WaitingForNextYear

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The Cavs offense was sharp early on, scoring 30+ in the first quarter. The defense was just as poor, allowing their opponent to stay in the game despite shooting better than 50% for the first half. A poor third quarter ensued as the movement on offense stopped and the Cavs played one on one basketball. More troubles with the pick and roll defense and suddenly the Cavs found themselves trailing. I know you said stop a while back.

Let’s start with some facts. The Cavs are still without Shaq, and even though Delonte West was active for this game, he didn’t play. (Really Mike? On the front half of a back to back? With the defense struggling early on?) The Cavs also struggle in Indy. They dug deep in the end and won this one with defense. (Indiana didn’t make a field goal in the last 3:00.) LeBron played team basketball for the most part, and still finished with 40 points. (more…)

With the first rendition of Nike’s LeBron James Witness campaign gracing Cleveland for two seasons, many folks thought that the one that is currently displayed along Ontario Ave. would be replaced this season.  Rumors swirled that a new version of the 10-story banner was to be hung within the last few days, but as it turns out, the city of Cleveland has turned down Nike’s proposal. (more…)

of⋅fen⋅sive /əˈfɛn sɪv /   [uh-fen-siv]

–adjective

1. causing resentful displeasure; highly irritating, angering, or annoying: offensive television commercials.

2. unpleasant or disagreeable to the sense: an offensive odor.

3. repugnant to the moral sense, good taste, or the like; insulting: an offensive remark; an offensive joke.

While the 2009-10 Cleveland Cavaliers have begun to show some signs of life over the last couple weeks, particularly on offense, something that has gone unnoticed for the most part is the unraveling of the defense.

I mentioned in the recap of last night’s game that the Cavaliers have now given up 100+ points in an astonishing four straight games, and five times total on the season. Lets try to put this into perspective. Last season, the Cavaliers didn’t give up their fifth 100+ point game until January 19th, almost 3 months into the season. They didn’t give up back-to-back 100+ point games until February 4th and 8th. They never once gave up 100+ points in three or more consecutive games.   (more…)

The Cleveland Cavaliers came into Wednesday night’s game in Washington nursing a 5 game win streak. The Wizards meanwhile had been losers of 6 straight, a streak the Cavaliers started earlier this month in Cleveland. Both streaks would reach their end by the time this game was over.

LeBron James had a stellar offensive night with 34 points and 9 assists, but the story of the game was Antawn Jamison’s return to the lineup. Jamison came out of the gate on fire, scoring 13 points in the first quarter, and he would end up with 31 points on the night.

The Cavaliers were on fire in the first quarter and they would open up a 17 point lead at one point in the first half. Once the shots stopped falling, though, the Wizards collected themselves and used a 4 pronged attack of Jamison, Caron Butler, Mike Miller, and Gilbert Arenas to take over the game. Those 4 Wizards combined for 85 of the Wizards 108 points and the Cavaliers defense never looked up for the challenge of slowing down the Wiz.   (more…)

Cavs at Wizards tonight. No Shaq, Andy, or Jamario for the Cavs.  Antawn is back for the Wiz.  Game is at 7:00 on WTAM 1100 and ESPN.  Get ready for an earful of LeBron on the Browns talk – ESPN keeps it so fresh!

Also, DC Meetup pre-game.  See you kids at Fado.

If it there was ever a testament as to how bad the 2009 Cleveland Browns season is going, we may have uncovered it today.  In the thick of a 1-8 season, Browns head coach Eric Mangini and Brady Quinn would welcome LeBron James to play for their Cleveland franchise.

When asked about James by the Associated Press, Eric Mangini said, “I think he should come on down.” (more…)

Welcome to the Club, Monta

In what was slated to be a sure win for the Cavaliers, things got a bit tense in the fourth quarter.  Ultimately, the Cavaliers – playing without a few key pieces – prevailed over the also shorthanded Golden State Warriors to the tune of 114-108.

