A Love-ly win (minus the hacking): Cavs-Clippers, Behind the Box Score
January 21, 2016Less saying the ‘right things,’ more ‘winning football games’
January 22, 2016What’s up everyone. Very happy to be back this week after having a week off to move my business. Now that I’m settled in, I feel like I can get into the groove of 2016. So While We’re Waiting… .
That’s cool. I’ll stand.
Part of the process of moving was that I committed to a stand-up desktop. I did extensive research on the topic before I jumped in and decided to give it a shot, and I have to say after the first week, so far so good. My posture stinks when I sit in chairs, but largely it’s good when I’m standing, so I’m hoping it pays dividends in terms of posture. I thought I’d be tired and/or sore in weird ways because I was not used to standing so long. When I worked retail in Boston at Copley Place Mall when they had a Brookstone, I remember feeling fatigue from standing and greeting people all day long. For whatever reason, now it’s not an issue at the standing desktop. I thought that I’d be working up to standing all day, but I didn’t need to. This isn’t about me bragging about being some kind of iron-willed tough guy either. I honestly just didn’t need to sit. It wasn’t difficult. So here I am, standing at my desk all the time and this is what it looks like.
You just knew I’d put WFNY on the screen for the picture, right?
I find myself going to my chair to talk on the phone, at least initially because that’s still down at desk height. Occasionally if I have physical paperwork that needs to be read, filled out, and signed I’ll also find myself sitting. Other than that I’m a stander now. While the desk does move up and down and I have the option, I think I’m going to try never to put it down. Watch, now I’ll probably sprain an ankle or something and have to make an exception.
The 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t an all or nothing proposition…
The Cleveland Cavaliers have only one goal this year. It’s not just about making the playoffs and we all know it. The aspirations are much, much higher. That’s the nature of having a team with three of the top players in the NBA looking to follow up a season where they stood on the cusp of winning it all before finally faltering under the weight of the Golden State Warriors and their own struggles to field the team that helped them get there in the first place. Even with the goals so clearly defined, the Cleveland Cavaliers should be able to provide us joy while taking their best shot even if they don’t reach that goal.
This isn’t to say you should put up with the lackluster effort the Cavaliers showed against Golden State this past Monday. That was horrendous and there’s no excuse for that kind of showing, but unless you think the Cavaliers are rolling over and they’re accepting of that failure, it’s important to keep it in perspective. Assuming you trust LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and the rest of the Cavaliers to work as hard as they can to learn from that and make them that much better prepared for a playoff run, then after some expression of disappointment, it’s probably best to move on and try and enjoy the rest of the season for its high highs as well.
Part of having the miserable legacy that we have in Cleveland sports is a tendency to wait for the other shoe to drop. That’s especially prevalent with the Indians and Browns where (ahem) market limitations, and (ahem) organizational limitations, respectively, have derailed those organizations time and again. It’s true that something could derail the Cavaliers in these playoffs as well, but there’s really nothing wrong with the team’s attempt to win it all.
The Cavaliers have the right kinds of players. They have stars, role players like defenders and shooters. They have a compliment of big guys and little guys. They have a general manager who has shown an ability to put some things together like he did acquiring Mozgov, Shumpert and J.R. Smith a season ago. They’ve got a coach who while occasionally embattled, has been able to overcome a lot of the criticism and gain the support of LeBron James.
Everyone involved has seemed to do far more right than wrong from management to the players all the way down. It hurt to watch the Cavaliers get plastered by the Warriors and it will hurt if the Cavaliers don’t find a way to win it all this year, but damnit if I’m not going to try and remind myself that the ride is supposed to be fun too. You all already know this stuff though. I’m just here to tell you that the Cavaliers may die trying to win the NBA championship this year, but even if they succumb to another team in a series along the way, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the attempt was fatally flawed.
Going viral is actually kinda scary…
I wouldn’t know what it’s like to have millions and millions of adoring fans, but thanks to this clip that’s about a week old, we all know the scary power of going viral. This Dutch soccer player has a lot of people following his soccer clips account and he posted a video of what it was like to post something with notifications turned on. Just remember that this is what LeBron James’ phone could look like. He’s got over 27 million followers. There are likely a more benefits than negatives from having that kind of follower count, but it’s also got to feel somewhat suffocating at times. I can’t even imagine.
