This one’s on Mike Brown
Posted March 20th, 2007 by Brian Windhorst
Charlotte — What happened here at the lovely Charlotte Bobcats Arena tonight was the definition of a bad loss. It’s an 82-game season, these are going to happen, but considering it is now Spring and the stakes are high, I’d have to say this goes into the unacceptable category.
There was lots of crazy stuff happening in the final few minutes. And while I have staunchly defended the head coach all season, I have to assign the blame to him tonight. Here’s why:
–The game was in total helter skelter mode with under two minutes left. Let me go over it in a long and winding fashion to illustrate what I mean: Up 94-90, LeBron James blocked Matt Carroll and threw the ball to Eric Snow, who rushed to the other end and tried to layup the ball up a against two defenders and he was swatted by Gerald Wallace, who threw a bad pass that LeBron picked off and threw to Larry Hughes, who was trapped in the backcourt with 1:20 left. STOP! This would be a good time to call a time out and settle things down. But, nope, didn’t happen. Supposedly Brown tried to call a timeout here, but it doesn’t matter because he didn’t get it. Then LeBron threw up a 23-footer with 15 seconds on the shot clock. Eek.
–After the Bobcats scored to pull within two with 40 seconds left, Eric Snow was supposed to take the ball out of bounds to break the press. But Anderson Varejao did. STOP! This would be a good time to call timeout. Nope.
–Then Andy inbounded the ball to Sasha Pavlovic, who is the king of the bad turnover when games aren’t even in crunch time. STOP! This would be a good time to call timeout. Someone, anyone, timeout. The Cavs had two left. Heck, Snow knew he was supposed to have the ball, he should’ve called one. Sasha turned it over three seconds later.
–I am not going to go over what happened after that, it doesn’t matter. The game was lost right there. However, I am going to talk about what made a potential blowout such a tight game. The Bobcats went to a small lineup, which seemed to mess up the Cavs’ sideline. Despite Zydrunas Ilgauskas dominating the game, he played just five of the game’s last 18 minutes. Why? Make the Bobcats defend him. Also, the small lineup made Brown take Sasha out. He got one shot in the entire second half. Why? Make the Bobcats defend him, too. Drew Gooden got ZERO shots in the second half. Why? The Bobcats had no post defenders.
–With six minutes left in the third quarter, Brown put Snow in to guard Wallace, who was killing the Cavs. Wallace had just seven points the rest of the way. One basket came on a putback and one basket came in transition. That means Snow did a good job. However, by playing him the last 18 minutes of the game, Brown took Hughes off the point. This is what was working for the last for the last three weeks. So in crunch time, no Ilgauskas, almost no Pavlovic, and Snow at the point. No wonder LeBron was the only person who could score. And he was dominating the ball and dribbling a whole bunch again, not the dynamic way the Cavs were playing offense. Plus you lose Ilgauskas and Gooden’s ability to offensive rebound. The Cavs had just five second chance points in the second half. Just bad personnel decisions.
–In general, I thought LeBron did a good job of taking the ball to the basket. He got 12 free throws and made 11 and got a bunch of layups and dunks. The Cavs had 62 points in the paint, which is good. What killed them was no one of the team could make a jumper all night. In the second half, no one scored more than six points besides James. This was old one-dimensional offense again.
–The Bobcats made a lot of 3s and a lot of jumpers, it was their night in that regard. They shot 55 percent in the second half yet I didn’t think the Cavs played all that bad on defense. Also, I thought Wallace was great. His hustle on defense and his attacking of the glass on offense when he stopped going was difference-making. But all that could’ve been withstood had some better decisions been made.
March 20th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
darn, how many chances is convicted felony bruce drennen going to get. it really amaze me on how hard it is for a brother to get a job when he get out of prison for the same or less crime, but big, “ducks on the pond” bruce drennen have a job waiting for him soon as he leave the prison gate. as don king would say, “only in america”, by the way mike brown do suck, but this game is on lebron. he had a chance to win it and he did not, can not blame the coach, when whatever happen prior to the moment, they had a chance to win it and they could not. hey cannot win them all. HEY ALAN SAY SOMETHING TO PISS OFF YOUR FANS ON THE BLOG.
