Magic live blog

Magic, because it wrote itself. Live blog because I was doing it during the game against Orlando.

Lebron’s back at full strength – he started strong with the bad pass turnover on the 2nd possession

And wow was that an embarassing WIDE OPEN dunk by Wallace. That was worse than the Bulls game. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt by hoping the ball just slipped out of his hand.

We are dominating the offensive boards and there is nothing they can do to stop it. If we just keep moving the ball and play some defense (early on they’ve gotten some WIDE open 3s), then this is a W.

At full strength, we really are deep. There aren’t many better 6-7 tandems than Boobie And Andy. And Joe Smith at 8? You could definitely debate the value of our starters – I doubt Devin Brown or Ben Wallace would start for many contenders, but our bench might be the best in the league.

Sloppy Q1. We routinely cut down our turnovers in the 2nd half, so keeping this one close and dominating the boards should still be enough.

I don’t really like Rick Carlisle as a color guy because everything he says is a tease. “3 point shooting is weapon. We’ll talk more about it.” And on to some fluff comment from the play by play guy. Adds 0 to the game. Plus, for a coach, his insight is amazingly cliched. “Bringing in a guy like Ben Wallace will add some toughness in the playoffs.” Why not just talk about the weather? We’ll all spoiled by JVG.

Yikes! Hedo blew right past the much smaller Devin Brown.

Lebron laying on his back behind the bench is worrisome. If we can hang with the Magic for a stretch of the 2nd quarter without him, I’d be fine not bringing him back out in the 3rd. He’s not as loose as he’d like and trying to explode through that just means the risk of worsening the injury.

This should definitely be a live blog. That fact that I’m typing all this in notepad doesn’t do anybody a lick of good. Then again, I doubt too many folks are stopping by mid-game. Do people like live blogs?

“If the Pistons could have a do over of last year, they would take the ball out of Lebron James’s hands.” I’m starting to hate Rick Carlisle.

Lebron is back in. Let’s keep an eye on how much he moves on both ends.

Wally has seemed steadily assertive. As in, he’ll get his minutes, if the shots are falling, he’ll keep shooting, and he could well average 12 per the rest of the way. What I think nobody realized was that Wally isn’t really a 3 point shooter. From me to Mike Brown, we all looked for him to a be another stand in the corner and wait guy, but he’s really more like Rip Hamilton, using screens and hitting mid-range jumpers. Just the sort of offensive player that commands some attention from the defense. If he develops some chemistry with Lebron where Lebron keeps his dribble working on wing while Wally uses a curl around the back, Lebron should do a great job of anticipating the defense reacting to Wally and exploiting that for a quick drive to the hoop.

As for that last point… Does Mike Brown draw up any plays?

We’re finishing the 2nd quarter strong. Moving the ball and moving without the ball has gotten us a number of easy shots the last 2 minutes, and making the defense pay attention has given Lebron a few one on one opportunities and lanes to the hoop.

(I hope the halftime show is the pig play Ori and I caught once up a time.)

The announcers are commenting on Dwight Howard having only 2 and 2 – after starting the 2nd half with a rebound. This is after averaging 25 and 13 against us the previous 3 games. When was the last time a star had an abysmal game against the Cavs?

We’re starting the 3rd with a lot more sloppy play. I don’t have the stats for it at hand, but I’d guess that if we start and finish the 3rd with a lead, we win an overwhelming amount. However, I’d guess we give away a lot of 3rd quarter leads, and lose far too many of those games. In other words, if we can put together a string of solid possessions to keep this lead, we’re looking good, but if we put in our usual poor 3rd, I’d bet against us.

Z finally gets us on the board, 3:28 into the 3rd. Our offense is running a lot more pick and roll and post sets, compared to a number of off the ball screens (really, a good mix) in the first half.

Dwight Howard doesn’t seem explosively decisive. When he gets it in the post, he turns, hesitates, then springs up. No spins, no elbow hooks, no lateral movement. Is it him or is it us?

I just decided I’m rooting for Memphis to go all the way. Lebron missed a free throw, making him 3-6 on the day. Everybody picked against Memphis because they don’t hit free throws, so they’re a college version of us. Which means we should just put Derrick Rose on the Cavs rather than go through the draft process.

We’re not getting nearly as many offensive rebounds this half. Of course, it’s very noticeable because nothing is falling. It looks like Orlando is crashing harder with 3 or 4 guys, having just 1 leak out, and it’s working. Still, we’re plus 20 tonight. Thank you ESPN for the timely graphic.

Pat Garrity with the season high in scoring. That’s what you expect against the Cavs.

Lebron James is very good friends with everybody. Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, everybody who comes through town. Can we just rename the Cavs “Superfriends” and get them all in uniform? If my friends and I were capable of an absolute dynasty, I think we’d swallow a little individual pride to do it.

