The Debacle at the Q: ECF Game 1

Tweet

As I literally floated down the steps from my seat at the Q, moments after Mo Williams swished a shot from the opposite 3 point line to beat the halftime buzzer, I had one thought in my head, which I should've known was the thought of doom:

"I've never seen my team catch the breaks like this. I think we may be destined this year. (3 long buzzer beaters so far in the '09 playoffs)."

I smiled to myself, my bright orange Lebron throwback jersey glowing from the inside-out.

Then in what can only be described as an episode from the Twilight Zone, the unthinkable happened... the Cavs reverted back to previous years, stunk up the joint in the 3rd quarter, ran an elementary school offense with Lebron pounding the ball at the top, and gave the Magic Game 1, blowing a 15 point lead... at home.

I love Coach Brown, and on this blog have said he's a great playoff coach. But the Coach of the Year got out-coached by the Master of Panic. I thought the game plan to start the game was borderline genius. Coming out with Lebron guarding the point was just one of the many things that shell-shocked the Magic into a 16 point deficit in the first half. Guys were cutting, the offense was flowing, Dwight Howard had 3 fouls (or was it 4?) in the first half (we'll come back to that later), and 3/4 court shots were falling... everything was good at the Q.

But halftime is the time of adjustments and in-game strategies, and here's where the coaching staff let us down.

• Dwight Howard had 3, maybe 4, fouls, so why the HELL are you not coming out in the 3rd quarter and attacking him. You have a 15 point lead. Who cares if you get blocked a few times. To me, the Cavs players seemed scared of Howard, and were very hesitant near the rim.
• In my expert NBA opinion, Dwight Howard can have his 30 points. Hell, he can have 40... he abused us in the first half and we were leading by 15! Why? Because Lewis, Turkoglu, and the other guys were not. Howard is the game changer because of his defense. He guards the lane like Cerberus, the three-headed dog, guards the underworld... or the Minions guarded the evil Undertaker. When he was out of the game, Lebron got to the rim much more. So by attacking, either Howard is forced to be less aggressive on defense, or he fouls out. I'd love to see the stats on how many of Lebron's 49 points were in the paint vs. jump shots. I have a feeling it would be astonishing.
  

To expand on that concept of getting Howard out of the lane:
Z, my lovable Lithuanian who actually WANTS to stay in Cleveland while other athletes are bolting for the sunshine or the bright lights... you have to hit the 15-20 footers to keep Dwight Howard honest. If Z's hitting the outside shot, Howard is forced to step out, opening up the lane for Lebron and others. If not, then Z is virtually useless. Defensively, I thought Z did okay on Howard. He forced him into several ugly hook shots that happened to fall (and don't kid yourself, Dwight basically closed his eyes and threw those up at the rim). Another thing... Joe Smith and Ben Wallace did pretty well on Howard in the first half, but Coach Brown didn't use them in the second half.

And now I'm going to utter two words I never thought I would need to utter these playoffs. God help me:
Sasha Pavlovic
He's erratic, he plays dumb, he disappears at times, but he might just be what the Cavs need. He's tall, he's athletic, and he's a guard. We all know Orlando isn't the best match-up for the Cavs, so maybe our rabbit in the hat is a guy buried on the bench. Every playoffs has that guy on the bench who turns out to be key. Boobie two years ago. P.J. Brown last year. Maybe Sasha can guard the taller guys like Turkoglu, or even Lewis. (I just vomited in my mouth a little).

Believe it or not, there were some highlights from Game 1:

• Lebron's absolute facial on Dwight Howard. From my seat, LBJ looked like he was sitting on the rim. And to overpower Superman like that. Wow! (Link here or see video below)
  
• Mo William's bomb at the halftime buzzer. What's the NBA's slogan? "Where Amazing Happens". Uh Yeah. (Little did we know the "amazing" would be blowing a 15 point lead).

