We’ll get back to the regular game blog format when the regular season rolls around.

In the meantime, here are a couple of highlgiths from the Cavs-Bobcats game at Quicken Loans Arena Tuesday night.

Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James look very comfortable out on the floor together.  The entire starting lineup looked comfortable, despite the fact that there were two new faces in O’Neal and Anthony Parker. One thing that apparently caught at least Anderson Varejao by surprise – O’Neal’s ability to pass the ball.  He tossed one to Varejao that the power forward didn’t expect and the result was a turnover.  As the month wears on, O’Neal’s teammates will get used to it.

J.J. Hickson, who looked so out of sorts on the court last season played with confidence against the Bobcats.  He, along with James, led all scorers with 15 points a piece.  Hickson hit from the outside with a mid-range jumper.  He drove to the hoop with confidence and showed some creativity getting the ball up and in the hoop on a couple of occasions.

Coach Mike Brown wasn’t ready to praise him effusively just yet, however.  He harped on the fact that Hickson needs to work on his defense, specifically guarding players on the weak side.

And a couple of ugly things came to light.  The Bobcats scored 40 points in the paint and as a team and the Cavs committed 19 turnovers.  Those problems can be corrected given the fact that it’s early in the preseason.

Game: Cavs (64-15) vs. Boston Celtics (60-19)

Broadcast:  TV: ABC (WEWS Channel 5).  Radio: WAKR (1590 AM); WTAM (1100 AM), WHBC (1480 AM)

Starters: Cavs:  LeBron James (F); Ben Wallace (F); Zydrunas Ilguaskas (C); Delonte West (G); Mo Williams (G).  Celtics:  Paul Pierce (F); Glen Davis (F); Kendrick Perkins (C); Ray Allen (G); Rajon Rondo (G).

Injured and inactive: Cavs:  J.J. Hickson (back). Boston:  Kevin Garnett (knee); Leon Powe (strained right knee).

Officials:   Scott Foster, Bill Kennedy and Ed Malloy.

Streaking:  The Cavs have won three consecutive; Boston has won six in a row.
Things to look for:

• The Cavaliers need to play attention to Glen ‘’Big Baby’’ Davis.  Although Garnett has been out, Davis has averaged almost 15 points in his last five games. That’s something that bears watching throughout the playoffs as well because the Celtics and Cavs have a realistic shot at facing one another.
• Mike Brown said before game time that his playoff rotation is pretty much set.  It’s going to be important to see how it plays out against a team the caliber of the Celtics.  He usually goes to Gibson and Ben first off the bench then Wally and Joe Smith will find their way there.  The Celtics have owned the Cavs in the paint this year, averaging a shade over 47 points in that area in three prior games.  That will have to be slashed and it will be interesting to see whether Brown’s lineup of big men, which didn’t include all four players will do.

Game:  Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers

Broadcast:  TV: FSOhio. Radio:  WAKR (1590 AM); WTAM (1100 AM), WHBC (1480 AM).

Starters:  Cavs:  LeBron James (F); Ben Wallace (F); Zydrunas Ilguaskas (C); Delonte West (G); Mo Williams (G).  76ers: Andre Iguodala (F); Reggie Evans (F); Samuel Delembert (C); Willie Green (G); Andre Miller (G).

Injured and inactive:  Cavs:  J.J. Hickson (back); Jawad Williams, Lorenzen Wright.  76ers:  Elton Brand (shoulder); Jason Smith (knee), Thaddeus Young (ankle sprain, bone bruise).

Officials: Ron Garretson, Courtney Kirkland, Eric Dalen.

Streaking:  The Cavaliers are winners of two in a row.  The 76ers have lost three consecutive.

Things to look for:

• The Cavs can capture the Eastern Conference’s best record tonight with a win.  If there were a time for them to come out focused and be done with things this is it.  Especially considering the fact that the Boston Celtics arrive at Quicken Loans Arena Sunday and they are currently riding a five-game streak.
• At this point of the season, there are really two other things to pay attention to – what Mike Brown does rotation wise to prepare for the playoffs.  With four healthy big men, the Cavs should be able to match up well with other teams in that area.  How he implements that remains to be seen.  The second is in the area of rest and keeping his team healthy.  Does he risk injury to chase the record books, including the 40-1 home record his team could tie?  He might do well to pay attention to what Doc Rivers has done with Kevin Garnett by shutting him down until the playoffs.

