Sometimes there’s no explaining the Cavs
Posted April 9th, 2008 by bwindhorst
Cavs 104, Nets 83
–A 51-16 run over the last 19 minutes, the Nets make 3 of their last 31 shots and go 1-of-20 in the fourth, the Cavs hold them to 14 points in the paint for the game. Digest that for awhile.
–Sometimes these Cavs are a total mystery to me. I do not understand why their focus level is haywire. I understand why the energy level it like that at times, but the way they are able to turn on or stay off is mind boggling. There were a few offensive possessions during the third quarter when I was laughing at their offense. Anderson Varejao was dribbling driving, guys were going 1-on-4 and at one point I got dizzy watching LeBron James dribble in a circle. Meanwhile, Gana Diop was dominating them on defense. Next thing I know they are defending the basket like it’s some sort of mythic idol and Daniel Gibson, a guy who has done nothing but take 3-pointers since he came back from injury, is doing a Jason Kidd impression.
–I asked a few players and no one had a good answer as to why the Cavs just turned it on the third quarter. My guess was they looked at the scoreboard and saw they were down 14 points to the Nets at home. But James did make four baskets and have two assists to start the run and he did it with aggression. His back looked fine in that period.
–I am not sure what to think of the defense, other than to say when the Cavs give effort they are not bad. The Nets just went cold in this one, especially from the outside where they were living. When they had their 14-point lead, they were 8-of-15 from 3-point range. But also they were the victims of some horrible calls. This was one of the worst officiated games I seen this season. Tony Brown was blowing his whistle on everything. What was bad about this one is that the officials made wrong calls rather than no calls at all. Still, it didn’t decide the game it just helped push the Nets toward the edge.
–It isn’t that the Cavs are a great fastbreak team, it’s that they are such a terrible halfcourt offensive team. So they must get some easy chances in transition. This is why at times Delonte West can be so effective because he pushes the ball. For the first time in a long time, Gibson looked comfortable running the floor and he was able to create the same sort of chances in the second half. The Cavs didn’t even shoot the ball that well tonight, but they did get themselves a lot of good shots and a lot of fouls by attacking. Who knows if that message will take with Gibson or anybody else. Your guess is as good as mine.
–Mike Brown said playing Sasha Pavlovic was one of his “gut feels.” Yes, he has a lot more talent than Devin Brown, but you just never know what you’re going to get. Still, he had a few good minutes in the second half and Devin is playing too many minutes and taking too many shots so I expect Sasha to be back in a slightly expanded rotation on Friday.
Recap:
Pregame
Starting lineups
Nets: Devin Harris, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, Nenad Kristic, Gana Diop
Cavs: Delonte West, Devin Brown, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Officials
Eddie Rush, Derek Richardson, Tony Brown
–LeBron was cleared to play this morning, though I never had any doubt despite him sitting out the last few practices. He hasn’t practiced much since the All-Star Break. I mean, everybody says they are worried, but LeBron played 42 minutes Saturday and he spent eight hours shooting a commercial on Monday.
–I do not believe the Nets have much interest in being here, I don’t see why they would. Meanwhile, the Cavs are sort of playing for something here so we’ll see what the focus and energy level is. The big issue for the Cavs will be keeping Devin Harris in front of them and making Carter and Jefferson shoot jumpers instead of getting easy drives.
–The Nets are a so-called “shrink the floor” team, which means on defense they protect the middle and allow outside shots. Remember Donyell Marshall burning them in the playoffs with that. But the Cavs haven’t been making jumpers lately. The Bulls are a shrink the floor team and the Cavs banged away on them in that loss last week.
Halftime — Nets 53, Cavs 49
–If the Cavs have urgency to win this game I am not seeing it. Jefferson and Carter are both being active but there is no reason the Nets should be shooting 52 percent. The Cavs have been switching their defense back and forth between zone and man, but they still can’t seem to cover the weakside where Marcus Williams and Boki Nachbar are getting free jumpers.
–Sasha Pavlovic played five unexpected minutes in the first half and did absolutely nothing with them. Seriously, he did not even commit a foul. Also, I don’t think he’s wearing socks which makes me wonder whether he knew he was going to play or not. Mike Brown didn’t put him out there vs. Vince Carter, who he did pretty well against in the playoffs last year, either. I have no idea why.
