Cliff Lee Human, Tribe Swept By Reds
May 18, 2008Wasted Opportunity
May 19, 2008
Once again a Cleveland team falls to a Boston team in the playoffs. This time, it was the Cavaliers who fell to the Celtics in Boston in Game 7 Sunday afternoon by a final score of 97-92. Expect a Numbers and Words recap coming sometime Monday morning, but for now, here’s a brief overall recap.
Make no mistake, that was a tough loss to take. I feel how LeBron looks in the picture to the right. Frustrated, let down, irritated, unfulfilled, empty, hollow. All of those wrapped in one. The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Boston Celtics 97-92 in an epic game Sunday afternoon. All the might in the world given by LeBron James wasn’t even enough this time. His 45 points was all for nothing, as his coach’s lackluster vision and his teammates’ complete disappearing act in the biggest game of the season, along with own poor shot selections at key moments all left King James high and dry.
LeBron himself is not without blame. It’s hard to criticize much of anything about putting up 45 points on the road in Game 7, but seeing as how much is going to be made of Coach Brown’s offensive schemes, LeBron deserves his fair share of the blame for the stale offense as well. Particularly in the first half, LeBron was trying too hard to take control of the game by himself. There was no ball movement by the Cavaliers offense whatsoever, and there was no movement off the ball either. This is hardly new for the Cavs, but after a while, one couldn’t help but wonder if his teammates stopped moving because they knew LeBron wasn’t going to swing the ball anyway. The offensive scheme died at the hands of LeBron. LeBron attempted 29 shots in this game. The next closest Cavalier shot 8 times. That kind of offensive distribution (or lack thereof) is simply unacceptable. After getting back into this series at home in Games 3 and 4 by moving the ball around and putting up 29 and 24 assists, respectively, the Cavaliers offense completely fell apart the final three games. In those games, the Cavaliers put up just 11, 10, and 13 assists. The Cavaliers will have to figure out whether Mike Brown or LeBron James is more at fault for this, but either way, it has to be corrected.
The game Sunday got off to a dubious start for the Cavaliers as the quickly fell behind early, quickly finding themselves in a 10 point hole. Despite being down just 10 points at halftime, the Cavs had to feel lucky to even be in the game at that point. Only 2 starters (LeBron and Delonte West) had scored points in the first half. The Cavs were getting destroyed in pretty much all phases of the game. In the 2nd half, the Cavs exerted a ton of energy to try to get back in the game. They succeeded in slowly narrowing the gap much of the half before they finally closed to within 1 point at 89-88 with 2:19 left in the game.
From there, the Cavaliers found unique ways to let this game slip out of their fingertips. After forcing Kevin Garnett (13 points for the game in your typical I-Disappear-In-Big-Games fashion for the “Big Ticket”) to miss on a tough, contested shot, LeBron absolutely skied for the rebound……and then brought the ball up the court and just threw up an unnecessary 3-pointer and missed. It was a blown opportunity for the Cavaliers to actually run their offense and take the lead….an opportunity that would never again present itself to the team. In fact, the Cavaliers would not even score another point in this game until LeBron hit the 2nd of two free throws with 16 seconds left in the game. After the LeBron missed 3-pointer that he jacked up for no apparent reason, the Celtics came down and found P.J. Brown wide open, who proceeded to nail a 21 foot jumper to put the Celtics up 91-88. They would never look back. A Cavaliers timeout was followed up by another missed three pointer, this time by Delonte West. A scramble for the ball after the rebound would lead to a Big Z vs James Posey jumpball….a jumpball that Posey would win by default as Big Z knocked the ball out to Paul Pierce who was able to quickly call a timeout to avoid another jumpball. The game was over from there. A desperation three by Sasha Pavlovic would temporarily give the Cavs a glimmer of hope as he narrowed the gap to 95-92 with 8 seconds left, but stellar (and lucky, in Paul Pierce’s case) free throw shooting by the Celtics would make sure they were able to hang on to the 97-92 final margin of victory.
Lets face it, this one will sting a little bit, but we shouldn’t be surprised. I predicted that the Celtics would win this series in 7. I said after Game 2 that I wouldn’t allow myself to be fooled again into thinking that the Cavaliers had what it takes to win this series. Well, I lied, because I allowed myself to be fooled again. I allowed LeBron’s brilliance to lead me astray. I actually thought when he closed the gap to 89-88 that he was going to lead the Cavaliers to victory. Which made it all the worse when I had to watch him throw up that terrible three pointer. The Cavaliers were only down one. All they needed was any kind of basket to take the lead, eliminate the crowd from the game, and but the terror of panic into the Celtics players. But instead, he got greedy and took a shot that gave the Celtics the break they needed to re-claim control of this game. It will be a tough shot for me to live down for a while.
And so now, for the Cavaliers franchise, the focus turns once more to the future. They must decide first and foremost what to do with coach Mike Brown. Will he be allowed to stick around another season (probably) and will they force him to finally seek help in coaching offense (hopefully)? Can Mike Brown find the proper balance between offense and defense that is necessary to be an elite team (doubtful)? Furthermore, the Cavaliers must decide how they will handle the restricted free agencies of Delonte West and Daniel Gibson. They must decide whether or not to even bother trying to re-sign Devin Brown after not letting him play at all in the Boston series. They must decide who to pick with their first round draft pick (exciting new territory for Danny Ferry). They must decide if there are any big name unrestricted free agents to pursue. They must decide if there are any major changes that can be achieved by trade. They must decide if they are going to try to pursue an All-Star to play at LeBron’s side or if they will continue to ask LeBron to take a team full of mediocrity deep into the playoffs.
