Sorry to disappoint loyal blog fans, but I will not be blogging the game live tonight. I will not be in town for the game, instead I skipped out to see my alma mater, Kent State, lay an egg in the NCAA Tournament. Still a great season for the Golden Flashes. I will be rejoining the Cavs tomorrow night in Milwaukee.
In other news, I reported today that Ira Newble will be signing soon with the Lakers after getting an offer from the Cavs to come back. I believe Ira is just signing a 10-day deal, but I think this probably closes the door on him playing in Cleveland again. It may not have been a major addition and Ira probably would’ve been on the inactive list most nights. However, he was a guy who could have maybe played a bit role because he would’ve been an insurance policy and someone who could play situational defense in a pinch.
EDIT: I just learned that Ira signed with the Lakers for the rest of the regular season. So it really is a non-issue.
Enjoy LeBron James breaking the Cavs’ scoring record.
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Brief game thoughts:
1. Watching the Raptors tonight solidified my belief that they would have little chance of beating the Cavs in a 7 game playoff series. They can’t score enough on the inside and they can’t protect the rim. They are the type of team that could have a hot shooting night and get behind a good home crowd to win a game or two at home but I just don’t see them being a threat in a long series. I would love to play them in the first round.
2. I like the way the minutes were doled out tonight and I liked the 4th quarter lineup of LBJ, Z, DJ, Joe Smith, and Devin Brown. Against a jump shooting team like Toronto, this lineup was ideal. As far as minutes are concerned, 20 is plenty for Ben Wallace (I know he got hurt but he shouldn’t be playing a ton of minutes anyway) and 21 is plenty for Sasha. 26 is probably a little high for DJ and on most nights, a few of those minutes should probably go to Wally or Delonte.
3. Dear David Stern: Can we please end the Violet Palmer experiment already? It’s been a decade and she’s not getting any better.
4. Congrats to Lebron. I don’t care if you’re talking about a WNBA team, being any franchise’s leading scorer at 23 is unbelievable.
It’s startin’ to come together Pepper… It’s startin’ to come together.
If Newble has signed with LA for the rest of the season, then why has their PR flack issued a press release that expressly states it’s of the 10-day variety? Here’s the release:
LAKERS SIGN IRA NEWBLE
EL SEGUNDO – The Los Angeles Lakers have signed free agent forward Ira Newble to a 10-day contract, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak.
Newble, currently in his eighth NBA season, most recently played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Seattle Supersonics, averaging 4.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 15.5 minutes in 43 combined games this season, including 13 starts.
Prior to playing in the NBA, Newble played in the International Basketball Association for the Wisconsin Blast (1997-98) and played in the CBA with the Idaho Stampede from the 1997-98 season through the 1999-2000 season.
Undrafted by an NBA team, Newble played two seasons with Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College before attending Miami (OH) University, where he averaged 8.9 points and 6.4 rebounds in 58 games over two seasons, while being named Honorable Mention All-Mid American Conference his senior year.
In 374 career games including 197 starts, Newble is averaging 5.1 points and 2.9 rebounds in 20.4 minutes.
The Lakers roster now stands at 15.
Another impressive win. It is the usual though. Cavs played great at home, LeBron sealed the deal etc. Congrats on that record by the way LeBron! Cavs will be a tough out in the playoffs I know it. I wonder though does this team only show up to play good teams and give a half effort against bad teams? Tomorrow should be a game to watch just in case they do.
been gone for a bit but lemme just get this outta the way right now…LBJ DIDN’T GET A SINGLE FT ATTEMPT TONIGHT! WTF IS GOING ON HERE? jeebus, i know pamer and bavetta are two of the *worst* refs goin’ but the blown calls tonight were laughable in their complete suckiness. i mean, the calls were not even CLOSE.
anyway, i have one thing to say, everyone who thought wallace was done were wrong. period. i just watched him DOMINATE rasheed and bosh in back-to-back games (no pun intended). he is the best low-post defender i think the cavs might ever have had. at least maybe since, i dunno, hot rod? anyone, i hope this back thing doesn’t become chronic, because with him in there, we are the favs in the east. i really mean that. our defense is sooo much better since the trade and we’re so much more of a dominate-the-paint kind of team now it’s ridiculous. and of course, LBJ is, almost inexplicably, getting better as well. and now that we’re so deep, we can afford some guys not having “it” on even given night cuz someone else on the bench is bound to pick up that slack. against the pistons it’s wally, tonight’s it’s devin. imagine when gibson gets back and rolling…
now if only we can get andy to start playing like he did before the ankle injury…
Blaming the refs again, kj. Yes, it’s the refs. If the refs don’t have a fervent away game bias against Cleveland, they have a fervent home team anti-bias. They hate the City of Cleveland, they hate LeBron’s vanity license plates, they hate the Terminal Tower, they hate the bomb crater neighborhoods of Glenville, Forest Hills, Hough, Kinsman and all the rest of the post-nuclear war holocaust that is the poorest city in the United States. If there’s such a word as anti-bias.
And if Wallace is so defensively dominant, then why is he confined to playing a puny 19 minutes? The NBA’s most expensive role player. I don’t know if his skills have diminished, or if he’s just not really motivated anymore. Maybe both. Wallace is a shell of his former self. The muscles are still there, but his talent appears to be running on ethanol fumes. I wonder how he’ll handle Garnett during the series, assuming he’s assigned to guard him. Although, I sense that Garnett will be playing a tad more than 19 minutes per game.
