The Cavs won 66 games in the regular season, but they couldn't win four against the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals.
They worked all season long to have home-court advantage, but gave it away in the first game against Orlando and never got it back.
They had complementary players who helped in the regular season, but they did not do near enough in the Finals.
They have LeBron James, who competed and fought and produce numbers worthy of history, but when the series ended James turned and walked off the court and left the locker room quickly, without talking to the media.
Disappointment comes in many ways, and this disappointment for the Cavs and their fans has to be tougher to take than last season's Game 7 loss in Boston. The Cavs had everything going their way — until the Magic somehow found a way to beat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 in Boston.
That changed the entire dynamic of the playoffs, and the Cavs simply could not matchup with Orlando. Quite simply, close games aside, they were not good enough to beat the Magic.
I'm not buying into the theory that because they lost the coach is not smart and James' 'supporting cast' is not good. Teams don't win 66 games without coaching and talent.
But the sad thing is that talent and coaching was not as strong in the East Finals as it was in the regular season and the first two playoff rounds. Every time Brown made a move, Stan Van Gundy made a move to counter — and the matchup he presented favored his team.
The Cavs had nobody to guard Dwight Howard. Nobody. And Orlando is carefully constructed so that if a team double-teams Howard three or four shooters are standing at the three-point line. The Magic then make one, two, three and sometimes four passes to find the best shot.
This matchup challenged the Cavs to the utmost, and the way the Magic played made it worse. And the way the Cavs played around James made it worse still. Mo Williams shot poorly. Zydrunas Ilgauskas was in constant foul trouble. Ben Wallace did OK defensively, but was no factor on offense. Wally Szczerbiak threw up not one but two air balls in Game 6. For my money, the one guy who was a consistent help to James was Delonte West, but he was not always at his best, and when he was it was not enough (though he should be credited for the way he played in Game 6 with a painful hip pointer).
They say that in the playoffs a team's weaknesses are exposes. Safe to say the Cavs weaknesses were exposed. Especially as it relates to this Orlando team.
When players were warming up for Game 1, I sat next to WTAM's Andre Knott at our press seats. I pointed to Howard and said to Knott: "Look at that guy."
"That's the guy," Knott said, "who's going to keep LeBron from winning six championships."
Starting with this one.
You can't get anything by me, Pat. Indeed, the season was so darn disappointing, that our intrepid columnist originally spelled the headline of this post as "disappoiting." Now *that's* disappointing.
the regular season is meaningless. 66 wins—-who cares. it takes a more determined coach to win a ring. mike brown has maxed out his ability. it's lebron doing all the work to make him look good. rick carlisle had a great defense in detroit. it took a coach with a little understanding of offense to get them a ring. i don't hate mike brown. he's done the best he can. and that is not good enough.
Oh, I don't know how to make one of those smiley face things, so rest assured, tongue-in-cheek. But seriously, man, proofread, don't simply throw caution to the wind. That's what brought down Nixon.
Oh, no, there's terje throwing pies at poor Mike Brown again.
Moral of the story: if someone tries to trade you Shaquille O'Neal at the deadline, you really ought to say yes.
The organization got complacent–why, considering Cleveland's history, is anyone's guess–and as a result, it's going to be 46 years and counting.
They should get more chances, but as the 1985-89 Browns and 1995-2001 Indians could tell you, there's no guarantee that consistent contenders get to come back until they finally win. All concerned may regret this missed opportunity.
The cavs will be back. They lost to a better team. They will get more help in the off season. They were out played and out coached. Lbj played his heart out to win. He is the best player the cavs have ever had. He is a great player and will continue to get better than mj or kb. You just watch. Thanks cavs for a exciting season. See you nest year in the finals.
Even more speaking of "disappointing," and maybe it happened out of camera range, but I didn't see James shaking any opponents' hands after the game. Unless I'm wrong, he seemed to just walk off the court in a huff, pissed off that his teammates and bosses failed him yet again.
OK, the vast majority of his teammates do suck, and his bosses, including the general manager and the present majority owner, should have their desks cleaned out and their offices fumigated. I hear what you're saying, LeBron.
But that doesn't excuse that kind of classless behavior, particularly after literally dancing and clowning his way through the regular season. I'm sure it was very tough to swallow, but there were no dirty shenanigans, he was beaten fair and square. He is always so darn careful about maintaining his pristine image, he should have been more conscious of it last night.
