Optimism, pessimism, and LeBron’s got gas
Posted April 13th, 2008 by Brian Windhorst
Cavs 84, Heat 76
Glass half full: The Cavs got a win over the Miami Heat, reducing their magic number to clinch homecourt for the first round of the playoffs to 1.
Glass half empty: The Cavs were down to the worst team the NBA has seen in years, complete with five rookies and five guys who were in the D-League this year heading into the fourth quarter. If they continue to play like this, what does it matter where the first two games of the playoffs are played?
Half full: LeBron James only needed to play 35 minutes and when he was out the Cavs went on a run to take the lead for good.
Half empty: For the eighth time in 11 games, the Cavs had a better plus/minus with LeBron off the floor than on it. It’s +46 in 113 minutes without him and -46 in 410 minutes with him. Yes, there were some blowouts in there, but look closer and most were close games. It is a weird trend that hints at how the new group has failed to gel with the superstar.
Half full: LeBron said his back is feeling fine and the Cavs seem to be mostly healthy with a week to go until the playoffs.
Half empty: As of this moment, with the 76ers and the Raptors both being at 40-40, the Cavs have one win over a team with a winning record since getting their players from trade. It was the home game against the Pistons.
There’s little need to break this game down further. The trends all hold.
Recap:
Pregame
Starting lineups
Heat (anyone want to guess?): Chris Quinn, Daequan Cook, Ricky Davis, Stephane Lasme, Mark Blount
Cavs: Delonte West, Devin Brown, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Officials
Joey Crawford, Violet Palmer, Zach Zarba
–The Cavs magic number to clinch the No. 4 seed is two and this is obviously the easiest game left. The Heat don’t have much talent left, in fact they have a five-man inactive list, but they have a bunch of young guys and D-League callups who do play hard. The Cavs have been known lately to have focus issues and go stretches without giving maximum effort. If that happens today, they very well could get beat.
–Keep an eye on the Cavs in the halfcourt on offense. This facet has been decaying for a couple weeks. There have been moments when they have executed well but this team doesn’t have rhythm from possession to possession much less game to game.
–The Cavs have not played well throughout a game since they beat Philly at home two weeks ago. Might want to start considering the playoffs are now less than a week away.
–For your reading pleasure, you may be interested in what I wrote about LeBron winning the scoring title being a failure for the Cavs and Mike Brown today.
Halftime — Cavs 40, Heat 38
–Great basketball, folks. I’d be watching the Masters, but that isn’t any good today, either. The Cavs are shooting very poorly, just 34 percent. They are being aggressive on defense for the most part, Ben Wallace has three blocks and LeBron has two. Then again there was still guys dunking. They played hard for about five minutes, got a seven-point lead, and then cooled down again. That’s about par for this team right now. This would win the award for worst loss of the season if it happens, by the way.
–The one thing they are doing is looking to pass the ball into the post much more. Especially LeBron. The idea here is to catch teams in rotation as they bring help to James. Then again, that was the idea all season. Regardless, the Cavs have 11 assists on 14 baskets, which is a dream percentage for them. Also, eight of their 14 baskets have been the paint. It’s a small bright side.
–LeBron took another bad shot at the end of the half because he wanted to set up a 2-for-1, in other words shooting with about 35 seconds left to assure you get an extra possession at the end of a quarter. He has been doing this a lot lately and most of the time it is a bad shot out of flow and that makes it a bad possession so why bother?
–When Daequan Cook comes back out on the floor, it might be a good idea to not go under pick-and-rolls and let him shoot.
–They didn’t put enough time on the halftime clock and Quick Change, the best halftime act in the NBA, was out on the floor doing their thing when the players came out of the locker room to shoot. By the time they did their finale — where the woman changes dresses four times in like 90 seconds including once as a bunch of confetti falls on her — the entire Heat team was on their bench and several Cavs were sitting on the scorer’s table. Many of them gave Quick Change an ovation.
Postgame
Stars
Delonte West, 18 points, four rebounds
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 14 points, 14 rebounds
LeBron, 13 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists
Ricky Davis, 17 points, seven assists
Quotes
LeBron on the win: “You can’t be disappointed. I can’t sit here and lie and say it’s easy to get up for a team like this, the crowd expects you to blow them out.”
