Moving on, moving strong
Cavs 105, Wizards 88
–Perhaps the most complete game played by the Cavs since the trade and quite a stepping stone as they move onto the next round. If losing Game 5 because their offense shut down was the catalyst to get the offense to move the ball like this then it was more than worth it. Watching the Cavs operate with the ball tonight was like watching the Lakers and the Spurs and I am being dead serious there. But it was combined with some excellent defense, which I will discuss in a moment. This is the type of confidence the Cavs had on the road in the playoffs last year. We’ll see if it lasts.
–This was LeBron’s best game of the postseason. Not only was he leading the way in getting the ball moving — he took just two shots in the first quarter — but he was the emotional leader too. After he was hit in the face and the groin in the end of the third quarter, he looked like a general in the timeout before the fourth. He was marching up and down while Mike Brown was huddled with the coaches and he was yelling at his teammates to keep up the defense and finish the Wizards off. He was upset that Antonio Daniels was allowed to get the dunk at the end of the third. Then you consider his stat line: 27 points, 13 rebounds, and 13 assists with two steals and a blocks and, ahem, one turnover. A superior effort. To see him lead and play like this, you just understand where it all comes from. The Nike money, the other teams dreaming of 2010, all the praise. To watch him grow from when he was an 18 year old just figuring this out to the sort of all around performance he gave in this game has been special for Cavs fans.
–Wally Szczerbiak has been due to have this sort of game for about a month. He said tonight this was the worst shooting slump of his career. Who knows if it will last, but it did remind all of Donyell Marshall’s performance in Game 6 at New Jersey last year. What was impressive about him and Daniel Gibson tonight is they often didn’t settle for the 3-pointer, the drove the ball a great deal too. That’s how the Cavs ended up with 29 assists and just seven turnovers. Gibson was tremendous in handling the ball and Delonte West, in case anyone didn’t notice, had 15 assists in the last two games. Both of them shot 50 percent from 3-point range in the series, which was huge. Last Sunday I wrote a piece about how the Cavs had to really watch West and Gibson in these playoffs to decide how large of a commitment they needed to make in the offseason as both are free agents. This was after Game 2, when they’d been awful. Play no attention to the headline, it doesn’t convey the story’s real topic. Both have made a strong case in the four games since.
–Mike Brown and the coaching staff get points tonight for making some fixes in the offense, especially with where the 3-point shooters were positioned. Washington had a hard time finding them after really doing a good job in Game 5 of protecting the corners because they knew Gibson and West would always be there.
–The Cavs defense in this series may have been overlooked a bit since there were three blowouts. They ended up giving up just 92 points a game, four times holding the Wizards to 88 points or less, and just 43 percent shooting. Tonight after the first quarter they really cut down the Wizards’ drive-and-kicks. By using crisper rotations, the Cavs forced lots of late shot clock shots and many were low percentage. Also, double teams on Caron Butler were effective.
–Also maybe overlooked in the series was Joe Smith, who is moving on to the second round for the first time in his 13-year career. Or as LeBron said: “When he got to the league, I was like nine years old and I had just started playing basketball.” Smith had eight points and five rebounds and he averaged 5.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in the series. His mid-range jumper has been off for the last few weeks, but he sure did come up with a lot of loose balls.
–After all the talk about the officiating in the series, the Cavs were called for 139 fouls, the Wizards 137. The Cavs shot 175 free throws, the Wizards shot 174.
Pregame
Staring lineups
Cavs: Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Wizards: Antonio Daniels, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood
Officials
Steve Javie, Ken Mauer, Tom Washington….Javie and Mauer both are known for taking over games and are not afraid to dole out punishment. Mauer does not mind the camera on him and Javie is known for having a short fuse. Washington is a total pro, lower key. All three are lead officials during the regular season.
LeBron on the Darius Songaila suspension: “It was something that wasn’t basketball related. They asked me if I thought it was intentional or if I had anything with Songaila in the past. Was it intentional by him? I don’t know if it was intentional or not. (Will suspension clean things up?) I’m not sure if that was their intentional, we’re going to play basketball. It’s going to be physical, it should be physical. But at the same time you have to draw a line what’s physical and what’s not, what’s not basketball-related plays.”
Eddie Jordan: “Darius was very important to us, his numbers may not speak volumes but his play does. I stood my ground and said what I had to say and I’m not going to fight the league or the officials.”