Post mortem:  Cavs 96, Nets 88

Observations: 

• You can’t really quibble with a win and for most of the game the Cavs looked impressive, although they probably should have salted this one away.  But the Nets, winners of two in a row coming in, are fighting for that final statement of mediocrity in the East, the eight playoff seed where once again, it looks as if a team with a losing record will make it to the post-season tournament.
• The team got an inside-outside game working through LeBron James and albeit in a rather strange way – through Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao.  With the Nets sometimes triple covering James, he was generally free to choose from whomever was open – either Ilgauskas on the outside or Varejao beneath the basket.   The latter stayed open most of the night.  If they can get that working throghout the playoffs, they will be beyond efficient.
• The team tied the team record for season wins with 12 games to go, an impressive feat and are sure to establish a new mark of over 60 and center Zydrunas Ilgauskas broke John ”Hot Rod Williams” mark for blocked shots.

Quotable:

Zydrunas Ilgauskas on getting that inside-outside game working with him and Andy:

We knew that the way they play, they were going to (focus on) LeBron a lot we just had to make sure we went to the open spots. My, myself on the perimeter and Andy under the basket. LeBron did a good job looking for us and sliced their defenses.

At the half:  Cavs 48, Nets 38

Observations at the intermission:

• It was a foregone conclusion that when Joe Smith showed up that J.J. Hickson would lose playing time.  No one could see that Darnell Jackson’s minutes would rise, but it’s easy to see why.  He gives the cavs a beefy presence on the interior and consitently plays hard.
• After leading by as many as 13 in the first quarter, the Cavs could have put this away had they maintained their defensive intensity throughout the first half.  The Nets made shots difficult to come by, but they also went ice cold in the half.

Game:  Cavaliers (55-13) vs. New Jersey Nets (30-39)

Broadcast: TV:  FSOhio, NBATV. Radio:  WAKR (1590 AM); WTAM (1100 AM), WHBC (1480 AM)

Starters: Cavs:  LeBron James (F); Anderson Varejao (F); Zydrunas Ilgauskas (C); Delonte West (G); Mo Williams (G).  Nets:  Bobby Simmons (F); Yi Jianlian (F); Brook Lopez (C); Vince Carter (G); Keyon Dooling (G).

Injuries-inactive:  Cavs: Wally Szczerbiak (left knee sprain); Ben Wallace (broken tibia) and Eric Snow (knee) are out.  Nets:  Devin Harris ( sprained left shoulder and sprained left deltoid)  and Eduardo Najera (sports hernia) are out.

Officials:  TBA

Streaking:  The Cavaliers are winners of eight consecutive, their second-longest streak of the year.  The Nets have won two consecutive.

This year:   The Cavs smoked the Nets 106-82 in the team’s lone meeting of the season thus far at the Izod Center.  LeBron James had 31 points in the game to lead the Cavaliers.

What to watch:

• The Nets actually have something to play for at this late date, so they cannot be underestimated in this game.  They stand just 1.5 games out in the battle for Eastern Conference playoff mediocrity and the eight seed in the post-season bracket chasing Chicago, Milwaukee and Charlotte(!?!?!!!?).  Although on a two-game winning streak, it’s difficult to see how they continue to pull things off without point guard Devin Harris.
• Although Kenyon Dooling hasn’t been a scrub for the Nets when he’s started.  He certainly merits attention as he has averaged 15.8 points and 5.8 assists in nine starts on the season.  In short:  Mo Williams cannot go to sleep on him.

Quotable:

Coach Mike Brown on the possibility of playing the New Jersey Nets in the opening round of the NBA playoffs:

We focus on our opp0nents some, but right now in the regular season we’re more worried about focusing on ourselves than coming up with some grand scheme to beat them. Having said that I’m not sitting here trying to forecast who we’re going to play in the first round of the playoffs, so I don’t look at it like that.