Your weekly moment of soccer zen…
This week’s goal is more about the lucky camera angle. It’s almost directly in line to give you a third-person perspective of the lane to the goal that he saw and how quickly he was able to pull the trigger. The quickness between seeing that opening and pulling the trigger is really phenomenal even we largely take it for granted in the highlight video era.
One of the highlights of my week was talking to Chayla Hope of Seafair…
Part of me doing the Scene podcast lately has been booking some of the most talented musicans in Cleveland. My list from 2015 was great and I wanted it to continue in 2016. I asked Chayla Hope, the dynamic singer from Cleveland standouts Seafair, and she invited me to her house to talk. We set up in her kitchen, played with her dog and talked about music, creativity and the scene in Cleveland. She was a lovely person and a really fun conversation. This is a Scene thing, but I want to share it anyway.
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The Cavs are 30-11 overall in 2016
The Cavs are 16-2 at home in 2016
The Cavs have LeBron James (legend)
The Cavs have Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love (All-Stars)
The Cavs when playing those three players together are 45-6 when those three players all share the court at the same time.
The Cavs were two games away from winning the 2014/2015 Finals without two All-Star players.
Ugh, the FREAKING internet.
I am watching every game, and I hope other people are. It should bring pure joy to people’s hearts to see J.R. Smith hit an almost impossible three, Kyrie dribble through guys like he has the ball on a string, K Love’s touchdown passes, Lebron’s dominance in the post, and Delly doing things like this https://streamable.com/qwn1
It will be even more enjoyable once they get some chemistry and those things are interspersed throughout beautiful passing and movement on offense and suffocating defense.
Look, the Cavs lacked energy and focus against the Warriors almost the entire game, while the Warriors were locked in. We saw some of that this game in stretches, where the energy would lag and they would let the Clippers get some easy buckets. That won’t happen in the finals. The Warriors are a great team, maybe greatest ever right now, but they have to keep that greatness for the rest of the season and throughout the playoffs. That will be tough to do.
Careful with the standing desk, take some precautions to avoid the health pitfalls of them:
http://www.stjohnsvein.com/standing-desk-trend-grows-despite-varicose-vein-risk/
“Research shows that prolonged standing also carries health risks, including a nine-fold increase in the risk of carotid atherosclerosis and the development of varicose veins – both a result of the additional load on the circulatory system. Plus, many fine motor skills suffer when workers stand for hours on end.”
You used to work at the Copley Place mall? And you recently got a standing desk? Small world – I used to go there a lot and I also recently got a standing desk!
I think if the Cavs have a chance against the Warriors or Spurs Kyrie and Love both have to lead the way. Lebron can’t carry this team anymore. He needs a team to play with. Kyrie’s been streaky but has shown some great moments. He just needs to be consistent. Love I just don’t understand. Most of the time I watch him he looks lost or over matched. He seems to always fail at finishing at the rim. You can see the talent he has but it seems like a big mental struggle. JR’s been playing great. Mozgov has bricks for hands.
That Warriors loss was disturbing. I think they’re in Lebrons head
This sort of thing happens so regularly in the NBA that it’s laughable. Those invested in the NBA feel a need to legitimize the regular season so every winter there are stories about how random old team (like the Spurs) are finally done or how random hot team (like the Hawks) are for real or how random top tier team (like the Cavs) really aren’t any good. And every year, people go along with the charade. It’s ridiculous.
love the soccer zen …
Research shows that prolonged anything carries health risks. I don’t get the standing office trend. I think some fat cat CEO is behind it and stands to save millions company wide by eliminating the chair budget line for all his employees.
Actually in the corporate world the standing desks are MUCH more expensive than a standard desk and chair. Not sure if Craig would feel comfy chiming in on that.
Huh. Where I work at there’s a few people who basically have made their own standing desks by piling stuff up.
Our ergonomics folk frown on that practice rather severely. I guess the DIY version’s can lead to carpal tunnel and some sort of neck condition (neck flexor?).
ESPN enjoyed the last few days that’s for sure.
I think the Warriors are in every other Cavaliers head and probably to some degree LBJ although he’ll never admit it.