–LeBron is doing a very nice job moving the ball. He has five assists and could have several more. The issue is no one else on the Cavs is moving the ball very well. They are doing OK on offense but they way the Nets play they are being too stagnant and that may show up in the end.
–Devin Harris hit a 3-pointer from the corner that banked off the upper corner of the backboard. That’s quite a trick shot, I’ve never seen anything like it. Derrick Rose would be proud.
Postgame
Stars
LeBron, 33 points, seven rebounds, eight assists
Gibson, 12 points, five assists
Wally Szczerbiak, 14 points
Vince Carter, 19 points, six assists
Quotes
Mike Brown: “I thought our sense of urgency picked up in the second half. When our defense picked up, everything else kind of picked up after that.”
LeBron: “A few days off of practice really helped me. The training staff has done a great job at helping me regain the strength that I need.”
Wally Szczerbiak: “With the team we have, we are so much better when we can push the ball and get easy shots. That is the way we need to play.”
April 9th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Sasha either gets all or nothing from coach B… Doghouse = no minutes. 0 zero. There’s no in between. I notice he does this all the time with D Jones, Shannon Brown, Ira. They don’t play, then they get to start and play entire games for awhile, then they do something to upset coach and get benched for a couple months.
Good to see Big Ben playing pretty well tonight. He’ll be big come series time.
So - anyone got any upset predictions? Seeds 1-4 advancing in the East out of round 1. I still think Boston is likely to suffer injuries and I pick them to get beat up vs. Atlanta. Atlanta has been playing well. Sounds crazy but it would not surprise me as much as Boston winning a ring.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Whatever happened to that whiny kid from ‘heylarryhughesdidn’tgivemeanyhalloweencandy.com’????
I, LeCavalier, loved that crazy kid, always editing any comments that didn’t support him fervently enough.
I love the Cavaliers, being named ‘the cavalier’ myself by my french comrades.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
you crazy french-canadians and americanos, always arguing. I am La Cavalier, the spaniard. Do not impersonate my magnificence or I will kill you like so many bulls. See, my country is famous for the running of the bulls, and we enjoy bullfighting mucho, so we kill many many bulls. Red Bull too, I drink many.
I believe that Andy’s agent not only gave Varejao very bad advice, but also his pioneering experimental testicle-removing surgery. He then re-attached them to himself, because how else could any agent have the balls to ask for 10mil+ a year for a big man who can’t jump or shoot? Then again, how much does Big Ben make again? Varejao missing that much of the season was bad for all involved.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Devin Brown cannot defend Vince Carter..the Cavs are a hot mess!
April 9th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Cavs come back in 4th quarter led by Boobie, Andy, Wally, and Sasha. It really seemed unnecessary to throw LeBron and Z back out there.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Varejao can jump, he just chooses not to sometimes.
It’s nice to see Gibson back from the injury. He is good and would probably help you have a chance at beating LA if our destiny wasn’t to lose in the first round.
Kobe 4 MVP. If Kobe can’t win this than they are saying that he was never good enough on his own, he always needed shaq and it’s not true.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I feel like Alan T. with all these people impersonating me these days.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Yo and Dwayne Jones rocks it in the final minute with 2 pts 2 rebs, making the other DJones feel bad. This team is deep, even Dwayne Jones knows to tear it up in garbage time. Embrace the minutes cuz they might be gone manana!
Good game boys Guess Diop was a little angry he didn’t play for us anymore, but no harm, no foul. Wait.
Viva LaRaza
April 9th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
The big difference to me in this game was Devin Brown going to the bench in favor of Gibson and Wally mid-third quarter. I like Devin Brown overall, be he’s way to careless with the ball sometimes and he can’t defend at all. Why Mike Brown until today has insisted that he get big minutes every game I don’t know. It’s not that Devin is a bad player, he’s just not as good as Wally, Gibson or even Sasha, so he should get limited minutes in our rotation.
For those who think Gibson is just a spot-up shooter like a Steve-Kerr type, I hope you watched this game closely. He’s only 22 and has a big upside. His passing, drving, defense and mid-range shooting game are all improving, and he’s still not fully recovered yet. I’d like to see him get 30-35 min by playoff time.