Post mortem:  Cavs 97, Trail Blazers 92

Observations:

• The Cavaliers showed some semblance of an inside offensive game in the second half, actually getting Zydrunas Ilgauskas established in the paint.  Ilgauskas took advantage of the opportunity scoring 12 points in the third quarter and adding another five between the fourth quarter and the first overtime.
• The team played brilliantlly with the ball only turning it over two times during the entire game. It’s unrealistic to expect this type of stinginess with the ball regularly, but on this night it definitely contributed to an impressive win by a team that wasn’t playing its best offensively as they struggled to find their shots.
• The starters needed the bench to step up tonight and give them some support.  Considering as a group they opened the game shooting 5-of-20 from the floor, the 21 points the bench gave the team proved huge.  Mike Brown singled out Joe Smith (12 points, three rebounds and two blocks) and Daniel Gibson (eight points, 2-of-4 from behind the arc) for their efforts and rightly so.

Quotable:

Coach Mike Brown turning an ugly start into a victory:

It was ugly from the stgart, but our guys hung in there and they gave us an opportunity to win because they tried to defend. I’m amazed when I keep looking at this (box score) and I’m waiting for the turnover number to change.  Two turnovers – in an overtime game – was obviously the difference in the ballgame.

LeBron James on the team’s defense:

Defensively, we were great.  We didn’t allow them to get any easy buckets because we didn’t turn the ball over. That allowed us to set our defense and that was great.  Sometimes when we haven’t shot the ball well, we’ve let it affect our defense.  Tonight was different….Our defense actually went up a notch even though we didn’t shoo the ball well early.

At the half: Trail Blazers 36, Cavs 34

Observations:

• Sitting on pressrow I thought that this just might have been the ugliest half of hoops I’ve seen all season.  The Cavs shot 31 percent from the floor and lest we think the Blazers are that much better, they shot a whopping 34 percent.  Gee, how do I contain my enthusiasm?  Perhaps it’s just a defensive struggle between two good teams, but given the number of shots that have been off, I doubt it.  Cavs starters are a combined 7-of-31 from the field. 
• The Cavs are being slammed on the boards – 29 to 22  in favor of the Trail Blazers.  This with the Blazers missing LaMarcus Aldridge, one of their top three rebounders.

Game:  Cavs vs. Portland Trail Blazers

Broadcast:  TV: TNT. Radio:  WAKR (1590 AM); WTAM (1100 AM), WHBC (1480 AM)

Starters:  Cavs:  LeBron James (F); Anderson Varejao (F); Zydrunas Ilgauskas (C); Delonte West (G); Mo Williams (G). Trail Blazers:  Travis Outlaw  (F); Channing Frye (F); Joe Przybilla (C); Brandon Roy (G); Steve Blake (G). 

Injured-inactive:  Cavs:  Ben Wallace (knee); Wally Szczerbiak (knee), Eric Snow (knee).  Trail Blazers:  Raef LaFrentz (shoulder); Martell Webster (foot) are out.  Aldridge (concussion) is doubtful and Batum (ankle) is questionable.

Streaking:  The Cavs are winner of six consecutive. The Trail Blazers have won two in a row.

This year:  The Cavaliers took the first game in Portland 104-98 and what turned out to be a thriller.  LeBron James and Mo Williams combined to score 67 points for the Cavaliers.  Brandon Roy hit 23 and LaMarcus Aldridge added 21.

Officials:  Bennett Salvatore, Tommy Nunez Jr. and Sean Corbin.

What to watch:

• The Cavs are the league’s best home team.  Portland is one of the league’s worst road teams.  That, however, hasn’t stopped them from winning their last two away from Portland’s Rose Garden. Yes, I know it was against the Indianapolis Pacers and Memphis Grizzlies, but wins are wins.  The Cavs control their destiny with respect to the No. 1 seed; there’s no reason to take the foot off the accelerator now.
• Delonte West on Brandon Roy.  Roy, who is averaging 23 points per game presents a stern test for Delonte West.  While he’s likely to see help from LeBron James, West will have to have one of his better defensive games.

Quotable:

From the locker room office:

Mo Williams on whether recent comments by Stan Van Gundy, coach of the Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics’ Doc Rivers regarding whether either team can catch the Cavs for hte top spot in the Eastern Conference:

They’re just saying that.  I’m pretty sure they’re still shooting for it.  We just have to be consistent.  The ball is in our court, we just have to be consistent and win the games that we’re supposed to win and win the games they say we won’t.