By the way, Williams was a mediocre low-post defensive player. The Cavs have had close to 40 years of poor defensive post players, but by far, the very best of the worst was Larry Nance. Williams shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath.
alan u forgot, the west side, and east cleveland hts, as well as garfield hts, come on man get your slum, geographical areas right.
joe tait saying “blocked by Nance” is sweet music to my ear, wasn’t edger jones pretty good in the block?
C’mon what about ‘Dinner Bell Mel Turpin’ and Ben Poquette as standout defensive post players. Maybe Nate Thurmond was the best Cav defensive big of all time …
I definitely prefer the Raptors in the first round over Wizards or Sixers, much easier match-up for the Cavs, which they will need with the Celts looming in the second round.
Laughing out loud at the assertion that LeBron was getting cheated by the refs. You do realize Toronto was literally giving him a free pass to the basket – they were getting out of the way for his dunks in the 4th (watch the replays). Softest team in the league.
Pet peeve…coach Brown does not incorporate all of his players even when it is obvious that a player on the floor is bad. Ira Newble should have been frequently used in last year’s playoff against the Spur’s…any comments?
It will be interesting to watch the refs during the Buck’s game tonite…the last game the Cavs five played the Bucks eight.
oh, yes, tucker, i’m just crazy to point out that LBJ, who is in the top two in FT attempts in the nba this season went to to the line, ummm, lemme check here…ZERO times yesterday while a jumpshooting bosh went to the line 12 times!
why do people not see that *not* pointing out the failure of refs in particular games is absurd? i mean, i haven’t mentioned the refs for weeks on here. but to not call it when it’s so obvious is asinine. in fact, it’s comical to watch people twist themselves into knots (see windhorst, b.) to NOT mention the officiating! but hey, it’s not like there’s been any NBA ref scandals that would give one slight pause or anything…jeebus…
and douglar, yes, toronto was getting out of LBJ’s way but i can think of at least three occasions in the first half where LBJ got KILLED (one time literally got knocked to the floor) going to the hole, yet nary a whistle. look, i’m not saying LBJ shoulda went the line 10 times or anything. but ZERO? patently ridiculous.
and tucker, yet again, you *cannot* be a stupid as some of the things you write. you wonder why wallace played only 19 minutes ( of which when he covered bosh, bosh scored i believe 2, maybe 3 buckets.). well, genius, it’s because he left the game with back spasms. if you actually WATCHED or LISTENED to the game you would’ve known that. but, hey, *not* watching the cavs then commenting on them is your stock in trade, right?
i love then how you ignore how wallace dominated two all-stars in rasheed and bosh in consecutive games and instead question whether he’ll be able to guard garnett in the future. genius! how do you do it?
btw, i will concede that nance was a better shotblocker but a better low-post defender overall than hot rod? i dunno, but you are right in that we haven’t really had one in cavs history. until now.
big ben out again, well it looked like we have been had by the bulls up in chicago, ben is damage goods. i do not care i still like the trade, need to play joe and wally more, also maybe tonight we will see this new kid allred, he ave 16pts in the kids league and he said he loves the pick and pop, well tonight is a chance to get him in there and see what he could do. although looking at him on the bench he does not look like much….
The Los Angeles Times headline is “Newble Signed for Rest of Season”, but the transaction is listed with the NBA as a ten day contract. I wonder if there is some formality involved.
White:
To say that either team was “had” by the other in the Bulls/Cavs trade is laughable. The Bulls knew Hughes was an injury prone bad jump shooter. The Cavs knew that Wallace was a moderately washed up undersized 4. The Bulls knew that Gooden was upsided minus consistency while the Cavs knew Joe Smith was consistency minus upside. Both teams got exactly what they paid for.
Overall, while Paxon scored points by not having Wallace out there every night to remind the fans how he ruined the franchise, the Cavs also benefited. You can’t be trying to win games when you have a guy running around taking bad shots every night because he’s pissed about his situation and doesn’t particularly care about winning. Even a Ben Wallace with back spasms is one that will get out of the way when he’s on the floor. He’ll play defense when he feels like it and he’ll never be concerned about his numbers.
Overall, I don’t think you could really say either team “won” this trade but if I had to favor one team over the other, it would be the Cavs.
It seems that the last few games when Ben’s back hasn’t been a problem that he has done well. In terms of being damaged goods etc. Many of the players have gone through physical problems. Not certain why people are real up or down on Ben. Why make him a scape goat? It seems as he has gotten used to Cavs Chemistry that he is doing OK. granted like most players there are teams or situations where he will be better or worse in the line-up.
All in all I think LeBron’s will and leadership pulls the higher potential out of those who are willing to be part of the team. SO perhaps we ahve some good pieces coming together.
I look forwar to Cavs beating Celtics in 6 and then taking out Pistons in 6
i feel you on that biff and i feel if the cavs rest ben he will be ready come playoff time. now the bucks give us fits, so it will be nice to see us come out with a win tonight. there guard tandem rips right thru ours. but yes we have lebron and with him each game is winable..(hey did i spell that right)
Wow, we’re talking about Ira Newble here, folks. Chances are he may not play a minute in L.A.
If anybody wasn’t quite sure just how badly both franchise expansion and the expansion of rosters from 12 to 15 have diluted the NBA’s talent pool to subzero proportions, the fact the Lakers signed Newble to even 10 days of service is one of the seven signs of the basketball apocalypse. David Stern must be spinning in his grave.
Exactly, we’re talking about Ira Newble for God’s sake. I think if Ferry really needed a ‘3′ who cant shoot, defends well at times, and is good for 10 minutes a night in short stretches, he could probably find such a player sitting by his phone.
Once again, whining about not re-signing Ira Newble is comical, considering that a majority of Cavs fans couldnt wait to get him out of here at the beginning of the season.