Magic 101, Cavs 86
–Remember when the Cavs were one of the best fourth-quarter teams in the NBA? Today they were 4-of-23 shooting and got run over, Thursday they were 6-of-23 when the Bulls sped past them. The offense was reduced to taking nothing but jumpers on both occasions. Some of this is because LeBron James’ back is preventing him from being aggressive in going to the basket. While he seemed to jump just fine today, I think it affects him when he runs and when he drives. Also, I don’t think he is the same player after halftime because it tightens up. It has not helped the two games had long halftimes because they were national broadcasts.
–Based on the reaction at the arena today, I sense that many in the fan base will want to pin this loss on Mike Brown’s decision-making and his offense. As someone who called for Mike to hire an offensive coordinator two years ago and then detailed his two new offenses since then, I would like to agree with you. I have pointed out many times I disagree with who he plays when, especially in regard to Damon Jones, Joe Smith and Zydrunas Ilgauskas of late. However, I cannot say what has happened the last two games is his fault. The Cavs scored 118 points in Charlotte on Wednesday. Thursday they had 85 points and were shooting 54 percent through three quarters. Today they had 55 points in the first half and 16 assists on 23 baskets and 30 points in the paint. They had four points in the paint in the second half. The same players are running the same plays in the second half as the first half, to me they look like they are just tensing up and dumping it all on LeBron. They are not as crisp, they are not as aggressive, they all settle way too much. Today I watched Brown go through a timeout in the fourth quarter where he’s drew on his dry erase board the whole time and another when he just looked everyone in the eye and yelled in the huddle. It is one thing to say that his rotations are off and he’s slow to make adjustments, that all may be true. But I just don’t believe he told them to go out there and fire up nine 3-pointers in the fourth (after taking a total of eight in the first three quarters). It wasn’t the Magic, they played a little more zone, but it wasn’t like they turned into the Celtics out there.
–LeBron said after the game he would not take any extra rest and miss games. The Cavs have the next three days off, I assume he’ll not have any contact at practice and get treatment. He also vowed to play better after his last two performances.
–Daniel Gibson went 1-of-7 today and is 5-of-24 since coming back. Mike told me he doesn’t plan on cutting his minutes and he’ll let him play through this. Seems like he has made the decision that Sasha Pavlovic and Damon are sitting and that is final.
–Ben Wallace played another pretty solid game today (other than another missed dunk). He had nine rebounds, four blocks and a steal. He also did a nice job on help defense on Dwight Howard. He seems to be coming around.
Recap:
Pregame
Starting lineups
Magic: Jameer Nelson, Maurice Evans, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, Dwight Howard
Cavs: Delonte West, Devin Brown, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Officials
Duke Callahan, Sean Corbin, David Guthrie
–Before the game Mike Brown told us LeBron has been battling back issues for a couple weeks. LeBron said he is not 100 percent. He may start out OK, but pay attention to how he plays in the later stages of the game.
–The key whenever playing the Magic is to try to stay attached to their shooters. For the Cavs to do this they have to control Nelson’s penetration and try to handle Howard 1-on-1 or if you bring double teams bring them from the weak side.
–To win this game the Cavs are going to have to score a little and it will probably have to come from someone besides LeBron. Wally Szczerbiak seems like he could be on the verge of a breakout because he’s been showing signs. We’ll see.
–If the Cavs lose, the Magic clinch the No. 3 seed.
Halftime — Cavs 55, Magic 47
–Cavs have played with great teamwork so far. Especially on the boards and while operating the offense. They have a shocking 32-11 rebounding edge and 16 assists on 23 baskets. Delonte West is playing excellent at both ends, especially with his penetration and controlling Nelson at the other end. LeBron has 11 points and is shows signs that the back is bothering him while he’s standing still but you could never tell they way he’s jumping.
–Dwight Howard has just two points and one rebound. This is shocking. Ilgauskas and Wallace have been trapping him and boxing him out. Still, Howard isn’t showing much fight and seems to be willing to let his teammates shoot. My guess is Stan Van Gundy may be in his ear a little in the locker room. The Cavs energy is swallowing in the Magic, we’ll see if they push back.
