Cavs vs. Bucks
Posted December 17th, 2007 by Brian Windhorst
Pregame
Starting lineups
Bucks: Mo Williams, Michael Redd, Desmond Mason, Yi Jianlian, Andrew Bogut
Cavs: Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilguaskas
Officials
Dan Crawford, Monty McCutcheon, John Goble
–Gibson is back in the starting lineup and says he’s 100 percent.
–Tonight is really more about the Cavs than anything, we’ll see if they can get their act together. The offense and defense have both been very sick and there hasn’t been any practice since. So it will be mind over matter here.
–Bucks are a good rebounding team, especially offensive rebounding. The Cavs have been getting whipped there lately so we’ll see how that plays out.
–The Cavs are going to have problems keeping Mo Williams in front of them. That could be a serious defensive issue. Michael Redd is going to make his shots, but you can’t have Williams in the middle all night. There’s a chance LeBron will be put on him if Gibson, Larry Hughes or Eric Snow can’t get it done.
–Sasha can’t keep playing this bad, can he?
Halftime — Cavs 46, Bucks 44
–Cavs held the Bucks to 8-of-22 shooting in the second quarter and have been working hard on their rotations. Which is why they are ahead despite shooting just 42 percent. However, Mo Williams and Michael Redd are a combined 2-of-13. Can that keep up?
–LeBron James has seven free throws already, he is looking to drive much more tonight. He’s not being super active but is picking his spots and showing some aggression, which is what the Cavs need.
–Cavs have looked pretty aggressive on the boards and have worked to get back on defense off long rebounds. These are pure effort upgrades from the last few games, let’s see if it keeps up.
–Larry Hughes is 2-of-8 and it’s actually looked worse and he’s been playing his preferred shooting guard spot and running off picks, etc., etc., sort of leaves him out of excuses.
–Lots of really average big men have been dunking on the Cavs lately, tonight it’s been Jake Voskuhl. But then again, Yi scored nine points in eight minutes and we didn’t see him the rest of the half so maybe it’s just as well.
Postgame — Cavs 104, Bucks 99, double overtime
Stars
LeBron James, 31 points, eight rebounds
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 24 points, 11 rebounds
Devin Brown, 11 points, nine rebounds, six assists
Desmond Mason, 15 points, 11 rebounds
–At times this looked like two really bad teams figuring out ways to keep themselves from winning. But in all honesty the Cavs must start somewhere, so this is as good as place as any I suppose.
–Much credit must be given to Devin Brown, whose gutty play seemed to inspire the rest of the team at times tonight. He’s got his flaws and he’ll not play this way all the time, but the Cavs needed a spark from somewhere. It came out of nowhere. Let’s just assume Damon Jones, Eric Snow and Shannon Brown weren’t really thrilled because they didn’t play. In my mind none of them deserved to be benched, but the team was losing with them playing.
–There were some poor calls both ways by the officials, especially by rookie ref John Goble, in my opinion. But, as unbiased as I can be, I feel it was the right call to swallow the whistle when Andrew Bogut battled Z in the closing moments of double overtime. Z bumped him but he went straight up and I felt it was an OK non-call. In case you missed it, Bogut got an offensive rebound and missed the putback.
–The Cavs didn’t turn the ball over for the last 23 minutes of the game. That is simply unreal. Devin gets some credit there, too, he was playing as the Cavs backup point guard tonight.
–Other than a couple of occasions, Mo Williams didn’t get deep penetration. Michael Redd missed some wide open shots but that might’ve been some karma from the last game when he made some with people in his face. Overall, the Cavs did a good job of playing defense and held Milwaukee to 42 percent shooting and Redd and Williams for 13-of-42. This is how they won games last year, they didn’t play good offense but they battled on defense and found a way at the end.
–LeBron looked a little too passive at times, especially when he passed up an open 12-footer to pass the ball to Brown for a 3-pointer in overtime, but he got it down when it counted. He made a huge jumper at the end of regulation and made a big-time, left-handed driving layup to seal the game in double overtime. He’s still not back yet, but he was better tonight. I thought Desmond Mason did a really good job on him for much of the night, one of the best defensive performances on LeBron this season.
