Dan Gilbert ripped us sports hacks last season by telling us the financial press never jumped to conclusions or published rumors like the heartless, idiotic sports press.  Of course, had the financial media been as mindful as the local sports media of a potential disaster like Larry Brown running the front office, maybe Enron wouldn’t have been allowed to run wild for all those years, eh?

Anyway, the Cavs look like gangbusters again after beating the Hawks last night.  But I think they still show way too much inconsistency for their own good.  They were very lethargic on defense last night, perhaps focusing on their post-game plans a little early.  This is one of the main reasons they continue to be streaky, because they don’t bring the same effort every night.  They too often play to the level of their opponent and it has come back to bite them on more than one occasion.  The fact that they’re 10-1 at home against team over .500 and just 5-4 against teams below .500 says it all.

Friday they have a chance to win the season series from the Pacers and they ought to be out for blood.  But that attitude has often been lacking this season, so we’ll see.

By the way, I read today that Isiah Thomas totally denies the sexual harassment charge leveled at him by a former Knicks employee, saying:

"I will not allow her or anybody else, man or woman, to use me as a pawn for their financial gain."

The charges may indeed be trumped up, but were he to say that in court, I fear Jerome James (five years, $29 million) may be called as a rebuttal witness.

Seven different beds in 12 nights, more than 8,000 miles in the air, and not a single viewed snap of the AFC or NFC Championships games while flying back from Salt Lake plus a delay in Houston while sitting in a jammed plane amid to a church mission group that had just returned from Mexico sneezing and coughing while talking about how they had to throw their used toilet paper in the trash can.  It was a rough journey.

The most disturbing thing, however, was Denver’s "Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey."  Yep, that’s little old Whiplash pictured there.  He can really ride those dogs and he scares small children, the perfect halftime act! One can only assume he was part of the 100th Annual Western Stock Show and Rodeo going on in Denver while the Cavs were there.  Lots of pickup trucks and mud in the hotel parking lot.

Back to the Cavs, who finally got a win in Utah.  Yes, LeBron was awesome with his 51 points in tights, but the reason the Cavs won is because the role players like Sasha Pavlovic, Donyell Marshall, and everybody’s favorite shooter Damon Jones came to play.  It has already been demonstrated that even with LeBron and Zydrunas Ilgauskas on their games, the Cavs will struggle to win with Larry Hughes out.  If they are going to whether this storm, and I’m not yet sure they will, it will be these role and bench players that make it happen.  Ira Newble, Sasha, Luke Jackson, Alan Henderson, Jones and Marshall don’t all have to have great games, but they have to consistently help the cause if the Cavs are going to have a chance.

My Sunday Column has an honest and fair look at Drew Gooden’s situation.  Some fans have written upset about it.  Please note I am not saying Drew should be traded, I am just explaining why it might happen.

Also, read about how the Cavs might open next season in China.

If nothing else, listen to my podcast with Joe Tait, I think you’ll enjoy it.  He had no idea what he was recording, I don’t think.  Here’s the podcast feed file.

San Francisco — I’m not sure what it is going on back home, but based on my e-mail it seems that Cavs fans are very frustrated but understanding about what’s happening on this dreadful road trip.  It has been challenging to report on these losses.   In general, LeBron has played some terrific team and individual ball, yet I’m compelled to focus on the late-game failures because of their impact and because the national pundits have done the same.  Additionally, I’ve really been impressed with the way the Cavs have played overall.  They’ve really battled defensively, they’ve often made good adjustments, and they played one of their best offensive games of the year in Phoenix.  But, of course, all there has been are losses.  The best example is what happened in the loss in Denver, which I think really sums up the games since Larry Hughes went down with that season-altering finger injury.

The Nuggets came out with the strategy of double-teaming James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas and it worked well.  The Cavs didn’t make correct decisions and ended up getting Eric Snow and Ira "1-of-23 on jump shots this season" Newble getting jumpers on the weakside.  They shot 4-of-18 in the first quarter and got down 16 points.  Then Mike Brown made adjustments and the Cavs followed, they isolated James and Ilgauskas on one-side of the floor and suckered the Nuggets into shifting defenders into a zone-like position and ran back cuts behind them.  That’s why Alan Henderson had his best game of the season.  On defense, I think they played some of the best help-and-recover of the season, really working to contest the Nuggets shots after the first quarter and the Cavs ended up building a six-point lead and looked like they were going to win.