NBA Vice President Stu Jackson: “Following the game, the next day we conducted an investigation that included interviewing both of the players involved and also taking input from the officials on the floor. After that, we reviewed the video and then ultimately gathered all of the information and made a decision…In viewing this many times, we do feel that this was intentional contact.”
–Jordan said Andray Blatche will get extended minutes. He has been inconsistent in this series but at times has played very well.
–Expect the Cavs to make some adjustments with their offensive sets, they may move Daniel Gibson and Delonte West around so it is harder for the Wizards to stay attached to them.
–Sasha Pavlovic probably will play. You have to expect some rust.
–Caron Butler played great in Game 5, but a big reason was because his jumper was going. He actuall started feeling it at the end of game 4. He was just 1-of-9 on 3-pointers in the series and he hit 4-of-8 and Game 5. I expect the Cavs to double team him closer to the basket, but they will live with him shooting outside shots. With double teams on him, though, Antawn Jamison may get open looks.
–The Cavs have had some success in the last few games with LeBron catching the ball on the move after it reaches the halfcourt in transition, usually though a dribble hand off at the top of the key. This is actually a Wizards-style play. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of it.
–Look for Zydrunas Ilgauskas to get the ball early to apply pressure on Brendan Haywood.
Halftime — Cavs 56, Wizards 48
–This game is being played at the Wizards pace, but the Cavs are executing better on offense. They have 17 assists on 23 baskets, which is remarkable for them. Daniel Gibson and Wally Szczerbiak’s ability to hit the outside shot has had a major impact on the game. LeBron is also distributing very well, he has seven assists with six rebounds and 10 points.
–The reason the Cavs were able to surge into the lead, though, was they finally got some stops on defense. The Wizards missed some shots, like the Cavs surely will in the second half, but the jumpers were more contested and they repeatedly made them wait until late in the shot clock. The Cavs gave up just 17 points in the second quarter after 31 in the first.
–It seemed to me like Gibson may have tweaked his right ankle on the last play of the half. We’ll have to see if that affects him at all, he is just now getting back a rhythm after that right high ankle sprain.
–The Cavs have changed up on Butler, using LeBron on him a lot more and lots of double teams. He’s only got five points. Jamison has gotten some looks as a result and he had 16 points, whic is good, but he’s also taken 14 shots. The Cavs will live with some of that, they have decided.
–It’s obvious the officials are giving no leeway tonight. Already two very quick technicals, including the one on LeBron. All parties will have to keep their cool in what promises to be a tight second half. You have to figure this is going to come right down to it again.
Postgame
Stars
LeBron, 27 points, 13 rebounds, 13 assists
Gibson, 22 points
Szczerbiak, 26 points
Jamison, 23 points, 15 rebounds
Quotes
Mike Brown: “Terrific, terrific, terrific, terrific, terrific performance by our guy, LeBron. Our guys had a close it out mentality.”
LeBron: “Cleveland is advancing. That speaks louder than me saying anything about the fans here or DeShawn Stevenson. It was a gruesome series, there were a lot of things going on in this series besides basketball and it was fun.”
Eddie Jordan: “”He’s a load, man. He puts so much pressure on your defense if you got support people to make shots.”
¶
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
So far I like the ball movement for the Cavs. I like that Gibson and Sczcerbiak are off to go a start offensively. Combined 8 of 12 shooting for 20 pts.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Complete and utter BS that no foul was called on Gibson’s shot right before the half. And even worse, LeBron gets called for a T when he points the mistake out to the ref. Horrible.
Otherwise, a good half for the Cavs. I just hope they can maintain the lead, although I doubt they will.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:41 pm
The Cavs are really playing great defense this half. (Late 3rd quarter right now.) Very impressive. Let’s just hope they can hold on….
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:49 pm
LBJ with a triple-double in the 3rd quarter…..yeah, he’s overrated.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Wally tonight= Marshall game 6 v. New Jersey 2007
Go Cavs
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
This is the Cavs I love!
We look UNSTOPPABLE tonight. Why can’t we play like this all the damn time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today on Cavs-Wizards, Game 6Here’s a quick excerptCavs-Wizards, Game 6 May 2nd, 2008 Pregame Staring lineups Cavs: Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas Wizards: Antonio Daniels, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood Officials Steve Javie, Ken Mauer, Tom Washington….Javie and Mauer both are known for taking over games and are not afraid to dole out punishment. Mauer does not mind the camera on him and Javie is known for having a short fuse. Washington is a total pro, low [...]
