Real Quickie

Cavs lost to the Pistons yesterday. Lebron was hurt in the 2nd quarter and never returned to the game.

That’s all that needs to be said about that. Without Lebron, this is the worst team in the NBA now and quite possibly the worst team in NBA history. Gooden becomes our go-to guy.

‘nuff said.

Here’s the interesting thing I caught on the interweb today though:

Kidd Wants to play with Lebron.

“Notes: SI.com reported that Kidd has spoken to LeBron James, his USA Basketball teammate, about playing together in Cleveland. “There’s a little talk,” Kidd said. “But I told him, ‘What-ifs can get you in trouble. You go out there and do your thing, and if I don’t get to play with you until this summer (at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing), then that’s the way it’s meant to be. But the big thing is for you to go out there and lead your team.’ And that’s what he’s doing.”…

This would be awesome. Do you realize how good Lebron would be if he had someone setting him up going to the basket rather than having to create everything himself? The only con is that Kidd isn’t much of a shooter or scorer and getting up there in age.

But this line-up is nice (Assuming we trade Sasha and Varejao for Kidd)

PG- Kidd (runs the team properly)
SG- Boobie (dead-eye shooter from the outside)
SF- Lebron (He’s Lebron)
PF- Gooden (Rebounding and short jumpers)
C- Z (Beast)

Bench- Not much but Devin Brown and Larry Hughes when he returns.

You know what sucks?

Working like a slave, living out of a hotel room, and effectively missing the matchup between the best “Big 3″ in the NBA versus some team from Boston.

Long story short, Lebron damn near outscores Boston singlehandedly in overtime (11 to 12), and the Cavs have rolled off 4 in a row.

I expect Ori will drop by with his first hand recap (lucky bastard), but in the meantime, here’s what I gathered from watching the gamecast briefly, checking the box score and watching the highlights:

Drew Gooden is better than Kevin Garnett. Garnett shot well, rebounded ok, passed well, blocked shots and presumably was a force in most aspects of the game. And yet, in crunch time, as he has always been inclined to do, he defers to teammates less able to create. In this case, Ray Allen’s flukish misses from the line helped push the game to overtime. Allen ended up shooting 40% and Pierce 33%. Gooden, on the other hand, was not to be contained. His 11-15 shooting displayed paramount concentration and effectiveness and his 13 rebounds showed his effort and determination. In fact, his 13 rebounds were 1 off both being the game high and doubling the output of any single Celtic. Enormous kudos to Drew, who stepped up to a big challenge.

Boobie and Rajon battled to see who could be the less productive point on teams loaded with scorers. If I had to pick a winner in that battle, I’d give the edge to Boobie, as Rondo recognized hs didn’t need to score and probably tallies more than his team high 6 assists if more shots fall.

We need to be careful not to be too 3 happy. Raining from the outside worked splendidly over the weekend against Toronto as the shots were falling, but tonight could easily have gone the other way. 20 3 pointers isn’t exceedingly many, and for what seems like the first time all year we got to the line more than the opposition, but with Pierce and Garnett in foul trouble, I feel like that should have been amplified.

Speaking of getting to the line, major KUDOS to Lebron. 14-15 from the line. Not a single miss down the stretch. He is awesome. Nothing more needs to be said. At this rate, the MVP is a foregone conclusion.

Where was the bench? How does Ira Newble end up at -22 in 16 minutes of game time, in a 5 point win? Were the early game swings that dramatic? Who was Newble sent in to guard?

Great all around game for the Cavs. Now we head straight to Detroit for the encore performance. We’ll have to get after it just as hard to take away a road win against our rivals from the cesspool of Michigan.

Go Cavs!

Varejao Hates the Cavs

Well today we finally heard from Anderson Varejao.

It isn’t good.

“I wanted to come back,” he said. “I love the fans and I really love my teammates. But there are others there that have made it very difficult. It’s gotten to the point that I don’t want to play there anymore. I’m just hoping for a sign-and-trade at this point.”

