LeBron is cold blooded
Posted January 30th, 2008 by Brian Windhorst
Cavs 84, Trail Blazers 83
–Two things learned tonight: 1. The Cavs are an experienced team in close, tight games and the Blazers, even with their success, still have learning to do. 2. Joe Johnson is not LeBron James.
–Seriously the Cavs were down 11 points with four minutes to play and LeBron was getting his shots blocked left and right. No one else was thinking about making a shot and this had loss written all over it. But LeBron is just frankly running a barnstorming campaign for MVP and who knows where it will stop. Not only were his 3-pointers major momentum swingers with three minutes left, it changed the Blazers’ confidence level in defending him.
–All this week on Portland TV and in the newspaper everyone has been lauding Brandon Roy for his defense on Joe Johnson in the final seconds of the Blazers win over the Hawks on Sunday and how the Blazers are so good in close games. Both are very true, but LeBron is not Joe Johnson and the Cavs aren’t the Hawks. What the Cavs are is a playoff-hardened great fourth quarter team with the best finisher in the NBA right now.
–Roy did not expect LeBron to go left on the final shot, in fact I don’t think Roy thought he was driving. He looked caught on his heels because he was ready to contest a jumper and LeBron caught him and the rest of the Blazers by surprise. The help was not there. That was the genius, not the shot. The shot was easy and wide open.
–The atmosphere at the Rose Garden was amazing, like a playoff game. Maybe the loudest arena from start to finish I have heard this year. Five years ago the Cavs were here for the home opener and you could tell the fans hated the team. Now, they love them and this will be something special once Greg Oden gets here. In the future, Cavs-Blazers games will be on Sundays and Thursdays, I think.
–LeBron did it all with a sore right ankle and hurt left pinky. He said the ankle may bother him tomorrow, we’ll see. But his supporting cast really, really owes him tonight. He went 13-of-29, everybody else went 13-of-45. This should’ve been a loss.
–That said, the Cavs played pretty good defense all night. They contested most shots at the rim, especially in the fourth when Zydrunas Ilgauskas was a major factor. And they forced lots of jump shots, which is why the Blazers shot a season-low 35 percent. Plus the Cavs went on runs at the end of the first, second and third quarters to cut leads down to size, which is what good, experienced teams do.
–The Cavs are now 12-12 on the road after once being 5-11. They are 9-4 out West and two of those losses were on the second night of back-to-backs in the altitude in Salt Lake, where they barely lost, and Denver. Next week they have a chance to sweep Texas for the first time in like forever. If they win tomorrow, they will have totally swept the coast…both L.A. teams, Golden State, Sacramento, Portland and Seattle. That is pretty impressive.
–All the Nike brass was here tonight, including Phil Knight. Based on everything I know, I don’t think LeBron has yet been a good investment for Nike by the sheer balance-and-loss statment. His shoes and gear don’t move like other $100 million guys like Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. But you can bet Knight and his execs were quite happy the swoosh was on his feet tonight.
–One more thing before I go, I spent yesterday at Nike in the Bo Jackson building where the Cavs were practicing. I am waiting for the end of practice and I wander over to these large white boards under a staircase. They are filled with autographs with dates from athletes who worked out there. It was amazing stuff. A Shaq O’Neal signature from 1992, track star Michael Johnson, Dan Fouts, Tony Gywnn, Jerry Rice, Casey Martin, Wesley Snipes, Kevin Durant when he was at Oak Hill in classic cursive that looked like a fifth graders’, and hundreds more that I am forgetting. But what was amazing was that it was literally tucked away in a back corner. I was wearing Adidas shoes and and Under Armour shirt, partially to draw a reaction from the Nike folks. But at that moment under those stairs, I was in awe.
Tonight’s recap:
Pregame
Starting lineups
Cavs: Larry Hughes, Ira Newble, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Blazers: Steve Blake, Brandon Roy, Martell Webster, LaMarcus Aldridge, Joel Przybilla
–The Blazers are great at home, 18-4, and they are a streak shooting team, especially from the outside. What will be important for the Cavs is to stay close and to keep steady in their rotations to keep from giving up wide-open 3s. Like Phoenix last week.