–There is such a huge difference in Z’s game when LeBron is on the court. He’s been a different player over the last couple games. More on that later.
Quotes
Larry Krystkowiak: “There’s some calls late in that game that I think our team and our league needs to take a little look at. I’ll leave it at that.”
LeBron: “We just made a couple more plays down the stretch than they did,” James said. “It was a tough game to win, but we needed it.”
p.s. I promised a shout out to Dave from Kent, a reader I met at the game tonight and a fellow Kent State grad. Thanks for reading, Dave, and to all of you as well.
December 17th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
This may be the second highest watched game this year, in a global sense with Yi and LB playing
Second only to that Bucks-Rockets game
Expect LeBron to have a BIG game
December 17th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
–Brown can’t keep coaching this poorly, can he?
December 17th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Are you serious? Did Autsin Carr just say about Daniel Gibson that “even though his mouth was hurting, ‘Boobie’ still hustled to the ball” And then just moments later had this gem about Yi Jianlian, “Typical European player, he likes to shoot it from the outside.” Are you serious? Mr. Windhorst, I know Dan Gilbert brought in his own guys, but our television crew is now the joke of the entire league. Are we the only two that have noticed the disgrace that is Austin Carr and Fred McLeod? Please tell me that Gilbert is not oblivious to the fact that Carr and McLeod are LOUSY!
December 17th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Windy, your new slogan for Larry should be “All roads lead to 25%”
December 17th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Can somebody please kick Larry in the shin so he will miss 3 more weeks? There is just no reason for him to be on the court, he brings absolutely nothing positive to the table.
December 17th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Ok, wait a second… what is up with the personal ‘pet names’ that Carr and McLeod have for LeBron James? Who, besides McLeod, calls James “LB”? And for the love of all of humanity, why does Carr refer to James as “The L-Train”??? And to top it off, Austin Carr uses his pet-name for LeBron in ways unimaginable to basketball fans, like “The L-Train is about to take flight!” Ok, we have seen birds fly. We have seen planes fly. But has ANYONE seen a TRAIN fly???? Come on, Mr. Windhorst, please tell me why Gilbert has hired these two knuckleheads when he had guys like ourselves???
December 17th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Matt, take it easy on the man, Gilbert needs someone who can plug digiorno pizza 3 times a game.
December 17th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Devin Brown played very hard tonight, but he is not deserving of 33 minutes a game. That shows you just how bad Larry Hughes truly is on this team. If Hughes plays those crunch time minutes, we lose tonight, hands down. We should’ve never played him again after his 36 point, blip on the radar, performance the other night against Indiana. Maybe then another team might take the bait thinking this guy can play.
Where did Lebron’s pre-injury energy go?
December 17th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Austin Carr was ridiculous tonight. His best tip: “Keep giving it to the hot man, until he cools off.” It was sad though, when he admitted that he will be eating DiGiorno pizzas during the holiday season because “I’m not a good cook.”
Does anybody else feel part of the problem with this team is the lack of a consistent rotation? There have been so many different combinations of players on the court, especially since Lebron, Hughes and Andy came back, that it’s no wonder they never seem to have any rhythm at all. I know a lot of these substitutions have to be situational or to deal with a hot player on the other team, but Devin Brown for 30+ minutes, while Damon and Eric Snow get a DNP? Seems too random.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:09 am
Oh, come on … what’s with the knocking of the current TV crew’s pet names. There’s no difference between now and then. When Matt Harpring was on the Cavaliers roster, Reghi’s pet name for him was “The Human Bruise.”
December 18th, 2007 at 1:20 am
RE: the TV guys…
Is the quality of the television broadcast REALLY this big of a deal? I mean, I definitely think Reghi got the short straw, but all in all, TV broadcasters are meant to be muted, in my opinion. The best one (in any sport) I’ve ever heard is Kosar’s preseason coverage of the browns, and he’s not even usually sober for the 2nd half.