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Reflecting on an opening round with and looking ahead:
1. Congrats to the Cavs who came out tonight and put the Wiz in their place. You could tell the Cavs were not messing around tonight. The hustle, the ball movement…everything was just very well done. When they both have average shooting nights, the Cavs are 5 points better than the Wiz. When our outside guys are hitting and theirs aren’t, we’re 20 points better.
2. Dear Washington: If you would’ve just come out and played hard, I could’ve still respected your team and your fans after a 3rd straight loss at our hands. But you didn’t do that. Your players ran their mouths incessantly. Your columnusts wrote smear pieces. Your fans, instead of recognizing how embarassing the conduct, just jumped right in on the fun. Washington, your team and your fans are a joke. Enjoy another steaming bag of shit, compliments of Lebron and the city of Cleveland. I hate you Washington. Now get out of my life.
3. Boston is a better team than the Cavs. The Cavs can beat Boston (I’m assuming the improbable does not happen with that series). If they outhustle the Celtics (a very tall order), play the D they are capable of playing, and get lucky with good shooting from the outside, they can play with Boston. But unlike with this series, there will be little or no margin of error. I’m looking forward to it.
Go Cavs
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:49 pm
does anyone know if the crybaby t shirts were part of a giveaway? They have the Papa Johns logo on them. I will never go there again. Anyone else interested in a boycott? In my opinion, that was a stupid move by a marketing manager. How can Papa Johns dis Lebron?
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:56 pm
“You have to figure this is going to come right down to it again.”
Ha, nice prediction BW. Oh well, I thought it was gonna be close too at halftime.
This was such a complete game by the Cavs. God, we look so good when our guards are hitting their open threes, and we’re basically unstoppable if our guards can hit shots while being semi-guarded. Now we need the Hawks to win and the night will be complete!
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Well allright! Sasha back, Wally joins the team, Lebron is Lebron and all is well. Hilarious if the NBA darling Celts lose again. Otherwise another rough series! Good job boys!
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Oh and nice, Biff. Lebron’s tough to take in a 7 game series. I have had doubts about Celts all year, but now I see what a vindictive ass KG can be, they gotta lose.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:22 pm
The crazy thing is, these eye-popping games by Lebron are becoming so status quo that it almost goes unmentioned what a huge game he has every night. 27, 13, and 13 is not normal. It’s downright sick, especially in a game 6, on the road, for a 23 year old kid, drawing double teams and full attention of the entire arena every night. I sometimes get frustrated with this team because I want them to win so bad, but you have to remind yourself that no matter what, NBA history is being made before your eyes, and it’s truly a rare thing in sports to witness what we are seeing with each game. Perhaps without a ring it is all meaningless, but I can’t help but think that it will be along time before someone like Lebron comes along again.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:24 pm
I’m watching the post-game press conferences on NBA TV, and LeBron is taking the high road every time a reporter asks him about Stevenson or the trash-talking. His latest response, “Cleveland is advancing. That says a lot more than anything I could say to another team’s fans or to DeShawn Stevenson. Cleveland is advancing….that’s what matters.”
I love it.
It’s so hard to predict these postseason games. I figured they’d lose a squeaker tonight and then win on Sunday. The one thing I’ve learned is to never pick a game based solely on the game before it.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Kevin Garnett shouldn’t have like 20 fouls by now. KG is a stable personality without an inferiority complex. Paul Pierce doesn’t whine very much, nor does Sam. Boston wins this series in 4. KG 4 MVP.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Boston is not just the Big 3. The Big 3 have great playoff histories and aren’t bitter, nor are they old. Boston is ranked #1 by ESPN and the Cavs, #16, therefore Boston will absolutely win hands down. KG gets more MVP votes than Lebron as Lebron finishes fifth, sportwriters are smart.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Lebron James is truly historical. Wow. He played passively on offense tonight, yet still had a huge triple double. You nitpickers need to find a new nit to pick. He’s outlasted you fools. Great games by Wally and Boobie. When they don’t suck, we win. When they play well, we are awesome.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:50 pm
HUGE Night for LeBron
I’d say about 5 of those rebounds were him jumper higher than a crowd - and those came in huge situations.
His assists were mostly for 3s - momentum killers.
And he quietly got 27.
It’s unbelievable how much we (as cleveland fans) and the national media takes Lebron James for granted.
He is so clearly the best player in the NBA - and he is often treated like just another franchise player - the Cavs version of Caron Butler or Paul Pierce or something…
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:54 pm
When the pundits and experts who predicted Chicago to win the East ask who predicted Atlanta would give Boston trouble, just say: ‘Aymaida Duty’.