But just as Brown was making good adjustments, he was making mistakes.  He was way too emotional down the stretch.  Stomping around after every call and getting himself a technical for standing on the court which led to an Eric Snow technical as well in the fourth quarter.  Think the Cavs could’ve used those two points later?  Also, Brown got out-smarted by George Karl on that Carmelo Anthony dunk.  Newble gave up the baseline on purpose, that was the defensive call, to deny the middle.  Ilgauskas was supposed to trap him on the block like he’d been doing all game, which Melo had reacted to by almost never passing out of the double team (one assist).  But Karl swung Kenyon Martin and Eduardo Najera way out away from the basket on the play, drawing both Z and Henderson away from the paint.  The result was a dunk and two huge points.

So, what I’m saying here is that Cavs are playing good basketball and fighting but losing by inches because they’re making mistakes by inches.  That isn’t worth much in the NBA, losses are losses despite the circumstances.  What I know is last spring when they were getting blown out every night as they tumbled from their perch I knew they had no chance at the playoffs.  This time around, I see significant improvement.  Whether or not that’s enough remains to be seen.

If you have more time, read this about James’ late game issues.

By the way, if there’s anything to soothe the rawness of this road trip, where the Cavs and I have gone to and from the coast three different times, it is a bright, cloudless San Francisco day.  I could see how it sorted of brightened the team yesterday and I couldn’t have agreed more.  We’ll see if it means anything.

Portland — I don’t have a lot of time, but I felt I needed to express some thoughts following the Cavs fourth straight loss last night.

As I’ve been saying since the Cavs lost Larry Hughes seven games ago, there are in for a market correction.  In other words, without Hughes they were an overvalued team at 20-11.  With Drew Gooden now gone for a few games, I’d be a little surprised if he tried to play in Denver on Wednesday, the team is even further devalued.  The losses are going to keep coming.

What will mark this Cavs spell is how the roster parts step up.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas and LeBron James have raised the level of their games since Hughes went down.  But with those two around, the Cavs missed the playoffs the last two seasons.  They need help, they’re begging for it.  All teams have injuries, it cannot be an excuse to losing to last-place teams.

Donyell Marshall has been in a form a slump for a month and we’ve all seen how Damon Jones has been shooting.  Those two must contribute more effective immediately if the Cavs are going to have a chance to weather this storm.  Also, no matter if it is Luke Jackson or Anderson Varejao or Sasha Pavlovic, someone is going to have to give consistnet minutes off the bench.  They’re capable, it has been seen in flashes, they’ve got to do it.

Mike Brown also has to step up.  The Cavs defense has been good enough to keep them in these games for the most part.  Their offense has been mostly a failure.  They forget about Z when they need him most, James too often settles for jumpers, and he’s hasn’t shown that he can draw up and get his players to execute a play when they really need it.

This is a defining time, even if there are continued losses.  The Cavs have to better themselves so when they come through it they are a better team.  Right now, it seems it could go either way.

If you get a chance read my Sunday column grading Mike Brown.

Los Angeles — When I got off my flight this afternoon, I was rather taken aback my how much e-mail I got from fans upset by the way the Cavs played and lost to the Knicks last night.  Obviously, you guys and gals are upset with what you saw.

If you read my game story, I break down that what happened has been building since Hughes’ injury.  Terry Pluto also had a good perspective.

In general, here’s what is happening:
–With Hughes out and Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones struggling, teams are camping in the paint.  They bring help when LeBron James drives and the have been double-teaming Zydrunas Ilgauskas, although I think they’ve been under-using Z.
–James has tried to make up for this by attempting more jump shots, like he did last night.  When the Cavs got the lead in the third quarter, it was when LeBron made five straight jumpers.  In fact, at one point LeBron actually made 9-of-10 shots last night, which got the Cavs up 11.  He’s taken seven or more 3-pointers in each of the last four games.  He’d only tried seven or more four times in the first 28 games.
–Damon Jones is playing too many minutes, which is why his defensive lapses have gone up and become a real glaring issue.  As for his shooting slump, that happens to everyone.  As for the fans’ reaction to it, he brought it on himself.
–This is very much like the Cavs played at the end of last season, with the exception that they are playing better defense.  By contesting more shots and working hard on help defense, they’ve actually kept themselves in more games.  Perhaps it will serve them well.

It is not surprising to me there are offensive problems.  All year, Mike Brown has sort of just assumed the offense would always show up.  He repeatedly said it would "take care of itself."  Well, without Hughes and with some bad habits, it ain’t right now.