March 20th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
WINDHORST BLOG WITTY HEADLINE STREAK ENDS AT 2
March 20th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
THE WORST REFEREED NBA GAME IN 25 F****IN’ YEARS…WHEN WILL THE CAVS BEAT WRITERS ADDRESS THE HORRIBLE NBA OFFICIATING?
and it ain’t just me whose saying so…
March 21st, 2007 at 12:11 am
the worst call was when sasha got the ball stolen from him with 40 secs to go and carroll jump up and went out of bounds and the ref called foul on sasha, and the reply clearly showed, (which the announcers did not talk about)that sasha did not touch the guy. now we did not lose the game on that play, but it did not help our cause. why did we lose the game? because dribble macfarggles, aka lebron james dribble the ball to much in regulation instead of taking the ball strong to the hoop. we will start another winning streak tomorrow against the mavs. THE CAVS WILL BE IN THE FINAL AGAINST THE MAVS, AND THAT IS A FACT NOT FICTION.
March 21st, 2007 at 1:21 am
PLAIN AND SIMPLE LEBRON SHOULD OF WON THE GAME IN REGULATION, IT IS HIS FAULT WE LOST THIS GAME. NOT POTATO HEAD, NOT SNOW, NOT SASHA, IT IS DRIBBLE MCFARGGLES FAULT WE LOST THIS GAME. HE HAVE TO TAKE THE BALL TO THE BASKET IN A SITUATION LIKE THAT.HE IS STILL THE KING, HIS CROWN IS TILTED FOR THE MOMENT
March 21st, 2007 at 3:56 am
Brown is an idiot for even letting Eric Snow put on a jersey. I’ll say it again, if King James wants a ring, GET OUT OF THE MISTAKE ON THE LAKE!!!!!!!!!
March 21st, 2007 at 3:57 am
I’m just utterly confused why Mike Brown continues to mess up with success. Snow is a situational defender and should be at the floor 1-2 mins at the most (as was in the case during a recent Bucks win). Bring in the athletic line up for god’s sakes!!! Why can’t he trust Shannon or Boobie to fill in — despite recent good and energetic play? These are the kind of losses that just make me wonder if Brown is at best an (defensive) assistant rather than head coach of this maddeningly talented team. I just can’t get it.
March 21st, 2007 at 4:04 am
Brian W, in your most honest opinion, do you agree that your (my) Cavs have a (”all applicable superlatives please attach here”) stupid coach?
March 21st, 2007 at 4:58 am
Hey im the biggest lebron fan there is but if he messes up he need to be held accountable, people need to stop sucking up to him. Last night game was lost because lebron refuse to take the ball to the hole on the final play of the game. everything before that means nothing because we were in a situation to win. so do not blame potato head, snow, sasha, larry, z or any one else blame it on the franchise player.or his new name dribble mcfargle
March 21st, 2007 at 5:01 am
BRUCE “theres ducks on the pond” DRENNEN IS A LOSER, HE MIGHT OF MADE A BET WITH SOMEONE THAT HE WOULD GET ANOTHER TV GIG. YOU KNOW A GAMBLER NEVER QUITS GAMBLING, DO NOT KNOW WHEN TO HOLD, FOLD, OR RUN. BRUCE SHOULD OF BEEN RAN OUT OF CLEVELAND. ITS UNPATRIOTIC TO NOT PAY YOUR TAXES.
March 21st, 2007 at 5:37 am
Wow Brian, you sound like a poster on Cavs.com. Cavs win, it’s b/c of LeBron. They lose, it’s b/c of Mike Brown. It wasn’t Brown who told LeBron to take the ball to the basket with 30 seconds left when he obviously should have held the ball out with the lead. It wasn’t Brown who told him to shoot a contested 30-footer.
You just lost all credibility. He had to leave snow in there.
March 21st, 2007 at 5:38 am
I really don’t know what to say about last night’s game. I was working, and the DVR didn’t record for some reason (that reason being that Adelphia/TWC is terrible), and so I only watched the last two minutes of regulation and overtime. When I turned the game on, the Cavs had the ball, up 4, with less than two minutes to go. I was disappointed that I missed the game, but at least they were going to win, and in the end, that’s what I cared about most.
Then, as Brian sufficiently described, all heck broke loose. The play that resulted in Sasha’s turnover was miserable. I’m almost disappointed that the Cavs have another game tonight, because they should have to think about what they did. They had an opportunity, and simply refused to concentrate and do the work that was needed to take advantage. I’ve been singing the praises of this team for a month now, but to have them finish like that is just very frustrating.