Kevin Kiley congrats on bringing more unwarranted attention to Cleveland!
The who what now?
In 1997-98 I worked at Brookstone while a freshman at BU. To this day I never need another slice of Sbarro’s from eating it so much on my breaks. 🙂
It’s a varidesk 48 and it was about $500 I think which is a lot, but I figured if I didn’t like it I’d be able to sell it easily. The trend is kind of hot right now. I also have to say as someone in sales, I rarely spend eight hours in one day at my desk. I’m in and out of my car and in and out of sit down meetings all week long. I bet I spend on average 3.5 to 4 hours at my standing desk. If I was a computer programmer who was ALWAYS at my desk for 9-10 hour sessions, I imagine I’d be up and down a lot.
“The Cavs have Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love (All-Stars)”
“The Cavs were two games away from winning the 2014/2015 Finals without two All-Star players.”
Part of the problem may be that the Cavs are better equipped to face these two teams when these two all-stars play fewer minutes, which is a sign that, yeah, maybe the attempt is fatally flawed.
That’s not to say that we can’t enjoy the ride and hope that Irving and Love can stop a few pick and rolls or Delly and Thompson can provide enough offense to complement Lebron regardless of the long odds.
Also, to change the topic a bit. Why doesn’t “remind myself that the ride is supposed to be fun too” apply to the Indians too?
So while that can be a theory; I just can’t subscribe to it yet.
The Cavs best slash lines include LeBron, Kyrie, Love and then mixes of Tristan, Shumpert and Delly.
I just don’t think there is adequate sample size to determine whether or not you play Kyrie and Love less minutes against Warriors. (Love maybe less than Kyrie)
I’m think I’m in agreement with Zavac over at FTS saying best way to defend Golden State is to not defend Curry similar to what teams did against LeBron. Let the dude get 60 cause that means Klay, Green, Iggy aren’t getting 20 or 30 themselves. Those high PnR’s? Back off Curry and double down low, force him to shoot it.
Like I said yesterday; small but impactful offense to defense lineup change that needs to be made is start Shumpert and allow JR off the bench with Kyrie to start the 2nd.
“The ride is supposed to be fun” doesn’t apply to any Cleveland team not named Browns.
The majority cream their shorts at a Browns win but have to “convince” themselves that a Finals appearance by the Cavs or a playoff shot by the Tribe is not a disappointing season.
I’m not fully subscribing to it either, the “may” in there is doing a lot of hedging. The sample size against the Warriors is small, yes, but the sample size of both guys in guarding p-n-r’s over the career is large, and it’s a weakness in both’s games. It can pass against weaker teams, but the Spurs and Warriors are talented and coached well enough to be able to blitz that almost any time they want to.
I’m in favor of giving Zavac’s plan a shot, because, why the hell not, but am not as confident as he is. Asking Irving to fight through p-n-r’s to guard Curry sounds like a recipe for disaster. The Cavs aren’t asking Love/Mozgov to do so much to defend on p-n-r’s because they think they’re good at it, but because the perimeter defenders need the help.
The small amount I’ve worked at a standing desk I had a bar stool height chair that I could lean by butt against. I liked that half stand/half sit feeling.
Very true that neither are known for defense, but I just can’t sacrifice the offense on the other end by playing them less minutes overall yet.
I agree telling Kyrie to play him straight up is basically saying “here you go Steph do what you do best on us” but I see the other side in that while Curry is the MVP of the league the Warriors destroy opponents as a team. Taking away their team system and locking down the other 4 and praying Curry can’t beat you 4 times may be the way to do it.
While I’m typing this I’m also wondering how well it would work to switch out Shumpert on Curry to play straight up and hide Kyrie over in the corner on Klay?
bye bye blatt…..
Unreal I saw it on Twitter and thought it was a joke but I guess not…
http://www.si.com/nba/2016/01/22/cleveland-cavaliers-fire-david-blatt-lebron-james
Blatt shown the door!
I see no other way. If you give Curry almost every look he wants, he’s going to beat you almost every night. Hoping that the most efficient scorer in the league starts missing doesn’t seem like a plan. You still have to make him work.
wow … Blatt just got fired ! you don’t see a first place team fire their coach every day.
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