When they say ‘I ranked Cleveland 16th to begin the playoffs, who would guess they’d win the East shout:
‘Aymaida Duty!’
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
The pundits say a Celts-Lakers Finals would have great ratings and hearken back to the Magic-Bird era.
The problem is, that was a rivalry, and it lasted many years. Even if KG could get close to the Finals, how long will his side of said ‘rivalry’ last? This violent, talented, bitter psycho might not last the season.
A better rivalry, more natural and obvious, is Lebron Kobe.
I’d like to see a Boston-Cleveland series so I can watch KG implode in front of Lebron, his superior in all ways, while LBJ maintains his composure and just wins. You think Washington fans are tasteless with little class, remember folks, we are talking Boston here. Even Bibby sees through their BS.
That all said, I still hope Atlanta wins.
And when the experts are shocked that their ill-reasoned Celtic-Laker fantasy won’t happen, and say that noone could see that coming, yell : ‘Aymaida Duty!!!!!!’
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:13 pm
[...] …Cleveland Sports News – The Latest Breaking… - http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/|||Cavs-Wizards, Game 6Cavs: Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas Wizards: Antonio [...]
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:25 pm
There’s probably about a 10% chance of it happening, but it would be so sweet to have Atlanta win game 7. I’ll take home court advantage against an inexperienced 35-win team anyday.
Still though, at the very least we’ll have that ‘rest advantage’ that I’ve been crying about for the last several days.
They were really focused today. The defense was fantastic over the final three quarters. LeBron was ridiculous. (Good posts earlier about how he’s taken for granted.)
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Hawks win! Pigs fly! God I hope the Hawks take it to the Celts. The Big 3 annoys the heck out of me with their haughty attitudes and their sense of entitlement. Bibby was spot on when he said that Bostonians were fair weather fans. The Patriots suck too, and don’t get me started on the Red Sox…
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:37 pm
First off, congrats gentlemen. Brown’s rotation was crisp, the defensive movement tight, the shots went in. I was worried the fifteen threes they hit in game four would be a tease that tempted them in game five; I guess they just like the hotel food better than the home cooking. LeCavalier, love the Marshall/Wally comparison, although Marshall’s threes came late and Wally was pretty much on from the get-go. What a breath of fresh air. You could feel the Wiz collectively sigh.
I hate to remind Mike Brown, but we’ve been calling for more Joe Smith minutes in this blog for a while. And surprise: no Andy in the second half, and the Cavs blow open the game instead of that predictably starting out the third quarter sluggishly. This team is versatile. DWest locks down Arenas one night, hits the game winner another, and then rides the pine the third and fourth quarters as hotter hands put nails in the Wizards’ coffins.
I hope Pizza Hut or Dominoes sponsors a t-shirt that reads something like “0-3 is NOT a rivalry” or “WIZ: order out cause you’re staying home,” or something to that effect. And Jeff, I’m with you on the boycott: Papa John’s make some nice fast-food pizza, but who needs it with their garbage attire?
And you KNOW LeBron exchanged some niceties concerning the Wizards in the locker room. Oh to be a fly on that wall. We’ll say it here: outside of Jamison (who is class all the way and would make a nice Cav if the opportunity presented itself) and Eddie Jordan, that team deserves ZERO respect, from their sportswriters down to their fans and the players. They remind me of the little cousin you play one-on-one who keeps smacking your balls because he simply can’t reach the ball that really counts. I implore them to call out the Cavs again next year… let’s make this a spring tradition.
Lastly, the Hawks did their part tonight. The Celtics looked old. NotSarcastic, you’ve said it well. Biff, you may have a point or two, but the Celtics are NOT the Spurs, and I’m conceding them nothing in this series (if they DO beat the Hawks). I told a friend earlier this year that Celtics collected three of the best FIRST-ROUND players in the NBA. Someone remind me what Pierce, KG or Ray-Ray have won outside of fat contracts and a bunch of points in the regular season. The Cavs may well lose this series, but it’s going to be fun watching how the Celts defense LeBron. They’re not stupid enough to bait him, are they?
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:49 pm
What a game. Go Cavs! Boston lost again I love it!
