Handle your business
Posted March 10th, 2006 by Brian Windhorst
Orlando — Elton Alexander, a college basketball writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, is one of my mentors in this business. For three years, while I covered Kent State and the Mid-American Conference, I spent hours sitting next to him watching games and listening to his knowledge of the game.
He has several sayings that have always stuck with me that are apropos at every basketball level.
My favorite is "hold your water." This is in reference to how a team should behave when their opponent is on a crazy run, mostly due to just making lots of jumpers. Happens all the time, the inferior team knocking down eight or nine in a row or something and taking a big lead. The better team should not panic and "hold its water," stay solid and within your game and not get wild trying to match them. You should get the inference here. In poker, the advice would be to not "play on tilt."
But today, we’re going to talk about another of his sayings…"handle your business." This means beat the teams you should beat. Sure, it sounds obvious, but frankly, it would be good advice to the Cavs. They haven’t always done that. This year and let’s not even talk about the last two seasons.
Heading into tonight’s game in Orlando, the Cavs have re-built a four-game lead over the Pacers for the No. 4 seed. Actually, since they own the tiebreaker, it’s like a five-game lead. The Pacers would have to pass the Cavs, not tie. So with 20 games left, if the Cavs "handle their business" they should finish this off.
It is fair guess to set a goal of going .500, 10-10, over the rest of the season. They are 18-16 over their last 34 games, FYI. That would put them at 46-36 for the season. May I point out that if they go 11-9, yours truly will nail his preseason prediction of 47 wins. Ahem.
If that is the case, Indiana will have to go 15-5 to pass them. Uh, not likely. The Wizards, currently five back of the Cavs, would have to do the same. By the way, 12 of the Wizards last 16 games are on the road.
By the end of the season, then the Cavs will have Hughes back and, theoretically, be full strength for the playoffs and also have homecourt advantage. So there it is. All together now…Handle your business.
Three more things:
1. Read about LeBron late here.
2. I went to Indians spring training yesterday in Winter Haven (thank you for canceling practice Mike Brown) and enjoyed a game in 77 degree weather. Other than Orlando/Disney traffic, life was grand. I can see why so many make it a vacation.
3. T-minus 3 days until Sopranos season six starts. Do not attempt to contact me between 9-10 Sunday night. Yes I will be in South Beach, yes I will be in front of the TV.
March 10th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
B- I always thought “Hold your water” meant the same as, “you should have thought of that before we left”, and “we aren’t stopping ’til we get there.”
March 11th, 2006 at 9:04 am
Forty-six or 47 wins is a lot better than 17 I suppose but how much upside does this team have? This year, we can look forward to a hard-fought first round win (hopefully) then a pretty ugly shellacking by Detroit in the second. Shouldn’t a team with LeBron James and a guy who’s supposed to be one of the NBA’s top 5 centers do better than that? A .500 stretch drive is a fair expectation at this point, but pretty disappointing.
By the way, what’s happened to The Answer? Was that another 1 pt. boxscore stuffer I saw after the embarrassing loss to Orlando? And the Cavs have been getting torched by opposing point guards–they were lucky to beat Toronto twice. Maybe all the accolades that come with a couple 14 pt. games are getting to the Cav’s best defender.
March 11th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
Brian, I thought I was reading a special Michael Reghi column, and then I looked up and noticed you were the Sunday Beacon Journal column writer. Just like faithful Cavaliers employee Michael the Salesman, you are making stuff up. At least your imaginary made up stuff isn’t intentional, so you’ll get no malice from me.
Brian, contrary to what you printed, Damon Jones didn’t average 40% shooting three-pointers during his time with Milwaukee. In fact, Jones only averaged 35.9% during his brief train stop in Milwaukee, which is nearly identical to what he shoots every train stop. His brief O’Neal train stop doesn’t count. Even the worm living in the mud stuck underneath my shoe could average 43% if he was given that much time to meditate prior to flinging his three-point shots.
Personally, I don’t know how any 36% three-point shooter could possibly be considered a “three-point specialist,” as the entire Northeast Ohio media regurgitating the press releases supplied by the Cavaliers PR department would have people believe. I’m pretty sure I missed a memo or a meeting concerning the word “specialist,” or something. But it seems to me that no matter how well any of the Cavs flaks try to slice it, describing an NBA player launching 36% every year is not slicing filet mignon, he is slicing hamburger. In fact, I just finished reading that nutty “specialist” word yet again, this time within Tom Withers’ wire piece about Jones’ “boink” problem.
March 11th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
By the way, don’t you have a DVR or TiVo or something like that? I can’t imagine you don’t. Why not just set it to record “The Sopranos” and watch it when you get home? Unless it’s something that quickly loses its relevance, like a sporting event or something like that, I don’t understand why people don’t simply record something they want to watch. Those DVR things are great.
Not only that, but HBO and all of HBO’s sister channels repeat the show 100 times before the next episode begins. So people don’t even need to record it. What’s the big deal with needing to watch it at 9:00 P.M. on a Sunday night? Will you turn into a pumpkin if you don’t? Unless you happen to be out-of-town when the episodes are first broadcast, simply relax and do what all the other Beacon Journal sportswriters do on a Sunday night - - go to church and then egg Bob Finnan’s house.
March 13th, 2006 at 9:44 am
I can’t believe Uncle Junior busted a couple of caps in Tony’s gut. I also can’t believe the Cavs got dogged by Orlando. Hey Brian, what’s the scoop with the Damon Jones investigation? Why don’t you go all San Francisco Chronicle on it and find out the story. Do you think it’s having an impact in the locker room? Were there any other Cavs at this alleged incident?
Just a couple of jottings (not to go Pluto here):
That BC-Duke game Sunday that was more entertaining than any game the Cavs have played in this year.
The Cavs should do everything they can to get Telfair from Portland.
March 13th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
You’re dreaming if you think there’s any chance the Blazers are going to trade Telfair. But that’s not why I’m writing. I’m writing because, as I previously noted, it makes no sense for people to have to run to watch an HBO show, as they repeat it and repeat it and repeat it prior to the next episode airs. With that said, I was intending to watch “The Sopranos” tonight. So thanks for blowing a plot point for me. At least if you posted that Danny Ferry blew it in a major way, you wouldn’t have completely ruined a plot point for me. I’ve already seen that episode, and the acting and the story totally sucked. Plus, it’s a bad repeat I’ll be able to see over and over and over again for the next four to five years without having to pay an additional $13.95 per month (plus tax) for the privilege.
Please, no more, as the Internet junkies call it, “spoilers.” What’s next, surprising me with, “And did you also know that Charlton Heston was still on Earth the entire time?”