What does tonight's game boil down to? In its essence, its purest form, its DNA, its molecular structure?
Shooting.
Mo Williams took a huge stride toward regaining his form in Game 5 (after he had taken small strides in Game 4). His shooting, along with that of Daniel Gibson, opened things up for LeBron James at "the nail" — the position he took with the ball at the foul line.
The general thinking is that it's near impossible to double-team James at that spot, so the Cavs will use that play again if they need it. If a team does double, James can find a shooter on both sides of the floor, or a big guy cutting to the basket. But "the nail" does not hold if shooters aren't shooting. Williams must be back on his game again, and he must shoot well.
Conversely, the Cavs have to keep trying to defend Oralndo's shooters. I didn't think they did as great a job getting in the fact of the Magic's three-point shooters as the score indicated. But they did something right, because Orlando was 8-for-25. The Cavs have to do what they can to keep that figure low, but if they make their shots it will also help.
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"The nail?" After 95 games, they finally come out of the closet and admit that James has been both their point forward and their point guard all along. And this is the only name they were able to come up with? You'd think they would be able to think of something a little more imaginative. Red Right 23. Red Left 23. Red Straight 23. "The Hammer." Anything but "the nail."
Wow. I always knew Ferry had assembled a bunch of average bench players masquerading as starters, but I am just stunned. I thought James would be able to overcome it, no matter what.
This is precisely why I wrote that you don't dance and take fake pictures with your stiff teammates before you've actually won anything. Not prudent.
I almost feel sorry for LeBron, being let down time and time again. But he knew who his GM is, and it's kind of difficult to feel sorry for any young guy who makes more money in 30 minutes than I'll ever make in my entire lifetime.
mike brown could have at least pretended that he was going to coach in this series. not only is the supporting cast not championship caliber but the head coach doesn't cut it either. stan van whooped mike brown every single game. he worked the refs, he made constant adjustments and he showed energy on the sideline. mike brown looked like the potato that he is. go join doug collins and rick carlisle potato. you've done all you could do for this team.
mike brown-fraud of the year.
Again, it had little to do with Brown, terje. Leave the poor guy alone. If you want to know the underlying reason they lost this series, here is an excerpt of a post I wrote right before the series with Orlando started. I don't have ESP, just common sense. I doubt local cheerleaders like Windhorst and Pluto will ever run with the story of what is really going on with the sorry state of ownership's finances, but one can always dream:
"Orlando has far better individual players (although they certainly miss Jameer Nelson in situations, Alston usually can't shoot worth a damn), but Cleveland has James, which always more than offsets all of Cleveland's role players.
And although the local media has brainwashed fans into believing the lie that Gilbert "is willing to spend" (uhh … not since being trapped into those long-term contracts in 2005 in his real estate salad days, folks), this is going to be the test if putting long-term economics before winning was the right move (for the fans, not for Gilbert). I sure as hell would rather see Shaq out there instead of seeing Ilgauskas being tossed around like a rag toy."