May 24, 2013

Cavs Lose To Bucks: Or, NBA Jam Was Wrong, Two Guys Can’t Win An NBA Game On Their Own

March 7, 2010 by 23 Comments

Mo Williams Brandon JenningsI know what you’re all wondering. Sixers fans were wondering the same thing last month. As Rick tweeted, air horns are officially not allowed, but apparently the folks in Milliwalkay are not aware of this.

The Cavs dropped an ugly game 85-92 last night to the surging Bucks. The team was without LeBron, who sat out with an ankle injury because Mike Brown sat him out for reasons completely unrelated to his ankle. In addition to no LeBron, the Cavs were also sans Daniel Gibson and Shaquille O’Neal. Despite the best efforts of Antawn Jamison (30 pts, 11 reb) and Delonte West (27 points), the Cavs couldn’t pull out a win. Largely because the efforts from everyone else on the team were not their best.

Jeff at the BBC at Fear The Sword (what?) breaks down how the rest of the team did:

As for Cavalier players not named Antawn or Delonte, it was a night to forget.  The rest of the team combined to go 12-for-40 from the field (30 percent).  Mo Williams earned the futility award for the night, shooting just 3-for-17 from the floor (18 percent).

The Bucks got solid efforts all around, getting 25 points from rookie Brandon Jennings and 15 points and 9 boards from Andrew Bogut.

After a frustrating loss such as last night’s, we get to fall into our standard flow chart of emotions:

Panic Flow Chart.001

AS YOU CAN SEE, ALL SIGNS POINT TO PANIC.

The Cavs had great nights from Delonte and Antawn, and that’s a plus. Aside from that, there aren’t really many positives. The Bucks are a playoff team, so it’s not like this happened against the Knicks. Still, it’s not a good loss.

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Photo Credit: AP/Jeffrey Demps

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  • MrCleaveland

    If Mo goes just 7 for 17, we win (hypothetically). Way to step up when we need you.

    Mo stinks. PANIC!

  • todd

    it wasn’t so much that we lost, but the fact that we played one-dimensional ball. you should make a flow chart that reads: lebron not on court? — give ball to delonte/twan — watch him shoot — miss? — look for lebron — score? — look for lebron.

  • erich

    serious questions- please answer.

    1) Where is boob?
    2) When will West bump mo for the starting pg spot?

    thx.

  • Charlie

    No-Show Mo makes an appearance again. His Twitter apology is fine for a Bucks regular season game but that won’t do in the playoffs. Panic, of course not. Worry just a tad, maybe. He’s still our X-factor.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    @ erich – Gibson is with his family.

    Addressing your second question, in my opinion, Delonte won’t end up bumping Mo out of the starting lineup. Right now Mo’s gotta be bumming, and to pull him from the starting spot likely wouldn’t be a good solution. Just like Andy, Delonte (when healthy) will play starter’s minutes. He just won’t be starting the game. With this team, the labels ‘starter’ and ‘bench player’ aren’t as important as many people make them out to be. The guys that start likely start to soothe their egos, but down the stretch, we see who the best players on the team are.

    That’s where we see lineups like the one that finished the game on Friday night: Mo, Delonte, LeBron, Antawn, and Andy. Unless you’ve got a very specific matchup that you’re trying to address (Dwight Howard), that’s by far the most versatile and efficient lineup the Cavs can bring out, IMO. Those are the “go-to” guys. The fact that two of them “come off the bench” is irrelevant.

  • AMC

    The good thing is that this game was very winnable for this team even though LBJ was not out there. The bad thing was that aside from Delonte and ‘Twan, no one else stepped up.

    I think last night you saw how much more effective our bigs are with LBJ. Andy played hard but had only a couple good looks near the basket and could not run pick and roll effectively once. JJ was a total non-factor. It’s a one game sample, but I think it reiterates the belief that many of us (including myself) have that while I’m happy JJ remains a Cav, his effectiveness is almost completely predicated on LBJ setting him up.

