Cavs talk to the media
Posted April 18th, 2008 by Pat McManamon
Your Cleveland Cavaliers met the media today to discuss the upcoming playoff series with Washington.
A couple quotes that stood out to me were:
LeBron James: "As long as I'm on the court, we'll be all right. And I mean that."
No argument here.
James: "I can't tell you if we're a better team than last year until we get in the playoffs."
Again, no argument here.
Z: "I don't do any trash talking."
No he does not.
Joe Smith: "I don't think that's too smart."
He referred to DeShawn Stevenson calling James "overrated," which is as preposterous as caling this blog interesting. I mean, get real. James and overrated … nah.
Mike Brown admitted his team has been up and down, and said if the team is not playing better he will not be talking to the media in two weeks. Because the season will be over.
Gilbert Arenas brought up an interesting point, talking to the Washington media. Arenas said that it was the Cavs who trash talked a couple years ago. He's right, to a point. In that series, Arenas stepped to the foul line in game six to take two key free throws with the Wizards up one. He missed one and James walked up to him and said if he missed the second the game was over — meaning James would end it. He did with a pass to Damon Jones, who made the series-winning shot.
You remember Damon Jones, right? Guy who makes more than four of 10 threes. His shot won that series.
At any rate, as Arenas said, when James did some talking on the court, it was bravado. When Arenas and Stevenson talk off, it's a controversy.
Me, I find Arenas entertaining as all get-out. He's a clutch player, and if he opts out of his contract after this season it'd be wonderful to dream of him and James on the same team. But now he's a Wizard.
Brian Windhorst, my esteemed colleauge (has any colleague not been esteemed?) and renowned basketball scholar — he knows the game that well, to be honest — has his five keys to the series here. I say any analysis that includes the words "tempo," "distribute" and "putbacks" is spot on.
The Cavs seemed ready to play. That's a good thing. Now we have to find out if the team has gained enough chemistry following the trading-deadline moves to win a series. As Brown said, last year things were more positive at the end of the season. This year, it's one day, one game, one quarter, one possession … which sounds like a cliche but in this instance is true.
Do the Cavs win?
I answer that question with a question: Are you gonna pick against No. 23?