December 18th, 2007 at 1:51 am
i still feel the cavs biggest problem is the need for a legitimate point guard. while mo williams certainly was off on his shooting tonite, he still scored 18 points. andre miller went for 20 last saturday and jason kidd only scored 8 friday, but he also had a near-triple double with 10 boards and 8 assists. i swear if the cavs had a point guard like one of these guys, they would be right up there with the celtics, the pistons and the magic as far as their won-loss record is concerned. that being said, is there any hope of danny ferry actually making a trade to get one of these guys??? we can only hope.
December 18th, 2007 at 4:00 am
How on earth can you guys complain about Devin Brown getting so many minutes tonight? He clearly was the difference in the game.
December 18th, 2007 at 4:57 am
32. Larry Hughes – Everyone keeps talking about Redd and Allen this summer – why doesn’t anyone mention Hughes? He’s only 26, gives you a 22-6-5 every night, plays three positions, defends well enough that he made the 2005 All-Defensive team, never does anything beyond his means, and he even supplants Troy O’Leary as the “best black athlete with a name that makes him sound like he should be bouncing at Sully’s Pub.” Other than some durability issues, what am I missing here?
Simmons’ 2005 trade value column. Yes, you all read that correctly. That was Larry Hughes. What the hell happened?????
December 18th, 2007 at 4:57 am
32. Larry Hughes – Everyone keeps talking about Redd and Allen this summer – why doesn’t anyone mention Hughes? He’s only 26, gives you a 22-6-5 every night, plays three positions, defends well enough that he made the 2005 All-Defensive team, never does anything beyond his means, and he even supplants Troy O’Leary as the “best black athlete with a name that makes him sound like he should be bouncing at Sully’s Pub.” Other than some durability issues, what am I missing here?
Simmons’ 2005 trade value column. Yes, you all read that correctly. That was Larry Hughes. What the hell happened?????
December 18th, 2007 at 8:49 am
Brian,
Could u please email to me that article where Hughes talks about his time with Mark Price?
I really need to get his direct quote where he said something like, “He [M.Price] only gave me a few tweaks, my shot is pretty much fine/perfect”
Hughes, foot on the line….clank
Hughes, foot on the line….clank
Hughes, foot on the line….clank
Hughes, foot on the line….clank
Hughes, new role…point guard (40% shooter)
Hughes, new role…slashing, open-court runner (30% shooter)
Hughes, new role…shooting guard (25% shooter)
Hughes, new role…off the bench spark/scoring (20% shooter)
Hughes, paper-cut, 6-8 weeks
Hughes, laughing all the way to the bank
December 18th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Hughes was the most significant free agent to defect from his team this summer, leaving the Washington Wizards after helping them to their first playoff appearance since 1997. It was a major victory for the new Cavaliers leadership, especially general manager Danny Ferry.
The Cavaliers recruited Hughes heavily, and when the Wizards, in Hughes’ view, low-balled him with their initial offer, the Cavaliers pounced with a big-dollar package.
ABJ July 2005
I wonder if it was the $70 million, or the ‘I Love You’ balloon that lured the unselfish but dynamic guard to Cleveland.
December 18th, 2007 at 10:57 am
Thoughts after the game last night:
- It really took 58 minutes to score 104 points? Weren’t the Cavs scoring close to that each game before LeBron got hurt?
- I agree with Brian about LeBron still being passive, but it was significantly better than Saturday’s performance. The shot late in regulation was huge.
- Devin Brown was a difference-maker tonight, and after the game made a comment about how he hadn’t played in the last two games. If he keeps playing like this, it won’t be a problem. Unfortunately, like a lot of Cavaliers (Gooden, Pavlovic, Gibson, Hughes…), Devin Brown has been wildy inconsistent. Maybe he should wait to have two good games in a row before he starts complaining about minutes. The important part was that Coach Brown kept him in the game when he was contributing.
- Speaking of the inconsistent: Pavlovic - 6 points, Hughes - 6 points, Gooden - 4 points. $23 Million. Brian is right, Hughes is out of excuses. Devin Brown was in for the Hughes for the entire stretch run.
