Not a great opening night for the Cavs, who looked like a team still trying to find itself.
LeBron James called it a "transition period."
Coach Mike Brown said: "We will get better."
The cynic in me started to ask why Boson's transition seemed so much easier, but there is an easy reason. Boston's new guys — Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels — are off-the-bench role players.
The Cavs' new guys, right now at least, are core starters. And one of them will be a secondary focal point of the offense. That would be Shaquille O'Neal, who looked a little uncertain at times.
It just wasn't all there. Not yet at least.
And the Cavs don't sound in the least concerned or worried about it.
As James said: "I don't want to look too much out of one game."
Random thoughts …
—There was a lot of hoopla about the game. Early pregame crowd. Lot of excitement. All that stuff. It carried over into the first quarter. But after that it was pretty much all Celtics. They are a bunch of pros, after all, and they understand how to play the game. The Cavs have shown an unnerving habit of racing to a fast start and then losing the lead and the game.
–Of course that happened against Orlando and Boston, two pretty good teams.
–There were still too many times when the offense devolved into the James-on-five game. He scored 38, but it's just not going to work every game. His late three off no movement or passes with the Cavs down 87-83 was simply not a good shot.
–Mo Williams looked uncomfortable being the third guy in the offense. Last season, he was No. 2. Now he has to pound the ball inside to O'Neal, or give it to James and let him do what he does. The Cavs need more from Williams, who looked more like the guy who struggled against Orlando than the guy who was so good in the 2008-09 regular season.
–Delonte West's absence is huge, because it screws up the guard system. Without West, Anthony Parker has to play 40 minutes, and he wasn't signed to play 40 minutes. Without West, Daniel Gibson becomes a backup point guard, and it's not his forte. Without West, the entire guard system is thrown off.
–This could be a concern all season.
–For a good part of the fourth quarter, Brown had Zyrdunas Ilgauskas and O'Neal on the floor together. Late in the game, he brought Anderson Varejao off the bench. I expected him to replace O'Neal and take Shaq's free throw shooting out of play, but he went in for Ilgauskas.
–Brown admits he's searching for the right substitutions and patterns. He admitted he didn't do a good job of working his lineups during the game.
–James had two more of those chase-down blocks that are becoming his signature.
–At one point, Ray Allen was guarding James. Could he not have done what Allen did when Allen saw Gibson guarding him and go to the low block?
–Said Shaq: "I've been around 17 years, won the first game, lose the first game … we've just got to get better. We're still a fairly new team. We're still learning each other."
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
CLEVELAND…….CITY OF LOSERS.
BOSTON …CITY OF CHAMPIONS
NOTHING NEW!!!
It's refreshing to see a big man knock opponents down from time to time and move toward the basket when he gets the ball down low.
Same old story. Cavs looked great out of the gate.
Then it turned into Lebron ball. Dribble up the court.
Stand at the three point circle. Wait for shot clock to wind down.
Then take off balance shot while every other Cavalier is standing around watching.
They will still have a good season. Just won't be any Championship ring again this season.
Sheesh… thanks Larry & Tough Guy. Could you two have the decency to leave the cyanide tablets so the rest of us can off ourselves when your done?
"So Cleveland" – giving up after losing the first game.
this regular season is completely irrelevant. i don't care if the cavs are the 1 or the 8 seed. they have no excuses and anything less than a championship is failure. i'm still very unsure whether they can win with mike brown as coach.
What I don't understand is that when we had Shaq and Z in the game our offense consisted of… dribble around the perimeter and shoot jump shots! I am a huge Mike Brown fan, but he has to get better at utilizing the talent.
The Cavs, by all objective measures should have won it all last year, and should win it all this year. But they didn't, and they won't. And it will not be because of some rational reason, or a logical development or occurence that makes sense. It will be because it is a Cleveland team, and LeBron and Shaq will be the next in a long line of superior talents who fail to bring a championship to the shores of Lake Erie despite all probable indicators suggesting they will. Lee, Sabathia, Manuel, Belicheck, Chuck Daly, and on and on and on as the roster of Cleveland sports personalities finding gold elsewhere grows. I'm not sure what 'deal with the Devil' was made to allow the Browns to beat the Colts way back in December of 1964, but I'm convinced it has resulted in a curse that will insure a championship flag never flies atop the Terminal Tower. So yes, I will write it here and now. The Cavaliers WILL NOT win the championship and LeBron will leave after this season. On that, you can bet your life. And if you think I'm wrong, then you haven't been paying attention to Cleveland sports these past 45 years.
I agree with Terje, and thought the same thing yesterday morning; can we just fast forward to April? The only thing that I really care @ this regular season: what is the Cavaliers record against the premier teams in the league?
I thought the Cavs would miss Delonte, just not as much as it appeared they did. Not having his perimeter defense in the second quarter really hurt. Brown played Shaq and Z together way too much. Having them in the line-up at the same time made the offense flow like molasses. Parker and Boobie can not play that many minutes. If DW can't return soon, they better sign Antonio Daniels.
They should look much better once Brown figures out his rotations and minutes and the new players get integrated.
Here's something to ponder while watching CC and Cliff Lee go at it tonight:
Is the WORST WEEK EVER for Cleveland sports?
Rick, I think my vote would go to the last week of October 1995. The Indians had just lost the World Series to the Braves, ending what should have been a Cinderella-story season, filling us all with warm, happy thoughts to carry our life through. Then, the Prince of Darkness realized that he was now the Ugly Stepsister, in Cleveland sports, and announced he was moving the Browns to Baltimore, where fresh money would conceal his inept business practices. I really don't remember how the Cavaliers were, in those days, but their season was just starting, too. It was a very, very bad time.
Once again, down by 4, need a big bucket, Lebron chucks up a 30 footer. Mike Brown is YES MAN, to Lebron.. Lebron needs a coach to challenge him, like Phil Jackson did Jordan, and Kobe. A coach to give him advice in the clutch, and a GM that's not best friends with our overpaid backup center taking up Cap Space, so we can't sign any young talent.I have 2 close friends, that know Lebron very well, and he brought in Mike Brown, all the decisions go through Lebron. He wants a coach in Name Only. He's growing as a skill player but learning nothing from his coaches, Silas was fired for being touch on Lebron. Lebron REFUSES to have a White Head Coach..ANd i'm Black so don't even pull the race card. They haven't even interviewed a White Head Coach for real since he's been here. He doesn't want to be told what to do. I just think if he was open minded he could get challenged into greatness by a Larry Brown, or a Phil Jackson, or anyone that has the guts to challenge him..
Why was Gibson gift-wrapped five years if he can't dribble or pass. I still don't get that. There is a hole in a roster if a mediocre neck-tattooed pot-smoking, gun-toting, wife-shoving nut who belongs either in Bellevue or in prison is somehow "glue," let alone the proverbial missing link. If Ferry had any sense beyond filling up LeBron's future roster with role players and nursing home patients, he'd be making a beeline for Jamaal Tinsley's agent before somebody else has to. Problem solved.
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