Till the death! The Cavs Best Rivalries

After playing nice with blogger for bit this evening, I won’t write much or keep you here long, but I do insist you leave your opinion of this 3 column look in the comments.

I caught this from washingtontimes.com while perusing Truehoop:

In an attempt to get fans to boo loudly when Boston’s Leon Powe was at the foul line, the scoreboard put up images of LeBron James, Kwame Brown, J.J. Redick in a Duke uniform and a Yankees logo

My first thought, obviously was pride and smirk at Lebron being vilified – more on that later. Then I wondered if the Cavs were the first with this gimmick a few years ago, or if not, who was.

Then I realized I was a bit confused. The Wizards play in Washington, right? That’s the Verizon Center?

I can understand Lebron. We trounce the Wizards when it counts, so he must be their arch-nemesis. And Kwame makes sense, too, though it’s a bit too malicious for my blood to hate a guy just because Michael Jordan thought he would be good.

But JJ Redick? And the Yankees?

First, Redick. Maybe I missed a few geography lessons, but is DC that close to tobacco road? Does any DC area team have a rivalry that approaches Duke-UNC? Georgetown? Is there another notable DC hoops squad? A quick Google search has the Hoyas beating Duke despite 41 from Redick not long ago. No reason for hate. So this just generic, then? The area is so lacking for rivals they can stick to cliche Duke hatred.

The Yankees make a little more sense. Not much more than 10 years ago the Orioles could muster 80 wins in a season, even make the playoffs, but the Yankees (and Indians!) were the ones moving on to the World Series. Some rivalry is inevitably perpetuated by 18 games each year, and the Yankees are the Yankees, but it’s sad that that is the best Washington can offer up.

How about going outside of sports instead? Throw up George W. Bush on half the Jumbotrons and Michael Moore or Hillary Clinton on the other. Or, as long as we’re getting political, put up a portrait of an old King of England and see if anybody catches on. Isn’t Cowboys/Redskins much more heated? Are there any local villains, like the old crack smoking mayor?

But back to Lebron vs. the Wizards…

Three years in a row seeing somebody get sent home definitely makes a rivalry, and we’re headed that way now. If we make it past Round 1, we move on to the Pistons, for another playoff series threepeat.

So for the first team, the Cavs are building a resume of rivalries. In the Mark Price era, there was always Michael Jordan, but that seemed quite one-sided. The Pistons peak came a few years early and despite a few epic playoff series’s with the Celtics, it always seemed like they have bigger fish to fry, like MJ or the Lakers.

How do the Cavs top 5 rivalries rank?

1. Detroit – This one is indisputable in my mind. Each of the past 2 years, the Cavs and Pistons provided the most intense playoff series’s in the East, peppered with historic showings like “Game 5″. Now, for the Cavs to repeat or improve on last year, they will likely need to go through the Pistons again. Similar the 20 years ago, the Pistons’s star has started to fade prematurely, but they’re done such a great job infusing youth, this rivalry, always Ohio and Michigan, should continue atop this list for a long time to come.

2. Washington – Playoff showdowns beget rivalries. So far this matchup has been one-sided, with the Wizards unable to get past the Cavs, but there’s still little doubt the gap is small. Honestly, I’ll confess I’m a bit scared of the Wizards in round 1. Nothing motivates like a chipped shoulder and DeShawn Stevenson seems to have something to prove against Lebron at every turn. Especially as we get closer and closer to the playoffs, this rivalry is solidified in the 2nd spot.

3. Chicago – It’s tough to have a rivalry when one team is awful (see: Orioles/Yankees). But remember, everybody was picking the Bulls to start the year and their rise from mediocrity has paralleled the Cavs. Besides, bad blood lasts a lifetime and I still wince every time I see The Shot. Even this year, with our schedule conveniently backloaded, each Bulls game was must watch, as Larry Hughes came out with something to prove and most every Cavs fan wanted to watch him fail.

4. Lakers – The Lakers don’t fit in here. Hell, we only play them twice each year. But this one is more personal. Until they’re both long retired, and even beyond, the debate will rage as to who is the better player/better scorer/MVP/funniest/smartest/best dressed/rapiest. Not only is each matchup with the Lakers a showdown, where all eyes fall to Lebron and Kobe for the entire 4th quarter as they go head to head, but even in the media, Kobe and Lebron compete with dueling 50 point games. Each time one explodes with an incredible outing, look to the highlights the following day for a riposte. Nothing short of the Finals will cement this rivalry, but with so much ink spilled about it, it can’t be disregarded.