–Portland has a great bench, led by the surprising Travis Outlaw. Obviously there’s no Anderson Varejao. So how the Cavs second unit holds its own will be key. Drew Gooden needs to play better, yes, but Donyell Marshall has to contribute as well.
–The Blazers biggest weakness is interior defense, which is why Z is likely a big part of the Cavs game plan. If he has a good game it could make a difference.
Halftime — Blazers 48, Cavs 42
–LeBron went to the locker room early with what looked like a turned right ankle. That’s about all the Cavs could take right now. It happened on a drive to the basket late in the half. He turns his ankles regularly and is OK because his ankles are huge but the way the Cavs luck is going you never know.
–The Cavs are struggling on offense. They are not executing much well, even passing. As a result they are not getting many good shots and it shows. They have had success skipping to open 3-point shooters but that is about it. Also they are missing lots of short shots. The Blazers are being aggressive but not doing anything super special. Actually being down just six points and shooting 33 percent on the road is impressive
–Portland is winning this game because of volume. They have 13 more shots than the Cavs, which is shocking because the Cavs usually get more free throws than their opponent. They are doing this because they are not committing turnovers and they are getting some offensive rebounds.
–Mike Brown got his first technical foul of the year complaining about a charge on LeBron late in the first half. The call was probably right but the official, Mark Lindsay, is weak.
–Larry Hughes has three dunks in the last week, that may equal his total for the rest of the season.
Postgame
Stars
LeBron James, 37 points, 14 rebounds
Brandon Roy, 16 points
LaMarcus Aldridge, 16 points, nine rebounds
Quotes…let me sum them up: “LeBron did what LeBron does.”
LeBron: “I do what I do. I prepare myself to be the best player on the floor every night no matter what building I’m in. My teammates feed off than and I feed off them.”
Mike Brown: “LeBron put us on his back tonight. We couldn’t make a basket to save our lives but he did what superstars do.”
Martell Webster: “LeBron really showed why he is who he is and what he does is what he does.”
January 30th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Here is my text-based “impersonation” of Larry Hughes:
Dribble, dribble, dribble…..knuckleball.
Absolutely sickening and nauseating to watch.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Another Hughes dunk.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Things are looking a little rough here in the 3rd. With Hughes, Gooden and Newble being completely ineffective on the offensive end, it’s LeBron and Z vs. the Blazers. Pretty hard to win that way. Need more shots from Gibson and Damon Jones to win this one.
Go Cavs.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
drew gooden is garbage and so is larry hughes!!!
January 30th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Windy, this game might shape up to be one of your ‘5% games’ no?
January 30th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Seriously, Larry Hughes, get out of my life and never come back. I don’t care what the Cavs have to do….buy him out if it comes to that. I never want to see his smug stupid face again.
Mike Brown, honestly, how can you justify playing him? Dan Gilbert, how can you justify employing a coach that gives significant minutes to Larry Hughes?
You make me sick Cavs. I hate the entire organization sans Lebron.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
How can Larry Hughes even sleep at night? His very existence disgusts me! He is the most unappealing basketball player I have ever seen.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Note to Dan Gilbert: Hire anonymous people to sit courtside at away games and taunt LeBron.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Cavs stole one from Johnny Rockets and co.
Mr. 4th Quarter does it again
January 30th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
the charge call was NOT “probably right,” windhorst. it was wrong. just like SIX other calls against LBJ and the cavs tonight. shoulda cost them the game…what a joke this league has become!
btw, when portland missed with 5.4 left, i turned to my wife and said “game.” is there any doubt he won’t come through in a situation like that? and guess what? he’s the best in the game and IT AIN’T EVEN CLOSE. NO ONE can shut down the opposing teams leading scorer on one end and then win it BY HIMSELF on the other but him. astounding…
January 31st, 2008 at 12:13 am
Look, the officiating may not have been the greatest, LeBron may have gotten fouled a couple of times when there was a no call, but Roy got hit around pretty badly on one drive towards the end of the game, and there was no call there either, so overall I say it was a fairly evenly officiated game. I think Z pissed off LeBron into taking over the game when he threw the ball away when trying to lob it to LJ. We need LBJ to be pissed off more often.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:18 am
How can Lebron not be the MVP? He keeps leading a bunch of stiffs to victory. I’ve been following the Cavs since the early 1970. What he’s doing this year tops anything I’ve seen by anyone wearing a Cavs uniform. His teammates are stealing paychecks.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:26 am
WHY does Mike Brown give Larry Hughes minutes? Why is he somehow FORCED into starting this guy?