–Daniel Gibson has struggled to keep Nelson in front of him and it caused trouble when Hedo Turkoglu and Pat Garrity got free on the outside. The way the Cavs play, as I have written when playing the Magic, it is hard to cover their outside shooters and deal with penetrators and Howard. They Magic are capable of making runs with that offense.
Postgame
Stars
Turkoglu, 23 points, five rebounds
Rashard Lewis, 21 points
West, 19 points
Quotes:
LeBron: “It has been frustrating, but we have to figure it out and I’m going to figure it out. I’ve always been able to bounce back in situations where I haven’t played particularly well. I have a few days to reflect.”
West: “At the end of the day, you can play great defense and have great spirits but the ball has to go in the hole,” said Delonte West, who led the Cavs with 19 points. “We went through a stretch where we got the plays we wanted and did a good job of executing and the ball didn’t go in.”
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There’s been a lot of discussion by our esteemed host and others that Wallace and Varejao are not a good combination, and that Coach Brown is still looking for a frontcourt rotation. What do the numbers suggest?
Here are Plus/Minus and Offensive Production (points, in parentheses) for various lineups . . .
Plus/Minus is per 100 possessions for each team.
Offensive production is per 100 possessions.
Neither stat is corrected for the strength of the opponent.
LeBron James on the floor:
+31.2 (125) James / Smith / Ilgauskas / any 2 others [71 possessions]
+26.3 (130) James / Smith / Wallace / any 2 others [107 possessions]
+09.9 (112) James / Varejao / Ilgauskas / any 2 others [292]
+06.7 (103) James / Wallace / Ilgauskas / any 2 others [331]
+04.4 (115) James / Smith / Varejao / any 2 others [337]
-06.5 (105) James / Varejao / Wallace / any 2 others [333]
LeBron James on the bench:
+18.5 (108) Varejao / Ilgauskas / any 3 others except James [162 possessions]
+13.0 (119) Smith / Ilgauskas / any 3 others except James [77 possessions]
-18.7 (084) Smith / Varejao / any 3 others except James [85]
Hmm, Wallace is almost never in unless James is too. Why is that? Anyway, no useful James-benched data for Wallace.
My conclusions:
1. Indeed, one should avoid playing Varejao and Wallace together if possible.
2. Ilgauskas should be on the floor any time James is resting.
My question:
Why not start Smith?
I don’t get it. Joe Smith should be playing a lot more than he does. Maybe just because of how much they are paying Big Ben they feel the need to stick him out there. But Varejao and Wallace should never be out there are the same time, and Joe Smith should be finishing games.
Boy it’d be nice if someone could hit an outside shot. Where is Damon Jones?? I can’t understand why he is getting benched.
Does Mike Brown have ANY idea what he’s doing out there? Our rotations are awful.
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
Mike Brown’s rotations are killing this team…
i know i’m late on this but i just watched the bulls game dvr. i don’t understand hughes. he spends his cav’s career on the dl and then he goes to chicago and doesn’t have the decency to get injured. what gives?
since mike brown isn’t lebron’s boss and can’t tell him what to do he seems to be taking it out on damon jones. potato has got to go!!!
Where’s kj? I need someone to scold me that everything is just fine with the Cavs. That I shouldn’t worry there are only 5 games left in the season and the train is going off the tracks. Please kj/genius…. show me the light!
Wow, talk about mailing it in. 31 points in the second half at home. I’m sure Lebron’s struggles lately will be attributed to his “balky back” rather than the truth; that he realizes this is a lost season and he’s better off saving himself for Brooklyn in 2010.
Amazingly, someone actually wrote an article today criticizing Mike Brown; surely the PD sports editors were asleep. Reverend Pluto must have been picking his vestments up at the cleaners when Bill Livingston submitted today’s column.