LeBron on being assured of playing the Wizards in the first round: “Yay, that is so fun, I am excited. I wanted to play somebody else, but if we have to play somebody I’m glad it is Washington. This is the third straight year of trash talk. I’ll read the clippings and it’ll help me get some more gas under my belt.”
Three reactions from me: 1. The first line he said with heavy sarcasm. 2. LeBron said he wanted to play someone else like he meant he was tired of playing Washington, but I sensed truth in his voice. 3. I have no idea what he means about getting gas under his belt. I assume you want gas out from under your belt. Isn’t that was Beano is for?
LeBron on his back: “I feel good. We’re going to see how it reacts, I haven’t had back-to-back since the back (got hurt).”
April 13th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
If the Cavs lose to this sorry Heat team, they should give their playoff spot up to a more deserving team!
April 13th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I’m torn … the Cavs opened at 18 1/2 favorites, but there was so much early betting on Miami, it fell to 17. I still can’t get myself to bet on Miami, even though I figure this is the perfect game for James to sit out. With James out, that 18 1/2 was tempting, and at 17, it’s still awfully tempting. Brown isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I can’t imagine he’s empty-headed enough to have James play in a worthless game.
April 13th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Damn, it’s gametime and now down to a 16 point spread. Decisions, decisions.
April 13th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
OK, so we’re down by 2 going into the 4th quarter… to a team full of D-leaguers!!!
I’m with Austin, this team needs some Geratol or something. I would not be surprised if we lose this game as well as the next 2, and then lose home court to the Wizards.
April 13th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
enough said
April 13th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
April 13th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Looks like the Cavs will pull it out but what a brutal game to watch. I don’t see this team doing much in the playoffs. Their body language says they’ve given up on themselves and their coach.
Sorry but I’ve also seen enough of Wally World..he is horrible and hopefully he’s finally out of the rotation for good. Not that it will make much difference in this ‘offense’ but please give Wally’s minutes to Damon if they need someone else off the bench to hit shots. It was pretty unfair the way Damon lost his minutes…at least when DJ comes in he doesn’t miss his first 5 shots every game.
April 13th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Why play LeBron at all if he’s only going to play 5 minutes in the 4th quarter of a game against the Miami “D” squad? Did I imagine Mike Brown saying a week ago that LeBron needed to rest his back for the postseason or the 4th seed would be meaningless anyway?
Who wants to buy tickets to Fan Appreciation Night and start a Larry Brown chant?
Listless, choppy basketball. None of these guys look comfortable in their roles. That had better change in about 24 hours or so, or we’ll get WAXED tomorrow night in Philly.
April 13th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
[...] NCAA Basketball Home - CBSSports.com wrote an interesting post today on Cavs vs. HeatHere’s a quick excerptCavs vs. Heat April 13th, 2008 Pregame Starting lineups Heat (anyone want to guess?): Chris Quinn, Daequan Cook, Ricky Davis, Stephane Lasme, Mark Blount Cavs: Delonte West, Devin Brown, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas Officials Joey Crawford, Violet Palmer, Zach Zarba –The Cavs magic number to clinch the No. 4 seed is two and this is obviously the easiest game left. The Heat don’t have much talent left, in fact they have a five-man inactive list, but they have a bunch of [...]
April 13th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Absolutely soporific. . .
April 13th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Seriously we only won by a couple?? To the Heat? It might be a quick postseason for the Cavs..
April 13th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
mike brown should be slapped for not playing damon
April 13th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
The Count should be interred. It’s really painful watching him play basketball.