Fans can’t be the only one’s sick and tired of this guy’s effort and performance.
I really think it’s almost gotten to the point where the Cavs would just be better off sitting Hughes and playing someone else. Even a below average NBA player would outperform Hughes and his 35% FG% at this point.
How is Hughes really any better than Shannon Brown? At least Brown might have some upside.
All I know is I can’t stand watching Hughes anymore. It’s disgusting.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:33 am
he comes through… again. seriously i dont know why i keep getting surprised. i should expect and accept this as the norm now. he should win MVP this year. Phenomenal player. I have never seen someone exceed this sort of hype.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:44 am
Stiffs stealing paychecks? Man, I think there’s some grade-inflation going on with that team, too.
Did you check out the individual grades and comments Windy gave in this past Sunday’s paper? Oy vey. Couldn’t even resist giving ‘ol Z some Pluto-like props, too. Evidently, readers are supposed to be impressed because the guy doesn’t complain and he’s a true professional, clear attributes that earn a guy an A-. I suppose if Mother Teresa were still alive and took a crash course learning Mike Brown’s revolutionary drive and kick offense, she’d reap herself an A.
And how in the hell did Larry Hughes warrant himself a C-? What’s Hitler’s mustache, a B+?
If Windy ever becomes a college professor, I STRONGLY encourage all kids out there to sign up for his class. That’s one grade you’ll never have to worry about.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:28 am
why teams don’t double team lebron the second he gets the ball in a late game situation and make someone else hit the shot is beyond me. an open shot for anyone else on this team, save boobie gibson, is less likely to go in than a highly contested lebron shot, especially in the 4th quarter. if lebron does not win mvp, the nba is fixed
January 31st, 2008 at 7:20 am
One thing you missed, Brian, being at the game, the National play-by-play announcers kept patting the Cavs on the back just for keeping the game close. They expressed amazement that the game wasn’t a 20 point blowout, implying that the Cavs had scored some kind of a moral victory.
Have to admit, I agreed with them at the time. Did anyone think before Lebron hit that first three with three minutes to go that we had any shot of winning this game?
Sometimes I forget how good Lebron is. Wow.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:23 am
Actually, on Mike Brown’s technical it was pretty funny because LeBron was furiously jawing at the officials and I thought the King was going to get the T. Then Mike Brown dives in like a secret service agent and starts yelling at the ref diverting attention away from LeBron. When the ref finally called the technical, he pointed to Mike Brown instead of LeBron. Nice save coach! All that was missing was Mike Brown diving in front of LeBron in slow motion yelling “nooooooo!” before he took the bullet.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:28 am
Hughes still gets minutes because of his defense. His length at point guard is a huge reason why the Cavs are one of the best defensive teams in the league. I agree we sacrifice a lot at the offensive end, but I think he is our best option right now overall.
I can’t help but get the feeling that once he signed the big contract with the Cavs, he decided to coast through the rest of his NBA career. I don’t know how else to explain how bad his shooting has become. I imagine almost all good shooters in the league practice their shot a ton outside of practice and there is no way he does the same. Or if he does, it’s at about the same pace/effort as when you’re 12 years old and you go outside to shoot around with your dad.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:50 am
I was wondering why Phil Knight looked so rumpled and blue sitting courtside. Now I understand–he was devastated because famous author BW didn’t wear his Nike apparel in the Bo Jackson building earlier that day.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:47 am
Hughes’ “length” at point guard? Boy, that’s a new one.
With the exception of that one contract year when he cheated and padded his stats by trying to steal every single pass in a passing lane, that chump has never even received one single vote from one single coach for the All-Defensive Team. Ever.