Guess what? After tonight the Sixers are only two back for the #4 seed. Check out our schedule. Other than the game against the Miami D-Leaguers, I don’t see any easy wins. Hopefully, Romeo Travis is rubbing some magic elixir on the King’s lumbar spine as we speak…..
right now, the cavs are in trouble. even if lebron is not hurt, our offense looks pretty terrible. i was excited about the trade earlier because it was clear the larry hughes experiment was a disaster. on paper, i thought we could be better. but we definitely look lost on offense, and now our back court defense is a lot worse. we need to let joe smith, delonte west, and sczierbiack’s (sp?) expiring contracts lead to a new free agent…
Wally is HORRIBLE!!! Just what has he done to jump ahead of Sasha and Damon in the rotation? It’s a crime that Damon doesn’t even play these days especially with Boobie clearly not at 100%.
Why does the offense in the 4th quarter solely rely on chucking jumpshots? They didn’t even try to score from the paint until the game was basically lost.
I understand what he is doing to an extent. Playoff rotations are much tighter than in the regular season and he is positioning his players for their appropriate roles come play-off time. That being said, Damon Jones should most certainly be in that rotation. Boobies shot is not falling right now, and realistically at this stage in his career he is only helpful to the Cavs as a shooter, not a defender or facilitator. Jones was shooting lights out for a while there as well. I agree with not playing Sasha Pavs; Brown has been playing much better as of late. I also would like to see more Joe Smith. If I see Ben Wallace brick another dunk I don’t know what I’m going to do.
Doc,
spare us the consipracy theories. Lebron is “saving” himself for a future season 2 whole years away? I mean come on. Lebron is a competitor and isn’t going to “save” himself when his team needs him now. He had a bad game by his standards, but no one is infallible.
doc , i read that article too and was surprised that someone is finally taking brown to task . he is proving to be incompetent as a head coach . not only is it bad that he still has no offense game plan (other than give it to lebron while everyone watches)after 3 years , he seem to have once again banished damon jones to the bench for no apparent reason . while everyone was saying “wait ’til we get healthy , then look out” , my belief was the less players brown had available to him , the better off he would be . he does not know how to make in game adjustments. cleveland has one of the most exciting players in the game today , but watching the cavs play is brutal on most nights . and one more thing , this team has no killer instinct what’s so ever , even prior to the trade . do they have any blowout victories this year ??
Transition year folks… Brian was right…
Devin’s numbers might fill out the box score but he’s shooting 30% since being inserted in the starting lineup and is committing way too many turnovers. Opposing SG’s have been lighting the Cavs up..maybe Devin is the best we have now at SG but he shouldn’t be playing more than 10-12 mins a night off the bench for a good team. I still say it’s a shame that Damon and Pavs are just banished for a washed up dude like Wally.
Ya, where the heck is Damon Jones? Did he even play in this game. He must have said something to tick off coach Brown so they benched him. We could have used his 3’s today!
This team is DONE! Making that big trade late in the season was stupid and we aren’t going to have time to get things iron’d out. I almost expect the Cavs to bow out in the first round the way they are playing right now!!!
Sick of watching this team play half a game.personel is not the issue as they have played this way all year.there seems to be a lack of a winning culture on this team.i know,injuries,holdouts,blah blah.bottom line,the will to win trumps adversity 9 times out of 10
Windy is completely right. Why pin this one on Mike Brown? The ball moved and the players without the ball moved great all first half, but in the 2nd half everybody stood around. There is no way Mike Brown called for that.
http://www.lecavs.com/2008/04/magic-live-blog.html
stop yall whining, just wait to the playoffs we will have this thing turned around….
Mike Brown just seems stubborn when it comes to Damon Jones. He should ask Silas what being stubborn got for him. If they are going to hoist 3 pointers than I have no doubt Damon would perform at a higher level than what we’re getting from Wally or Boobie right now. I’m a Gibson fan but he hasn’t regained his form yet after the injury. What’s the point of having Damon on the roster if they’re not going to use him in this situation? Brown throws him out there against Billups go get roasted and now DJ’s in the doghouse? No doubt Damon is probably pouting now and Sasha has lost his confidence….don’t see how either one will help them in the playoffs.