LeBron James managed to do his thing once again, scoring a relatively quiet 31 points on 11-of-19 from the floor.  Can 31 points be quiet?  It can when 20 points comes in the second half after focusing more attention on setting up teammates.  A very patient James allotted the majority of his game to finding open teammates, resulting in 12 assists to go with a steal and and two blocked shots.  (more…)

Golden State Warriors (3-6) vs
Cleveland Cavaliers (7-3)
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
7:00 PM EST
NBATV, FSOH/WTAM

The Cleveland Cavaliers come into this game riding a nice little hot streak. They’ve won 4 straight and 7 of 8 as they get ready to host the Golden State Warriors. At one point we thought this would be a chance for the Cavaliers to get an up close and personal look at Stephen Jackson as the two team were working on a trade. Instead, the Warriors have already traded Captain Jack, and it wasn’t to the Cavaliers, but to the Bobcats. In his stead, the Warriors received a couple of decent and serviceable players in Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic, but the big prize was getting out from under the atrocious contract they gave Jackson.

The Cavaliers are kicking off their 2nd stretch of 4 games in 5 nights already this season, and the Warriors will ideally be a nice way to ease into it before hitting the road to Washington tomorrow night. At 3-6, the Warriors were already struggling before trading away Jackson, particularly with injuries to 4 of their best players. The Warriors will be extremely shorthanded in this game, and it will give the Cavaliers a chance to further rest Shaq. There are worse ways to start a 4-in-5-nights stretch than this.   (more…)

So the Cavs are playing the Wiz this Wednesday in DC, which means it’s time for the local chapter of WFNY East to meet up and drink the beer realize that we are real, actual people and not internet entities. So, here are the deets:

Meetup Location: Fado Irish Pub – 808 7th St NW (Across both 7th and H from Chinatown exit of Metro)

Time: I’ll be there around 5:30 or so – come whenever you like, game’s at 7.

I’ll update my Twitter account when I get there. Hope to see some of you folks around.  Looking specifically at you Eli, CJG, DCBucks, AMC, PiFML, Jordan, and Amin.

AWESOME EDIT: Forgot to add this originally – tickets are available for $10 off through OSU’s DC Alumni chapter. Anybody can use the link. Group code = ‘osualum’.  I bought my tickets through there and will be in the nosebleeds, section 421.

Edit: The title was originally incorrect.  The meetup is this Wednesday the 16th, not the 14th.  I’m still using the German calendar.  Apologies for the confusion.

Edit: This is Rick. Denny needs to lie down. Wednesday is the 18th. That is all.

The news isn’t that Golden State traded away Stephen Jackson. The news is who they sent him to. The Charlotte Bobcats aquired the disgruntled guard along with Acie Law for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic. We have been told over the past few weeks that Golden State was insisting on getting a big man back in the deal, and the Cavs certainly weren’t willing to part with Zydrunas without getting a center in return. The bottom line turned out to be a stalemate between the two clubs, and so this morning Jackson is packing his bags for North Carolina.

So, as the title suggests- what could have been? What would adding Jackson have done for the Cavaliers? Well, since nobody wants to talk about chemistry anymore, I won’t bore you with those details. Jackson would have been a tremendous help at the 2 guard spot. We have no idea if Delonte West is going to be a contributor to this team. At this stage I would all but eliminate him and consider it a bonus if you get something. It sounds like West would have been a part of that deal anyway. Adding Jackson would have made the second unit even stronger by pushing Parker to the 6th man role. A bench of Parker, Z, Varejao Gibson and Moon would have been very nice. (more…)

The Cavs had won the last 8 of 10 matchups against Utah heading into last night and were catching the Jazz in a tough spot.  The Jazz were on the second game of a back-to-back and were depleted by injuries with only 9 players dressed.  Deron Williams was most notably absent. The Cavs, as it turned out, ended up having to play with a shortened rotation themselves with Shaq a late scratch due to a shoulder strain and Delonte inactive yet again. 

The Cavaliers got a solid effort from the short rotation to win their fourth in a row.  There were stretches where the offense looked brilliant, particularly in the first quarter which has become the M.O. of this team.  At other, less frequent, times, the offense became stagnant as they stopped attacking the basket and the weak interior defense of the Jazz and settled for low percentage shots which let Utah back in the game.  The Cavalier defense, on the whole, was below average.  It was poor inside, giving up a number of uncontested shots and rebounds, but also on the outside where Eric Maynor was able to get to the hoop for easy buckets.  As a result, the Jazz were able to hang around and actually take their first lead of the game inside of two minutes before the force of nature known as Lebron James took over to lead the Cavs to a narrow 107-103 victory and a four game win streak. 