So this is a real test for Brown, to see what adjustments he makes or fails to make.  And if the players will respond to these issues or continue to say in their bad habits.

By the way, Anderson Varejao will probably play against the Lakers.  Also, Damon is starting for the Cavs in that one, Kobe Bryant is starting there for the Lakers.  Who do you give the edge to?

It is the impulse of fans, often in an extension of the media, to be reactionary following a dramatic event like Larry Hughes’ injury.  No one doubts the Cavs have suffered a pretty deep blow by losing their second-best player for two months but it is too early to be suggesting breaking up the team with crazy trades.

In my opinion, last night’s loss to the Rockets displayed some potentially disturbing stuff.  It wasn’t exactly like looking back to last season because the Cavs played better defense, but the way it was LeBron and almost no one else was troubling.  As I wrote, it could’ve been a bad night or the start of something worse.  Time will tell, so just wait a few games before completely passing judgment, that is what I plan to do.  At this point, I think the Cavs may do well to just trend water for awhile, especially with so many road games coming up.

I do believe the Cavs will make a significant trade at some point in the next six weeks.  The scope of it may vary depending on a lot of things.  I don’t believe Danny Ferry will make a significant move to fill in for Hughes, though he may make a minor one.  I generally believe any large deal will involve Drew Gooden, because even though he’s talented he simply doesn’t play good enough defense to suit Brown.  You’ll notice his minutes have been dropping.

I have some ideas on who the trading partners could be, but I’m not going to put it out there now because I personally don’t like to rumor monger.   I think there’s a good chance it could be a three-team trade, I’ll just say that.  What I will say is I know Denver is anxiously looking to make a move and the Cavs could be involved.  Every team seems to be stalling to see what happens with Ron Artest, though.

Also, I don’t think it was a mistake to sign Hughes, either despite his injury history.  Remember, they weren’t getting Ray Allen or Michael Redd.  It was an acceptable risk.

While you’re surfing, check out my latest podcast with Terry Pluto.  How do we talk about Henry James, Eddie Jordan, Sasha Pavlovic and Damon Jones in the same sitting?  Listen and find out.

One last thing.  Some of you may remember the story I did on Wes Wesley last summer.  Now, True Hoop, a good NBA blog, is conducting research on him.

1. Larry Hughes and LeBron James exchanged some words, as did many Cavs players when they lost seven on nine games.  There is no rift between them and, in case no one has been watching, Hughes level of play has been very good during this currently winning spell.  I wrote about this a few weeks ago.  I don’t own the patent on Cavs info, it comes from many sources and sometimes I’m behind or wrong.  However, if you read this blog you probably are a keen observer and cognitively sound individual, thus I’d encourage you to evaluate the reliability of the source when judging the validity  of team news.

2. As I explain in my Sunday column today, Anderson Varejao will return to full practice this week and may be back in games very soon.  Also info in there on LeBron’s birthday party, Danny Ferry’s contract, Drew Gooden’s future and more.  Sasha Pavlovic should also be back at practice this week.

3. I sometimes have fun with Damon Jones and sometimes his ego is an issue, but he’s well-liked by his teammates.  He’s been absent in games but also helped the Cavs win some.  Expect this yo-yo effect with him.

4. Just because I don’t like saying Happy Holidays every 15 seconds doesn’t mean I’m a grouch.  As Danny Ferry said to me: "I guess nobody should say hi to one another, then."  Ok, Ok, Happy New Year everyone!

5. Mike Brown calling the Pistons starting five the best ever was totally hyperbolic.  It’s a great conversation-starter as many of us in the media killed time talking about the best Laker, Celtic and Knick lineups over the years.  However, he was just using a tactic to kill the opposition with kindness.  The Cavs know they can’t catch the Pistons and they’re the better team.  Also they didn’t want to put too much emphasis on Saturday’s game in case they lost.  It is not wise to proclaim it the biggest game of the season by which the team’s first two months will be judged because, well, what if you lose?  LeBron has learned this trick, too, he just downplays everything even when he really, really cares.  His 43-point performance against Larry Brown last season being exhibit A.

Check out my new podcast with Terry Pluto, as well as Pluto’s column off Saturday’s game and my game story.

Finally, I run hot and cold with Peter Vecsey of the New York Post.  But his sniping with Kobe Bryant this week made for a really good column today.