5. Boston – This one is something of a wild card. Each game this season has been rather intense, but it’s still more a rivalry in the making. If these teams do meet finally meet in the playoffs for the first time in more than 15 years, it will be the matchup of best team versus best player. Besides, I hate Boston – and I know I’m not alone.

Honorable mention – Milwaukee, but it’s just not competitive enough.

With the ebb and flow of teams like the Celtics and Dwyane Wade’s Heat over the next few seasons, this list is likely to change. The best rivalries cause wounds that are not quick to heal, but they cut that deep because the emotion wrapped up in them can’t be spared for just any opposition.

Go Cavs!

Lebron > HOF (but Lumbar > Lebron)

Congratulations to Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing, Pat Riley (how was he just elected now? age requirement?), Adrian Dantley, Dick Vitale and the others elected to the Hall of Fame.

Maybe they can impart some tips for longevity on the fragile Cavaliers. Seriously, I can accept a rash of freak injuries as a run of bad luck, but how many bad backs can we pile up on one team?

Wait, wait, let me make the obvious joke: Of course Lebron hurt his back. It was inevitable, the way he’s been carrying this team.

Today, the back injury kept him from practice.

There are degrees to a bad back as evidenced by the play of somebody like Ben Wallace. There is full healthy, as Big Ben was a few years back. There’s tricky but uninjured, as Big Ben likely was most of this season, where you don’t notice it until you tighten up after the game, but it never had an effect. There’s sore, but good enough to play. There’s really sore, but stable enough to risk it. And there’s out.

Judging from all the talk about Lebron sitting out today but definitely playing on Wednesday, it seems safe to say Lebron is square in the middle: sore, but good enough to play.

And that’s too bad.

Part of me agrees with the fellow to the right that says we need Lebron to see the offense gel, but then there are two other parts of me. I’m like the tricycle of human beings.

One of the rear wheels, trying to hold back Lebron, points out the success we have when somebody else tries to take over. With 5 games left, and I’m saying Lebron should miss them all, let’s go out and see who wants to be our secret leading scorer. It should probably be Z. Who is going to body him up on the Nets? (And who will do it on the Raptors, or for that matter, the Celtics?) Let’s run it through Z like we can’t go home until we get it right. Pound it like we’re Chris Henry and the Z in the post is some poor stranger in Cincinnati. Not so much to get Z off. I could care less about Z going for 30 points – though I’m sure he could. Z – get this – can also pass. And with height, and his perhaps commanding a double team, some patience and a few sharp cuts should lead to either layups or wide open 3s, all with Lebron courtside in a La-Z-Boy next to his Jay-Z boy. (I should be a rapper or a poet – whichever the white kids are doing these days.) Lebron has a high basketball IQ, right? He can watch and learn, and he’ll welcome the easy shots once he gets back, right? Hell, if you insist on playing Lebron, keep his minutes down and see how we run an offense without him.

The other rear wheel holding Lebron back says, “Oh god it hurts!” I’ve been there, son. I’ve had that bad back. I played some basketball on it. Just made it worse. And worse and worse, because I’m a stubborn macho jackass. Thanks to the good folks at the Cleveland Clinic, I can ball again, but I got a string of DNPs in the process. Now, an extra day or two off won’t get him back to 100%, but it will sure help. Not just help make him feel better, which is plenty good, but also lessen the chance of a flare up a few weeks down the road. Hell, without any way to measure the risk tangibly, this is theoretical, but I’d happily lose each game, give up home field and slide all the way down the 6th if it meant Lebron would be 100% come April 19th.

“One day helps,” he said. “But it’s something where you need a little more than one day.”

Oh how I hope that’s prophetic. For the good of Lebron and the Cavs.

As a quick aside:
I was posed the question today of whether I’d trade the potential for a playoff run this year in exchange for the top pick in the draft. I really struggle to see this team winning the championship this year, and assured of anything less, I would definitely make that swap, even if the pick were just the #2. That said, we do have LEBRON JAMES. Despite this horrendous season, we have a shot. I’ve always been short-sighted. I can’t pass that up.