April 13th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
haha brian sounds like he is about to kill someone on this team. When you read it, you can feel the anger he was writing with trying to stay cool tho becuase he doesnt want to lose his job with an emotional outburst
April 13th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Go to this link and watch the brilliant parody of the 1988 movie “Stand and Deliver,” with Cartman playing the Edward James Olmos role. Go to the bottom and click the new episode called “Eek, A Penis!” This episode is extremely relevant to this blog, because the only way the Cavs are ever going to win something big is to cheat. What good are Wallace and Varejao if they’re not going to plant an elbow into somebody’s face. Gibson needs to casually stick out his leg like Bruce Bowen and sprain a guy’s ankle after he comes down from a jump shot. Take some of these stiffs and turn them into feared goons. Who cares if they’re suspended for a game or two or 20, the team will win. Count Pavlovic can kick Gilbert Arenas in the knee, Dwayne Jones can knee Caron Butler in the jewels. After they take out the Wizards, Devin Brown can proceed to kidney punch Kevin Garnett. Then they can draw straws to decide who’s going to stab Paul Pierce again. I say Z. After they dispose of the Celtics, Lance Allred can Taser Richard Hamilton between the mask and shoot Chauncey Billups in the head. After literally killing the Pistons, just one more series to cheat to victory. http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/165704/
April 14th, 2008 at 1:13 am
jesus h. christ, what a surprise. the cavs have been struggling and lo and behold, tons of stupid, unfunny posts from mr. t.! yea!!
anyway, the point to all this is when you don’t make shots, you look like crap. *but* i see no reason to not repeat what i said about a month or so a go. the cavs play defense (86 points a game at home in the last 15 games, i believe) and rebound like hell (out-rebounded miami by like 20 tonight) and they’ve got the best player in the game, when he’s healthy, of course.
so what does that mean, you ask? well, it means all games will be close and they will have a chance to win ANY SERIES THEY PLAY. period. i know, i know you can list all the problems with this player or that player or with brown’s rotation, blah, blah, blah. i’m telling ya, it doesn’t really matter cuz the cavs don’t play offense well but they defend and rebound, which is kinda what ya have to do in the playoffs, knuckleheads.
look, don’t get me wrong, i’m not confident of this team going back to the finals or anything. i’m realistic. but if one is *truly* realistic, then one knows that the style the cavs play, like SA, will keep them in most every playoff game and then they figure they’ll take their chances at the end of close games cuz they have #23. hard for any sane basketball fan to disagree with that…
April 14th, 2008 at 4:03 am
nice to see Boobie doing commercials with Moondog. he might have lost his shooting touch, but at least he’s befriended that moronic mascot in his offtime.
April 14th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Forty-five wins coming off a trip to the finals. That sucks.
Injury excuses, schedule excuses, the superstar’s ‘plus-minus rating,’ poor coaching, but nary a word about the erratic roster-building philosophy we’ve seen in practice since last June.
If the Cavs were playing great right now Brown would have to be considered the favorite for miracleworker of the year. Maybe next year, though they’ll still have to find a big man and a guard.
April 14th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Ahhh…the silly +/- stat. What was their record with out James? Yeah, that’s a little more important. But there is a ring of truth to the suggestion that the new guys aren’t meshing. How about the fact that they suck right now? Wally is worthless. Wallace is borderline worthless. West has been ok. Same with Joe. Right now we have James’ back at less than 100%. We have Z shooting really poorly, but I am trusting that will end soon. We have our two “shooters” absolutely shooting miserably. I know they both have pasts as being “good” shooters, but for both of them, this has been a long drought with no end seemingly in sight. Will either Wally or Boobie snap the f*** out of it? If not the first round series is in serious doubt.
April 14th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Gibson is doing commercials with Moondog?
April 14th, 2008 at 11:29 am
larry d., you are trafficking in a practice that i’ve learned to dislike quite a bit and that is taking *reasons* for something happening, and then re-branding them as “excuses.” the injuries were real. i fail to see how those can be construed as anything but *reasons* for the cavs struggles. and don’t give me that old canard that “every team has injuries.” take a look at the pistons injury total this season, for example…
look, the cavs have had more different starting line-ups than the heat! true! they’ve also have by far the most total games missed by the top 8 rotation players than ANY playoff team.
in fact, if one looks at the team as dispassionately as possible, it’s truly a testament to LBJ that this team has 45 wins. NO TEAM loses so many people to injury and wins 45 games. nobody.
now, all this doesn’t help the cavs in the playoffs or anything but they’ve got a chance because of the reasons i laid out in my previous post. and quite frankly, LBJ has *never* done anything but be spectacular in the playoffs, so why would any sane observer doubt he won’t be again this year? a reason for hope, i think (and yes, i am dangerously close to grasping at straws. i realize that)…
April 14th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Thoughts on the Cavs win over the Heat:
- Probably the game I was least excited to watch this season. And the Cavs pretty much matched my level of enthusiasm. Not a lot of effort out there last night.