Go Cavs. If there’s a road game they have to win, it’s against the Knicks.
Mike C.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Yo Brian, I saw you on TV when the FSN crew interviewed you about your book. And by the way, I ordered a copy of it…. look forward to reading it.
Oh, and while you were being interviewed I thought I saw Alan T in the background holding up a sign that said “Fire Danny Ferry”. Alan T is one strange fellow.
December 18th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
JoeHoops, that wasn’t me holding up the sign “Fire Danny Ferry,” (perhaps it was Wayne Embry wearing classic whiteface), but if you want to make me a tempting offer for firedannyferry.com, then please, I’m all ears.
By the way, speaking of the book, I noticed that on the book’s cover, the Reverend Pluto receives top-billing. In fact, in all excepts of the book published in various places, with the not so curious exception of the Akron Beacon Journal, the Reverend also received top billing. With Pluto’s Bobby Petrino-like escape to the Plain Dealer, I understand why Pluto was buried as some kind of afterthought when the Beacon Journal stated the authors.
Was there naked mud wrestling to determine who got to be named first on the book’s cover? A Coney Island hot dog eating contest? Rock, paper, scissors? I want to know what went on behind the scenes in the battle of who got to be named first.
December 18th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Hughes is turning into a coach killer. He only played 22 minutes but still shot 11 times. If Hughes won’t stop chucking, they’d be better off even with Snow next to Gibson, letting Gibson put up 20 shots a night.
That said, the Cavs were just as maddening last year at this time. Maybe worse, with all the veteran chuckleheads yukking it up on the bench if I remember. At least Wesley’s gone.
They probably felt things would come easy once the roster settled, but now they’ve got some more adjusting to do. Coach Brown will have a decent big man rotation figured out in the spring, Hughes will get hurt and they’ll compete well in the playoffs.
Then Brown will get fired because he can’t get this mishmash over the final hump, while Ferry gets praised.
December 18th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Yi Jianlian is a “typical European player???????????”
Brian, everybody always says “the media….” so those guys on TV are giving you all a bad reputation. On the brigher side, if you haven’t gotten Austin anything for Christmas yet, an atlas might be just the thing!
On the Cavs. This rotation is a joke. Devin doesn’t play for a week and then gets 33 minutes. S. Brown gets 20+ for 3 games and then -0-. M. Brown talks all the time about players needing to know what to expect to play there best. Perhaps he should listen to his own interviews?!??!
Have a great Christmas!
Don
December 18th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Please. Why does Austin Carr need an atlas for Christmas? The man knows his role to promote the Cavaliers, the man knows his professional basketball, the man knows his world geography. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t China part of the former Yugoslavia?
December 18th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Yo Alan T, shut up.
December 18th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
I agree with larry d.’s prediction, to an extent. Hughes will get hurt. They’ll get to the playoffs. Probably will do well in the playoffs, since James will be completely focused and the dude is unreal. If James somehow carries the team past the first three rounds, then Brown stays for a lame duck season (Isn’t 2008-2009 the last year of Browns’ contract? I think it is). But if James’ neck, trapezius, shoulders and back can’t make it past the first three rounds carrying what he shouldn’t have been forced to carry in the first place, then Ferry will make Brown the hapless fall guy, and the local yokels will continue to praise and pat Ferry on the head like a golden retriever undergoing chemotherapy.
By the way, in light of the fact that Windy lost his mind and gave Pavlovic the sole vote for last season’s Most Improved Player, I now want to start a campaign for the great Devin Brown. In the spirit of the holiday season, I hereby publicly announce that if Windy gives Devin Brown his media vote at the end of the season, I will present Windy with a $100 gift card to be used at the Cavaliers gift shop. Seriously.
December 18th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Larry’s stroke isn’t bad in itself. The reason he misses a lot of shots is because of his footwork. Leaning left, leaning right, off balance, out of control = miss for Larry. When he has time and his feet are under him he makes it. Unfortunately for us that doesn’t happen enough…
December 18th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Hey, I don’t need an atlas. ‘Geography’ is my middle name.