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Wow….over 2 hours since the last slew of comments were posted.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Listening to sports radio in Boston on my way home from work today, the host (former Celts broadcaster) said the Wizards would give Celts more trouble than the Cavs, then preceded to talk about the Celts/Pistons ECF matchup. No respect for the Cavs, man would I love to shut up the obnoxios arrogant Celts fans around here with a Cavs series win (providing Celts beat Atl in their game 7). It would make up for the Indians losing to the Redsox in the ALCS.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:26 pm
We will beat the Celtics - they will melt down the stretch much like they did tonight. And I will be loving every minute of us shutting up that arrogant cocky front-running fan base. I can’t wait for Round 2!
http://clevelandchamps.blogspot.com/
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:33 pm
I liken the Cavs-Wizards rivalry to the Maximus-Commodus feud in the movie “Gladiator”. Maximus is the good guy, the hero, and the better competitor. Commodus knows he can’t beat Maximus on his own so he attempts to weaken him with cheap tactics….but those tactics don’t work and in the end, the better competitor prevails. Tonight’s game was a methodical beatdown, just like the final scene in the movie. That dagger was slowly yet lethally driven into the Wizards neck, putting them out of their pathetic misery.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
The pundits are wrong if they think LA will come out of the west. S.A. would steamroll them in 5 games. They have nobody to check Parker= no chance to win.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 pm
I would love to see Atlanta take the Celtics out in game 7, but they’ve played so poorly on the road that I just don’t see it happening. I see them going down by about 10 or so in the 2nd qtr and then just riding the game out with a 20 point loss again. Can anyone show me the light and give me some hope that the Hawks can pull game 7 out?
Because of the Celtics 66 win season, being the best in basketball, I don’t see the Cavs having focus or intensity issues this next series. The Cavs have shown the last couple years that they can win on the road in the playoffs. All the Celtics have shown this year’s playoffs on the road is an 0-3 record and poor play down the stretch to an inexperienced (even though very talented) team.
We are capable of winning the series, but who knows what will happen. I’m just going to try to relax, watch the games, and hope for the best. The relaxing part won’t be easy, though.
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:20 am
Losing Game 5 may actually go down as the best thing to happen to the Cavs this season. It gave them the chance to hone their mental toughness by having to close out before a hostile environment . It also allowed guys like Wally and Daniel to have breakout games which they will definitely need against tougher teams in later rounds.
And of course, breaking Washington’s collective hearts, from their team of thugs, to their classless fans and even more classless fans right in their very own backyard is priceless.
Eddie Johnson ought to be ashame of himself -He clearly gave the marching orders to play dirty since he can’t coach defense worth a lick. Guys like Darius Songaila, Andre Blatche and even Brendan Haywood aren’t really bad dudes but they were instructed to execute a filthy plan. Even the loudmouth Stevenson didn’t have a rep as a dirty player before but he clearly played dirty in this series with Johnson giving all his blessings. Then Johnson would cry to media that they are just playing hard and meant no malice. Baloney! I am glad he keeps going out early in the play-offs and even better, it was the Cavs who did it in the last three years.
Criticize Mike Brown all you want but he has been owning Eddie Johnson, Flip Saunders and Lawrence Frank in the play-offs. And he is such a gentleman -when Devin Brown was about to stoop to the Wiz level out frustration in GAme 3 blowout , coach Brown immediately reminded him to play the game the right way and not lose the Cavs’ identity. Now if that was the Wiz’ coach, oops,…. time to move on!
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:49 am
Geez, what the hell was I thinking -Eddie Jordan is the Wiz’ coach, not Eddie Johnson. But what the hell, they’re both named Eddie and both hate Lebron.
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:25 am
Well I ripped him the night before so I’m here today to give Mike Brown big props for coaching his best game of the season.
What changed? Instead of having Lebron on the ball on top like he did throughout game 5, Brown put the ball in Delonte and Gibson’s hands and fed the ball to Lebron on the wing. From there they moved everybody to the weakside of the floor to iso Lebron. This set puts pressure on the defense to double Lebron and when it came, the Cavs either dove their bigs to the rim or they used them to set up the picket fence on the weakside of the floor for the skip pass cross court from Lebron to Gibson for a 3.
The Cavs ran this set over and over and it resulted in either a basket for James, a 3 from Gibson or a basket by one of the bigs off of dribble penetration and the extra pass. The Cavs were patient and either took a good shot or they made that hockey assist for a good look. You can do that when you have good shooters to space the floor. And Gibson and Wally lit it up.
What does it say about our head coach that he never made the adjustment throughout game 5 but figured it out in game 6? It says that he knows how to break down film. The next step is to recognize what’s going on during the game and make the adjustments on the fly. It wouldn’t be an issue with a veteran coach (which is why so many of us rip him so much) but that’s what you get with an inexperienced one. Here’s hoping that he’s reached that level where he recognizes what’s going on and counters the defense with different sets.