The guy stinks. Point blank. I can’t stand when Windy throws that defensive baloney around. It’s even more annoying and uncomfortable than the single-ply toilet paper I’m forced to use at work. Always trying to toss Ferry a safety net.
Come to think of it, no wonder so many dolphins are needlessly perishing. It’s those nets that Windy keeps throwing into the ocean. PETA and Greenpeace should set up shop and protest in front of the Beacon Journal. Pronto.
And by the way, Phil Knight does look like he’s seen better days. He looks like the world’s richest vagrant.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:35 am
The Cavs could not buy a bucket for most of last night, and were subject to more than a few questionable calls.
They’re struggling to redefine their rotation with the loss of Varejao and Pavlovic.
They kept the game close with tough interior D, and some hustle plays by Lebron that you just do not see on a nightly basis from a superstar.
A healthy Cavs team is making the Eastern Conference Finals. From there, who knows what happens with Lebron on the court.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:58 am
Thoughts on the Cavs win over the Blazers:
- I guess LeBron did what LeBron does. Even after 5 years of this, I’m still not used to it. I’m always expecting the Cavs to be the team that comes close, but falls short. I even felt a little bad for the Blazers fans. We’ve been there before.
- LeBron was special, but it seemed like he was not actively facilitating the offense last night, which had everybody else out of rhythm. By the 4th Quarter it had to be LeBron or nothing, because no one else had gotten enough touches to get into the flow.
- The Cavs could have used a point guard yesterday. Too bad Jarret Jack was 0-6 in what could have been his Cavaliers audition. In his last 5 games, Jack is shooting 4-19. Not quite the solution the Cavs might be hoping for.
- Drew Gooden went back to doing what he does best in the second half, picking up 7 points on hustle plays, and it was absolutely vital to the Cavs comeback. Hopefully that will help him get back into the groove. The Cavs are going to need him to produce, because Cedric Simmons looked like he might need to find a new line of work (9 minutes, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul).
- I don’t know how to feel about Larry Hughes last night. Watching the game, it seemed like he was absolutely killing them on offense. And he was. But then I look at the box scores, and I see that the Blazers shot 35% as a team, and that Blake, Jack and Rodriguez shot a combined 4-23. He had to have something to do with that, right? But then I see that Hughes was an amazing -18 in +/- in only 23 minutes. Is it possible that the Cavs would have been outscored by *more* in those 23 minutes if Hughes wasn’t out there?
- I’ve watched quite a few Blazers games lately, and I can’t figure out if Travis Outlaw is going to be good, or if he’s going to be a constant tease. He reminds me a lot of Darius Miles, in that he has some clearly visible talent, but you’re never sure if he’ll be able to develop it. He’s still young at 23, but, y’know, so is LeBron.
- At the same time, I would have put Outlaw on James for the last play of the game. Roy is a good player, but he doesn’t have nearly the size and length it was going to take to keep LeBron out of the lane. At least Outlaw would have made LeBron shoot around his long arms.
- It will be interesting to see how the Cavs deal with the Sonics tonight. The Sonics are not good, but they did beat the Spurs on Tuesday, and the Cavs might be content with going 2-1 on the road trip. We’ll see if the Cavs bring the effort tonight.
Go Cavs.
Mike C.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Believe it or not, the longer your wingspan/height on defense, the tougher it is for the offense to do what they want. It is a much bigger factor than you would think. This goes for every position, but point guard is the only position where Hughes adds more height than our other alternatives. It is very unusual to have someone with his length on defense at the point guard that is still quick enough to contain the scorers.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Wow Alan, I don’t know what to say if you’ve never heard somebody talk about length at point guard being a positive. I heard that all the time when the Bulls used Scottie Pippen as their primary ball handler. Maybe I’m showing my age. I love how you discount that Hughes was, when we signed him, a first team all defensive player. That seperates him from all but around what, sixty players ALL TIME? It’s a significant comment on a player’s defensive prowess, regardless if it happened one year. By the way, what website compiles year by year voting totals?