Maybe if the cavs would have hit some free throws it would have made a difference. The Cavs looked like they didn't know they had a game today. We need to get rid of Z, wally, boobie, ben and sasha, that should free up a bunch of money and would should be able to get a pretty good player
Look, I agree that LBJ had an outstanding Games 1 thru 5, but he really played poorly in the game that mattered most. He looked gassed, no spring in his step (watch his jumpers – he did NOT get the height he usually gets), tired legs (why do you think we missed all those FT's). He played his heart out, yes, but not really in Game 6.
The Magic got us tired from chasing them. Brown is a good coach, but he was totally outsmarted and outplanned and outexecuted in this series.
Getting Chris Bosh is NOT enough.
Loved Delonte's energy in the 4th. He was the ONLY guy who I think realized it was not over in the fourth. Great hustle. Why didn't LBJ?
What is scary to me is that Orlando's second best player, Jameer Nelson, didn't play. Every move Danny Ferry makes in this off season must be with Orlando in mind. Where was Joe Smith last night? His signing did not do anything to make us match up better against Orlando. Ferry cannot allow that to happen again.
The Cav's play against Orlando has been so disappointing. Orlando was the first team to give them a true test of playoff pressure and the Cav's failed miserably. I have seen high school teams play better than what the Cav's showed in game 6. It was horrible. Air balls, strings of missed shots, poor passing, losing the ball while dribbling(?), far too many 3 pt attempts, standing flat footed and passing the ball around (as if saying, I don't want to shoot the ball, here you shoot it). Then the coach gets a techincal for arguing a non-call. The entire team played with a fear of loosing, instead of playing agressively and forcing Orlando to make mistakes. It was painful to watch.
The reason I am relieved that the CAVS season is over is because I knew 2 years ago that unless they got some "tall, athletic bigs" in the paint, they would never win a championship. No, I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack. But if I knew what their achilles has been for 2 years, where has Danny Ferry been? i.e. Ben Wallace (old, too short, no offense); Z (old and immobile); Andy (too short, no reliable offense). Bottom line: Ask any of the playoff teams of 2009 if they would trade any of their "bigs" for ours. They would not, and that should have told us all something 2 years ago. What the CAVS "bigs" amount to, are simply bench players. Like I said, I'm glad the season is over. I have grown tired of thinking I am the only one who knew of the CAVS achilles heel. Now we all know it. Let's move on to next year, with the emphasis on getting what we need in the paint.
I DO buy into the fact that coaching wins championships. Brown did nothing to really adjust to Orlando's attacks. Brown is a "good" coach, but I've never been convinced he can win the big one. He is the Schottenheimer of the NBA.
Last night we saw why Brown insisted on the crazy matchups all series and the reason is they don't have a big who's quick enough to even foul Howard effectively. Z is a bench guy at best now–10 minutes a game in the playoffs.
I wonder if New Orleans is still trying to give Tyson Chandler away, and what his knees look like these days.
"He is the Schottenheimer of the NBA."
I'd take Schottenheimer over Mangini, or even Crennel (gasp!) any day. I'd rather see the Browns in the AFC championship game every other year than struggling to win 4 games or finish at .500.
There's nothing wrong with the local team being one of the top 4 teams in the NBA.
I'm still very disappointed in the Cavs' coaching and management of 2003/2004. LeBron should have been nailed to the bench as a rookie in order to "learn the game" for a season. I would have liked to hear David Stern announce "With the first pick in the 2004 NBA draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers pick Dwight Howard, Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy".
Mmm hmm. Moving on.
No team can win when 2 of your starters are non-factors on offense (center and power-forward). If one of the other 3 are "off," your scoring options are so limited. Orlando is stunning with their inside and outside scoring abilities, plus guys off the bench who actually HIT open shots.
