Regular season champs

If you want to crown them, then crown their ass.

I can’t even see the effort wasn’t there tonight. We just didn’t have it. Lebron was missing layups. Wally Hughes continues to live up to the name. Damon Jones couldn’t buy a shot and Joe Smith couldn’t stay on the floor.

So that’s twice we’ve been to Boston and twice we came away with an ugly loss. I’m not sweating it. The first time was without Lebron and this one came on the back end of a cold back-to-back. Honestly, we might have had a better chance waiting an extra day and going without Lebron.

We looked old. The Celtics came out planning to run us off the floor and that’s what they did. Their outlet passes and ball movement were just too much for us. It’s a good measure of where we’re stand next regular season. What it’s not is an indication of the Celtics superiority. Whoop-di-doo, they beat us by 5 on a night when nobody had it in their tired old legs. I’ve always hated the 2 week break between each playoff game, but maybe not anymore. This won’t be the team the Celtics see next time.

• Delonte was money all night, but he’s not a take-over-the-game player. 20 points was a season high (and Joe Tait was shocked his buzzer beater counted).
• Joe Smith was the only other Cav hitting, but he was saddled with 5 fouls in under 15 minutes.
• For the record, even with Wally’s 3rd straight stinker (give him a few days off, let him get his legs, I’m still not worried), the newcomers went 18-37 for 47 points, 20 boards and 5 assists. The rest of the team went 13-44, 24 and 11. Ouch.
• Lebron realized he didn’t have it early and went on the attack. I loved it. At some point the shots need to start falling for it to turn around into a W, but this is the sort of effort that turns a lot of other games around. 4 offensive rebounds is hugely uncommon for him, and he easily could’ve had 8 assists if we shot 45% instead of 38%.
• Z didn’t do much in the first half, but he must’ve taken something in the locker room at halftime. He came out in the 3rd quarter trying to take over. He was putting the ball on the floor, spinning past defenders, killing the offensive glass. It just didn’t result in many shots or much residual energy for the rest of the team.
• Andy had a couple nice dishes underneath. Those passes always lead to dunks, as long as the reciever doesn’t fumble the ball. Still, he didn’t have much energy. I think he’s still working himself back into game shape.
• I mentioned Glen Davis and Kendrick Perkins in the preview. Add Leon Powe to that list. Those 3 combined to go 10-12 for 30 points.

Again, I want to stress that we came to play tonight. We turned an early rebounding deficit around mainly by attacking the offensive glass in the 2nd half. We didn’t settle for many long jumpers offensively and defensively we busted our butts, we were just too slow.

The Celtics have another thing coming when we roll into town fresh and rested. In the meantime, we’re slipping further into 5th, as Toronto tallied another win tonight.

Next up are the Wolves, then the big showdown against Chicago. Hughes went for 29, 6 and 3 tonight, while Gooden scored 10 along with 15 boards (8 offensive!). The game will strike a balance between the intensity of coming back to Cleveland and their inconsistent nature. Actually, it’s possible Gooden doesn’t know he was traded and Hughes will kill himself trying too hard.

In the meantime, we have a few off to rest and practice, two things these team seems to direly need.

Go Cavs!

Tonight we dine in hell

Then we take the court against the Celtics. Boston might be my least favorite city in America. Really, aside from it’s contrived rivalry with New York, it has nothing to offer. And if Boston wasn’t around, New York would just rival Philly or DC. Good job being close to a real city, guys, you’re milking it for all it’s worth.

Z’s cold has been upgrade to an upper respiratory infection. While his status for tonight is still unofficial, I’m reading between the lines and saying that we’re starting Andy again.

The Celtics, meanwhile, are back to full strength with Kevin Garnett in his 6th game back from a tummy ache. A number of the Celtics wins come from the surprise performances of the likes of Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis. Plus now they’ve brought PJ Brown into the fold (though he probably won’t play tonight).

In other words, the Cavs thin front line will have its hands full. Fortunately, I don’t expect to see Ray Allen and Paul Pierce breaking any ankles, so our 3 bigs should be able to stay out of foul trouble – as long as we don’t see the same officiating crew as last night.

The real threat, then, as the Celtics review film of last night’s game, might be Rajon Rondo. He’s been a mixed bag against the Cavs this year, once going 1-9, but following up with an 8-13, 20 point performance. He lacks the assertiveness of Mo Williams, and Paul Pierce will likely be calling for the ball all night in his vendetta against Lebron, so my biggest fears are tempered.

It’ll be telling to see how this team comes out so soon after a tough loss and poor defensive performance, especially in such a marquee game on the road.

Go Cavs!

Priorities…

I missed the game. Next time, I skip out on work.

I got into my car and had a text from Ori, “DJ getting abused!” So I wrote back to ask if we’d won. He responded with “Yeah, won! Hughes is the greatest! Ira, Boobie and Lebron are good, too.”*

I just now, finally, saw some highlights so before Ori can say all the glowing things, I thought I’d stop in and say hi.

Hi! Cavz rule!!1

Lakers look good in game 1 of the Pau era. The got 5 field goals from Kobe and Odom. Kobe had more turnovers than points and they still dropped 105. Against a bad Nets team, sure, but Kobe won’t do that often. (And he still ended up with the best +/-)

The Heat and Suns are talking about swapping Shaq for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. I’m not even reading that article. No way it happens. At least, if it does: Dumb, dumb, dumb. One less team the Cavs might play in the finals. I mean, sure Marion is unhappy and paid a lot and able to leave after this season, but that’s the best Steve Kerr can do? After being so frugal, selling picks and giving up picks just to dump salary, they’re going to pick up that dead weight? Shaq has lost all value in my eyes. For the Heat, I’d definitely do it. Either Marion gets happy with Wade or they get some flexibility. Though I disagree with their obsession with acquiring a point guard, at least getting Banks would make them a little happier on that front.

Alright, since I feel bad forming baseless opinions about the game, here are some pictures:

*May be paraphrased

These guys again?

How many times do we need to beat these Celtics before they go away for good?  I guess we’re planning to make it interesting by having a few guys dress up in suits and turtlenecks.  Lebron is a game time decision.

With no Lebron, it’ll be the Boobie/Rondo show just like last week.  Boston has a few other ok players, but Rajon Rondo is the catalyst.  We’ll probably look to slow down the game and maximize our front court advantage with Z, Gooden and Newble matching up against Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Kendrick Perkins.

Should be a good game either way.

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!