Brown should take some heat since this is the 3rd year in a row they’ve had such horrible issues on offense. They had a chance to hire an offensive coordinator last summer but didn’t do it. If players are going to hoist 3 pointers in the 4th quarter instead of moving the ball, then ultimately that does fall on the coach.
that is right michele.
that is what brian and pluto are not taking into account. accountability. if mike brown is not lebron’s boss then why should lebron do what he asks him to do on the floor? and if lebron isn’t listening then why should anyone else? mike brown is the coach and if his players do not listen to him then he is not the man for the job. sorry brian, this is mike brown’s fault.
Hey Brian, are you still voting LeBron as the MVP? You need to address this. You’re the one who said specifically a month ago that you “Couldn’t see anyone else winning the award.”
Address this. He might finish in the top 6 if he’s lucky.
Forget the MVP. I’d rather see the Cavs win basketball games.
The real season starts April 19. Take a nap till then.
If the Cavs are a “no excuses team,” then why did their PR lackeys distribute a press release stating the number of games missed by injury, and comparing it the number of games missed by injury last season? I think the Cavs are a “no excuses team” simply because the local media will happily make all their excuses for them.
I love that injuries excuse. 175. Whipping out a Chinese abacus and concocting a massively inflated number by counting up the games missed by Snow, Marshall, Simmons, Pavlovic and assorted dreck. As if this equates to the hundreds of games missed by Elton Brand, Gilbert Arenas, Dwayne Wade, Yao Ming, Greg Oden, and even guys like Adam Morrison, Shaun Livingston or whoever. But there the local media is, always eager to cast a polluted excuse into Lake Erie and pull out a trout.
But, hey, even though they’ve recently had all their players, I’m quite sure some are now playing at 70 to 80 percent, whatever the hell that means. Never mind that Kobe Bryant is playing with a finger that ain’t even attached to his hand.
Unless James gets crushed outside the arena by a speeding RTA bus, can we please permanently flush all injury excuses down the toilet where it belongs? I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m really, really sick of reading it. Enough already.
By the way, as Ferry-bad as Isiah Thomas is as a front office executive, that guy has serious style to the nines. Bill Duke should have him on the bench next year for no other reason than to teach him how to look good. Duke looks like he picks his suits and dresses in the dark while wearing horse blinkers and a blindfold.
Once again, Alan, you trot out this same old tired garbage. The injury report was first brought out on a Thursday night TNT game, and compared several teams, including the Cavs playing that night. It was posted in a response that night, but you decided to bring it up again. I’m sick of reading about it, too – from you.
The only story more tired is the Lebron/Brooklyn angle – thanks Doc! We get it. Shut up.
When the team can’t score, why can’t Mike Brown take the obvious action of putting in offensive players? Gibson obviously doesn’t have his stroke, why not use Jones until he gets it going? And use Joe Smith until he shows he can’t score?
Brian Windhorst is an idiot. Nothing is ever Mike Browns fault. Excuses, excuses excuses! One player cannot win basketball games by himself. After five years the idiots in Cleveland still haven’t realized that. And now the Cavs have run a 23 year old athlete into the groud. Amazing!
thank you poquette.the lebron to new york/jersey story is so tiresome,and unintelligent.People,use your own eyes&brains to assess things,and quit relying on tools like STEVEN A SMITH and the other idiots at espn & tnt, (who cant stand the fact that Cleveland has the best player for once),to form your opinion for you.SHUT UP and ENJOY it!
Brian W., Mike Brown has to get alot of the blame. The offense in the fourth quarter was basically to pass it around the perimeter until someone is semi-open and then hoist up a 20 footer. If no one is going to penetrate to break the defense down or try to work the low post THEN GET THEM OUT OF THE GAME! Yeah, a coach can draw schemes and yell during timeouts but PULLING GUYS OFF THE FLOOR will send a bigger message. What good is a coach if they sit by and do nothing when a team is not executing???
Whatever happened to the small lineup???!!!!
During another pathetic fourth quarter I kept thinking about how nice it would be to have a spark plug on the floor like Earl Boykins to jump start a stagnant offense. If Delonte West is not going to play like a point guard then I don’t really see what his value is out on the floor. He has shown some signs of playing like one but is not consistent.