I’ve always said that Brown has the right formula to win a championship in the NBA. Defense and rebounding and half court basketball. But the axiom that defense wins championships is wrong. It’s defense plus an effective half court offense. Brown has half of the puzzle solved but he’s still a work in progress on the offensive end. So it’s fair to rip him for his shortcomings while understanding that he may eventually get it.
A night of redemption for our head coach. I thought it was kind of telling that Lebron gave him a hug after he came out of the game. You know that they heard all of the criticisms about game 5. They got it together and gave their best performance of the season. More of that please.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
mike brown is garbage. there is no redemption for him. this series should have been won in 5 games not 6. you don’t give games away in the playoffs.
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:04 am
Everyone, you have to see this. I know he’s gotten some publicity on this board before but Tom Knott’s column in the Washington Times this morning is really something special.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080503/SPORTS05/912016337/1005/SPORTS
Cleveland fans, did you know that the real reason we advanced is because Darius Songaila and his 6.2 points and 3.4 boards were wrongfully suspended for game 6? Actually, I’m not sure if you’re aware of this but the suspension was part of an elaborate plot hatched by the league to help the Cavs advance. You see Stern ordered the suspension knowing that the Wiz would be lost without their versitile big man and that it would drain all of the energy from the Wiz.
I’m sorry but I’m just reporting the facts….facts that were in the newspaper so they must be true.
My dear god Washington….Please, I am imploring you…fans, beat writers, players, just quit while you’re behind. There isn’t much we can do to help you save face if you insist on dragging yourself through the mud.
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:29 am
Wow, Lebron continues to respond to the haters and trashtalkers not with his mouth but with his game. His poise and composure make it so easy to forget that he is only 23.
Jeff, you are the father of a movement. Whoever the whiz kid MBA regional marketing guy for Papa John’s in the DC area that is responsible for sponsoring the crybaby shirts probably should have considered that the game was on national tv and that Lebron has a tad bit more marketing clout than Brendan whatever his name is.
And to Deshawn “Unrated” Stevenson: namaste. I honor the place where your vacation plans and our playoff advance become one.
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:33 am
One more thing: much love to Antawn for being classy enough to rise above the embarassing behavior of his teammates. Wouldn’t mind seeing him in the wine and gold someday.
Anyone know where I can score a Ben Wallace Tri-C jersey?
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:39 am
Anyone know where I can score a Ben Wallace Tri-C jersey?
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:58 am
I urge anybody who was offended by the “Crybaby” T-shirts that were distributed last night to let Papa John’s know of their disgust and never order pizza from that company again. You can register a complaint online at http://www.papajohns.com/feedback/ageverification.htm or mail a letter to the following address:
Papa John’s International, Inc.
Attn: Customer Relations
P.O. Box 99900
Louisville, KY 40269-9990
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Last nigt I was on washingtonwizardsblog.com….each game, they allow for live posts by fans during the game. (Those would be REAL-TIME posts, Ohio.com.) Anyway, I’ve never seen so many homer fans in one place in my life. That fan base is just as delusional as their team.
And even worse, after I registered and then posted a couple comments, they were deleted. I wasn’t insulting nor did I use any profanities. They just didn’t want to hear the other team’s viewpoint.
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Nice Chris, I let them know that their bowl games suck too, with Papa John shamelessly showing up every two minutes to peddle his wares. If I ever needed a reason to stop eating mediocre pizza, these classless acts of marketing to the lowest common denominator are as good as any.
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
terje in response to the mike brown is garbage…this game was about the best i’ve ever seen him coach. the reason andy didn’t play in the second half wasn’t because his play has not been good it was because he didn’t want any slowing down of the offense. he is not a good free throw shooter, much like wallace. Joe smith got extended minutes because brown did not want to chance them going to hack-a-ben or hack-a(n)-andy. my complaint with brown has always been his rotation issues and thats it. tonight his rotations were perfect and his game plan was much better than eddie jordan’s. say what you want about brown but the results of his coaching has spoken for themselves.
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:20 pm
If the Celts lose, it will be the greatest upset in the history of not only the NBA, but the entire universe. Like all sports reporters, I long for the days of my youth, when the Celtics were good, and so can’t seem to be impartial or unbiased, and seeing them play the Lakers would be great. Never mind that Anderson Varejao has more playoff wins than KG. Never mind that KG should probably have 8 fouls in the 1st quarter of every game, and seems completely unstable. I voted Boston for MVP, Coach of the year, best team ever.