So we now know: every single player except LBJ is certainly available for trade bait, if anyone would want them. I want to retain West, and to a far lesser extent, Mo. But the season was Fool's Gold. Just like the 2007 Indians. No one knew how they did it with such flukey players. But Fool's Gold will always be exposed.
it's a testament of how poor nba basketball has become when two teams with garbage defenses are playing for the title.
terje, how so? Los Angeles had four of their starters receiving coach's votes for the All-Defensive Team: Bryant, Ariza, Fisher and Gasol. Orlando has the Defensive Player of the Year. And apparently, the rest of Orlando's players are at least defensively competent, or they wouldn't have been able to make it this far.
bryant and ariza are good. fisher? maybe a few years ago. the guy is running on fumes. gasol–hell no. just because he's tall doesn't mean he's good.
dwight howard is the only guy i saw play defense in the cavs series. it wasn't orlando's d that helped them win. it was the eric snowesque shooting by the cavs guards.
terje, all I know is an NBA head coach presumably is smarter about basketball than I am. So if Fisher and Gasol receive votes for the All-Defensive Team, I have to take it at face value. Fisher's offensive game obviously is past tense, but evidently he still can individually defend. That is something that nobody but James, and to a lesser extent, Varejao can do. But even Varejao's individual defensive skills become completely meaningless when forced to use his 3-inch triceps.
And come on. It's more than just Cleveland's shooting. It's what I've been saying all year, and people would throw stones at me. It's what I've been saying since the ominous summer of 2005, and people would throw stones at me. Now anybody with any sense at all is saying the exact same things that I've been saying the whole time. It's a heckuva lot more than just the shooting.
The underlying core of the problem is ownership and the general manager. Ferry just has to go. This guy does not and cannot even learn from his own mistakes. Take the Gibson five-year contract for Damon Jones money, for example. Why in the world do you give a dwarf, somebody who is a bad defensive player and can't do anything but shoot three-pointers, a five-year contract for that kind of money? Didn't Ferry learn his lesson the first time?
Not only can't he learn from his own mistakes, but clearly his experience working in San Antonio was also useless. Every season, San Antonio finds their role players for cheap and for the short-term. THAT is what a smart general manager does. But not Ferry. He does not learn from observing others, he does not learn from his very own past conduct. He is simply one of those guys who is extremely book smart, but otherwise an idiot without a shred of common sense. A general manager absolutely needs to have common sense. He is completely out of his realm. Everybody knows somebody like this. You do, I do, everybody does.
Oh, and all the countless front-running, bandwagon Cavaliers fans aside, who are suddenly complaining and complaining and complaining about what was in front of their eyes all along, I want to talk about the horrible Indians fans.
19,000 per game to see the Red Sox in their sole Cleveland appearance of the entire season.
Now the Yankees are here, the other American League Cadillac, they won't be back until next year. An absolutely gorgeous Sunday afternoon, absolutely perfect cool temperature, not one freakin' cloud in the sky. Blue skies everywhere. There will never be a more perfect day for baseball.
So what's the attendance? It's the Yankees. Absolutely gorgeous weather, just perfect. A sellout of close to 43,000, right?
29,000.
Just to be clear, terje, I was not referring to you in that first sentence.
EVEN A MORON COULD SEE THIS BEATING COMING. THE CAVS BREEZED THROUGH THE WEAK EASTERN CONFERENCE AND THEN THROUGH AN OLD TEAM (DETROIT) AND A WEAK TEAM (ATLANTA). ALL THE CLOWNING AND CARRYING ON IN THE PREGAMES AND ARROGANCE. THE PROBLEM WAS THAT THE CAVS HAVE A ROSTER FULL OF OVERPAID NOTHINGS (WALLACE, ILGAUSKAS, VAREJAO, WILLIAMS, GIBSON, SZCERBIAK). ONLY YOU DELUSIONAL CLEVELAND FANS WHO KNOW NOTHING ABOUT BASKETBALL ACTUALLY THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO "SWEEP" ORLANDO. HA!!! ORLANDO ACTUALLY SAVED THE CAVS FROM AN EVEN WORSE BEATING AT THE HANDS OF THE LAKERS. BY THE WAY LEBRON VS. KOBE…PLLLLEEEEAAASSSEE. OH PLEASE TURN DOWN SHAQUILLE O'NEAL FOR Z AND BEN WALLACE…
I have to agree with Alan about the horrible Indians fans. Even in years (2005, 2007) when they've been competitive and even playoff-bound, the crowds aren't showing up. Why is that? Would NE Ohio rather we just didn't have baseball?
RE: the Cavs. Clearly we need a big man who can compete with Howard. Is Shaq that guy for 2 years? He's big and burly, but can he be motivated? And memo to all centers: Dwight Howard knows how to slam the ball home. Why do our 7-footers pussyfoot around with soft clangers? Use your freakin' height! It not only assures 2 points, it's also demoralizing to the opponent.
