Friday, April 24, 2009

Not pretty at all, but 1 more to go

Game 3 to the Cavaliers, and it wasn't pretty. Started slow, with only four points about halfway through the first quarter. The entire game, I thought Delonte West looked just off his game. You know those mornings when you drip coffee on your pants, bump your head on the cabinet, and then toothpaste drips on your shirt when you're about to leave? Then you forget your sunglasses and have to go back to get them? That's what I thought Delonte was playing like. He lost his handle a ton of times, couldn't make a shot to save his life---0 for 7 with four turnovers. But he never stopped trying. Neither did Mo, who went 1 for 11. That's the Cavs, they don't stop trying. Unlike the Pistons who still seemed like they weren't all there.

But the story tonight was Joe Smith's huge plays. In the second half he was everywhere, grabbing rebounds (he had 10, including 4 offensive dogs) and using his size to just pull the Cavaliers up (he was 6 for 8 for a total of 19 points, including a huge three pointer that seemed to deflate the Pistons some.) Speaking of threes, Zydrunas Ilgauskas hit a three, too! Maybe they were trying to teach the guards some stroke!

LeBron was his normal fabulous self, finishing one assist short of a triple double. That, of course, had a lot to do with all the blown assists by his teammates, including at least four during a stretch of the third quarter. The highlight of the game was when Mo Williams threw a HIGH alley-oop (reminiscent of a too-high one in the first quarter) to LeBron and he came out of the rafters to slam it down. Made me pine for Michael Reghi!

Some notes: Sacha and Wally are virtually nowhere to be seen in Coach Brown's rotation tonight...some feedback about the second team's performance on Tuesday night? Add in Ben Wallace's ineffective performance, and the Cavs are playing a virtual seven-man rotation tonight.

Brian Windhorst (@PDCavsInsider) twittered about a huge brawl between fans between the third and fourth quarter tonight, he said one fan got jacked in the face and fell down two rows, and all the players were watching. The AP said that one fan (landed) the hardest punch at The Palace since the infamous 2004 brawl in which the Indiana Pacers tussled with the Pistons and their fans...."

Credit Paul Sancya of the AP for that photo of LeBron after the alley-oop!

Seems like there are lots of seats for the taking for Cleveland fans in Detroit on Sunday. Should we make the drive?

And although I know there's "13 more to go", I'm holding off and taking it one game at a time!

If possible, we'll send in-game tweets at @CleveSpTorture. Follow us there!