The Celtics ripped the Bobcats by twenty last night on the road without RayAllen, Pierce, or Garnett. The immortal Leon Powe led them to victory. What does this have to do with the Cavs? For anyone who has ever played competitive sports, it shows that winning is an attitude. The Celtics expect to win. It doesn’t matter who suits up. Brian Scalabrine at PF for 30 minutes doesn’t matter. They win.
Why are the Cavs a train wreck? Who is to blame. All along I’ve layed the majority of the culpability at the bare feet of boatshoes, but he isn’t the only problem. We have a coach who doesn’t make his star player accountable; in Bill Duke’s own words it’s a “partnership” rather than the standard hierachical coach/player deal. There’s no definitive “Cavalier-style” of offense other than give the ball to Lebron and watch out, even after three years. Players get jerked in and out of the lineup with the desparation of a blackjack player changing tables to break a losing streak. No team in the league is worse at making halftime adjustments; the endless stream of third quarter disasters is almost embarassing. The Cavs are a team lacking an offense, an identity, and a sense of leadership. Doesn’t the coach take some of the blame for that? Maybe just a little?
As for the Brooklyn/NewYork phobia: Most fo the time I do it just to see everyone get all rankled. How dare you say that our local icon will leave, say the likes of BPoquette, Scott, MikeC, etc. But let’s take a look at things. Lebron makes no secret of the fact he loves New York. The Yankees cap to the Jake during the playoffs. He’s close friends with JayZ. He won’t stop yapping about how much it means to him to play well in Madison Square Garden…. “I’ve dreamed about playing well in this building and it’s overtaken of how I could ever dream about,” James said. “To get a standing ovation in the greatest basketball arena in the world, it was a dream come true for me. It’s one of the best things that ever happened to me.”……. If you think he’s just going to blindly sign whatever contract Boatshoes puts on the table for 2010, I think you’ve got to be kidding yourself a little. Especially if the team as currently constructed and coached if still in place..
Thoughts on the Cavs loss to the Magic:
- The team is out of gas, mentally and physically. It is manifesting itself in careless turnovers and too many jumpshots. And it’s worse late in the games. The grind of the season seems to have gotten to everyone this year.
- LeBron’s inability to get to the hoop and finish has exposed a lot of weaknesses in the offense and his teammates. We’ve known for a while that the Cavs haven’t had a second guy who can create off the dribble, but now that LeBron can’t do it, they are really hurting on the offensive end.
- Even though it’s been under the radar because the team is losing, Z has been playing very well.
- I go back and forth with Mike Brown, which is what is going to happen with every head coach in every professional franchise. He does a lot of things well that are overlooked, and he has some weaknesses that pop-up when the team doesn’t play well. It’s the same thing with Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, Bill Belichick, and every good or bad coach in sports. And Doc Rivers was not secretly a great coach in Boston when the team was losing 60 games last year, only to become a genius this year. There are a lot of factors that go into winning and losing basketball games, and not all of them fall on the coach.
- Even if you think there was a decision or two that Mike Brown could have made differently yesterday, if you think it was the difference between winning and losing by 15, you’re kidding yourself.
- If LeBron’s back is not healthy, the training staff had better make the right decisions when it comes to dealing with it. If an extra game or two off here could get him back to his old self faster, then they better hold him out. The LeBron James that is currently playing cannot help the Cavs advance far in the playoffs.
Go Cavs. Enjoy the time off. For all intents and purposes, the regular season is over.
Mike C.
Douglar…you’re an idiot.
Lebron is loosing his athleticism, and we are finally seeing how bad of a player he really is, he cant make out shots, and all he can do is drive to the hoop, cant you seee whats going on here? Lebron is the biggest bust since KWAMEm its pretty sad, he makes his teammates worst, they went from sencond seed last year to frist 4rth possibily lower this year, lebron james is not the player we expected.
If i were you lebron i would ddemand as TRADE!!!!!!!
Maybe turning over half the roster a month before the end of the season isn’t such a good idea after all. If the Cavs can’t turn it around it will be a wasted season and it all started in that direction last June.