And finally, why is it that the Cavs always adjust *away* from their strengths? That small lineup that the Bobcats had out there, was that the same lineup that was down 10 with 9 minutes to go? Why not abuse them by putting in the Cavs’ huge starting 5? I’m with Brian. Most of the Cavaliers made mistakes last night that could have cost them the game, but Coach Brown was in a position to prevent that, and he failed to do so.
Go Cavs, make up for it tonight.
Mike
March 21st, 2007 at 6:06 am
Once again lemonhead proves he’s in over his head. That pose with the arms akimbo, teeth jutting forward like a rat is priceless. How does he not call a timeout after carrol’s second free throw? For one thing, it gives you the ball at half court, thereby negating the press. Astounding.
As for Lebron, yes, he did regress back to those old habits of jacking line drive jumpers hard off iron at the end (including when one on one with matt freakin carrol). But before that, he had taken the ball to the hole three straight times and was hacked, absolutely throttled, every time, without a single foul call. It’s unbelievable. No superstar in the league takes as much punishment as LBJ. Just because he has gargantuan, bulging muscles doesn’t mean other players cant foul him. It’s disgraceful.
And larry hughes. My lord. Is it possible to shoot worse? Can you actually break glass with a twenty foot jumper? And he still doesnt hesitate, completely without a conscience. That shot late in the fourth almost got wedged between iron and backboard.
Overall, embarassing and costly loss.
March 21st, 2007 at 7:11 am
so lebron got hacked and didn’t get the call and that’s why he stopped going to the hole? i don’t care if he loses fingers everytime he drives the hoop. when he drives he is unstoppable. when he doesn’t this is the result the cavs deserve.
March 21st, 2007 at 7:34 am
Oh, come on, doc. James gets as many free passes as the next superstar, possibly more. For example, the way that guy repeatedly gets away with his bunny hops and moonwalks…well, if you painted him white and gave him a 12-year-old boy to play with, he’d be Michael Jackson overdosing on nandrolone and human growth hormone.
And it may be accurate to describe it as an “embarrassing” loss, but “costly?” Please.
March 21st, 2007 at 7:46 am
Ah trouble in Babylon. Let the moaners moan.
Let the whiners whine. And what happened
to Damona and the Green titted he/she that
the Chickenhawk was telling the kiddies to
molest. Here come Dirk and the Dampier.
Avery vs. Mr. Potato head. He does look
a crossed arm beaver.
March 21st, 2007 at 10:20 am
What’s the matter with costly? Arent they chasing the pistons?
Anyway, more needs to be said about that last play. LBJ one on one against Matt Carroll, somehow not being able to beat him off the dribble. Isnt that the basketball equivalent of charlie frye slicing up the steeler defense, or victor martinez throwing out rickey henderson?
March 21st, 2007 at 10:45 am
doc, a seed in the playoffs mean absolutely nothing to anybody, with the notable exception of media folk that require time and space to fill. The only thing that could mean something is a “homecourt advantage,” whatever that actually means. And once a team loses a home game, then that purported advantage is lost, anyway.
In a seven-game series, the best team wins. There’s no back-to-back night games, and everybody gets plenty of rest. Who cares what seed the Cavs get? If they’re seriously good enough to take on the awful competition in their putrid conference, it doesn’t matter if they play Washington, New Jersey, Indiana or Timbuktu.
March 21st, 2007 at 11:15 am
one thing that my buddy pointed out to me earlier today, is that when brown didn’t call timeout to stop the mayhem he was emulating another coach. a coach with 9 championships. phil jackson would often let his players play through chaotic stretches rather than call timeout to allow his team gain poise in tough situations. and really, what better way to learn a hard lesson than by embarrassing yourself against the bobcats. maybe the loss will be a good thing. i guess we’ll find out tonight.
March 21st, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I cannot be denied that Brown allowed an inferior team to dictate the pace/style of game. He was reactionary. I always thought the superior team should impose it’s will on the inferior team. Brown had a deer-in-headlights look to him at the end of regulation.
April 2nd, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Cleveland got a great announcer back. Bruce Drennen knows his sports. So he bets, nothing to do with doing a talk show. Bruce, glad your back.