(more…)

Cleveland Cavaliers (6-3) vs
Utah Jazz (4-5)
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland
Saturday, November 14, 2009
7:30 PM EST
FSNOhio/WTAM

***UPDATE – Brian Windhorst informs us that Shaq is out tonight with a shoulder strain and the Cavs are not letting on which shoulder is hurting the big man. Delonte inactive again as well. 

The Cavaliers return home after a very successful road trip to Florida brought their record to 6-3 after wins over Orlando and Miami on a back-to-back.  The Jazz come into Cleveland on the second night of a back-to-back after a relatively easy win in Philly last night over the 76ers.  Fan favorite Carlos Boozer returns to play against the team that drafted him and seems to be healthy averaging 20 and 12 over his last five games, including 24 and 12 last night in Philly.  But the major storyline heading into the game is the status of all-star point guard and team leader Deron Williams.  Word came out yesterday afternoon that Williams had left the team for an excused reason to deal with personal family matters that he did not want to address publicly (it later came out that his daughter was having some medical tests done).  While Williams did not play last night in Philadelphia, he has a private jet ready at his disposal in Utah and could re-join the team at any time.  As of right now, however, his return is doubtful.  Rookie PG Eric Maynor filled in as a more than capable replacement last night in Philadelphia but the Cavs should be able to extend their win streak to 4 catching the Jazz without their best player and on the last game of an east coast road trip and on the second night of a back-to-back. 

(more…)

After the game last night LeBron was musing about Wade’s dunk over Andy Varejao. He said it might be one of the top 10 dunks of all time- along with his dunk on Damon Jones. This bothers me. It bothers me because while the dunk on Jones was an impressive display of power and athleticism- it was against Damon Jones on a fast break. Jones jumped and then folded over in an almost fetal position. It isn’t even close to my favorite LeBron dunk.

The dunk I’m referring to is the ‘no regard for human life’ poster against the Celtics in the playoffs. You remember the dunk. James goes around supposed stopper James Posey, lifts off and crushes the ball over Kevin Garnett who is trying to put his forearm through James’ midsection. The call makes the dunk that much better, I’ll give you that. Everyone says posterized or something similar, but “LeBron James with no regard for human life” is just awesome. (more…)

Back in February, we touched on the news that LeBron James was considering making a change in terms of his jersey number.  The discussion revolved around his number with the Cavaliers, 23, and his number in the Olympics, 6.  This morning, it appears that this decision has been made and would take effect next season.

When we dove in to why James would make the move, the obvious answer was the marketing. 

TD wrote, “Changing to #6 would sell a whole host of new jerseys and enhance his already gigantic popularity. I would say it was a brilliant move if Kobe Bryant hadn’t thought of it first. When Kobe went from #8 to #24, his new jersey shot to the top of the most-sold list ahead of Lebron, who at the time was numero uno.” (more…)

For the second night in a row Mo Williams was hitting his shots and scoring in bunches. For the second night in a row LeBron James led the team in scoring and assists paving the way for a win. And for the second night in a row the player with the best +/- was JJ Hickson. Hickson, starting his third straight game had a career high with 18 points and played a whopping 31 minutes. But before we go heaping praise on the 21 year old, let’s remind him and ourselves that he still has A LOT to learn about playing NBA defense.

Speaking of defense, the Cavs must have left it back in Orlando. This was an ugly game. Way too many fouls. Way too many open looks and playing out of control. (I’m looking at you Jamario and Hickson.) Michael Beasley wasn’t that open since high school.