If you want to read the full ESPN story you can find it here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3128446

Long story short, Varejao probably will never play for the Cavs again. I absolutely love Varjao and his style of play, so this will be a loss for the Cavs. But maybe, just maybe, we can turn this into a positive. If we are trading Varejao, we better include dead weights and the bad contracts of guys like Larry Hughes, Damon Jones, etc.

We sign Varejao to a 5 yr. 45 million contract and then maybe do a sign and trade with the Kings (Artest and/or Bibby), Jazz (AK-47), Suns (Marion), Bulls..They have to be willing to shake things up soon (maybe Hinrich who has been terrible for them so far this season),and my dreamn of getting Kobe from the Lakers.

Now I know most of these big names are doubtfull, but the Cavs have shown that they can survive without Andy, but have other needs.

This seems like bad news but maybe we can come out of this with a positive result.

It’s time to turn our lemons into….

Lebron: “Stop lookin’ at my lemonaid!”

Tonight I’ll be at the Cavs v. Celtics game. Hopefully it will be a good one. I really feel we match up pretty well against the Celtics.

Gibson > Rondo (Rondo isn’t really much stronger or faster than Boobie)
Sasha can be = to Ray Allen
Lebron > Pierce
Gooden < Garnett (although he matches up decently)
Z > Perkins

Go Cavs!

Does it ever get old?

I guess this time Lebron didn’t quite carry the team all alone.  I mean, any time you have 3 20 point scorers, you’re definitely getting some still balance.

Still, yet another triple double – each day the idea of averaging a triple double becomes more of a reality.

We slipped behind early, Gooden was invisible, guys were missing shots inside and out, Lebron was piling up stats.

Then Dwayne Jones came in.  He might have been the player of the game.  He gave us a little hustle, a few rebounds, and a whole lot of nothing special.  But apparently Gooden was pissed to see Dwayne Jones out there, because once he came back in, he was a beast.

We stormed back in the 2nd quarter, largely with Lebron out, behind a big push on the boards and the power of Drew Gooden’s offensive repetoire.

More late 3rd quarter blase and missed free throws put the game in jeopardy, but we came alive in the 4th.

From the point at which we were down 2 with 3:30 left, 2 big Damon Jones 3s, another from Pavs, 4-4 from the line by people not named Lebron, and 4-8 from the occasionally not so great one, sealed the deal for the Cavs, who earned yet another win on the road and in the second game of a back to back.

The win boosts us to 8-6 – a 47 win pace, 5-3 on the road, and 2-2 on night 2 – all on the road.

Strangely, we have 2 more second games on the road, then finally 2 at home in December.  Then in ‘08, 11 of our 13 back to backs close with us on the road.  That’s a rough scheduling quirk.

Game ball goes to Lebron, as is obligatory when scoring 30 in a triple double, even if it wasn’t always pretty.

Game bawl goes to Boobie.  Why, oh why, Boobie, can you not stay in front of opposing PGs?  Aniel Gibso fouled out in 15 minutes, each foul coming as somebody blew past.  To be fair, the strategy Baron Davis and Deron Williams have employed, attack Boobie until you drop, worked slightly in our favor, as Tinsley, near a quadruple double, was 7-20 with 8 turnovers.  At least Boobie hit his shots…

Deep Dish Preview

That’s right, it’s a Chicago-style preview. Chicago style because I’m settling into my hotel room for a 2 week stay.

Also, if there are random insertions of words like “vfbgdc” it’s because watching the Browns run defense is painfully frustrating. Worse, there’s no mini-bar here.

I’m from California, just stepped off the flight from Ohio, so this is my third time zone in the past few days and with the odd Indiana start time, I have no clue how long it is until tipoff. That said, I don’t think I can watch from here anyhow, so I’ll have the pleasure of hearing Joe Tait.

Maybe I should mention something about the game?

The first big concern is the unusual nature of this game. Rarely does a back to back involve day games, especially on the backside. Touchdown Browns. This scheduling quirk has forced the Cavs to leave their families behind and head to Indiana for a 1:30(? 2:30?) local time start.