Remember how we finished the 2nd quarter strong? Up to 15 turnovers… But the defense has been contesting and we’re still dominating the boards.

On to the 4th with a 3 point lead. I’ll predict this one going down to the wire. We’ve been too sloppy to expect us to clamp down and execute.

About our bench again, right now we have Boobie, Andy, Joe and Wally out there with Lebron. Is that lineup any worse than Delonte, Devin, Ben and Z?

Rick Carlisle just said he wouldn’t want to play Philadelphia in a first round series AND he wouldn’t want to play them in a 2nd round series. Well then! I sure hope the Cavs don’t see them until the conference finals.

I’m definitely not going to say he’s been a liability or that he’s costing us the game, but as he goes to 5-17, Lebron is clearly unable to take over. I’d like to put the onus on the rest of the team to win this one for Lebron. Take him out.

There goes the lead, as we’ve started both the 3rd and 4th ice cold.

First points 4:03 in to the 4th. Z again. Lean on him the rest of the way, damnit.

DirecTV box just froze. This greatly displeases me…

And the game is back on just in time for me to see Delonte miss consecutive free throws. Why do I feel like this is going to get worse before it gets better?

… We’re not getting any good looks, we’re putting them on the line over and over agian, and Lebron isn’t coming to the rescue.

And the deficit is double digits. Hedo is a poor Turkish man’s Lebron, as he does it all in the 4th quarter. Since Lebron is a hobbled old homeless man’s Lebron today, that’s enough for the Magic to kick us to the curb.

Ugh. Lebron ended up 1-7 in the 4th tonight, leaving him 1-12 for 4 points in the past 2 games. As a team, the Cavs are 10-46 in the 4th between the Bulls and Magic games. That’s not the Cavs way.

So now the Magic have clinched the 3rd spot. We’re still 2.5 ahead of Philly and Washington for the 4th spot. We’re mostly healthy, but still need to get over that hump. We’ve shown signs of great movement on offense and suffocating defense for stretches.

We’re off until Wednesday, when we take on a Nets team that is just realizing there is no playoffs. Rest up.

Go Cavs!

An afternoon at the ballgame

Playoff preview? Saturday matinee? Public practice session?

The Cavs take on the Magic. The game is, in a way, important for the Cavs. Not so much the win or loss. For pride’s sake I’d like a win. At the very least, we had better not get run off our home floor.

But no, aside from some intangible psychology impact, the win or less hardly matters. This is just one of few chances the Cavs have had with a full roster. That is, I’m guessing Lebron will play, despite his sore back. Should he? Well, it’s important to see the offense gel, but it’s much more important that Lebron be 100% in 2 weeks.

So one way or another we’ll see what we’ve got. If Lebron doesn’t play, it will give us some insight into what we could expect during those 2 minute stretches in the playoffs where he rides the pine.

Not that we’ll play the Magic anyway.

What I’m very curious to see is whether Mike Brown has the discipline I’m sure he preaches. Clearly he made the decision to set the rotation, but also clearly, Boobie Gibson doesn’t have it (yet). If Lebron doesn’t play, or sits extended minutes, does Damon Jones make an appearance? Can he earn his way back into the rotation? He’s been hitting his shots at nearly the same clip as Boobie, injury free, and runs the offense as well as anybody.

In other news, the Cavs signed Lance Allred for the rest of the year. Good for him.

Go Cavs!

Where’s the beef?

Ori and I aren’t much for communicating. We started this blog because we couldn’t even maintain a friendship in real life – we needed to use this facade to speak to one another.

What does that mean to you? Well it means you have no idea what happened last night in Orlando. Frankly, neither do I. For a half, all was well. Rotations were quick, Magic shots were clanging, and Cavs were winning. Then the Magic scored 64 in the 2nd half. Who are we, the Sonics? The gunners didn’t miss in the 3rd quarter and the muscle dominated in the 4th. I guess it’s a moral victory to take the first half on the 2nd night of a back to back on the road against a good team. Especially when Lebron takes off the first quarter.

As I’ve said over and over again, thank god there are no back to backs in the playoffs. The Cavs, like the “aging” Spurs, should be one of the best teams on 3 days rest, with all the creaky backs lining up in our frontcourt.

But when a team catches fire like last night, there just isn’t enough left at the bottom of the tank to fight it off. With the Cavs history the past few years, there’s no question they’re just on cruise control until the playoffs anyway.

Hello Toronto, Hello Boston, Hello Detroit, Hello Finals. I love to watch em play, but at this point it’s jsut exhibition. Yeah, let’s see the defense gel, let’s see Wally find his rhythm, let’s work Boobie back in, let’s figure out a rotation, let’s play some chess with Lance Allred. Let’s get this season over with.

Go Cavs!

L-Boogie!

There is not a picture on the internet to do tonight justice and my photoshop skills are not up to par.

I had to put up something to capture the night.

Really I’m too giddy to type much; I just want to bask in the glow.