Double aside:
What do you think Lebron got Jay-Z and Beyonce?

The Prodigal Son has Returned!

What’s up players!

I’m back and better than ever. I’ve had little to zero access to the Internet, television, or the world in general these past two weeks.

So I would think it might be a bit ridiculous for me to try to blog about the Cavs after not seeing them for a while.

Luckily for all of us, my middle name is “ridiculous”!

To be fair to myself, I did a bit of research before getting all up on this. I read about Lebron’s 50 point game. The beating we gave Larry Hughes and the Bulls, and the beating that Drew Gooden and the crew returned on us.

Here’s what I got for you.

The Cavs are good. I ain’t too worried about them. Lebron appears to have reached the point of literally being able to beat teams by himself. He’s shown flashes of this during the regular season, and I imagine that it will intensify com playoff time. Aside from that, we just need to get healthy. I noticed that Z was hurt…he’s a huge part of this team, and necessary for Big Ben to be most effective.

Boobie and Sasha should be back soon and should both get minutes.

We’ve got a really good bench now, we are pretty deep and we have shooters, scorers, defenders, scrappers, etc. We really have a great collection of guys around Lebron. As long as he keeps dominating, I’m not really sure who can beat us in a 7 game series. He probably won’t win the MVP which is a travesty considering the fact that he has now cemented himself as THE best player in the NBA (yes, better than Kobe).

So overall, I’m happy to be back and I’m excited about these Cavs. Let me know if there is anything I’ve missed or really need to know.

All-star reserves announced…

Shockingly, no Cavs made it, which means Lebron will have to make the long drive from Cleveland to New Orleans, in his beat up old Tercel, alone.

Now some would have you believe that represents a sad state of affairs for the Cavs. Some “fans” would have you believe that the Cavs need more to reach new heights.

Dare they question the greatness of Lebron?

Whilst making the claim that Lebron is, hands down, already the greatest player in NBA history, a Cavs supporter sharing a nickname and alma mater with the only man ever to average a triple double, said that Lebron needs players he can win with.

Blasphemy!

Jesus didn’t need disciples; his disciples needed him. Lebron doesn’t need all-stars; Lebron makes all-stars.

Lebron James is so good – right now and forever – that if he decided it was so, he could carry a team of myself, Ori, Danny Ferry and Larry Hughes to a championship.

How dare anyone claiming to be a fan dispute that?

We keep winning….Damn.

Yeah you heard me right….Damn.

I know, I know, It’s crazy to me too. I’m starting to get a bit upset when the Cavs win. It’s almost as if (It’s actually impossible for me to root against them…I was hopping around the house after Lebron hit that jumper in Kobe’s grill yesterday) I want them to lose.

Why in the sweet lord’s name would I, the self-proclaimed greatest Cavs fan of all time, be rooting against my team?!

Because I’ve seen this before. It’s like Groundhogs day and I’m Bill Murray. We did this same last year. Lebron carries us and certain streaky players (Gooden, Hughes, Pavs, etc.) get hot at the right time and we start rattling off a few quality wins against good teams. Then the management, players, and fans are lulled into a false sense of security that our team is really good and that we’re all set. THEN, the trade deadline passes and we do NOTHING because we feel really good about our wins and our chemistry. THEN Larry Hughes remembers that he’s:
1. Not so good
2. Has bones made of pretzel sticks

Luckily for me, Gooden isn’t in on this train yet, but the Cavs did this same thing last year and we got hot and didn’t make a move at the deadline. I know we got to the Finals last year, but that was based on a combination of luck (Washington and NJ in the playoffs), sheer dominance (Lebron v. Pistons) and ultimately led to embarrassment (Swept by San Antonio).

I’m telling you right now…we NEED another significant player, whether it be Mike Bibby, Pau Gasol, Jason Kidd, whoever…we need another guy who can create and score.

You like what Larry Hughes is doing? Good! Trade him now while he is showing a little value to other teams. I’ve seen this guy for a few years now, I’m not impressed! Even when he’s on, he’s nothing special.