Sign of the Night:
LBJ = MVP
Barkley = DUI

I know there are a couple readers of this blog that absolutely detest the phrase "must win" unless it is an elimination game. But Game 2 is a must win. Strap it on Cavs. One Goal.

Ah, Sir Charles, you lovable rogue

Tweet

Orlando smote the Celts tonight, and good ol' Chuck Barkley already has the Magic beating the Cavs in the ECF. (CST contributer Froms sent me several rage-filled texts concerning this matter.) The former deodorant pitchman, midget tosser*, and little girl spitter-uponer says the Cavs have a chance if LeBron goes "ballistic." Well, I guess it wouldn't be Cleveland if we weren't the 'dogs. Regardless, there should be plenty of media fodder to dissect over the next couple of days before the fun starts...keep ya head up, Cavs fans. Let's put this team on our backs! The playoffs are about to get very intersting...

*My favorite Barkley quote took place when someone asked him if he "regretted" throwing a man through a bar window.

"Yeah, I regret we weren't on a higher floor," Barkley replied. Heh.

Memories: 16 points in 2 minutes

Tweet

LeBron goes off for 16 points in 2 minutes with heat-check after heat-check against Milwaukee in February.

While we wait...

Tweet

There was a story in the Atlanta papers last weekend that I’m surprised didn’t get more run in national media circles: Before Game 3 against Atlanta Saturday night, LeBron James reserved all three floors of a midtown restaurant and nightclub for a post-game bash. (Eyewitness accounts stating that the Cristal “flowed like Niagara Falls” could not confirmed as of press time. However, several wire reports verified the presence of “mad honies up in this piece.”)

The first two rounds of the playoffs have certainly been festive for the Cavs. Eight wins, all of them by 10 points or more. So, is the party officially over now as we watch Boston and Orlando pummel each other for the right to play Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals? Is anybody worried that this team has yet to face any real adversity? To paraphrase Martin Lawrence in the made-for-TV edit of “Bad Boys II,” did the “sheep (sic) just get real?”

We will discover the answers to these critical questions next Monday at the earliest, according to the NBA (Wednesday if Boston-Orlando goes seven games). I’m not worried about the Cavs becoming lax or comfortable with their envious position as alpha dog. While I do expect a greater challenge no matter who emerges from the Magic-Celts slugfest, I’m reassured by the Cavs’ mental toughness, an attribute that in past years buoyed Mike Brown’s teams even when the surrounding cast around LeBron was found wanting.

These Cavs simply do not beat themselves: When they were hammered in the 2007 Finals by San Antonio and were edged out of the post-season last year by the Celts, they lost to the better team in both instances.

That cerebral sturdiness, now backed by some real talent, will prevent LeBron and Co. from becoming complacent in their good fortune. I cannot imagine Cleveland giving up a 10-point lead with five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, as Orlando did this week against Boston. The Magic are the definition of a paper tiger…a collection of talent rather than a team. The shame is they are probably better than the Garnett-less Celtics.

Maybe Stan Van Gundy really is a “master of panic” as Shaq labeled him. Orlando is a squad that obviously cannot handle success…the Celtics are tough, defense-minded, and championship-tested, but Orlando seems to play not to lose when faced with adversity. Anybody see Hedo Turkoglu get called for an eight-second backcourt violation during a critical possession at the end of Game 1 in Boston? That would not happen to Cleveland…I cannot recall the last time I saw one of my hometown teams so focused. If there’s one thing you can say about this year’s Cavs, it’s that they take nothing for granted.

---
OK, you ‘Lost’ me
(Ahead are my thoughts on the season finale of “Lost.” Read on at your own risk, for thar be major spoilers off the starboard bow, mateys!)

Before “Lost,” J.J. Abrams created “Alias,” a pulpy spy series that also straddled the realms of science fiction and mythological weirdness. By the end of its five-year run, the show was an incomprehensible mess of plot twists and its own kooky mythology.