I read a quote from Gooden in the morning paper saying that he didn’t know how his body would respond. I don’t see it on the interweb, so I can’t link, but I’m hoping that after playing only 30 minutes last night, Gooden is ready to fill the role of dominant big, giving Z some rest as we offer up the same small lineup we used yesterday.

The Pacers are without Jermaine O’Neal, who always gives us fits with his size and athleticism.

Danny Granger has been playing incredibly well so far. I expect will see a healthy dose of Sasha or Devin Brown or perhaps Newble on him, to protect Lebron early in the game.

Jamaal Tinsley is the sort of quick guard that could give us all sorts of trouble, but, especially without O’Neal, he’ll look to score, which should work to our advantage.

I remember one time when Andre Miller got broken at half court, Jeff Foster curled over him to protect him from the traffic flying by, so I kinda like Jeff Foster. Too bad Paxson didn’t like Andre Miller.

Not much else to say about the Pacers. Their 6-7 record goes a long way to characterize them. Without O’Neal they’re awfully beatable, but then they just beat Dallas and they’ve already beaten the Jazz as well. I guess that’s why they play the game.

Go Cavs! Go Browns, go Pitt and go Oklahoma.

www.Lebron.com\Everything

Ori and I attended this game together, stationed on the border of Drew’s Crew and The Newblehood, in section 222.

Rather bored with Lebron’s ongoing mundane performances – another blase 37, 12 and 12 – our conversation turned where it was naturally wont to go: Damon Jones vs. Aniel Gibso. Yes, Aniel Gibso – as in no D, no finish.

I’m far more anti-Gibson and pro-Jones here than I am in reality, thanks to Ori. There’s no question Boobie is a contributor, that he deserves more minutes than Jones and that he can be a key player for years to come. Still, neither is especially solid on their defensive rotations, both are vulnerable to any number of bigger or quicker players and neither can get much done offensively on the move to the rim.

Gibson had a few layups where he was throwing his body around with abandon, and being so out of control, unless he gets a bailout foul or we snag an offensive rebound, it becomes a waste of a possession. At least on a few of his takes today, the ball found rim, giving us a shot at a ricochet.

Jones, on the other hand, knows better than to try to get to the rim. His penetration usually involves getting just deep enough under the free throw line to draw attention before kicking it out. He is far more under control and those types of penetration lead to far better shots for the team.

I believe Gibson is a better ball handler under pressure, so I hope that by the end of the year, he’s wisened up and knows how to apply pressure advantageously, since he isn’t getting calls.

Both contributed in big fashion today, floating into the corner, waiting for the ball, and hitting their shots when the ball came their way.

Big Z was the other main contributor. He couldn’t contain Bosh, fouling out with about 3 minutes remaining, but he pulled down 15 rebounds – compared to Bosh’s 4 – but his 6 turnovers outpaced the entire Raptors team.

Sasha also pulled down a number of boards. We outrebounded Toronto, a team that likes to play small, 47-28, providing the most glaring reason for our victory.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking of Sasha, at halftime we found ourselves standing in the food line behind a 6′6ish, bald white guy. Wearing a Lebron jersey. Now, I appreciate that everybody loves Lebron, but when you stand out from the crowd that much, and parallel the appearance of a certain Cav, go with that jersey, if only for the dry humor of being so on the nose.

It got us thinking about whose jersey we would sport, if we took our own advice. Our buddy Ran, almighty provider of tickets, landed on Gooden, after much deliberation. He has some goofy hair – though no ducktail, he has a soft inside game, despite decent size, midrange, but not long range touch, and he’s a bit crazy.

Ori would go with Sasha: good ballhandler, good shooter, sometimes dominant, sometimes invisible. Plus he likes his spray-on tan.

And I’d be Snow. I’m not very good. I try hard, I like playing defensive, I always get stuck on bigger guys, there are rumors and stories about a time when I was good, but nowadays I’d probably miss a layup worse than David Wesley.

Ok, I’ll never be that bad.

Go Cavs!

Xenophobe

The Cavs are in trouble this afternoon. We’re like the Russian in Rocky IV, and the Raptors are Rocky. Only, we’re American and they’re not. But you see, we’ve been celebrating, getting fat and happy the last few days, while the Raptors have been training away in the hinterlands of Canada.