- Nine shots for LeBron? Anyone else think he was coasting? At least his rebounds were up, and he looked more athletic than he has for the last two weeks. I’m just worried that the wear and tear of the season will prevent him from finding that other gear he had throughout the playoffs last year.
- Nice games for Z (14 points, 11 rebounds), Devin Brown (10 points, 7 rebounds), Andy (10 points) and Delonte West (18 points), playing just about the right number of minutes.
- 2-7 nonwithstanding, Sasha looked pretty good out there defensively, and was more solid than he’s been in a while. But anyone complaining about Mike Brown’s rotation was supported by the fact that Sasha only got his minutes early in the 3rd Quarter because Devin Brown was sent back to the locker room because of blood on his shorts. Brown was back on the bench 30 seconds later, but Sasha stayed on the floor, getting minutes he otherwise wouldn’t have seen. If the rotation is being set by wardrobe issues, there might be a problem.
- Jim Chones was a good player. But he is a terrible post-game analyst. Yesterday he said that the defense was the reason they looked so bad. The defense? They gave up 76 points on 39% shooting. Chones is consistently off-base in his analysis, and yet everyone is afraid of calling him on it. With Austin Carr as least you get some good with the bad. Chones is just extra noise right now.
- +/- isn’t the end-all, but which statistic is? Anyone could tell you that LeBron has not been making his teammates better over the last 11 games, and the +/- backs it up.
- Don’t knock Moondog. At least he brings it every night.
Go Cavs. Still looking forward to tonight’s game.
Mike C.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
kj, the thing is that fans like you see all the flaws this team has and still want to see the team do well. You’re frustrated by the losses and the inconsistent play.
The other kind of fan on this blog sees all the flaws this team has and is delighted by it. Their life is so utterly worthless that this is the one thing they can hang their hat on with their “hey see, I told you they suck! I am the smartest and the bestest.”
This type of fan will say things like the team should cheat and play dirty to win, shoot people in the head and such stupidity but the minute the team wins by cheating, this fan would be the first to jump on the fact they could only win by cheating. Of course, this fan would disappear and invent some lame story about a comatose whore they needed to take care of while the team was winning. This type of fan only gets to see a penis in action when it is a cartoon on an internet South Park episode and he squeals “eek” in delight at that too. Possibly might happen also when looking at online pics of has-been celebrities on people.com too. This type of fan is really truly in denial of life and lets everyone know it in every successive post.
Not likely to go far this year but Go Cavs!
April 14th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
“+/- isn’t the end-all, but which statistic is? Anyone could tell you that LeBron has not been making his teammates better over the last 11 games, and the +/- backs it up.”
How does that back that up? Seriously, explain to me how that stat supports the silly notion that James is failing to make his teammates better? The only way one player can make another player look better is by giving that second player opportunities to score. James has been doing that. His teammates have been failing. Now, this isn’t to say that Lebron is playing “well”. Because for the most part he has not been playing “well” for him. For whatever reason, be it injury or disinterest, he has been hardly the Lebron James that we know. It is a testament to James’ greatness (and possible fodder for his MVP application) that he has to be great (moreso than any other player in the league) for his team to win. And, no Z did not have a good game. 5 for 16 from your 7′3″ center is not a good game. Did he rebound well against the NBDL’ers? Yes. However, Z needs to get the shot back if we have any hope of winning in the post season.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I agree injuries hurt the team’s chances this year and the 45 wins are a testament to LeBron, kj. But the poor season just doesn’t feel like bad luck to me.
The organization’s passive approach last summer got things off to a bad start. Losing the way the Cavs lost in the finals showed the team needed upgrading, which didn’t come close to happening. Then, the contract problems with Varejao and Pavlovic hurt those players’ development, I believe, without any real upside for the organization. Meanwhile, the payroll is bloated.