I ranked the Cavs 16th to begin the playoffs and stand by my word. See? Atlanta really is better, else how could they even win one game against the Darling Celts? Once again the Cavs are simply getting lucky on their path through the conference, they suck. I still rank them 16th. Lebron will finish 5th in the MVP voting, even though the NIT champ Buckeyes could have beaten them this year without him. Take THAT, individual awards, and impartial voting systems.
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
My name is terje and I am the stupidest person on this blog, or any other. I am stupid, stupid stupid. We should have won this series in less games. Mike Brown should be fired. I made the crybaby shirts, not Papa John, my Dad. And they just list my favorite pizza, player, and note the fact that I, terje, am a crybaby. Putting stupid loser on top cost too much, even for my Dad, he’d have to show up every minute at the bowl game he bought instead of every two minutes for me to afford that.
Terje out!
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I listened to Lebron in the post game press conference. That dude is wise beyond his years. A couple reporters tried to bate him into saying something about Haywood or Deshawn, but he didn’t bite. He lets his game speak for itself. He doesn’t trash talk, but he will trash you out on the floor, which is the way it should be. The guy is a MONSTER!
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Chris, you were actually “offended” by the Crybaby t-shirts? Wow. I guess we should all be thankful the shirts didn’t include a picture of LeBron sitting in the passenger seat while Maverick Carter speeds through a school zone. Your head might have exploded.
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:55 pm
so mike brown figured out what most of us bitch about everyday just yesterday…and that makes him instantly great.
pfffffft!!
it is all lebron with very little to do with mike brown when it comes to game time. lebron puts his head in his ass the cavs lose. he wakes up the cavs win. have you ever seen mike brown lay into his “partner” for a horrendous game full of mind numbingly bad decisions? of course not. who lit into the team after the third quarter? it sure as hell wasn’t mike brown!
varajao sits in the second half and mike brown is a genius?
pfffft!
varajao blows!!! i think he actually thinks he made that spin move against duncan last year! why else do we still see it almost a year later? as far as i’m concerned side show bob never gets his ass off the pine until he loses his drunk michael jordan moves to the hoop.
lebron james is the head coach of this team. mike brown is the assistant. until brown proves he has a set in his potato boxers i’m not buying his act.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Alan,
I do not think Chris was complaining about the shirt. I personally thought they were funny. What I assume he has a problem with, as do I, is that a company such as Papa Johns would sponsor them
May 4th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Since Ferry arrived, the team has been built around LeBron, Z and outside/3-pt. shooting. When one or two players other than LeBron make outside shots, ball movement is good, the Cavs win and the coaching looks fine.
When no player other than LeBron is making outside shots, LeBron dribbles too much, the Cavs lose and the coaching looks terrible.
It’s always a crapshoot with the outside shooting so Brown’s rotations and offense seem uneven but he manages to patch things together enough to consistently win playoff series. I still think he’s got just about the toughest coaching job in the league and he handles it very well.
Also, kudos to Big Z. He’s playing much better playoff basketball than he ever has, I think. He really cut down on the crazy hook shots this year and stays real active.
May 4th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Hey guys:
I just sent a Contact us/Feedback email to ohio.com asking for them to update this outdated blogging/commenting platform.
I would suggest you guys do the same if you would like for our comments to show up quickly, as I am guessing BW is not the guy we have to sway.
Just a suggestion, hope everyone has a great Sunday, thanks to the Hawks for making this a day of rest!
May 4th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Wow!
Ask and you shall receive
Comments should be appearing much more quickly now.
Thanks Jim Arnold!
May 4th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
well, maybe not. the comments do post faster if you look at the RSS feed now at least. just not on the page.
May 4th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
First of all, we should not steal names on this blog. I think someone did that several posts above mine.
Personally, I believe that Mike Brown has an average offensive system. Unfortunately, he tends to be passive, and he allows LeBron to catch/hold the ball outside of the three point line. LeBron can (and usually does) make spectacular plays behind the three point line, but he would be much more effective if he caught the ball in motion near the top of the key. It’s up to LeBron to realize that he should stay within the confines of the offensive system for most of the game, even if it’s not spectacular. Otherwise, he’ll turn his teammates into watchers instead of players.
May 4th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Tom Knott is priceless….. I’m going to miss the guy. It’s amazing that the Washington Times would hire a 15 year old to be their Wizards beat writer. Even more amazing is the fact that Knott makes Branson Wright read like a combo of Ernest Hemingway and Grantland Rice…..