But who knows, it could all start clicking. They looked great one night about three games ago.
The Lakers have had more significant injuries and have one of the best records in the historically difficult Western Conference. That my friends is why Kobe’s the best player in the game.
Windy, who’s your MVP. I’m going to keep asking until you address this in your blog. You were all gung ho about talking MVP when your boy was playing well, now he’s playing worse than Vince Carter and you haven’t even gotten close to mentioning it.
Actually, Poquette and your other aliases, it was originally in a Cavs press release. It was immediately piped out thereafter by the local media as being relevant. Which was my point. Brown and Ferry don’t have to make excuses (Ferry again was recently quoted using that “We’re a no excuses team” baloney), because their conduits will do it for them.
Furthermore, you must be blind, because Windy is once again using somebody’s purported injury as an excuse. After all, Mike Brown said James’ back has supposedly been hurting him since the day he first came out of Gloria, and like clockwork, it is reported as an excuse. So what are you talking about? And don’t get me wrong, I’m not singling out Windy. The entire choir of local media folk are equally to blame. And that’s what they are, a choir. From the beat writers to the columnists to the hired employees on TV.
It’s not injuries, it’s not Mike Brown, it’s the personnel. Bottom line. Granted, Mike Brown’s questionable decision-making doesn’t help matters, but the real underlying problem is the quality of the personnel.
An “offensive coordinator?” Please. Yes, go out and hire Jim Fassel and Mike Martz during the summer, that will change everything.
I think they could still win the Eastern Conference, because James is that good. But stop with the excuses. There are none. Well, at least none that are valid.
Well, the local media may be too friendly, but that would likely just be a reaction to the national media, which uses Cleveland and its fans as a personal fire hydrant. If someone cant read between the lines and form your own opinion based on what any form of media says, then they have bigger problems.
LeBron needs to sit the MOMENT the Cavs land the 4 seed, and not a moment later. I cant believe I feel the need to say that. Who is in charge of this freaking team????
Hey, while we’re smearing our ape feces (Brooklyn conspiracies, LeBron bashing, etc) all over the wall, allow me to pose a scenario than probably would never happen. It looks like fun! WHAT IF Dan Gilbert sold the Cavs to Jay-Z, or better yet, Beyonce. Then Beyonce could run the Cavs and LeBron would stay because she’s HOT. That could totally happen, RIGHT???
Alan T is right on the money. I didn’t see anyone using Steve Nash’s back problems as an excuse when he won two MVP’s..oh that’s right, winners don’t make excuses.
Josh…
I think it’s beyond hilarious that you ripped me for questioning Bill Duke’s command of the team. In fact, you called him “the perfect coach for this team.”
Now, only a week and a half later, I revisit the blog and see that you’re criticizing him and asking questions like “who is in charge of this freaking team???”
So let me be the first to say welcome to the “dark side,” Josh, where we hold NBA coaches (and blog posters) accountable for their ineptitude and poor decision making.
PS: You can send my apology to terryplutoshair@itoldyouso.com.
You’re a total ass comaguy…as soon as one person picks on you, you automatically assume its somebody’s alias (by the way, I love your alias Douglar). Get a freaking clue you comatose moron – more than one person thinks you’re a fat turd who lives in momma’s basement getting it on with yourself while thinking of momma in a coma. Its NOT just one person using aliases.
If you had any intelligence, you would quit trotting out the same spiel every single freaking time someone calls you out. The same old spiel everytime the Cavs lose a game.
My rants against you are fun though – you were whining about my personal attacks on you in some post a while back – what do you call your rants on Windy, Ferry, anyone in a Cavalier uniform, et al? Others on this blog complaing about them in basketball terms…your complaints are personal…seriously dude, you are the antithesis of a fan. All i ask is go find yourself another coma and get lost forever. But as long as you continue to be the ass you are, I will continue to rant against you. Bring on another coma for our beloved comaguy!!
By the way comaguy’s alias, when the Suns lost to the Spurs in last season’s playoffs, weren’t there whines and complaints coming from their side?? Wasn’t Kobe whining all off-season and every season before that, with and without Shaq??