It’s easy to blame Brown’s rotations but when everyone’s insisting Damon Jones and Joe Smith are the keys to success, that tells you something about the coach’s options.
Maybe the big trade will work in the Cavs favor next year, but who knows at this point? Isn’t Smith a free agent, and Gibson and West restricted free agents? Who has faith that’s all going to go smoothly? Did the Cavs trade one horrid contract for two, in Wallace and Wally?
It’s probably been a wasted season and right now I’m not too optimistic about next year either. What’s the plan? Where’s all the stability we’ve heard about?
April 14th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Windhorst is the truth. Lebron scored 24 points in the first quarter the other night. That’s not good for chemistry nobody knows how or when they can to get their shots off. Wouldn’t it make more sense to score alot of points in the 4th?
Coach Brown talks a good game but as I said his actions show his confusion on what he needs to do. Not only does Sasha defend better than Wally but his shooting is slightly better. It’s funny that the coach has tape he can refer to but it doesn’t seem to help… Boobie is top 3 shooting in the league, he’s doing McDonald’s commercials and because he’s rusty returning from an injury he gets talked about?
April 14th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Sasha’s garbagetime put back dunk was awesome guys.
He needs to work on finishing at the rim though. Although we suck I can enjoy watching S.P.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Um, I wouldnt call that put-back dunk “garbage time”. We were only up 4 or 6 at that point in the game. Pretty much a clincher actually…
I keep saying it, not that anyone will change their minds, but the playoffs are a completely different animal. The games are ugly, close, and tough. The Cavs have played more ugly, tough games than any team in the NBA. It’s their forte, and while everyone likes to rip Ben Wallace all the time, he made his disgusting, excessive contract in the postseason, in games like those. If Wally and Boobie find their stroke a week or so from now, this team will be LETHAL. Not even mentioning the best player in the league.
Things are never as good or as bad as they seem. Reality always lies somewhere in between.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I’m disappointed in Gibson and Moondog doing a McDonad’s commercial. It’s indirectly supporting obesity and worst of all— sending a bad message to the kids (Moondog claims to be good with the kids). Oh but it’s OK because McDonald’s has Ronald McDonald charities. Get the kids hooked on processed garbage, get them fat then later in life when they’re in the hospital their parents can stay for free or at no cost at Ronald McDonald House (that is if there is one in their city).
April 14th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
“That’s not good for chemistry nobody knows how or when they can to get their shots off..”
Come on. That was true for one quarter of one game. The next quarter, Chicago got smart and threw triple teams at him and his teammates couldn’t make wide open shots. These guys know when there shots are coming. This is more about guys not knocking down open looks. IF they do that, the team is ok against anybody.
“If Wally and Boobie find their stroke a week or so from now, this team will be LETHAL.”
You are exactly right, Josh. Z needs to get out of his little mini-funk, too. But I don’t doubt that he will. His shot will come back.
April 14th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
If LeBron is going to hold the ball as long as he does, he is going to have to get into the lane and create. Right now he’s taking two dribbles towards the basket, then trying a skip pass before the defense even reacts to his fake drive. Teams are not afraid of him exploding to the hoop right now, and it’s cutting down the opportunities for his teammates.
LeBron holding the ball too much + failing to get to the hoop = the poor +/- numbers over the last 11 games. It also equals the Cavs being even more terrible on offense than usual, and playing painfully mediocre basketball.
April 14th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
OH looks like you guys are struggling and injured. Hmm… sounds familiar. Smell that? Thats the smell of revenge. Looks like Le-Traveling James has a sore back from carrying his team all season. I hope you guys keep home court so when game 4 rolls around i can get by broom out and do a little spring sweeping.
April 15th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Agent Zero. Don’t even dream of beating the cavs in the first round of the playoffs .. we beat u two years ago, Embarrased u with a sweeeeeeep last year .. and this year will be just the same ..
April 16th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Yeah. The wizards are super-embarrassed about the cavs sweeping us last year when we were missing our best two players. I don’t know if you’ve looked, but Charles Barkley has now chosen the cavs to beat the wizards. We all know what happened last year when he picked the higher seed to win a first round series…