LeBron James on the same:

Of course it is (a tactic).  There’s way too many games to be trying to concede who’s first seed, second seed and third seed.  I think the first three seeds are pretty much locked up if guys continue to play well like they’ve been doing.

Post mortem:

Someone on press row had to wake me when this one was over because the Cavs 99-78 win over the Pistons tonight was a snoozefest from the first quarter on.

The most excitement came toward the end of the game when fans wondered whether the team’s deep bench players would score the magical 100 points to score them a free chalupa.

As you can see by the score they left disappointed.

If Friday night belonged to LeBron James, this one was Delonte West’s.  Injured since Jan. 15, he returned to score 25 points including hitting 5-of-5 from the three-point arc.

Game: Cavs (41-11) vs. Detroit Pistons (27-26)

Broadcast:  TV: ESPN. WAKR (1590 AM); WTAM (1100 AM), WHBC (1480 AM)

Starters:  Cavs:  LeBron James (F); Ben Wallace (F); Zydrunas Ilguaskas (C); Delonte West (G); Mo Williams (G).  Pistons Tayshaun Prince (F); Antonio McDyess (F); Rasheed Wallace (C); Allen Iverson (G); Rodney Stuckey (G).

Injured-inactive: Cavs:  Sasha Pavlovic (ankle)

Officials: Joe Forte, Gary Zielinski, Eric Dalen

This year: The series is tied 1-1, the Cavs won the last meeting on Feb. 1 90-8- at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Streaking:  Cavs have won three in a row; the Pistons are losers of five consecutive.

Three things to watch:

• Pistons on the road:  Detroit has won four-of-five from the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena and, most notably, are one of the league’s better teams on the road with a 13-11 record.  Having lost five consecutive at home, it may be a case of road sweet road for them.
• LeBron James: He’s coming off a 55-point performance against the Milwaukee Bucks, but he also has success against Detroit.  He said that the three-minute burst of scoring he had against the Bucks was second only to game five of the Eastern Conference Finals a couple of years back.  This season he is averaging 29 points againt the Pistons – both in Detroit.
• Delonte West:  What does his return do for the Cavaliers?

Quotable:

From the coach’s office:

Mike Brown on Delohte West’s return :

I have to applaud those guys in the locker room; we stepped up.  But Delonte’s a hard guy to replace.  He’s that good. We missed him, but we didn’t miss him to the point where it hurt us.

From the locker room:

Delonte West on:

We’re very confident in every guy that suits up.  We’re confident in our coaching staff and that’s where trust comes in.  That’s why we feel we can put any five on the floor at any time and we can compete with the best of them.  That’s what Cleveland basketball is.

Life must be easy for Lamar Odom:  put on a cape in Cleveland and turn into Superman.  The Lakers forward certainly looked like that for much of the game against the Cavaliers, scoring 28 points and grabbing 17 rebounds.

Odom created matchup problems that were exacerbated by the absence of Sasha Pavlovic, who left the game with a sprained ankle in the first quarter. With LeBron James on Kobe Bryant, he couldn’t switch and that left a plethora of people trying to guard Odom.

It didn’t help that others were, including Lakers center Pau Gasol, were getting easy points in the paint.   Ultimately they won this one. The Cavs will have much to ponder between now and the playoffs.

At the half:  Cavs 61, Lakers 51

Given the Lakers lead in almost every statistical category except one, they should be up. But the Cavs lead shot 8-of-12 from three-point territory.   To give them an advantage. 

Lamar Odom has 11 poitns for the Lakers at half and most of them have come on easy buckets.  If they do not find a way to seal that off, and the paint in general, they could find themselves in trouble the second half.

Game:  Cavaliers (39-9) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (40-9)

Broadcast:  TV: WEWS (Channel 5)
WAKR (1590 AM); WTAM (1100 AM), WHBC (1480 AM)

Starters:  LeBron James (F); Ben Wallace (F); Zydrunas Ilgauskas (C); Sasha Pavlovic (G); Mo Williams (G).  Lakers:  Luke Walton (F); LaMar Odom (F); Pau Gasol (C); Kobe Bryant (G); Derek Fisher (G).

Injured-inactives:  Cavs:  Eric Snow (knee); Delonte West (wrist).  Lakers: Andrew Bynum (knee)

Officals:

Streaking:  The Cavaliers have won four in a row and have a 23-game home winning streak on the line.  The Lakers have won five in a row.