(Side: How awesome is it that Matt points out every little flaw (down to a specific shot they took) in the games of Lebron and Boobie Gibson, but trips over himself to compliment Larry Hughes when he looks like a capable NBA player/ not a WNBA player? Note to Matt: Hughes and Lebron make almost the exact same amount of money to play basketball and win games…one guy is producing a little more than the other. Let Lebron shoot his occasional three! Also, thanks for conveniently not pointing out that Lebron was excellent on defense yesterday. If you are going to attack him for shot selection you can at least point out how well he defended Kobe yesterday…especially after your boy Larry got destroyed by Bryant as he just backed him into the lane (from the top of the key) for an uncontested layup in the 2nd quarter)

But I digress…I do love these wins, as long as the Cavs are still urgently seeking to upgrade our roster. If they are becoming copacetic with the current team, we’ll be in trouble again soon.

Damn.

Deep Thoughts By Ori Handy

As I walked into work today, I was thinking of all these thoughts and notes I had for the blog about specific players, and the team in general.

As I sit to write this, I remember none of them. Hopefully they will come to me.

(note: Because I can, I’m leaving my responses inline. You miscreants can use the comments. -Matt)

LEBRON:
Matt stole some of my thunder with his previous post about Lebron’s Yankee shoes (scroll down if interested). I couldn’t have really said it better myself. Why is this even really a story? Like Matt said, we all like NYC, it’s probably the coolest city in the USA (maybe some douches in LA might argue with that). And frankly, If there was a REAL world series of baseball and we had to pick any major league team to represent the US year in and year out on the world stage, Wouldn’t the Yankees be everyone’s choice? So in short…whatever.

I was watching Youtube videos the other day, and watched Lebron’s game against Utah (in Utah) where he scored 51 points, and the Jazz crowd in the end basically stopped caring about their team and only cheered Lebron. I think sometimes we forget how awesome it is to have Lebron here. We are fans of Cleveland. If Lebron James retired right now, would anybody really argue that he isn’t one of the Top 10 players of all time? That’s ridiculous.
(If he retired right now, no. He hasn’t done enough. But he’s close, and we get the point. He’d be the NBA Sandy Koufax.)

BOOBIE:
This is intended mainly for Matt because he’s so hard on the little guy. But if you watched the game against the Miami Heat, the announcers basically contradicted all of Matt’s issues with the boobster (Matt believes that Boobie is not yet a good defender and that he’s not quick enough to guard PG’s but too small to guard SG’s). Since I’ll assume that Matt watches more Cavs than the TNT announcers do, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt but two comments they made flew in the face of Matt’s criticism’s of Boobie.
1. After driving past Chris Quinn to the basket for a lay-up: “The Heat have nobody who can stay with this athletic guard, he is just too quick.”
2. After bodying up Ricky Davis: “Gibson is a solid defensive player, in last year’s Eastern Conference Playoffs he did a great job guarding Chauncey Billups and taking him out of his game.”
(Chris Quinn is the one player Boobie can beat off the dribble. I believe I mentioned that in my Heat recap. According to the TNT guys [Reggie Miller, the Spurs game] Boobie isn’t even the top-notch shooter we need. As for his D, I should have given Boobie some credit when I mentioned DJs improvement. They’ve both been solid. But then, we haven’t faced the glut of big PGs we did early in the year. I watched the Pistons series and I remember Hughes’s length taking Chauncey out of his game, not Boobie’s… existence.)

DAMON JONES:

I still hate him because he’s been a distraction, but he’s been much better as of late both on offense and defense.
(Amen!)

ERIC SNOW:

Have we all forgotten about him? Why is he getting 0 minutes? I know he’s not a great offensive option, but in close games (which we’ve had recently) I would much rather see him out there than any guard we have on this team to get a defensive stop.
(My guess is that he’s noticably older and slower now. Plus what we’ve been doing works, so why screw with it? I think of him as an assistant coach.)

Z:

We need to use him more. There is no doubt in my mind that he is the second best/most important player on this team.
(We’ve definitely gone away from the “throw it inside for the first 3 possessions” offense. Whatever inspires and allows him to take his one man show to the offensive glass needs to happen more often.)