After all, I was named after the capital of Oklahoma.
December 18th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Larry should listen to Austin Carr. He needs to go straight up with his shot instead of leaning back….its as easy as that. Also, the Cavs offense needs to focus on going north/south instead of east/west.
December 18th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Brian , just got your new book in the mail from amazon yesterday , and i actually started reading it and couldnt put it down, I read it all day and also during the game. It was the first book ive read since high school which has been a few years now. I recommend this book to any Cavs fan. Lots of good info and insight. Keep up the good work man.
December 18th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
resigning Pav’s was a serious mistake, this guy have one half way decent season and the team rewards him, Lebron always talk about what players he need and who is an intergal part of this team, but in actuality he is just being a sports agent in helping these stiff get a contract, ie. drew, z, pav, andy. all those guys are stiff and lebron know it, he is just helping these guys out with there future dollars because when he bolts in 3 years, this team will be crap and so will the players and no one will want them.
December 18th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I clearly saw Z getting a huge push in the back before that offensive rebound and the no call on the putback evened out the no call on the rebound. Screw their coach. Bad calls happen. I do believe the out of bounds on the Bucks call earlier on the other end was a bad call though.
December 18th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Wow, two overtimes to take out a mediocre at best Milwaukee team at home when Redd shoots 7-22….pretty suspect win. Couple of issues:
1. The player rotations are ridiculous; guys don’t play for a week, then all of a sudden someone like Devin Brown is the best player on the floor in crunch time? The season’s a quarter over and Brown hasn’t figured out his top eight guys yet?
2. Varejao looks a little like Magda from Something about Mary with than over-bronzed tan, no?
3. Bongyella Marshall! I miss you!
4. Instead of a Z bobblehead night, can’t the Cavs marketing department just hand a few thousand of these in honor of the lumbering lithuanian: http://www.actionfigurecollectors.com/images/news/mezco/goonies_ser1_5.jpg
5. Now is the best time to trade Shannon Brown, right? I mean, he sucks, he’s the sort of gunner, turnover machine than would thrive on a lousy team and he’s put up some deceptively decent numebrs lately. It’s not like his value is going to increase over the coming weeks as everyone is finally healthy and he won’t see the court unless someone is getting blown out. Boatshoes! Hello there! Boatshoes! Pay attention! Turn off the Duke basketball! You can draft Greg Paulus when you’re the GM of the Rapid City Whatevers in the CBA.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:33 am
We could not sleep at all last night, thinking of all of those golden Austin Carr One-Liners, like “LeBron, showing off his defensive moves there in stopping Redd” and “All the Cavs have to do is go north-south, and stop going east-west.” And McLeod, the biggest Homer of all. But of course, if he does not want to suffer the same fate as one of us did, he will continue never to ever ever ever say anything even remotely negative about the Cavaliers (like “Larry Hughes just flat out stinks, what a big waste of salary cap space he has turned out to be”). Mr. Windhorst, could you not slip in a good word on our behalf in your next writeup, please?
December 19th, 2007 at 1:31 am
A Greg Paulus reference. No doubt Ferry would actually draft that stiff if he has the opportunity. I’ve posted it before, but this is one of my all-time favorite YouTube clips.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0upQDkY-pg
December 19th, 2007 at 9:21 am
HEY A.T. that video was funny thanks, Paulus meet the requirment to be a cavs, big and soft, so expect him here when he is finish with the dookies….that video was funny as heck……go cavs…..anywhere but here.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
I will never understand how a guy like Larry Hughes has the capability to drop 30 points once or twice a season but just sucks nuts pretty much every game.
Shocking.
It feels like the Cavs know how to get the most out of Z and that’s it. Gooden really has to find his own shots, Gibson doesn’t get nearly enough looks, and the rest of our backcourt is just pathetic.
December 19th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Tom speaks the truth. But when the second option averages 9 pts. a game while the first option is out, that’s not a good sign either.