April 9th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
What happened with LeBron? I heard on the radio today he’d be out, but then all of a sudden he’s playing….?
They allowed only 9 points in the 4th quarter….wow. They may have earned my interest back after this win.
April 9th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I love coming on and reading the first half blog before the rest of it is done. When the Cavs make a furious second half comeback that is.
Brown has to put guys in the right position. Right now there is a lot of talent on this team and he just needs to figure out when and where to use it. Today was a good matchup for Gibson and Szczerbiak and he plugged them in when he needed them. I like the combo of Wally, Boobie, Delonte, Lebron and either Z or AV. It’s a good small lineup.
Also, if Ben Wallace misses another dunk I might explode.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I can’t fathom that there is not more to the Damon Jones being chained to a chair story. Does Mike Wallace need to come out of retirement to do some serious investigative journalism and get the scoop on the real story, or what? I thought that’s what we have beat writers for. Look, we all know Jones should be playing in Europe, but there’s clearly something else going behind the scenes that is not being reported to the readers.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
By the way, if my I told my boss my back was really aching and I had to go home, and five minutes later he saw me spending the next 8 hours filming a TV commercial, I think I’d be fired. Just saying.
April 9th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Brian where did this hilarious writing come from? “Defending the basket like it’s some sort of mythic idol” - line of the year!!!
April 10th, 2008 at 7:54 am
“Kobe 4 MVP. If Kobe can’t win this than they are saying that he was never good enough on his own, he always needed shaq and it’s not true.”
Bwuahahahahahaha!!!! He hasn’t won “it” yet. The MVP can be his as he is arguably the best player in the game (with Lebron), playing for maybe the best team in the regular season this year. However, he hasn’t even sniffed a championship without Shaq. So save your little self until he actually comes close to a championship with out his big man.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:57 am
“By the way, if my I told my boss my back was really aching and I had to go home, and five minutes later he saw me spending the next 8 hours filming a TV commercial, I think I’d be fired. Just saying”
Yes, because filming a commercial is so exausting…
And you aren’t an MVP candidate in a SPORTS league, so that comparison falls pretty flat.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Thoughts on the Cavs win over the Nets last night:
- LeBron still isn’t 100%, you can tell that the explosiveness isn’t there for extended stretches. But he was closer tonight, and it made an impact on the game. Still, I would have pulled him out with 4 minutes left and the game in hand, especially with Sasha having earned a little more court time with his solid play in the second half. No need for him to pull a Ben Wallace and tweak his back going up for a meaningless alley-oop or something.
- West and Gibson combined for 24 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and only 1 turnover. If the Cavs can get that kind of production from the point, it will be a big improvement.
- Like Brian said, the half-court offense was abysmal in the first half. When the best option the Cavs have is Joe Smith attempting a Kobe-esque fade way jumper from the corner, things are bad. In the second half they pushed on the rebounds (of which there were plenty) and put pressure on the Nets defense to get back. It led to more good shots, which the Cavs made with a consistency that we haven’t seen very often.
- Where’s the uproar over the officiating? It was awful last night, with the Nets getting tossed to the floor when they got close to the hoop with no whistle, while Diop was called for a weak flagrant foul. I understand that people are homers, but how can you whine when the officiating tilts against the Cavaliers, but not mention it when the whistles go the Cavs’ way?
Still, any win is a good win.
Go Cavs.
Mike C.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:57 am
why do the CAV fans always put down LEBRON JAMES, they are lucky to have such a player considering they were a lottery team before him. so stop complaining and enjoy him why he is on the CAV team, before he goes to the NETS or brooklyn
April 10th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Actually, the comparison doesn’t fall flat. Look, I don’t care who wins the MVP. Give it to James, give it to Bryant, give it to Paul, give it to Garnett, give it to Donyell Marshall for all I care.
With that said, you can’t have Mike Brown hand-deliver a quote to the local writers with the clear underlying intent to get it out in the newspapers as an apologist excuse for the relatively poor team play. Then, in the next blink of an eye, the superstar is spending an entire workday shooting another commercial preceding his future grand entrance onto the Big Apple stage.