You can’t just pick and choose certain situations and claim a point for your argument and say winners don’t make excuses. Winning alleviates excuses but as soon as winning stops happening, EVERYONE makes excuses.
Uhh … sorry, again, Rageaholic Rick. Douglar ain’t me, either. Although, I myself have wondered what Douglar stands for. All I can come up with is there was a movie starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James, something with the names Doug and Larry in it, I can’t remember. Never saw it, but that Richard Roeper guy named it as one of his 10 worst movies of 2007. What did you think of it, Rageaholic Rick? I don’t see many movies, perhaps you write a movie review.
With that being said, you’re going to have to write something far more fresh and mature than this, because I can’t imagine that anybody found it worth reading other than the two high school kids that might read this blog. “You’re a fat turd who lives in momma’s basement getting it on with yourself while thinking of momma in a coma.”
At least when Beavis turned into Cornholio, it was funny. Your real-life Beavis ain’t so funny.
Terry Pluto’s Hair, perhaps you can explain Brown’s contract extension to me. Given in the middle of the season, mind you. I still don’t get it. Does Brown have compromising locker room photos of Ferry? What was the mad rush that couldn’t wait until after the season was over? Was John Carroll looking for a head coach, and Brown was #1 on their list? Was there a coaching headhunter from monster.com lurking in the shadows? Who, other than Jim Dolan, gives a multiyear extension in the middle of the season to a guy who has a million question marks surrounding him? Why not simply evaluate Brown at the end of this season, and then go from there?
By the way, Rageaholic Rick, in response to your second post, if you genuinely want an answer to your questions, then I’ll respond that the obvious difference is that nobody on the Suns or the Lakers ever said, “We’re a no excuses team.” And the writers that write about the Lakers don’t apologize for them. I can’t speak for the Suns’ writers, I don’t read them.
Along those same lines, in point of fact, LA Times beat writer Mike Bresnahan, LA Times columnists TJ Simers and Mark Heisler, and LA Times Lakers bloggers Andrew and Brian Kamenetzky all have written that they’re kinda pissed that Ric Bucher has Kobe’s ear, and blows them off. Which differs from Windy, who has admitted he hasn’t been able to get a one-on-one interview with James for over four freakin’ years, but still is not the least bit hesitant to fully disseminate whatever nonsense the Cavs PR people put in their press releases.
I’d prefer Windy, Pluto, Livingston, Wright, that Finnan guy, and all the rest would separate the wheat from the chaff from those press releases, and just print the wheat. Otherwise, they’re nothing but mouthpieces for the franchise.
Still making excuses for Mike Brown. He waits until the Cavs are down 10+ with less than 4 minutes left in the game of which they have zero points in the paints to finally run a play where Z gets deep post position on Howard and scores. How do you go half of an NBA game without any points in the paint? Mike Brown just sits there dumbstruck clueless as to what to do as his team fires away jumper after jumper not even trying to get into the paint. This team will never win a championship with tjis clown myopically coaching half of the game of basketball. He is a fraud riding the coattails of a great player.
Amber is an idiot.
Alan T is right. It’s the way the team has been constructed. The Cavs have done a terrible job since 2003 in terms of putting talent around lebron.
Another three day break for the men in wine and gold. They must have the easiest schedule in the NBA this season.
- You have to have luck to win a championship in professional sports. Even if you have the ideal combination of talent and coaching, you can still get beat by the Giants. We can argue about the Cavs playing terribly right now, but if they get sent home by the Celtics in the second round, it might have something to do with the Celtics being good.
- That is not an excuse for losing to the Bulls and Magic at home after running out to solid leads. But does anyone think that the Cavs have had any kind of luck this year? Instead of looking at the holdouts and injuries and back-to-backs as excuses, maybe they can just be evidence that this just hasn’t been the Cavs’ year.
- Would anything really be that different if the Cavs won 55 games this year, got the 3rd seed, or even if they won 60 games and were the two seed? They would still have to go through Boston and Detroit to get back to the Finals. Why in the world is anyone wringing their hands about the regular season right now? That ship has already sailed and sunk.