The Cavs' loss to the Lakers, combined with the first defeat in LA, is the kind of loss that makes people in the newspapers and talk shows stand up and scream and jump and down and hold our breath until we turn blue — because we want the team to do something about it. Go out and get a big guy, we yell. We're gonna lose to them, we scream.
And we do that in part because we react emotionally.
The team, though, cannot react that way. It must sort through things … analyze them intelligently and come to a reasonable conclusion. And all signs point to the Cavs not making a gigantic move this season — unless someone is willing to give away a talent the way Pau Gasol was given to the Lakers last season. Even with the two losses to LA, the Cavs enter tonight's game 39-10. And injuries to Sasha Pavlovic and Delonte West might make it that much tougher to trade the expiring contract of Wally Szczerbiak.
Sunday's loss wasn't pretty, but it also was as much the result of a combination of a couple factors that will rarely happen. Start with Lamar Odom getting 28 points and 17 rebounds. Odom has that talent, but it does not always show. In the Finals last season, he was getting few minutes and folks were wondering about his future in LA. He had the game of his season against Cleveland.
Then LeBron James shot 5-for-20, and missed what looked like very makeable shots. If James shoots 50 percent, that's 10 more points and the game is a tossup.
Now, there are reasons Odom went off. J.J. Hickson did not box him out at least twice, and Szczerbiak let him go once. All led to easy baskets off offensive rebounds. Then the Cavs forte, their weakside defense, let them down. Odom scored two or three more times on cuts to the basket and the Cavs didn't switch to guard him. In the present-day parlance, their "rotations" were not pure.
It did look a little concerning that the Cavs big guys struggled so much against LA's "bigs." Gasol and Odom had a huge day. And some of the matchups were also concerning. At one point Daniel Gibson had to guard Luke Walton, and Walton has a huge height advantage. LA was smart and put Walton on the low box and went inside to him several times.
The Cavs believe they can play much better defensively, that their rebounding can be better and that they can and will shoot better. Those are fixable mistakes, which they believe will have them competitive if they get to the Finals and see the Lakers again.
So they will not make a move based on panic from two losses to LA. If they make a move, it will be the same kind of move Danny Ferry made when he acquired Mo Williams. Despite constant calls for him to acquire a point guard, he waited until he acquired the right one.
The way to react from the Lakers loss? Be analytical, not emotional.
The Cavs better wake up, I think this was a huge wake up call that they cannot compete against the best team in the NBA! Lebron has had two bad games against the lakers now, he cannot get past Kobe's defense! We might and I say might get past the celtics but we surely cannot compete against the lakers with the team we have right now! The cavs better make a move or get ready for the old saying " maybe next year"! By the way Kobe had a flu and they still man handled us!!
wow- you really read that entire story and got nothing out of it- article is perfect for you. You are the emotional whiners he was speaking about.
D.I. is right in that Kobe scoring less than 20 points is just as rare as Odom's big game. The Cavs need Delonte back and for both Ilgauskus and Wallace to play very well. It's a little bit of a gamble to sit.
Pat, keep writing Cavs. To heck with the Clowns. The Indians starting soon also gives you a viable option; the Browns are far from viable.
Oh, come on, Pat. You're again giving Ferry credit he doesn't deserve. Contrary to your statement, he didn't patiently wait for a Mo Williams deal. Even renowned Ferry-worshipper Brian Windhorst admitted that Gooden and Damon Jones were already gone in exchange for Mike Bibby until something went haywire on the other end. Knowing Ferry's unstable history, possibly he insulted Gooden's agent's wife, and then he mocked Jones' agent's ugly English bulldog they rescued from the pound.
I tossed out a hypothetical elsewhere of something very gutsy, but it would take Steve Kerr to agree to it. Ferry's guts are in question, but Kerr has shown he has real guts and is not afraid to pull a trigger. The expiring contracts of Varejao and Szczerbiak, plus Hickson, in exchange for O'Neal.