Think Lebron liked being able to sit back for a quarter? Think he liked having somebody else with the taste of blood in his mouth, worrying the defense in the 4th quarter?

Think Larry Hughes is fantastic?

I do.

I know. I know what you’re thinking. Fluke, aberration, one good game in 20.

Maybe so. But were we winning tonight without it? On the road, back to back. Gooden starts strong and vanishes. Z doesn’t have his shot but does have his hands full. No Andy, No Boobie. And a quality team staring back at us.

So tonight, with nothing else to save us, Smooth (or L-Boogie, as we should all start calling him) explodes all OVER the Magic in the 2nd half.

Seriously: 23 in the 3rd. Is anybody else on this team capable of that?? Of course Lebron is. He could score 40 in a quarter. But besides him? Just one man.

So no, Lebron doesn’t have his Pippen. He doesn’t have his great #2. It’s always going to be a team effort. One night Z, another Gooden. A lot of the time it’s Boobie, and this year we’ve seen it might be Andy. But of any of them, who’s dangerous like Michael Jackson?

Here’s the list of people who’ve dropped 40 this year:
Lebron (about 20 times)
AI
Carmelo
Linas Kleiza (ok, the Nuggets are dangerous)
Kobe
Pau Gasol
Dwyane Wade
Josh Howard
Chris Paul
Chris Bosh (against the Cavs… bastard… but in a loss… sucker)
Kevin Martin
Amare Stoudemire
Tracy McGrady
Michael Redd
Deron Williams
Antawn Jamison
Al Jefferson
Gerald Wallace
Caron Butler
David West
and LARRY MOTHER F*ING HUGHES!

Who on that list isn’t good? Who doesn’t play 35 minutes for any team in the league?

I’m not saying he’s an all-star, but he can do what not many people in the world can.

Go Cavs! Carry this surge into the break.

What now?

Oh yeah… Let’s add a few other quick points:

• Great free throw shooting, especially from the big guns
• Great start from Gooden. Say what you will about his 2nd through 4th quarters, it’s important to start off right.
• Devin Brown might be the first out of the rotation if Coach Mike just throws Sasha back into the mix. Tonight he fought back. Hard.
• Welcome to the 2007-08 season, Donyell.
• Huge team effort on the boards. Keeping Dwight Howard in single digits is amazing. It happens maybe twice/month, and we did it without Andy.
• Every other team that beats the Magic seems to do it by letting the freak get his, but staying out on Hedo and Rashard. We bounced back after the first by throwing more bodies onto Howard, slowing him down.
• As mentioned, this starting lineup is 5-1. And Newble aside, with a much larger sample size, our record is great with Hughes at the “1″.
• 2 games out of the 3rd seed and climbing…

Go Cavs!

Which hurts more?

Off the bat, I’ll confess, I’ve only read about it and seen the highlights, so I can’t expertly comment on the Magic game last night. Unfortunately for me, I’m stuck in a $300/night hotel room in Carlsbad, CA writing this and was busy eating filet and drinking on the company dime last night.

First, just looking at the box score, it’s obvious that Larry Hughes is spectacular. Just not in the good way. Ori, being at the game, tells me that he was booed relentlessly throughout. It looks like most everybody else was solid. Boobie didn’t miss, but then his stat line pales next to Jameer Nelson, so presumably he was lit up yet again. Gooden and Z did their best with Dwight Howard. Lebron put in what I hope to start calling an average performance for him.

The scoring was obviously there, and presumably so was the intensity. The big problem this year is that our defense is floundering.

The Nuggets loss on Monday reeked of poor defense and poor execution, and despite it being a blowout, it didn’t feel that bad. I would’ve liked a win, but the odds of that sort of showing were pretty high.

Last night, coming home, rested, you would think we’d have the energy to slow down the Magic, but that clearly wasn’t so. Just looking at the number of fouls on perimeter players – 4 on both Boobie and Pavs, demonstrates that we didn’t have the footspeed to keep guys in front and despite 6 blocks, we don’t really have the shot blockers to scare off penetrators.

Sasha gets less and less of a flyer every day. He ought to be close to form by now. Maybe he can take a cue from Lebron and learn how to handle quick guards by playing just off their hips and threatening their shot.

Boobie, though… ugh. Again, I admit I didn’t see it, so I’m just speculating based on recaps and box scores, but no matter how well he shoots, he kills us – and he won’t shoot this well forever.

Say what you will about DJ, but he knows he sucks defensively, and he knows he’s not a starter. If Boobie wants to be a starter, he needs to learn – and quickly – how to minimize his physical limitations and slow down the opposing PGs or this will be an awful long season.

The Cavs have a full day to rest at home before welcoming in the Jazz tomorrow for a shot at redeeming the road loss of the past week. I’ll be back on later today with another post, Ori should have an eye witness recap soon and we’ll see you again tomorrow from Cleveland.