That’s how I felt after watching last night’s “Lost.” Seriously…what the hell was that? It wasn’t a bad episode, it was just kind of wonky and confusing, and presented a slew of new questions that I don’t really care to see answered.

We finally meet Jacob, the enigmatic spirit who appears to control the island. We still don’t know who Jacob really is, but that’s OK. He’s not Christian, Aaron, Locke, Lee Iacocca or any of the other rumored names floating through the dorky Internet transom.

The newest twist is Jacob’s apparent battle with another ageless, God-like figure that’s as powerful as he is - and whom we discover is posing as the actually non-resurrected John Locke. This guy also manipulated Ben to seemingly murder Jacob - but not before Jacob warned non-Locke that “they're coming.” Oy. The letdown here is introducing a new character and having him “find a loophole” and “kill” the all-powerful Jacob without any buildup. What’s the bloody point, other than to deepen the show’s already complex mythology?

The show ends with the 1977 crew – Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, et al - trying to stop The Incident that lead to the building of the hatch and eventually to Oceanic 815 crashing on the island. Our last image is Juliet setting off the hydrogen bomb that may or may not change the future. Boom. White screen. The End. Eight-month cliffhanger, ahoy.

Whatever…I actually enjoyed the season as a whole, but it was not as good as last year. The focus and intensity of season four was somewhat missing; last night’s disappointing finale, perhaps the weakest in the show’s history, did not help matters any.

With all that’s happened in five long seasons of my favorite show, I still stand by my overarching theory: The island is on the moon. Makes as much sense as anything that happened last night, no?

Live Blog: Cavs-Hawks game 4

Tweet

Well the man's got me down today...after working about 11.5 hours straight I realized that I had hours more work to do at home. And of course I had already missed a lot of Game 4 of the Cavs-Hawks series, so thought I might as well make it home, turn on the TiVo, turn off Twitter, and waste some time doing what I've thought about but never done before.

So with great apologies to Bill Simmons...the less funny, less wordy, and no stat-guy-back-up-having....LIVE BLOG!

Pre-game: Marv points out that LeBron still has the oppportunity to take the team playoff lead in assists and steals, virtually leading in every category.

I'm always surprised the road team lets LeBron do the chalk-throwing ritual. Shocked one of the opposing teammates doesn't put him on his ass for doing that on their floor. Speaking of chalk throw...I don't really get this Nike ad...what are they trying to say? That LeBron is excited? And likes Chinese food? And Kobe is too cool for school?



Q1 11:33. Delonte airball, Varajao hustle rebound, Mo hits a jumper and gives his bench an amused look. Bad then good start. Next time down the floor LeBron travels! Is this the ref trying to stretch out the season?

Q1 10:02. 40-foot lob pass for a layup from Delonte to LeBron! Followed immediately up by a "too easy" 2-on-zero fast break for a LeBron dunk! The kind of start that makes Hawks fans think about beating traffic.

Q1 8:40. Delonte with a steal and a fast break dunk (with a man on him!) Looks like playground basketball for the Cavs so far.

Today on CBSSport.com, Gregg Doyle opined that the Cavaliers couldn't win the championship due to their lousy frontcourt. The entire article can be summed up greatly by SamVox: "Once someone argues that LeBron has a bad supporting cast, I tune them out. It means they haven't watched the Cavs much this year." Exactly. So there's no "Scottie Pippen" or "Horace Grant." Anyone who has watched the Cavaliers with any regularity knows how freaking good the supporting cast is for LeBron this year. Anyone who says it's a one man team is totally ignorant. Anyway we've seen stats this year that shows the Cavs struggled mostly in the games Z missed.

Q1 6:07. The Czar chart shows that the key is to "Get ball out of LeBron's hands." That's just not enough. It has to be accompanied greatly by "Hope the rest of the team can't shoot worth a damn," because that's the only chance the Hawks (or maybe anyone) has. And "Don't look ahead." I don't think that's going to be the Cavs problem.