ANDY:

We should already begin working on a new contract after this season. After Lebron and Z he is the next most important guy on the team. You can just tell that Lebron loves playing with him, the fans love him, and he is always the hardest working guy on the floor. If he continues to work on his offense and can average 12 pts a game, I have no problem signing him to a 5 year 50 mil deal.
(5 years, 50 mil still scares me, at least while Hughes is on the books. I’m guessing Ferry plans to follow the Spurs model of 3 well paid stars supplemented with veterans and spare parts. 10 mil per means Andy HAS to be in that big 3. We would NEED his offense or he just turns into another Larry Hughes.)

SASHA:

By far the most interesting guy on this team. I can’t really make sense of him. There is no doubt that he is the second most skilled player in this team. He is a solid outside shooter, super athletic and can play solid defense. I tried to think of a guy in the league that best compares to him and I came up with Mike Miller. If you think about it, they are pretty much the same player. Except Mike Miller is on the US Olympic team and Sasha has been struggling to get crunch time minutes. It seems as if Sasha still doesn’t get “it”. I’m not even sure what “it” is, but there is no reason that Sasha shouldn’t be what Larry Hughes should have been which is a guy who plays good defense scores about 18 pts. a game and grabs 5 and 5.

Last year, when Sasha got hot, Lebron was saying that he was telling everybody how good Sasha is and that they match up in practice everyday. He should be great. What’s his deal?
(Sasha has been none of the above so far this year. But Lebron seems to love him. Too bad love doesn’t build a house the way all those bricks do. I hope he turns it around.)

WIZARDS:

Tonight we play the Washington Wizards. A team that is actually pretty good (really no drop off at all after losing Gilbert “Agent 0″ Arenas, which enforces my feelings that the Cavs should NOT go after him as a free agent or trade.) The Wizards are led by Matt’s Man-Crush Caron Butler and the very underrated Antawn Jamison. Should be a good game and a chance to see how we stack up against a good team that won’t quit. Hopefully, like last game, other players step up and Lebron won’t have to carry us. We will see!
(I’m interested to see if Lebron Ds Caron. I expect Caron to be on Lebron, but I’m guessing we’ll protect Lebron early by sending Sasha at Caron.)

Go Cavs!
(Watch the Cavs and every NBA game this week on the free preview of NBA league pass.)

I’ll stick to my Air Force Ones

The question was raised in the comments as to why we haven’t yet addressed this shoe thing.

Honestly, it’s completely under my rader, because I don’t think it means a damned thing. Look, Lebron is a Yankees fan. He’s not a Knicks fan. This doesn’t indicate that he’s leaving to sign with the Nets. He’s not tanking a la Major League to move the franchise to the Bronx.

He busts his ass as much as he knows how to get the Cavs wins. He’s pouring his heart out into the team, and if he wants to wear a tutu and sleeveless jean jacket while cheering for the Patriots at the Super Bowl because the Giants beat his Cowboys, I say let him.

New York City is an amazing city. If I grew up in the middle of nowhere Ohio, I’d dream of the big city, too.

Don’t read anything into it. Don’t fret and panic. Don’t look for signals where there aren’t any to be found. He plays for the Cavs. He will continue to play for the Cavs until he says otherwise. He’s clearly not afraid to show his allegiances and he does just that for the Cavs every night on the court.

Go Lebron! Go Cavs! Go Cleveland! Go buy some shoes!

Lebron is going fast

Am I late to the party on this one or did it just come out?
Lebron got ticketed for cracking the century mark in a 65 zone.

Unfortunately for Lebron, the Brunswick Hills Township officer caught him on the last leg of his trip home. If he’d been there for the first 3 quarters, the gun would’ve only read 40.

Well, at least he had fun. Speeding isn’t so bad. He must not have been intoxicated. Nobody was hurt. It didn’t even get out for 2 weeks, so his machine is in control.

I wonder why he’s even bothering to contest it, though.

*shrug* Mindless trust in those who deliver. Go Cavs!

MEDINA: LeBron James’ 23rd birthday started with the flashing lightbar of a state patrol cruiser in Medina County and ended with flashing cameras in Las Vegas.

The Cavaliers’ star was ticketed for driving 101 mph on Interstate 71 at 2:43 a.m. Dec. 30.