What to watch:

• Is Z the difference? The Cavaliers faced the Lakers without their big man the first time out.  The Lakers were able to clog up the middle and contain the cavs offense, which often looked as if it were back in let’s-see-what-LeBron-does mode.  Z’s presence presents a whole set of different problems for L.A. First they lost Andrew Bynum sending Paul Gasol back to center. But he will have to come out of the paint to actually guard Ilgauskas or the Lakers may get burned by his outside shooting.  Consequently, that should free up room in the paint.
• Sasha Pavlovic will start out on Kobe Bryant, but I’d be shocked if it lasted very long.  Pavlovic is one of those players who has to make up his mind whether he wants to play defense.  He’s more athletic which is a reason he drew the assignment. But don’t expect him to be on Bryant all afternoon.  Eventually LeBron James will be on the Lakers’ prolific scorer.
• Is it all that it’s hyped up to be?  What a difference a couple of weeks makes. Yes, the first game got the game-of-the-year treatment, but given how late it is in the season, this one even feels different.  Is it a statement game?  It might be given what happened in the past week with Mo Williams being snubbed a second time for the All-Star Game and LeBron James having a triple-double taken away when the league disallowed a rebound.

Quotable:

From the coach’s office:

Mike Brown on Phil Jackson’s comments regarding LeBron James and the Cavs having an advantage because James gets all the calls a home:

I guess you could read Coach Jackson’s comments that say our record is what it is because of LeBron gets all that calls.  I guess that’s one opinion that you can kind of take and run with and figure out why our record is what it is.   Maybe others in the league think the same way too.

Phil Jackson on missing Bynum:

We played with this team to the Finals last year, so we have a lot of experience with this group of guys.
From the locker room:

From the locker room:

Kobe Bryant on playing with LeBron James at the Olympics:

For once for us to be able to get together and communicate without hoopla…It was good.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Normally after a loss the Cavaliers come back and take their frustrations out on the next team they face.
Although it’s certainly more difficult to do on the road, the Cavaliers continued the trend beating the Portland Trail Blazers 104-98 behind the scoring of LeBron James and (34 points) point guard Mo Williams (31 points – a season high).  The team hasn’t lost two consecutive games all season.
”One thing I’m very excited about and happy about is the way we bounce back after losses,” LeBron James said. We never let one hang over our heads.”
Going into the fourth quarter up 74-69, the Cavs were playing good enough defensively to take control of their game against the Portland, the offense was the problem and bouncing back didn’t look like a viable option.
They opened the quarter with LeBron James on the bench and it was clear to all that when it came to scoring, they looked hesitant with respect to what to do. After James returned, he and Williams took control to guide the Cavaliers in the right direction.
“It’s pretty effective, especially when he’s drawing attention and knocking down shots,” Williams said of their collaborative effort.  “It’s basically pick your poison.  One-on-one no one can guard him.”
The Blazers closed the score to within one at 78-77 and suddenly things had grown too close for comfort. Eventually they would hold a lead at 82-81 after point guard Brandon Roy drove to the hoop for the scored and drew the foul and completed a three-point play from the line.
This is a game that the Cavs could have lost easily. James began to feel and trust his stroke and broke out the second half hitting his first two jump shots.  Of the first six possessions in the second half, the Cavs took nothing but jump shots, with four coming from James. Of course it’s easy to rely on him for scoring, but what happens when it come becomes inconsistent?
Therein lies the rub.  The Cavs’ success this year has been built on consistent team play and in this game in particular, it looked as if some of the teamwork carefully honed during the course of the first half of the season may be cast aside because the team’s currently missing two starters in Delonte West and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
Perhaps James sensed that because he eventually began to make an effort to mix his shots, driving to the hoop for layups, but also continuing to throw up the jumpers.
“Tonight was a case of let me go out there and do my thing offensively or you’re going to get my team involved,” James said.  “But I got hot at one at one point and my teammates started knocking down shots too.”
The Cavs gathered just enough momentum to make a mini-run in an attempt to pull away from the Blazers as they outscored Portland 9-2 to take a six-point lead with 3:35 left in the game.  They would battle back and forth until Mo Williams gave the Cavs a valuable seven-point cushion with a huge three-point shot with two minutes left in the quarter at 95-88.  He all but sealed it with another just moments later to put the Cavs up 98-88 with just 48.9 seconds left in the game.
If there were one night Williams needed to step up in a huge way, this would be it.  The Cavs, down two men, got just 15 points from their bench. 
But defense played a larger role in this as well, as the Cavaliers cracked down on the Blazers holding them under 41 percent shooting in the game and beat them, though barely, on the boards.  Ultimately they won the game by outshooting them. 