And the idea of picking up journeyman role players for shorter contracts seems wise, if we can find guys who can play. Talent evaluation seems to be in short supply with both the Cavs and the Tribe.
I just finished reading this quote from James. Apparently, Williams didn't shake anybody's hand, either. The two least humble guys during the regular season refused to congratulate their opponents after losing to them fair and square.
Even in the NHL, in the most hard-nosed toughest competitive team sport on the planet, the players shake the hands of their opponents, even if they've spent the last seven games *literally* beating the crap out of each other while ripping each others' livers and intestines out. That is sportsmanship, that is respect.
I really lost some respect for James today. If he seriously wants to maintain that fake role model image of his, then he's pretty shameless.
"One thing about me you gotta understand; it is hard for me to congratulate somebody after just losing to him," James said. "I'm a winner; that's not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you are not going to congratulate them [for] beating you up. That doesn't make sense to me, I'm a competitor and that is what I do. It doesn't make sense to me to go over and shake somebody's hand."
alan, fisher got 3 votes and gasol got one for defensive team. jason kidd got 3 too. goes to show the reliability of that end of the voting. i'm surprised mo williams didn't get a couple too.
i can't argue your case against ferry. this past playoffs pretty much killed any argument in his defense. my main point is that mike brown absolutely choked in this series. regardless of how piss poor the talent around lebron is there is no excuse for his coaching errors. varajao and wallace both gave up huge shots to lewis. they had no business on him in the first place. what exactly did joe smith do to get nailed to the bench? even stupid sasha could have been used in spots. if ferry and brown are both canned tomorrow i will shed no tears.
i enjoy watching baseball. whether the indians are good or not i find them the most enjoyable team to go see. had i been in cleveland i would have gone to a few games this year. regardless of how much i despise eric wedge.
As a former Akronite, born and raised there and now a Orlando resident, I was pleased to hear that local boy, LBJ signed with the Cavs. to bad he did"nt go to Central High instead of St. Vincent. He truly is a MVP, but a team is more than one man. Our Magic had their ups and downs over the years with buzzer beaters, overpriced super stars and , oh yes, Shag. The State of Florida is a great fan base with College football and basketball final winners and some great NFL teams. I was a great fan of the Browns, Indians and Ohio State and I know your time will come. Now it"s time for us to take care of the other puppet. Good luck next year Cav fans!
I'm guessing Joe Smith got nailed to the bench because he was found to be way too small and too weak to compete with Howard. Even the 15 to 20 minutes a game he usually played was deemed to be 15 to 20 minutes a game too much. Really, you're treading over the same water, terje.
By now, it should be apparent to everybody, even the most stubborn and most dopey naysayers, that the Cavs' big guys, including their precious Z, are bench quality from top to bottom. So I suppose Brown *can* realistically be faulted for inevitably not going to a hack-a-Howard, and hoping Howard missed the free throws. But that would have been a desperate act of a desperate man.
But Brown did try just about everything else. I just don't know how that can be disputed. That's why I don't blame him. I mean, if you're in the Mexican cartel and supposedly in the business of producing the best marijuana in town, then you don't give your poor frazzled farmer a bag of pumpkin seeds and order him to grow a rich crop of Purple Haze.
And that is why the professional Kleveland Kavaliers Killer (KKK, for short) should be put in front of the firing squad. It won't happen, but it should.
As far as the Indians are concerned, it is simply inexcusable. Anybody who gripes about the Indians, lives in the area, but is not a paying customer, should officially chew on a vat of Elmer's Glue and shut the (you know what) up. It was simply impossible to have had a better day for baseball, and there was no other sport going on, so there is no valid excuse.
Here's where that quote came from. He really should consider a career in politics after his basketball career is finished. Part pure sliced honey ham, part 100% baloney. Very polished, very slick. If they decide to develop another insane scam of a medical mart project in 2025, perhaps he'll be involved in some fashion. He's certainly got the political chops for it.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4220161&categoryid=2378529
Brown lost this series prior to game 1 when he decided Lebron was going to cover Rafer Alston, plain and simple. Secondly, he made the decision that Lebron would help the double teams and leave Alston all alone. He ran with that strategery for way to long in the series and it ended up costing the Cavs in the close games.
Brown did try the hack-a-Howard–the cameras caught him begging his bigs to foul during at least one timeout–but those guys were just too slow. Whenever Z mustered up the courage, he usually delivered a touch foul after Howard had already made a layup.