You see, Canadians don’t believe in Thanksgiving. While we are rested and rejuvenated, they’re hungry and angry and the third word in the english language.

If ever there was a reason to hate Canadians, it will manifest today at the Q. I’ll be there spewing all the vitriole my virgin tongue can muster. Which is a lot, since my tongue isn’t very virgin, and I was raised by New Yorkers.

Go Cavs!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I see a turkey with my name on it, so this will be quick.

First Lebron cooked the turkey, then he cooked the Wolves. As I said in the preview comments, it was our one man team versus theirs.

The difference between Lebron and Al Jefferson is that even without a defensive stopped, Jefferson can be defended. Kudos to Dwayne Jones for throwing himself in there and beating Jefferson with hustle. Big Al shot well when he was under control, but he was harassed into 5 turnovers, and Dwayne matched Jefferson on the boards at our end – 4 offensive for Dwayne, 4 defensive for Al.

When we can simplify the game down to our best against theirs, we’ll never lose.

Go Cavs and go eat!

Predictionless Preview (@Minnesota)

Last night gave us a great opportunity to gauge my powers of prognostication, and boy does my foot taste good.

Tonight brings us to Minnesota to take on Al Jefferson (pictured above, dunking on apparent future Cav Ron Artest) and the Timberwolves.

My one prediction for the evening is that the game will tip-off shortly after 8pm EST. Now, if there’s is some technical problem delaying the game until 9, I’ll be out of this basketball game forever.

The Cavs are still without Hughes, Marshall and Simmons. Snow has been activated but did not play last night.

The Timberwolves have but one win this year.

Anything could happen.

Go team go.

Not a good Loss (Recap of Cavs v. Bucks)

I guess no loss is a good loss, but this one was tough.

As Matt mentioned in an earlier blog, we made the playoffs last year by going .500 on the road and winning 3 out of 4 at home. We can’t play like this and hope to continue winning that often at home.

I have come to realize a few things early in this season.

1. The Cavs MUST make a trade to compete:
Lebron is playing out of his mind, Z and Gooden are exceeding expectations, Boobie Gibson has been great. In fact, every player on this team is either exceeding or equaling their expectations (with the possible exception of Larry Hughes). If everyone is playing at their best and we still can’t win, it goes to show a few things:
a. Every other team has gotten better.
b. Talent wise we just aren’t that good.

2. Boobie Gibson is becoming one of the best pure shooters in the game. I’m talking along the lines of Ray Allen, Michael Redd and Detlef Schrempf. Obviously he hasn’t done this long enough yet, but he’s been consistent this season. Every time he hoists up a three I feel like it’s going to be good. He’s one the main reasons Lebron’s assists are up this year.

I would love for Boobie to challenge Damon Jones to a 3 point shooting contest in practice (ala Gilbert Arenas and DeShawn Stevenson), so that he can take away Damon’s self annointed “Best Shooter in the world title” and demote him to not even best shooter on the team.

3. We miss Eric Snow. Why didn’t he play yesterday? Michael Redd was scoring on us at will. Snow can’t be counted on much for scoring, but if Redd scores even 6 points less, we win that game. Now that Snow is back there is no reason Damon Jones should play more than 5 minutes a game.

4. We miss Varejao. I know we are trying to forget about him but he would be an asset to this team. Plays good defense, makes the hustle plays and he and Lebron have a good give and go move to the basket.

The Browns went out and got a lot of great players, the Indians just signed one of the best hot-dog eaters the world has ever known. The Cavs have got to make a play at someone. I hear that the Bibby deal is still being discussed and that the Kings really like Drew Gooden. So I propose:

Cavs Receive:
Mike Bibby
Ron Artest

Kings Receive:
Drew Gooden
Damon Jones
Larry Hughes
Shannon Brown

I like this trade for two reasons.
1. We get two good players who can help us win, can score and play good defense.
2. We get rid of Jones, Brown, and Hughes. The only real loss here is Gooden.

Only other option I can see is signing Detlef Schrempf.

You thoughts?