The reality with Hughes is that for the first two years we got about what we should have expected - an injury prone inconsistent shooter who plays good defense. We overpaid for him, but the team wanted to add a high profile free agent, and he was the biggest we could get, and we had to outbid the Wizards for him. If you look at the team’s history, Larry Hughes is probably the highest profile free agent the team has ever signed (James Edwards and Scott Wedman, maybe?). And Marshall and Jones aren’t too far behind.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:09 pm
It’s a good thing Brian doesn’t take what Alan says about him to heart, or he might go all Britney on us.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:14 pm
The more I read the comments on BW’s board the more I’m beginning to believe that Alan T. is a bizzaro version of the Optimist.
January 31st, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Alan T is jaded.
Lebron is the BEST player in the NBA right now. Period.
January 31st, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I think Brian should take Tucker out to Puget Sound
and throw him in with the Killer Whales. I don’t know
if they would eat him in one bite though. And it would
certainly cause indigestion for some rather large mammals.
Maybe Knight,Allen and Gates could call Greenpeace to
retrieve him from the belly of the giants before they had
some really bad gas in the Sound.
January 31st, 2008 at 6:09 pm
You really need to talk to someone in the shoe industry before talking about Nike/Lebron’s ROI. I don’t have those resources, so my speculation is hereby just as good as yours.
Look, if Starburys can have a RETAIL price of $15, that would suggest that Nike’s cost of goods can’t be more than $15 per shoe — okay, let’s be conservative, let’s DOUBLE that to $30. Economies of scale, baby.
If Lebron’s shoes are selling for $150+, do the math. That’s a nice profit margin.
Let’s look at it another way. If Nike Golf is bringing in $600 mil and Nike’s revenues are $2 bil, then perhaps we can safely say Jordan and Lebron brands are bringing in at least $1 bil. Then perhaps we can safely say Jordan is bringing in 2/3rds of that, so maybe Lebron is bringing in $333 mil.
Invest $90 mil to get $333 mil? I’d say that’s a pretty good ROI. In fact, I’d say that $90 mil to get only $90 mil would have been good ROI in terms of merely the marketing. Like you said, Lebron will win MVPs and championsips. You can see why Reebok was willing to pay up for Lebron.
In 2010, what Lebron goes for will be more Lebron than Nike. Especially with Adidas unwilling to go for one-guy stratospheric numbers (hence the 1-of-5 “team” campaign with KG, Chauncey, Gil, et. al.). Esp. when you know LRMR has got to know the real numbers. It’s entirely what the brand can bear without jeopardizing Lebron’s ability to rake it in in the future. And right now I’d speculate that Nike the brand with $2 bil in revenues can bear a lot.
$90 mil was pretty much how it balanced out at the time. In 2010, I’m sure the forces of supply and demand will yield a larger number.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Chuck, all it means is that not only dumb GMs look too closely at individual stats, but even coaches get fooled by individual stats. Or whoever votes for coaches. I’m guessing many of the coaches really don’t give a crap about their voting, and go home and hand their ballots to their wives and to their dogs to fill out.
You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that a guy that makes it on the First Team one season, and never received a single vote for anything defensively either before nor after that season, had a season which was an aberration of monumental proportions. Brady Anderson and Luis Gonzalez without the ‘roids.
Hughes Bites. If memory serves, that was a Def Leppard song.
In answer to your question, nba.com’s archives have the All-Defensive Team votes from past seasons.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:09 pm
[...] LeBron is cold blooded [...]
February 2nd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
the cavs swept golden state this year??? hmmm, now i wonder who that team was that blew the cavs out on the sunday just before christmas??? come on, brian, get your facts straight. i thought you were better than that??? i get your point though. the cavs have indeed swept a number of the west coast teams this year and are very much playing at a peak efficiency right now after falling to their lowest point with that aforementioned loss to golden state on december 23rd. since then they have gone 14-4 to get right back into the thick of things in the east and sit comfortably in the 4th spot for the playoffs. gee, just imagine how much better they would be if they actually did go out and get a legitimate point guard to handle the ball and let lebron post-up more on the inside???
February 7th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Defensive Driving Tips On Vehicle Lane Changes…
Lane changes can be one of the easiest maneuvers with a vehicle, and can be one of the hardest maneuvers at the same time. Changing lanes requires processing information and making a safe decision well in advance to make the maneuver a simple and safe …