Slow down Cavs!

Seriously, it’s hard enough to keep up with these games every few days when I’m compelled to blog my pretty little heart while feeling drunk at work. These back-to-backs take a toll. Soon I’ll be on the sidelines indefinitely like Ben Wallace, handled with the kiddie gloves because I’m too fragile to finish out the regular season and still be in game shape for the playoffs.

Fortunately, the Cavs took one in Charlotte on cruise control last night. You can always tell when the Cavs are in cruise control because they’re not quite sloppy, but they’re also not exercising Mike Brown’s credo of “slow it down until the other team cries”.

Really, it was a huge positive to see Lebron foul out on the road and see a few of the supporting cast step up to earn the win. Sure, we could never stop the Bobcat machine. And sure there is some karma in store for Lebron’s thundering down the lane for a dunk and then pointing up to Michael Jordan’s owners box as if to say “I’m coming for you”. But the fact is we do have some offensive pieces that can get the job done even without Lebron and it was good to get that reassurance.

Ori will be by sometime to offer up his snapshot view of the game where he turns it on with but 2 minutes remaning and the King riding the pine.

In the meantime, the Cavs get ready for a nationally televised showdown with the Bulls. I bet TNT wishes they could swap out tonight’s slate. Cavs/Bulls and Rockets/Blazers? Yuck! Looks like you and I will be the only ones watching.

Damon "Chuck" Jones

Going into tonight’s game, the questions will be the same as they’ve been for months:

Will Ben Wallace play?
Will Boobie Gibson play?
Will the offense move at all?

At home against the Bobcats, I’m not especially worried.

As I tried to express over the weekend, what I would like to see is some continuity. Early in the season the Cavs had success overcoming injury by plugging the also-rans, such as Ira Newble, into the lineup to maintain rotations and roles.

The Cavs showed in their last game how we can be successful behind a rotation of Delonte, Devin, Boobie, Lebron, Andy, Z, and Joe Smith. Even if Boobie misses tonight, let’s lean on that rotation once again and see what we have. Plug each of those guys in for close to 30 minutes and fill the space with Wally. I’m sorry Sasha and DJ, but with this being the stretch run, we don’t need to concern ourselves with depth, but rather consistency.

If it doesn’t work, maybe go ahead and tinker with DJ running the show for a stretch. Or put in Sasha for a defensive matchup. Figure out where those guys can play the role of LOOGY rather than regular so we can quickly develop some chemistry with what we’re calling the core.

Meanwhile, over The Angry T…
I’m not sure I know what to make of it, but Damon Jones is, mathematically!, the league’s second best chucker, comfortably situated behind JR Smith and far ahead of Keith Bogans. The formula accounts for the pace at which DJ hoists and how often he hoists 3s, and, further, what percentage of his shots are 3s. I take nothing of value from it, but for the fact that DJ is clearly fantastic.

Go Cavs!

Bobcats come to Cleveland…

The game is already underway, so you definitely don’t need a “preview” but in case seeing Z back in uniform leaves you gushing with glee, here’s a spot to leave a comment.

What’s Lebron’s excuse tonight?

I hope that title is entirely premature. I just got home to tune in for the first time, mid 3rd quarter. It’s yet another 3rd quarter swoon – something Lebron has acknowledged in the past.

Only this time, it’s almost entirely on Lebron. Aside from him, the team is 50% from the field, 56% from deep, 88% from the line. We’re -1 on the boards subtracting Lebron’s total. The only reason we’re behind is the lack of free throws and the high number of turnovers. 6 of our 17 turnovers belong to Lebron. He’s only taken 11 shots and 3 free throws. There is absolutely no reason for him to have so few of either this close to the end of the 3rd. With the offense focues entirely on him and his talents, there are as many scoring chances as he chooses to embrace.

Still, it’s close and it’ll likely stay so heading into the 4th where he’ll turn all his attention to scoring. As long as the shots fall, this will turn into another late win, courtesy of statsheet stuffing Lebron. With 5 guys in double figures, it’ll even look like a great team performance. But it shouldn’t be like this. And if the shots don’t fall, and the Cavs do, it definitely shouldn’t be like that.

Changing directions…
I’m glad to see Andy out there. I guess calling up Simmons was precautionary. At the same time, it’s quite telling that Shannon couldn’t get on the floor through our recent offensive woes. He’s buried that deep so he might as well go down to the D league in favor of some extra size, when we already lack the minutes to give to DJ and Snow, who would clearly see the burn before him.

Well, we’re headed for the 4th now… Go Cavs!

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Update with 1:44 left:
3 shots and a pair of free throws later, Lebron has vaulted from our 5th leading scorer to our, you know, leading scorer.

I almost hope this goes to OT so Lebron can drop a quadruple double. Almost.

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0.3 seconds left:
Lots of credit to Lebron for his D in the last 2 minutes. He singlehandedly forced 2 turnovers (well, one was a jump ball he won over a 7 footer). And that has me thinking about his defense earlier in the game.

I did manage to catch a box score before halftime. At that point, Jason Richardson was killing us – 7-8 or so, while Gerald Wallace was quiet. Then, the rest of the way, Richardson went subzero – 0 for his last 16, while Wallace heated up and put Charlotte ahead during that miserable 3rd. We won in the 4th because we managed to stop them both.

What I’m wondering is this: Who guarded who early? Was there a switch? I know Hughes was on him late, but what was the sequence of matchups? Can I give Lebron credit for the effort behind some early D or should I blame him for being lazy on both ends? God, I wish I could quit my job so this uncertainty wouldn’t happen.

We might have our chance for that quad-double yet… Yup. No assists or turnovers in the 4th, though, and I imagine he’ll be in offense mode for OT, so we’ll need some luck.

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OT Update:
Lebron is 7-11 when he puts the ball on the floor and moves forward. WHY IS HE SHOOTING 3S?!? HE IS NOT A GOOD THREE POINT SHOOTER! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!

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End of OT 1:
Well, no assists or TOs for Lebron. He has a few good passes dropped on the other end. He took a few horrible shots, but then also got to the line some.

Why hasn’t Z played in a long time? Is Andy’s interior D that much better? Z’s tip-ins would’ve been a huge help, Okafor wouldn’t be schooling him, and Andy isn’t doing much to scare off penetration.

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Final update:
We win!

It took 10 minutes more than it should have, but boy, Lebron’s stats sure look gaudy now. Same goes for Andy. But at the end of the day, we won because Hughes had 16 and 5.

I don’t want to be redundant, but here are the final thoughts:
The non-Lebrons were 14-16 from the line and 8-15 for 3.
What happened to Jason Richardson from the 2nd quarter on?!
Lebron should not ever shoot a 3 with more than 2 seconds on the 24.
Andy doesn’t box out much against “small” lineups, he just floats and uses elbows.

Go Cavs!