Cavs 97, Heat 90
–This is my fifth year on the Cavs beat and it’s the first time I’ve written about a win here at the AmericanAirlines Arena. I remember my first game here when the Heat were 0-7 and they got their first win with Dwyane Wade. There were like 10,000 people here, maybe, and the upper deck was behind a curtain like it was a WNBA game. Anyway, it’s been awhile since the Cavs left here with a win.
–The Heat lost this game, and therefore the Cavs won it, because they could not get stops down the stretch and the Cavs did. Wade was awesome with 42 points including the last 18 the Heat scored but he was getting no help at either end. The Cavs held Miami to 8-of-21 shooting in the fourth.
–This game reminded me of that game last season when Wade got 40 on the Cavs here because Mike Brown refused to change his defense when it was getting burned time and time again. That time it was on the high pick-and-roll. Tonight Wade was killing the Cavs 1-on-1 even with James on him and Mike just kept doing it. He said he didn’t want to double because he was afraid of giving up 3s but the Cavs were doubling Shaq the whole second half and he couldn’t even jump.
–LeBron didn’t play great down the stretch, he was just 1-of-6 in the fourth. He did, however, play very well in the third when the game really turned in the Cavs favor. It was a big step for the Cavs to win, even against a terrible team, without James carrying them down the stretch.
–You know Damon Jones loved sticking it to Pat Riley late in the game with his eight points in the fourth. He’s still upset Riley wouldn’t match the Cavs contract offer three years ago. He once again proved tonight that he can be a good contributor when given time. Also, I have noticed that he’s really working hard on the defensive end. That will never be a strongsuit but he’s giving effort. As for the mohawk…..um, no.
–Sasha Pavlovic played his best game in weeks tonight…10 points and four assists. Is that a big game? Anyway, LeBron was talking last week about how Sasha is a completely different player when he plays with confidence. As soon as he hit his first jumper tonight, he started getting more and more involved in the offense and passing. Last season the Cavs always used to call the first play of the game for him to try and get him started. Tonight LeBron was directly looking for him when he got hot, ignoring other open players. LeBron wants Sasha to succeed and he wants to help and Sasha just playing with confidence makes a difference.
–So some writers here in the press room were just talking and we were comparing Wade’s current situation with that of Kevin Garnett with the Wolves, Paul Pierce with the Celtics and LeBron’s first year in Cleveland. And what do all those teams have in common? Ricky Davis!
Note: Due to a computer virus I’ve picked up on this road trip, I will be unable to do an in-game blog tonight. It’s been a real bummer dealing with it over the weekend down here in sunny Florida, let me tell you. So my sincere apologies, I’ll be back after the game.
Pregame
Starting lineups
Cavs: Larry Hughes, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Heat: Jason Williams, Dwyane Wade, Dorell Wright, Udonis Haslem, Shaquille O’Neal
Officials
Eddie Rush, Bill Kennedy, Rodney Mott
–Big-time trap game. Heat have lost 13 straight but have been playing better. They should’ve won their last two games down here. Believe it or not, four of the starters are the same from the NBA title team.
–Miami is one of the worst defensive teams in the league, especially defending the 3-point line. If the Cavs move the ball well, they will get good shots.
–Cavs haven’t won here in the LeBron era and they’ve blown some big leads. Been quite a bad run. Nine straight losses overall here at AAA.
Postgame
Stars
LeBron, 28 points, five assists
Ilgauskas, 13 points, 11 rebounds
Wade, 42 points, seven assists
Quotes:
LeBron: “We’re just a better team, we know how to win games late. D. Wade tried to will his team to victory but we made more plays.”
Wade: “We are going to win one day…I have a nice chiseled frame.” Ok, ok, those are from two different questions, but it’s still funny.
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Mike Connely had 10 pts 10 assists on 4-5 shooting tonight. He’s looking like the real ROY ~ he’s not as flashy (or pretty)as Durant and he doesn’t score as much (yet) but aren’t point guards supposed to pass? Or at least be able to? Durant had 12 pts and 2 assists, and he’s averaging 2 assists despite all the minutes and attention… He’s the kind of point we need. Smart. I can’t even remember the last Cav not named Lebon who had close to 10 dishes.