Superior effort by Lebron. The Celts are obviously vulnerable. Here we go…..
May 4th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I hope that we play the wizards every year in the playoffs. They are really dumb.
May 4th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
The Celtics have made me a couple of mortgage payments, I thought they’d clobber the Hawks in Game 7, they didn’t disappoint. The Cavs are going to win at least two, but I’m telling you folks, if you want to make some money, Game 1 is going to be it. I’m guessing the Celtics will open around 10-point favorites, something like that. I’m going double or nothing on everything the Celtics made me during the Hawks series, no matter what the spread is. If you want to own a $410,000 Maybach just like LeBron, take out all the loans you can and make this bet, this is your best shot. The Celtics are going to cover.
By the way, what’s with LeBron’s massive ego? A great basketball player, but please. He drives a Mercedes S63 that says KNG OF AK, he drives a Maybach 57S that says KNG OF OH. Any other geographical areas in which his other motor vehicles’ plates say he’s King? What’s his Hummer say, KNG OF ERTH?
May 4th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
To all the idiots looking to boycott Papa Johns, do you not understand that you’re hurting Cleveland-based franchises by doing this, and thus hurting fellow Clevelanders who had nothing to do with the DC-based franchise that printed out 500 or so shirts?
You guys are idiotic. Should the Detroit boycott Cub Cadet because of their “Beat Detroit” shirts?
If anything, you’re giving free advertising to Papa Johns across the coutry because of the exposure the national press is giving them. You guys should learn a little something about advertising, branding and promotions. They’re taking full advantage of it as we speak with their new Cleveland promotion.. now there will be more stories this week.
Brilliant by Papa Johns!
May 4th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
KNG OF ERTH sounds about right to me.
May 4th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Douglar,
It’s a zero-sum game. If someone boycotts Papa Johns and buys pizza somewhere else, it hurts the local Cleveland Papa Johns franchises but helps the local Cleveland franchises of pizza competitors whose business will pick-up as a result. The overall local effect for Cleveland is neither positive nor negative. Any negative effect is on the Papa Johns franchise based in Kentucky. At any rate Papa Johns just issued an apology to Cleveland and is offering 23 cent pizzas on Thurs for Clevelanders so I’d say the boycott was pretty effective and beneficial for the citizens of Cleveland regardless of what effect (positive or negative) it has on Papa Johns.
May 4th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Douglar actually makes a good point, however misguided he may be. The DC based Papa Johns made the shirts, and the Cleveland Papa Johns (or any other Papa Johns) had no input into it. Furthermore, the AP has already written a story about how Papa Johns is offering a large pizza for only 23 cents for all Cleveland residents on Thursday. Right now, the bigwigs at Papa Johns are eating up all this free publicity like Souljia Boy did during the Cavs vs. Witnesses series.
Oh, and LeBron can put whatever the heck he wants on his license plate too as long as he stays here for the rest of his career.
May 4th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
wow this blog updates slowly, ben poquette beat me to the punch on that story
May 5th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Alan T.
If you really want to make a lot of money on the Celts\Cavs series, take the Cavs money line tomorrow night, just like I did in game 6 of the Cavs\Wiz. I know you are far too down on the Cavs to do that, so do yourself a favor and at least take the Cavs and the points.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Just a few Monday thoughts:
- All the anti-Mike Brown vitriol seems to lessen after the Cavs win, which I guess is a good thing. But it seems to me that the biggest difference between Game 5 and Game 6 was that the shooters made their open shots, which is pretty much out of the coach’s hands. If you’re going to blame Brown when the Cavs lose, you have to give him credit when they win.
- I couldn’t care less about this Papa John’s thing, but I’m sure that they are apologizing all the way to the bank. They are getting headlines on ESPN and local news over this, publicity that is worth a huge amount of money.
- As for Antawn Jamison, I have nothing against the guy, but any team that signs him for more than 3 years will regret it. The guy had a great year, but he’s about to turn 32, and history tells us that NBA careers don’t extend much past 30.
- It appears that the Wizards want to re-sign Jamison and Arenas, believing that, with everybody healthy, they are good enough to…what, exactly? Win 45 games? Get out of the first round? If Ernie Grunfeld goes through with that and keeps the team together, he will be condemning the Wizards to many more first-round exits, with no hope of getting better.
Mike C.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Thank you for your realistic words concerning Jamison, Mike C. For some reason, there’s been a mysterious Cavs fan/Jamison man crush thing going on around here.