Q1 5:27. LeBron loses the ball out of bounds...2 seconds to shoot....and they can't convert on the inbounds alley oop. They're trying to hammer nails into the coffin in the first quarter. Blocks, steals, and dunks. But the Hawks are hanging tight.

By the way I'm not sure what would have gotten Delonte the idea that a tattoo on his neck would help him look better.

Q1 3:34. Josh Smith has 10 of the first 16 by the Hawks. Can they keep this up? And what did I miss that Sacha is wearing a face mask? I've said for years he should wear one all the time, but apparently female fans disagree. Uh oh. Z walking (gingerly) to the locker room.

Q1 2:30. LeBron gets doubled up high. Not what we've seen a lot. But it turns into a wide open missed three by Joe Smith.

Q1 1:35. Sacha with a no look pass turnover. Next time, look, my man. Turns out he has a broken nose that I missed at some point. You catch a lot more of the game watching at home alone than you do at a noisy bar full of Blackhawks fans.

End of Q1. Cavs down by seven. Shots aren't falling for the Cavs, after a hot start the game got a little sloppy. "In every Hawks playoff game, the team with the lead at the end of the first quarter has gone on to win." You know what else? The team with Joe Smith has gone on to win, also. Something's gotta give.

Miller Lite has a can with a "taste protector lid." I didn't know people found the "metal can taste" of a beer offensive. I sure don't. Time to crack a Bud Light here.

BTW I'm with Bill Simmons. I hate in-game interviews with coaches and managers. Totally unnatural. What executive thought fans would like this?

Q2 11:23. Wally Szerbiak dives and saves a loose ball with a quick timeout. And gets a ton of high fives for it. After the timeout, Delonte West with a three at the shot clock buzzer. He can get hot and the Hawks need to watch him. Yes, there are other Cavaliers besides LeBron James.

Q2 10:20. The Hawks are outscoring the Cavs by far at the line. A big difference so far. Delonte hits a jumper for points 7 and 8. Like I said...

Q2 9:22. LeBron just came back from the locker room. Maybe they had a big southern-cooked pregame meal?

Q2 7:20. Wally with the pump fake, drive, and DUNK! How about that. Cavs were +9 with LeBron on the bench.

Q2 6:38. Flip Murray. Nice drive and score on LeBron. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Flip. Although don't miss him thanks to Mo!

Q2 6:25. LeBron splits his first free throws of the game. That's a key to the game, right there.

Q2 5:00. Wally gets T'd up and Mike Fratello thinks the Hawks crowd is waking up. Cavs up 29-28 right now.

Q2 4;37. Kevin Martin had the second most FTA per game in the NBA this year??

Q2 3:37. LeBron took four steps, then missed a layup. Hey I call 'em like I see em. Great interior pass from Varajao to Z for the dunk. Cavs up 33-32. Next time down a beautiful inside pass from Mo to LeBron for a great easy score!

Q2 1:55. A personal pet peeve. Czar: LeBron is "an historian" of the game. Sorry, I prefer "a historian."

Q2 1:00. Seven-foot-three Z hits a three! I love when he does that. Love Z.

Q2 0:00. A furious burst at the end, missed shots, a turnover, LeBron gets it back and makes a great move, gets the ball to Z who gets fouled. And a technical foul too. Wally missed the tech, and the Cavs go into the locker room with a 2 point lead, 40-38. LeBron maintains that the Cavs are playing "good basketball"--not great, and he'll take the two point lead on the road.

Halftime--skipped it. The best part of DVRing a game.

3Q 11:16. LeBron hits a jumper that doesn't even touch the net, it seems. He has 14 on 11 shots. And that's a good thing.

3Q 9:43. LeBron has been jawing a bit with a fan. That worked really well for the Hawks in Game 3.

3Q Zzzzzzzz....Okay, Mo hits a three, there's 7:17 left, and it's 48-38. Hawks haven't made a shot yet in the third quarter...until Flip breaks that streak.

3Q 6:26. Z gets one of his endearing 1-4, 3 rebound possessions. Infuriating for many fans, but not me.