Looks like Sasha has something going on tonight. We need Pav
Miami cracks me up. First I have to hear from all these haters how D-Wade (who I really like) is so much better cuz he won a ring with SHAQ! But Pat Riley is what really amuses me, after Stan Van Gundy got a good squad together, Riley dispatches him, comes in to take the glory, and then soon is the head of a team that loses 13 straight. And he’s shortening Wade’s career, obviously, though I hope I’m wrong.
Uhhh…guys?? I’ve fallen 4 out of 7 times so far tonight. Can you say hot streak??!!
WHy is Lebron the only Cav wearing white sneakers?
stop going to those dirty webpages windy
I must say it’s great to see the Miami Heat in the tank. They sold theirs souls to David Stern and the Refs to win that championship against Dallas.
D-Whistle is obviously the biggest fraud perpetuated on the American basketball public since Jiri Welsch’s jumpshot. D-Whistle travels more than Barnum and Bailey and gets away with it!
Also, the play in which Andy was shoved by Williams (either him or Haslem) and there was no call was a joke. Looks like the refs are still helping the heat.
I know, I don’t like the heat. If you think my ire is misplaced, I invite you to search “phantom foul” on youtube.
Good win for the Cavs tonight. I think they toyed with the Heat tonight and it seemed LeBron got bored at times because it seemed too easy.
Yeah – I went to ‘HeyLarryHughespleasegivemecandynexthalloween.com and the little sh*t not only edited my comments, I got a virus too. Now we know where BW has been spending his time LOL
Oh, Daniel Gibson had a poor shooting night, so why don’t you girls try to crucify him now too? Wow, all this talk from a team with Eric ‘0-7′ Snow on it.
Stop going to the Brazillian Trannie sites Brian. You’ll stay virus free.
In Brian’s absence, here are some bullet point thoughts about the game:
http://www.lecavs.com/2008/01/theyre-heat-were-ac.html
come on, windy. you used that computer excuse last time out against san antonio. it sounds like you need to call “the geek squad”. by the way, don’t they pay for your laptop over at the abj??? if not, you might wanna consider jumping ship like terry pluto and go to the pd. lord knows you would be a tremendous improvement over branson wright. anyway, great win down in south beach tonite. about time the cavs didn’t let the dwyane wade perpetual foul line parade determine the outcome of the game. nice to see sasha pavlovic contribute a halfway decent performance for a change too. damon jones keeps on playing better and better almost every time out. now he is certainly a guy who gets better with more playing time. larry hughes??? not so much. i swear, the cavs frontcourt has got to be the best overall combined scoring and rebounding bunch in the league. of course it helps to have lebron, but z, gooden and varejao are usually good for multiple double-doubles amongst themselves as well. i still wouldn’t mind seeing a lineup that featured all 3 big men on the court at the same time with lebron and boobie in the backcourt. it would sort of remind me of a lineup the cavs used to have in the late 80’s/early 90’s with brad daugherty, larry nance, hot rod williams, ron harper/craig ehlo and mark price, but even more explosive with lebron of course. do you think coach brown would ever consider doing something like that??? we can only hope. later!!!
Wade does get a ton of calls, mostly because of his constant limping and some fantastic acting on drives to the basket. I cant wait for his first basketball/romance movie “For Love and Basketball II: The Charity Stripe”. Ray Allen will be soooo jealous.
With all that said, if Wade would like to duck out of Miami in a couple of short years, I know a city that could use a shooting guard who doesnt suck. In fact, I say toss Damon Jones out there for him straight up. With his stroke coming around and his Mr T look, Riley has to realize that he made a huge mistake.
Shannon Brown and some expiring contracts for a guy to fill Donyell Marshall’s tiny shoes and a draft pick is the only deal the Cavs need to make. Start a clearance sale on the rotting carcasses on the bench (maybe buy 2 and get the 3rd one free??) and make some payroll room for shooting, shooting and more shooting. Some speed and athleticism would be nice too…
as much as i hate those mac commercials…….get a mac brian. there are a fraction of the viruses out there written for the mac.
Yikes, was that a shot at Ricky Davis? Alan T is going to be hurt.
Is this blog infected with the pron virus? I don’t want my Dell to get it.
The Cavs are looking much improved and I believe they will win 50 games again.