TO Reading comprehension………The Cavs are a good team but lets be honest, They are NOTready for the next level! I dont care if they win a championship this year or not if they do then great, but you know cleveland fans they will not be happy then we will hear another offseason of Lebron rumors about him leaving and not being happy. ok so lets analyze……..The Cavs dont match up well against the lakers as is d west is not goning to make a difference like everyone thinks, also they beat us TWICE and lebron had bad games BOTH times is this just some fluke….? I think not, our team isnt good enough to get to the next level as is we are still missing a piece. The way the team is now we are not good enough to win a championship. Can we accept tht? I can but MOST fans wont!
steve kerr has guts? it doesn't take guts to shred an entire roster. if so, then frank lane had guts too.
i could go for that shaq trade but only if the suns buy wally out and he comes back. the guy has proven to be a pretty valuable player. with count pavlovic's glass ankles the cavs need someone available to play the forward spot. i wouldn't mind a richard jefferson trade. then keeping wally isn't an issue.
i am leaning towards d isaiah's view that the cavs aren't quite there. but who knows what kind of shape any team will be in for the playoffs. the cavs can certainly win the east as they are now. but it won't be easy.
This is why the playoffs are best of 7. No way Lebron tanks like this in consecutive games in the playoffs. So relax, people. The key is to get Delonte West back. His loss is huge. He is a big defender. A decent three point shooter so helps spread the defense. Allows Mo to spend less time at point. And does a little bit of everything on the court to help keep the Cavs flowing defensively and offensively. If they stand pat, the Cavaliers can still win it all.
First, pointing to the absence of a glorified role player like West is silly. Mitch Kupchak didn't shoot himself in the head after Jordan Farmer was out for months.
Second, since when has Delonte West ever guarded Lamar Odom? All that game irrefutably showed is that Ben Wallace has the outside body of a 24-year-old and the inside body of a 34-year-old. But I guess that's what you have to get in return when a bald GM begs everybody who will listen to take his tattooed terrible turkey off his roster. Wallace's former skills come and go, just like every other guy who's on the slow downslope of life. Besides, the dude has never come clean about stealing "shamockery" from an old beer commercial. Shame, shame, shame.
Did I spell his name right? I think it's Farmar.
Yes, terje, Steve Kerr has guts. It takes major guts whenever you have to tough decisions, like trading all-stars. Or taking on huge contracts with years remaining, like O'Neal's and Jason Richardson's. Or making owner-forced decisions like trading first-round choices so a team will agree to take Kurt Thomas' salary. I'm not saying every gutsy decision he's had to make has been the right decision, but every move has taken sheer guts.
It doesn't take guts to swap role players and grossly overpaid has-beens or stiffs in exchange for role players and grossly overpaid has-beens or stiffs. That's what Ferry did. Just because those particular role players have meshed well doesn't make it gutsy and/or part and parcel of some invisible master plan. Just happenstance.
If the Cavs don't make "a gigantic move this season," that's the same thing as giving up on winning a championship in the next-to-last year they are guaranteed to have James, because the current roster is obviously not good enough. Do Ferry and Gilbert really want to bet all their chips on next year?
I still think the Cavaliers can take the Lakers in a seven-game series, but only if Bynum is out for the year. I think it's too dicey taking that risk. At this point who cares how overpaid he is or how dopey long that free agent contract was, but lets face it: Ilgauskas sucks in the paint at both ends of the floor. Even an average dude like Kendrick Perkins treats him like a wet dish rag. And did you see the way a soft post player like Gasol continually posted him up? And Wallace's best days are behind him. There is no way Lamar Odom should be able to toy with the Cavaliers' forwards.
Again, not to say the Cavs couldn't rise above all of these glaring weaknesses and still win it all. James is just too damn good, even a weak 15-foot shooting giant like Ilgauskas can have many of his flaws covered when you have everybody on the opposition worrying about what the hell James is going to do. But the time is now, with that 2010 free agency looming. This isn't time to wonder if Hickson will ever pan out to anything. Make a gutsy move and do it by the trade deadline.
Wayne Embry had guts. That's what got Ferry to Cleveland in the first place!
Although the Cavs' resident Stevie Wonder gave Embry the order to unload Harper even if took giving him away, you have a point, larry d. Guts or not, Embry gutted himself like a carp on that one.
But think about it. Teams have to double-team James. Teams have to double-team O'Neal. But they can't double-team both at the same time. And unlike the Cavs' resident 7-foot-something giant who wouldn't know an assist if one dropped on his head, O'Neal knows how to pass and pass well. Painfully ordinary players like Gibson would have a field day. And despite Ilgauskas' poor defense, they could occasionally play a zone and have O'Neal and Ilgauskas out there at the same time. O'Neal would barf at having to live around Cleveland, but if it gave him another championship, he'd grin and bear it.
I wanted to comment and thank the author, good stuff