3Q 4:27. The Hawks have put together a nice little run and have cut the deficit to two. Hanging around way too long. I was getting used to these double digit leads.

So Miller Lite has a "taste protector cap" that "locks out air." That is so revolutionary. I was tired of air getting into my bottles and all the beer evaporating out of the seal.

3Q 3:55. Great steal and drive by Delonte. Got fouled and that negated a spectacular 11 foot high block by Josh Smith.

3Q 1:59. LeBron takes a hard head foul that knocks his headband off. When he loses his headband I feel better about my hairline. I have a few years on LeBron and think his hairline will pass mine sometime soon.

3Q 1:15. Wally hits a three and the Hawks take a TO. During which they go to the replay to make sure it's not a 2, which was called on the floor. The camera angle seems to be pretty damn conclusive, but the refs hold it at a 2. They zoom in a bit, and Mike Fratello complements the "amazing technology." There is amazing technology in the world, Mike, but video cameras are not it. Tennis ball appeals--maybe.

3Q 0:00. Cavaliers are 10-for-21 from the line. That's a dangerous stat that has kept this game closer than it could be. Cavs up 62-57. LeBron with a three with 5 seconds left, then Flip with a drive at the buzzer.

4Q 11:28. Josh Smith gets the ball downcourt and scores as LeBron had fallen at the other end. Cavs immediately turn it over on the shot clock violation. Mike Brown needs to get Mo back in.

4Q 9:28. Mo Williams has had a couple looks at threes in the last two possessions, but neither have fallen. 64-62 Cavs.

4Q 7:55. Delonte West is having a nice little game. Drives, layups, and dunks. Picking up for Mo Williams who's a little off today. (Ouch, I wrote "layoffs" by accident there at first.) My phone just buzzed from a text message but I just can't look. Last time I didn't watch a game live and DVR'd it at home, I had a dozen text messages about how the Indians had scored 22 runs while I was on the golf course!

4Q 6:01. This fourth quarter is about as scintellating as the third. LeBron just woke it up, breaking a couple minute scoring drought with a 3-pointer, but still, 69-62 Cavs halfway through the fourth quarter. Four minutes since the Hawks have scored a point.

4Q 5:51. Mo Williams picks up his fifth foul and has to sit down. He is off today.

4Q 3:40. The Hawks just got three wide open three point attempts and missed them all. Delonte finally scooped up a rebound and led the Cavs right into a shot clock violation. 73-66.

4Q 2:42. Mo Williams in the corner with a huge 3! (Gotta admit, I saw @Szczepanik and @Bo_Matthews tweet about this by accident earlier!)

Heineken makes good ads. Or maybe any ad with Biz Markie laying down the tracks is good. No way to tell. I'm reasonably certain "Stand" by R.E.M. and "Just a Friend" by Biz Markie are the only two cassette singles I ever bought. I just dated myself. No, not in that way, sicko.

4Q 1:00 to go and the Cavaliers are on a fantastic 1-minute possession saved by offensive boards by Anderson Varajao and Zydrunas Ilguaskas. 79-74 and the next Cavs basket coulod be a dagger!

4Q 0:52.1. Mo Williams with a huge 3 and Mike Fratello indeed calls it the dagger! 82-74 Cavaliers!

4Q 0:34.7. Hawks in foul mode and there are chants of "M-V-P" from within the arena!

And that'll do it! The Hawks are a great team, but as said at the end, "they came across a team on a mission." All eight games in the playoffs this far have been won by the Cavaliers by double digits. An unbelievable run. Now a well deserved rest. Well, I guess "well-earned" is accurate! A nice round of applause for the Hawks from their fans.

Delonte had a great game, with 21 points on only 13 field goal attempts. Every night there is someone else to help LeBron. And that's what the national media doesn't always catch. Too easy to call the Cavaliers a one-man team.

Cavaliers win, 84-47. Celtics or Magic next.