Whatever it involved, the focus was strictly on him for the entire workday, and it obviously involved work. It’s highly unlikely he was laying on a big bail of cotton for 8 to 10 hours with nude models fanning him with big feathers and hand-feeding him Concord grapes while a pair of Japanese geisha girls tickled his toes. The guy weighs about 240 to 250 pounds, it’s a purported back issue, not one of Ira Newble’s excruciatingly painful pimples. So you either you stretch and stretch and massage a back, or you totally rest it. Particularly at this time of the season. The prescribed rehab for a back does not include dancing around with a riding mower, or whatever the hell he was told to do.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Did I spell bail of cotton right? I think it’s bale, not bail. Oh, who cares.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Mike C: I’m pretty sure that Kobe4MVP was being sarcastic. I thought all Ohioans could easily detect sarcasm.
I’d like to hear more from Alan on the Damona scandal. We all know he should be playing in Europe? Why - cuz his sense of fashion would be appreciated over there? I’d like to hear your thoughts on what is not being reported. Did Danny Ferry make a secret deal to retain two crappy PGs for years, no matter how lame they became? Cuz that’s about the only thing that would explain why these two jokers have been on the team for the last two seasons especially.
I don’t think he could play over there, they have like 15 year old kids who shoot better than him, and they can pass. I thought he was chained to a chair because he’s a point guard who averages 2 assists a game and spends most of his time trying to get open so he can miss another trey, and the rest complaining about life as a millionaire on the Cavs. Sowing discontent, running his mouth. And that’s when he’s playing well.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I’d like to hear about it.
With West and Gibson we are finally seeing a nice upgrade at point. Both still have upside, but now West is showing Gibson the art of the assist, something no Cav PG seems to have understood for years, despite playing next to Lebron. We are going to see a nice result from this pair.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I don’t know, Jim. All I know is Jones was part of the rotation, and suddenly he’s Super-Glued to a chair, even during blowouts? It doesn’t make any sense. Regardless if Gibson is getting a lot of those minutes. With Jones’ history of insubordination, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if he said or did something to really rub Brown the wrong way, but it’s intentionally not being reported. As sorry as Jones is, the plain fact of the matter is that he is the Cavs’ best stand-alone three-point shooter these days, especially with Gibson clanging his way into restricted free-agency. Please tell me there is a rational explanation for Jones not getting a second of playing time during the game against the Nets. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Jones was the sole guy on the active roster to receive this honor.
Which reminds me, Windy wrote in these parts that he heard some “wild” stories as to why the Gooden/Jones trade didn’t go down for Bibby and Scola. Why suppress these stories if they’re really so good and juicy?
And please, can we finally, at long last, cut the crap with that “upside” stuff, Jim? There is no “upside” to West, there is no “upside” to Gibson, at least as it comes to the Cavs. They are not going to turn into a backcourt of Gail Goodrich and Jerry West, so let’s stop pretending that they are. If there is an “upside” to these two guys, maybe they can really shake things up and get into an entertaining strip club fight with the upside of the skeleton of Shannon Brown. I won’t read nonsense about how “young” and “athletic” they are, but I’ll certainly read that.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Hey comaguy - here’s an idea…why don’t you get a job as a sports reporter? You can say you are with the Bitter Comatose Sports Association or whatever. Get your media credentials and then you can report on everything that you want to. The impending escape to New York, the sullen attitude of our DJ, the meaning behind Ira’s tattoos.
Rather than come here and ruin this blog with your conspiracy theories, your negative attitude, your pathetic attempt at comedy, you can have your own site and cater to your aliases there. In fact, why not make that a challenge for you - create your blog, advertise it here in every single freaking post you make and at the end of a month, a season, whatever, lets compare these 2 blogs. You can have your audience and the rest of us can stay here and read about basketball.
I mean how sad and fatalistic are you? The Cavs have a big win last night, practically shock all their fans with how they played in the last 15-20 minutes, and every single time you posted today was negative and mean-spirited towards everything. IF you are a fan, don’t be such a pathetic ass. But since you are an ass, go prove how awesome you are at your own website.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Better yet, Rick, why don’t you go torture another kitten?