The Cavs shot a blistering 53 percent from the field including almost 58 percent from the 3-point arc.  Williams himself accounted for 6-of-9 shots from that line.
The Cavs move on to play Golden State Friday night.
Quick shots:  James recorded his fourth double-double in fifth games and also tallied his 11th double-double on the season and the 116th of his career…Williams’ 33 points were a season high…Wally Szczerbiak grabbed a season best 10 rebounds…Cleveland had two guys score more than 30 points in a game for the first time since Nov. 5, 2005 when Larry Hughes hit 37 and James 36…The Cavs have not lost two consecutive games this year.
*

Post -mortem:  Cavs 92, Hornets 78.

The Cavaliers won this game for two reason – defense and coaching. 

Defensively, they held Hornets to 37 percent shooting on the night, forced 13 turnovers and had six steals.  It’s the kind of effort that’s expected and has become the norm.  ‘Nuff said.

But in all of the excitement surrounding the team’s success this season the one person who deserves much of the credit rarely gets mentioned – Coach Mike Brown.

He showed his basketball acumen by going with a small lineup for much of the second half that featured Wally Szczerbiak at center and James at power forward.  The maneuver left the Hornets befuddled and frustrated.

Quotable:

Mike Brown on the performances of Szczerbiak and Pavlovic, who scored 14 and 19 points respectively and combined to hit on 8-of-9 three-point shots:

Those guys stepped in when they were open and they shot it with confidence.  I thought tonight those guys were aggressive stepping into their shots and they took good shots because the shots that they took were open.

Wally Szczerbiak on their performances:

We had open shots; we knocked them down.  We have to continue to be aggressive.  Sasha was great in the starting role…but we’re going to need multiple guys to step up. That’s what this team is all about.

Game:  Cavs (26-4) vs. New Orleans Hornets (23-12)

Broadcast:  TV: ESPN, FSOhio. Radio: WAKR (1590 AM); WTAM (1100 AM), WHBC (1480 AM)

Starters:  Cavs:  LeBron James (F); Ben Wallace (F); Anderson Varejao (C); Sasha Pavlovic (G); Mo Williams (G).  Hornets:  Peja Stojakovic (F); David West (F); Tyson Chandler (C); Rasual Butler (G); Chris Paul (G)

Inactives-Injuries:  Cavs:  Eric Snow (knee); Delonte West (wrist); Zydrunas Ilgauskas (ankle).  Hornets:  Melvin Ely, Ryan Bowen.

Officials:  Steve Javie, Tony Brothers and Derek Richardson.

This year:  The Hornets beat the Cavaliers 104-92 in New Orleans.

Things to watch: 

• How will the loss of Delonte affect the team – The Cavs need someone to step up to make up for those 12 points that West brings.  The problem they face, however, is that no one can replace West on defense where he was ferocious and tenacious.
• Mo Williams on Chris Paul – Williams has struggled on the defensive ball lately, having given up 25 points to Memphhis’ Kirk Lowry and allowing the Bulls’ Derrick Rose to dominate the game late and in overtime Thursday night.  The Cavs need an all-around better defensive effort from him.

Quotable:

From the coach’s office:

Mike Brown on whether the team was down after losing Delonte West:

In terms of being down, I think that’s natural for any team, but at the same time we don’t want that hanging over our heads,” he said. ”We’re just going to have to play.  We felt this team is extremely deep.  It just gives guys an opportunity to step up and play some minutes.

From the locker room:

LeBron James on what West means to the team:

You can’t fill Delonte’s shoes. Other guys are going to have to step up.  Delonte’s toughness and what he’s been able to do this year for our team is unmatched,” he said. ”There’s no one who can step into his shoes, but people have their own shoes and have to fulfill their own roles and play hard.