If you want to call this a ‘breakout’ game for Hickson I won’t really argue, as this was the first time as a pro we really saw JJ’s ability put to the best use. Funny thing is that JJ should consider himself fortunate to get the chance. (more…)

Cleveland Cavaliers (5-3) vs
Miami Heat (6-1)
AmAir Arena, Miami, FL
Thursday, November 12, 2009
8:00 PM EST
TNT

Coming off of a big win against the sinister Orlando Magic, the Cavs look to finish off the Florida back-to-back with a win against the Miami Heat.  Good news is, with this nationally televised broadcast, there will actually be another free agent to discuss instead of LeBron James.  James, on night two of his “no more free agency” talk, will likely welcome the addition of Miami’s Dwyane Wade into the fold; a deflection of sorts.

Despite sputtering out of the gate and the world almost coming to an end, the Cavs have now won six of seven games.  The Heat, on the other hand, are looking to break a franchise record by starting off 7-1. There will also be another story line that will likely get some airplay as Shaquille O’Neal visits the city that provided him with his last championship ring.  Let the drama commence! (more…)

Other than boos and protests against Eric Mangini and the Browns’ QB derby, the loudest noise coming from Cleveland fans is directed at Mike Brown’s use of Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Shaq on the floor at the same time. This ‘twin towers’ line-up was exposed against Toronto for its shortcomings, but has had limited success as well. Witness last night’s game against the Magic.

Both Cleveland and Orlando’s centers found themselves in foul trouble throughout the game, but were able to rotate defending each other so as to avoid getting the knock-out foul. One thing that the twin towers rotation did was force Orlando out of it’s normal offense. Gortat and Howard played together on the floor longer than they ever have in their careers. Their offense seemed fairly clueless how to operate with both centers in the game. Of course, this is multiplied when Orlando time after time fails to get Dwight the ball on the block. (more…)

I stole that from a text from my boy Fritzer during last night’s first half. If we didn’t realize it last year in the Eastern Conference Finals, we certainly have seen it during the losses the first two nights of this season and last night in Orlando – this team needs Mo Williams to play like an All-Star to play at its highest level.

While Lebron James was again spectacular (36 points of a tidy 12-23 shooting, to go with eight boards and four dimes), it was the Mo Show that carried the Cavs on this evening. He came out absolutely smokin’, hitting his first nine shots on his way to 28 points. He hit 4-5 from deep and dished out six of the Cavs 12 assists on this night. This was the exact type of performance we saw so often during his All-Star 2008-09 campaign so many times and the first time we’ve seen it in this young season.

If that version of Mo had appeared in the ECF last year, that series would have played out differently.

“I just wanted to be aggressive and get off to a good start,” Williams said. “We were definitely motivated for this game without a doubt, we were focused and we paid attention to detail.”

You have heard Lebron say it many times this year already, and Mo spoke to it in the quote above – this team needs to play with a sense of urgency. In their losses this season, they didn’t seem to play that way. Last night was as focused as a Cavs team has looked this year by a mile. Maybe it was the four day layoff. Maybe it was the opponent. Whatever it was, it worked. (more…)

As if last night’s game with Orlando didn’t have enough talking points as it was (including a ridiculous discussion about LeBron’s Yankees shoes….but that’s another story for another time), LeBron James found a new way to keep his name in headlines with regards to his impending free agency. They say silence is golden, but can silence speak louder than words? LeBron is going to try to find out…..or so he says.

It’s not hard to believe that the non stop questions in every city is starting to wear on LeBron. We as fans are sick beyond belief with having to listen to the talk on every telecast, read every story about it on every major website every single day, and to have to listen to LeBron himself seemingly relish in the attention and spotlight. I’ve heard plenty of fans say ‘enough is enough already’, and now LeBron seems to finally agree with us.   (more…)

It’s hard to look at this game and know with any certainty how the Cavaliers stack up against the Magic. Certainly Orlando is a much better team with Lewis on the floor, and playing the second night of a back-to-back is tough. That said, they were at home and the Cavs were also missing Delonte West. Yes, Lewis is going to be more productive than Delonte at the offensive end, but West will always be missed when he can’t go.

Billed as a battle of the big men, this game belonged to the guards and the King. Mo Williams had the kind of game that we would have killed for during last year’s Eastern Conference Finals. How about a 28 point (12-20) outburst? Mo didn’t miss a shot in the first half. Other than constantly running under screens, he played a nearly perfect half of basketball. (more…)