April 10th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Oh, c’mon, Rick… Alan T. is big basketball fan and he has fun with it. Plus, how could you hate a guy that posted this gem on January 7, 2008-
“Ferry obviously think Brown stinks to high heaven, or else he wouldn’t have declined the team’s option, signed Pavlovic and forced Gilbert & Co. to pay millions in luxury tax for a stiff that looks like Dracula and plays like a coked-up Herman Munster. Hence, that huge budget for dudes playing billiards at halftime.”
How could you hate a guy that compared Sasha to Dracula and a coked-up Herman Munster?
April 10th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I’m mystified by the Damon Jones saga as well, and the only thing I can come up with is that he disrespected Brown in practice, you know, bounced a ball off his giant cranium, or cut loose an obnoxious fart during one of Brown’s practice speeches. Whatever the case, I’ve noticed that he and LeBron havent been playing patty-cake before games anymore either. A true black-balling all the way around.
That said, if the Cavs can bottle that kind of second half effort in the playoffs, I’m not sure who beats them in a 7 game series.
I’ve said it already, but Mike Brown holds the key. If he can figure out how to use the talent he has on this roster, the Cavs could really make a push. If not, I’m afraid no-talent clowns like Ric Bucher will be puffing out their chests and donning Celtics gear during the NBA Finals.
Amber: Go play with your dolls… adults are talking.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Hey, that *was* a pretty fun paragraph, LeCavalier. And you’ve got to admit, a stiff who looks like Dracula and plays like a coked-up Herman Munster, I turned out to be dead-on, no pun intended.
By the way, have they increased that zero halftime budget that Windy wrote about here? Guys playing billiards, or whatever. The Blue Jackets between-period presentations ain’t exactly a party on ice, either. Come to think of it, watching dogs catch Frisbees on ice would be great entertainment for young and old alike, they should be doing that at Cavs games, I should probably suggest it for Blue Jackets games. It doesn’t matter how horrid the Blue Jackets are, but so long as he doesn’t get hurt, watching a crazed lunatic Border Collie speeding 200 MPH into the boards like LeBron driving down I-71 would be totally worth the price of admission.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Josh, how DOES Brown figure out how to use the talent he has on his roster? The Nets game isn’t a benchmark for anything. New Jersey, the proud winner of an entire 32 games, isn’t going to make the playoffs in the worst conference in professional sports history for a reason.
OK, let’s assume Windy’s “It isn’t that the Cavs are a great fastbreak team, it’s that they are such a terrible halfcourt offensive team” is true. Well, this means that Ilgauskas needs to be removed from the court ASAP. Correct? Pronto, no questions asked.
So where does offense come from if they can’t play halfcourt? I mean, besides from James? Brown would almost be better off playing the entire playoffs with James at center, like Earvin Johnson had to do in the title game against Philadelphia in 1980. Then surround James with all the guys who have any semblance of movement left in them. Put a wig and some very tasteful white makeup on Brown. Tell them to pretend they’re in Oakland and that Don Nelson has shrunk and is now wearing those poorly-tailored baggy suits that Brown used to wear. And then let ‘em all loose.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Well, NOT playing Devin Brown over 30 minutes a game would be a start…
I dont think a 6′7 guard who runs the floor like Sasha does could be deemed a “stiff”, especially as young as he is. I guess giving up on him would be just as well. We obviously have plenty of height and athleticism at the 2 guard position, right? Even if he used Sasha to give LeBron a breather, that would be a few minutes a game, at least.
The offense comes from James orchestrating (scoring, dishing, penetrating), guys like Z and Ben hitting the boards, and guys like Gibson, Wally, etc knocking down the wide-open shots they get from James. Posting James always seems to work, but the Cavs only do so a handful of times a game. They need to be more consistent and execute better, basically.
As for you analysis of the running game, even if Z is on the court, most fast breaks come from a rebound/outlet pass/3 on 2 type situation. 5 players are not required to run a fast break. I dont think the Showtime Lakers had Kareem finishing on the break too often, come to think of it? Phoenix still runs their break, even with Shaq in the equation.