    At the end of the day though, Mo’s ineffectiveness was brutal. You can tell he’s just over-thinking it out there and try a little too hard. He just needs to play within the flow of the game. Last night he was just a brutal black hole on offense.

  • JM

    Mo should have taken his time coming back. He is almost trying too hard at times.

  • historycat

    I think Mo’s tweet was very honorable. How often do athletes acknowledge when they let the fans down?

  • http://shakesthesnowglobe.blogspot.com EZ

    All part of a clever plan to keep the Bobcats out of the 8th seed…

  • a+b=??

    we are 13-0 w/o mo williams LOL

  • Jneids

    Congrats to Brandon Jennings who made his first appearance since his 55 point game. Way to flash the gooseneck after chucking up bad 3 pointers while your team is beating the MVP-less Cavs. P.s. A rooster called, wants his hair back

  • JM

    Tomorrow’s game will be huge assumimg LeBron plays.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    I honestly would be surprised if LeBron plays. Tony Parker is out for the rest of the regular season. If LeBron doesn’t play, he’ll have a week off. Rest now is more important than a win against a hurting Spurs team.

    It’s not like one loss without LeBron, Shaq, and Gibson is going to suddenly make this team tank. Delonte and Jamison are playing filthy good.

  • Jack

    @Denny – I know you alluded to this briefly in your last post, but I think the perimeter defense of that lineup is worrisome against teams like…well everyone.

    Against Boston that’s not going to do it. Against ORL it’s not gonna do it. Against the LAL it’s not gonna do it. Maybe against Atlanta with Bibby on the floor.

    Can anyone make a compelling case to me as to why Mo Williams should be on the floor down the stretch. He’s not clutch. His shooting % drops as the game goes on. With Delonte and LBJ on the court they are going to be the playmakers. So what we are looking for is a complimentary shooter. Honestly, I’d rather have Anthony Parker and his not-so-fleet-of-foot length. Mo is just way too big a liability.

    If he doesn’t remind himself soon that he is NOT, in fact, Damon Jones and that he has a much more deluxe offensive arsenal, then I can’t justify Mo getting so many minutes.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    @ Jack – give me 45 minutes, and I’ll get you a post on it. Excellent question.

  • Jack

    Denny Mayo is now on the clock…

  • SouthBayBuckeye

    Has anyone else noticed the mocking/taunting other team’s players have been doing when hitting a 3 against the cavs? The most recent example is Brandon Jennings (aka too stupid to go to USC and get paid, therefore I will go to Europe/ugly haircut) last night.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    @ SBB – I’ve noticed it, and quite frankly I think it’s funny. The Cavs do plenty of taunting, but we see it as ‘fun loving’ and enjoy it. No need for us to get all defensive when they do the same to us.

  • SouthBayBuckeye

    I’m gonna start calling it “Eddie House Syndrome”.

  • http://www.msblsim.com boogeyman

    People need to be less critical of others who express concerns with the Cavaliers frankly just because some, including myself, might have questions or reservations doesn’t make us or more specifically me any less of a fan. I don’t have to be a Kool Aid sipping “fan” who thinks every player to adorn a Cleveland uniform regardless of the sport is suddenly the best in his sport. I think those of you who have to rely on a flowchart or some other simple minded way of describing others are just as bad if not worse.

    I wasn’t around here a year ago when the Cavaliers were running through the league only to become a crash test dummy at the hands of the Orlando Magic but I’ll bet alot of the same mischaracterizations were made then too. I’m also sure after the debacle in the ECF all those people who thought the Cavaliers were the best suddenly became mute.

    How do you like ‘dem apples?

  • SouthBayBuckeye

    you need to be less critical of people that need to be less critical.

    i hate apples. they’re full of toxins/pesticides.

  • erich

    @Denny

    Thanks for the info…

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udne9JTds5A TS T 2B Cavs Dude

    The Cavs lost? See what happens when I take a day off! Mo Williams is turning into a bum???