James, who lives in Sharon Township, was driving his 2008 white four-door Mercedes with vanity license plates ”KNG OF AK” southbound on the highway in Brunswick Hills Township when he was stopped. The speed limit on that stretch of highway is 65 mph.

He was cited for speeding.

etc…

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.

Cavs v. Referee Recap

Some Quick observations from yesterday’s game:

Cavs Lose
Referee Wins
So do the Orlando Magic I guess.

A jump ball!? .07 back on the clock? How is Mike Brown not going nuts, I would have preferred to lose that game on 12 straight technicals.

1. Larry Hughes looks even worse in person, than he does on TV. An absolute disaster of a player. I went to the game with my wife and was giving her the scouting report on all of our and their players. When I got to Larry Hughes, I explained to her that he was our biggest free agent signing and that so far he has been a bust. Then I told her, don’t be surprised if you hear him being booed by a few people. At first a few people did boo him, by the 3rd quarter (he rode the bench for the 4th quarter and overtime) he was being booed summarily by about 80% of the audience every time he touched the ball. I’ve never seen a crowd turn so quickly on a player.

Larry Hughes is becoming untradable. Every minute he is on the floor playing basketball he is hurting the Cavs more and more. I’m at an absolute loss as to what to do with this guy.

2. Boobie Gibson didn’t miss…In the first half. After that I’m not sure he even touched the ball again. Boobie was schooling Jameer Nelson in the first half. At halftime, the Magic made adjustments to always have somebody watching him in the corner. Boobie played decent defense, he just gets called for alot of dumb fouls. Jameer never really took it to Gibson, he was just often the end result of great ball rotation and bad defense by us. Bad defense by a defensive team is never good.

3. Z and Gooden are playing great. They did everything you could ask of them. Z was hitting nearly every jumper he took. Gooden was playing well inside and out. Both were grabbing rebounds. They did a decent job on Dwight Howard who did most of his damage against the timid Dwayne Jones.

4. Sasha. I don’t know what to make of him. Sometimes he disappears on the court and sometimes he’s demanding the ball. I will say this for him though, the man can not buy a foul. Game after game Sasha attacks the rim, somehow ends up upside down in the air and gets no call. He either needs work on his acting or stay under better control.

5. Great Halftime Show! I mean really good. There was a time when Cavs halftime shows consisted of pigs being dressed in costumes and pushing each other around in baby carriages. Gone are those dark days! This halftime show had a drummer banging on some paint cans (he was really good) and two kids who were break dancing and body morphing. Yes I said morphing. They were doing things that you only see in cartoons. The crowd was hyped! At one point, one kid placed the other kid on top of his head and started spinning him like a helicopter and running around the court with him just spinning wildly on his head. Reactions from the crowd ranged from:
Guy behind us: “Awwwww Helll Nawh!”
Same guy: “No he didn’t!”
Guy’s friend: “These #$%&% is crazy!”
Little kid in from of us: “This is almost as good as Hannah Montana!”
My wife summed it up with: “These guys should be in Vegas!”

6. Big problems for this team. You have a guy on your team who scores 39 points, gets 14 assists, 13 rebounds, blocks 2 shots and plays great defense, and you STILL lose?! This means you either just played a championship contending team or the other guys on the team are really bad. Orlando is good, but not championship good. This team just doesn’t have the talent. Matt can put it all on Lebron to carry the team, but even Michael Jordan didn’t have to put up stat lines like this one to win. If we need Lebron to put up these kind of numbers for us to stay competitive than you can forget about this team. It isn’t fair to Lebron. He’s a great player. I’m ready to say he is THE best player in the NBA (better than Kobe). But he can’t do this night in and out while he is being triple-teamed. We have to trade for at least one other great player who can hurt teams. Ferry has to be actively looking to do something.

No Marbury though. Lebron hates him. He has hated him for a while after Marbury made some comment about Lebron’s shoes costing the public so much. Lebron responded by saying his shoes were quality unlike the “Starbury’s“. And yesterday this came out: “Although James said he doesn’t know Knicks guard Stephon Marbury, he’s sure of one thing: “I couldn’t have a guy like that on my team,” he said.”

We lost. As I said before, we won’t win 3 out of 4 at home again this year. That’s why the Denver no show upset me so much.