What Brown needs to figure out is who to have on the court and when. I thought his crunch time lineup v the Nets (no matter how bad they are, its a win) was very good. Gibson, Wally, LeBron, Smith and Z, I believe it was. Sorry for any confusion, but that’s what I meant.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Who cares what it says on Pavlovic’s birth certificate, let alone if his little wings are fluid when he flies down a basketball court. I’ll bet it says November 13, 1282. Regardless, King Tut was only 8 when the Egyptians wrapped him up in ACE bandages and buried him. Young and athletic, but still a stiff. Dracula rarely even joins the team huddles any more, and apparently doesn’t even show up wearing socks. As a matter of fact, I’d like Windy to report if Dracula was, at the very least, wearing Odor Eaters to disguise his pungent bat smell.
Bottom line is it doesn’t matter who’s on the court, James has been royally screwed by the tall white bald guy in the front office. So I have devised a revolutionary idea which will make those old “Red on Roundball” spots seem retarded by comparison. http://www.nba.com/roundball/index.html Basically, Brown’s assistant coaches should find the four most mobile guys who make the most consecutive shots during that particular night’s pregame warmups. Then, Brown should start and play them all until they drop or until they foul out, whichever comes first.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:31 am
[...] Brian Windhorst of The Akron Beacon-Journal: “Sometimes these Cavs are a total mystery to me. I do not understand why their focus level is haywire. I understand why the energy level it like that at times, but the way they are able to turn on or stay off is mind boggling. There were a few offensive possessions during the third quarter when I was laughing at their offense. Anderson Varejao was dribbling driving, guys were going 1-on-4 and at one point I got dizzy watching LeBron James dribble in a circle. Meanwhile, Gana Diop was dominating them on defense. Next thing I know they are defending the basket like it’s some sort of mythic idol and Daniel Gibson, a guy who has done nothing but take 3-pointers since he came back from injury, is doing a Jason Kidd impression.” [...]
April 11th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Alright Alan, time to put your money where your mouth is instead of spouting nonesense. I’ve pretty much had enough of the griping and feeble attempts at humor. Time for some serious answers, if you have the guts. You ready? Here goes…
After Boozer stabbed poor, blind Gordon Gund in the back, slept with his wife, and kicked him while he was laying face down in the Cavs’ front office, what would you have done differently to remedy the situation? The Cavs turned a deal for an expiring contract and a draft pick into Drew Gooden and Andy Varejao. Top that, if you please.
Instead of the Cavs signings of Larry, Donyell, and Damon 3 years ago, what would you have done differently? Kidnap Joe Johnson perhaps? Cover Ray Allen’s face with an Ether-soaked rag, toss him in the team plane and pretend Cleveland was Seattle when he woke up? Let me guess, you would have rather just kept the cap space and gone to war with the Silas special backcourt of Eric Snow and Ira Newble? I’m ablaze with curiosity.
At the trade deadline, would you have made the deal the Cavs made, or a different one? If you would make a different deal, which deal would you make? Two future 1st round picks, Daniel Gibson, and Drew Gooden for Jason Kidd? Z, Gooden, and the picks for Shaq?
And one more scenario, on the future of the Cavs. Submit one legitimate idea regarding how the Cavs should approach the offseason. Go after Shawn Marion and give him a max deal? Perhaps trade 1, 2, or all 3 of our draft picks this year for a veteran player? Contribute something instead of being “that guy” for once, okay Alan?
Seriously, you must be a liberal Democrat, because all you do is bitch and moan about things, and offer no plan of action to back up your criticism. Probably the type who rants “I hate this war, we need an exit strategy” and when asked what you would do differently, have no answer other than an immature comment about torturing kittens. If basketball were as simple as you make it out to be in your last paragraph, every team with a superstar would be championship caliber. Contrary to your beliefs, it isnt as easy as it must look, in your eyes anyway…
April 11th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
To me Gibson caught them back up I enjoyed Andy’s D and Sasha pushed the ball up the court to increrase the lead. LeBron came back in and maintained it. It’s not that LeBron isn’t great he is but he still has a ceiling. Everybody says Kobe is the best in the NBA right now and I agree. It seems Mike Brown is successful when he is forced to do something. He had to put someone in with LeBron hurting and it was Sasha. It’s funny that if Sasha plays Friday it seems he’s contradicted himself…