Celtics 95 Cavaliers 89:Cavs Offense A Work In Progress
October 27, 2009Tribe Fans Hide Your Eyes: D-Day is Here
October 28, 2009While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email in the sidebar.
Shaq is interviewed by Sam Alipour. Very candid answers. Well worth the read: “What’s the key to success for your guys? Playing together, but I’m not going to talk about that. They already do that. I think a lot of it is going to be luck. Look, I’ve got four rings, but three of them was luck. The first one, Kobe won that. The second one, if D-Fish don’t hit that shot in San Antonio, it’s over. The third one, if Robert Horry don’t hit that 3 over Sacramento, that’s over. The fourth one, in Miami, if GP don’t hit that shot over Dallas, I don’t get that ring. And this year, if Fish don’t hit that 3, it’s a different series. Gotta be lucky to win it.” [Sam Alipour/Page 2]
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We sure could have used Delonte last night. In case you were wondering whose decision it is to keep him out of games: “Cleveland coach Mike Brown said general manager Danny Ferry and a support team working with West decided the guard was not ready to play.’They have some things that they feel they have to get in order for him to be active,’ Brown said. ‘When they say he’s ready then he’ll be out on the floor.'” [ESPN/Wire Report]
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The bottom line last night: “It was quite obvious the Cavs were uncomfortable and in search mode from the top on down. Mike Brown was changing lineups and strategies on the fly, the defense was a mess for long stretches and the offense was in its old, but infamous, all-James, all-the-time mode in the final minutes. This, of course, is what the Cavs were afraid of after a somewhat ineffective preseason.” [Windhorst/Plain Dealer]
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More on the Cavs: “The Cavs have some work to do. Shaq and Zydrunas Ilgauskas did not look good on the floor together, and their bench was outscored 26-10. Most important, perhaps, is that they’ll miss the versatility of West’s aggressiveness at both ends of the floor as well as his playmaking. But they are the younger team, and as the year wears on they’ll certainly grow better while the Celtics may look older.” [Ian Thomsen/SI]
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Media member takes offense: “The Browns were getting laughed at, and about, in their own stadium, only hours after being laughed out of it following a 31-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers. It was a humiliating, depressing and demoralizing end to a humiliating, depressing and demoralizing day for the Browns – my Browns. Yes, my Browns. There I said it, and with the team at 1-6 and headed nowhere at breakneck speed, you know I mean it. To admit that these are my Browns at this point takes a lot.” [Steve King/OBR- subsription required]
17 Comments
For those who keep writing that the Cavs should just mosey around with Delonte and just keep him under wraps for 40 games, forget about it. He’s an integral part of the chemistry-yes he’s going through a psychological crises, but he’ll always be dealing with that. The Cavs need to find out EARLIER than later if he’ll be able to stand up to the grind, not wait until the second half of the season. Look for Delonte to be back in the lineup very SOON.
Well, that’s certainly a prolific statement. Way to go out on a limb there.
Who exactly said to bench him for 40 games?
Other than disappointment after waiting, like, two years for the season to start, the game was no big deal. The Cavs need more preseason, which showed very clearly, and the Celtics were crisp. And the Cavs lost by a few points and were in the game until the last minute.
Shaq, despite what people have been saying, does NOT look in shape. It looks like he’s preparing for a sumo episode of Shaq Vs.
I did not see very much from Shaq at all, except rebounding. Oh, and that foul, where he totally ate Garnett up. Yum! He looked tentative, and when he set picks, they took so long to develop that they weren’t much good. But that will change.
Meanwhile, the newcomers didn’t seem to have the same defensive presence as the returning Cavs. That will change.
It was nice to see the Lebron – Moon ally-oop (is there a correct spelling for that?). Hope there’s lots more to come.
As the Cavs continue to mesh, we will see fewer and fewer blowouts like last night. Oh, it wasn’t a blowout? Great, then!
@ Chris – I said last night in the liveblog that I wouldn’t care if he sat for 40 games if that’s what it takes. I don’t care if he sits the whole year, if that’s what he needs as a person to get better.
I honestly can say that I’m willing to put my fandom secondary to his actual needs. He proved so much to me last year that I’m willing to give him that.
Denny, I certainly agree with you that his mental health needs should come before basketball.
I was sensing another phantom quote from the commenter who will remain unnamed.
On another note, I think part of his therapy will end up being basketball.
If we have Delonte, we win that game. That’s about all there is to it. Other than that, I wasn’t pleased with the outcome, but I think when this team has another 30 games under it’s belt, we’ll get a much better fell about how the season is going to go. We basically have a whole new team this year, not only with the additions of Moon, Parker, Shaq and eventually Powe, but some of the Old Guard learning new roles in the rotations.
It was nice to see Verajao developing a little bit of a jumper and LeBron had a post game going at points. Any loss sucks, but I think once the team has some of the grind under their belts and get more comfortable with one another, we’ll be fine, but when Delonte gets back into the line up, we’ll instant improvement. Don’t forget about Powe coming back, either, which will be right when we need it. If we look like this in December or January, I’d start to worry.
I don’t remember who said it on last night’s post game show on WTAM, but it was a good point.
Looking at the Celtics last night: That’s a good team. That team can play basketball. HOWEVER, there’s not much room for improvement, what we saw last night is pretty much Boston’s ceiling.
The Cavs on the other hand have a LOT of room to grow and get better as the season progresses (building on chemistry, coaching, and of course Delonte).
Not sure how much weight it carries, but I thought it was an interesting “make’s me feel better about the loss” statement.
@ mendy – I think that’s a great point about the Celtics. I think defensively they may improve a little, but offensively, I think that’s about as good as their going to be this year. Plus, as an older team the year will likely wear on them a lot more than the Cavs…
Fantastic “don’t panic” article by Sam Amico – http://www.swerbsblurbs.com/article_detail.php?blgId=5265
He points to a quote by Rondo that is telling which is basically, the Celtics have had the same core now for a couple of years. Cavs have replaced two starters and were without their glue guy Delonte. Anyone feeling shaky this morning should definitely read the above piece.
That Amico piece did make me feel a little better (though a win in Toronto tonight would be the best medicine).
@7 – ” but I think once the team has some of the grind under their belts and get more comfortable with one another” – Is that you Eric Wedge?
I’ll take “Humongous Letdowns” for 200, Alex.
“A gigantic, grade AAAAAAAAAAA, dinosaur egg.”
What did the Cavs lay last night?
BING!
That’s correct!
The OBR column linked by Scott is publicly viewable (I’m not a subscriber, and I can read the whole thing.) Certainly worth reading, if anyone avoided clicking.
http://cle.scout.com/2/913494.html
Hmmm. I bet Barry changed it since we linked to it. That was nice of him.
The excerpt from the SI article is exactly the one positive thought I had… the Celtics are gonna be worn down/injured as the season goes on.. whereas we’ll be fine-tuning are new guys & offense/defense and getting hot down the stretch.
At least, this is what I tell myself.
If I remember correctly, we were pretty spoiled last year. Not only did our team have a good preseason to get things together, but everyone else had played on the team for at least part of the season before. They knew what to expect from Brown and had grown accustomed to his defensive oriented system.
This year we have 2 new starters in Shaq and Parker not to mention the fact that Mo has really never gotten his defense up to where I am sure Brown would like it. I think Shaq even came out and said that the system he is learning is different from any system he has played in before. We might not get the 1 seed or even the 2 seed, but come playoff time this team will be gelling and will be a force to be reckoned with.
OBR article was excellent!