Believe it or not, Coach Brown’s work on offense is beginning to show some results. The Cavs don’t need a point guard to run the show, they just need five guys who will keep the ball moving with passes. Even on the far side of the court, defenders always lean toward LeBron when he gets the ball. Two passes and its an open shot.
That’s why having Damon and Gibson on the floor works–Damon might take bad shots from time to time, but both those guys pass quickly if they don’t have a shot. No standing and dribbling, deciding if they want to drive or shoot, a la Hughes.
In fact, if those two were both 3 inches taller it would be a pretty good backcourt to pair with LeBron.
Z is also getting rid of the ball more quickly. Last year it was force feed Z a few times, force feed Hughes a few times and force feed LeBron the rest of the time. That’s slowly going away.
did anyone else barf when they saw big Z run the floor on the fast break in the 4th??
oh and BW – don’t think that we here in comment land didn’t notice and appreciate the glen frey reference. kudos to you, sir.
What Glenn Frey reference? Seems to me it was meant as nothing more than a simple heating reference. As in remember to clean your furnace filter for maximum heating efficiency.
Speaking of furnace filters, I just looked on nba.com. Can somebody please tell me why Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers has a blog over there?
Lebron will be in New York as soon as his contract is up. Here is proof…. his new Yankee pinstripe shoe…. http://www.hypebeast.com/2008/01/nike-lebron-v-yankees/gallery?page=1
Yo Alan, Flea is blogging on NBA.com because he is a big NBA fan and, since the NBA needs to draw in the youtube generation of fans, one way is to blog, another is to have hip rock stars do it. Its a new world.
But Flea, JoeHoops??? The guy is 45 years old, a YouTube/Google version of Roger Clemens. That is, if Roger Clemens was wearing a tube sock on his pecker. Can’t they find somebody younger? And really, why would anybody in their right mind, young or old, care what Flea has to say about Los Angeles fans booing Kwame Brown? If they should be booing anybody, they should be booing Michael Jordan for being the Danny Ferry of talent evaluation.
I want to see the following team on the floor at all
times.
1) The three amigos, hombres, el presidentes, las
bresas, mohawkes.
2) Lebron and Zee Wild Thang.
Get rid of Larry “Clankkkkk”,Zydrunas “No slam” Drew
“Auto strip”, Ira “I cant play tonight” Shannon “D League”
and Sasha “Bowl over”
Our next 12 games… all tough playoff-caliber teams
(except for Seattle and LA Clippers)…
Washington
Phoenix
LA
Portland
Seattle
LA Clippers
Boston
Houston
Atlanta
Denver
Orlando
San Antonio
What do you think they will go over these next 12? I say they will be 7-5.
Some of you folks need to stop listening to the fat gent on 1100 and make up your mind for yourself.
Nobody was crying when these came out last season (left):
http://www.lebrontalk.com/wordpress/wp-gallery/0407/lebron_graffiti_shoes.jpg
I say 8-4 with losses to LA, Portland, Orlando and San Antonio.
If they go 8-4, it will be a total triumph for this squad. I’d expect 7-5, but you gotta think LeBron’s good for an extra W. We’re going to find out a lot about this team over the next 12 games.
9-3… I’m an optimist! Time to show the country that the defending East Champs are still trouble times 2 even without a point. I think that both LBJ and the team are tired of not getting due respect and LBJ needs to be on a strong team to win the MVP with it’s ever-changing definitions. Time to throw down. This is barring any injuries to the main players of course. 9-3
I hope you’re all right on the next 12 games, but I’ll be surprised if the Cavs do as well as 7-5 against those teams. Nine of those teams would be in the playoffs if they started today, six of them would have home court in their respective conferences (and San Antonio isn’t one of the latter).
I figure we’re in good shape if we can just tread water in that stretch. if the Cavs go 7-5 or better, it would be a really good indicator for the second half of the season.
I think they’re hot and will be until the break. After the break they’ll have a brief letdown then get hot again for the rest of the season.
Pavlovic is going to get better as the team does better. He’s flakey and the pressure of losing rattles him even more than he’s usually rattled. Gooden’s going to play better too. I think he’s been bummed with reduced minutes since Varejao’s been back but he’ll come out of it.