For one night, though, we will all once again have to go to bed and think as we fall asleep about what might have been. What if LeBron’s layup at the end of Game 1 had gone in? What if the Cavaliers hadn’t panicked after Rondo’s 2 threes cut into their 14 point lead in Game 5? What if in Game 7 LeBron hadn’t thrown up that 3 but had instead gone to the basket or found a cutting teammate underneath for a dunk as he so often did in the regular season and in Games 3 and 4? Mostly, though, we’ll all be thinking about another season with the greatest player in the game on our team, but nothing to show for it. Another year in this city’s desperate title drought. Another year of watching the hometown hero’s skills and talents wasted by a franchise’s ineptitude and inability to provide him with the tools needed to be successful as a team. A bitter pill to swallow, indeed.
25 Comments
I hope Lebron works on his 3 pt shot this offseason, because if he is going to shoot it 11 times I would like him to make more than 3. If he could even shoot 35% from 3, not that good but 5% better than what he currently shoots, he would be even better
As soon as Lebron missed that 3 pointer my wife looked at me and said, “Well, I guess theres always next year…”
So, once again, were still waiting for next year.
this team needs a real offense real fast. thats all ive got to say about this right now.
you guys did a great job covering this playoff run though, kudos.
Everyone might be surprised at just how much just one more really good player next to Lebron would help the offense become efficient and fun to watch. Mike Brown has work to do yes, but someone to make defenses not collapse around LBJ will do a lot of good
Hey guys, really nice blog but there is something I can’t really understand. this is ALL about how the cavaliers lost because of various reasons (some bad decisions by coach Brown [believe me I understand that being a PHX fan], some surprisingly bad by LeBron and the cavs general inability to score) but what the hell about The Truth scoring 41????????? that plays a ‘small’ part in this game, and it’s not even mentioned as a reason… o_O come on guys… maybe you lost because he was stellar, not because you were bad, huh? give him some g*****n credit. anyway, I hope you can bring some help in for next year… peace.
I blame Carlos Boozer.
Weird… I wasn’t watching the game itself, only an sentence-by-sentence account of the plays as they appeared on Yahoo! sports and, when I saw that Lebron missed the three, somehow, I, too, sensed that the ship had sunk there and then. What a bittersweet end. To think that the Cavs could take such a powerhouse down to about 2 minutes of play in game 7, hanging with the Celts almost despite themselves, only to come away empty.
The Cavs need a Scottie Pippen… someone in whom LeBron has absolute faith during the most trying of games. Right now, he has that faith only in himself, and that’s why we see him trying (and nearly) beating the best team in the East by himself.
true, Tim, f**k boozer for not beating the !%@/+ fakers đ
Murcy – thank you for the comments.
Please realize that these responses are still fresh off of the loss – and if you know anything about Cleveland sports, we always try to figure out what we could have done better. We expect the best team in the East to do well – after all, they were favored. But when you’re down by one point, the game is within reach regardless of who put up the points for the opposing team.
The Celtics played a great game, and their role players (House, Brown) stepped up when they were called upon. Pierce’s 40+ was huge, without a doubt. But there were a few key possessions that would have changed the entire game – and I think this is where the focus of the piece lies.
Look at the bright side
– you do not have to change the name of your site yet
– you do not have to go through the agony of seeing the Cavs lose to the Pistons or even worse get swept in the finals
– you can now focus all your attention on the eginma known as the tribe’s offense
– you now have a valid excuse to get back on the wagon!!! where the @#$ is my buddy johnny?
Not a chance you blame Lebron here, even if none of his teammates attempted more than 8 shots. Did you see the shots they were taking? That team looked intimidated.
PP had a great game but the Cavs still should have won. Lebron gave them a chance, distributed the ball and got open looks for his teammates, they just didn’t make shots.
Rock, you have to be kidding me, you can not call out Lebron for taking that 3. Lebron single handedly kept this team in the game. There is no 1 point deficit if he doesn’t hit the 2 previous 3s in the fourth quarter (that I am sure you probably called horrible shots until they went in). Lebron had Delonte to help him yesterday, that was it.
If you are looking to place blame how about blaming the terrible defensive rotations that were leaving guys wide open, or blamse Sasha for missing a wide open layup near the end of the game, or how about questioning Wally and what he was doing yesterday, ask Ben Wallace why he is afraid to turn around and make a lay up……but to blame Lebron for taking a 3 when no one else was stepping up is just ludicrous
I can’t blame Bron. I would stop given the ball too after watching my entire team brick every wide open shot they took. The most telling of Bron’s stats for this game was his assists. Probably half what they could of been even with a mediocre supporting cast.
That should read ” stop giving up the ball ” …
MacNip, you know I respect your opinion on these things, but I think you’re way off base here. LeBron is a career 32.4% three point shooter, He shot 31.5% from 3 this season and in the Boston series he shot 23.1% from 3. So yes, you’re right, I was VERY mad about him throwing up those 3s, even when they went in. Are you kidding me? THAT’S what you wanted LeBron to do? Something he had a 23% chance of succeeding at? Give me a break.
What makes LeBron a transcendent player and an all-time great is his ability to make his teammates better. Yes, the rest of the Cavs (other than Delonte) absolutely sucked in that game. But when the Cavs are down by one point and have a chance to break the Celtics, you better believe I wanted him to do what he does best and attack the basket or find an open teammate who has a better than 23% chance of making the shot. I love LeBron and there’s NO DOUBT that he carried this team and I’m proud of him for that. But he’s not above criticism. Had LeBron taken the ball strong to the hole, I honestly believe Cleveland wins that game. So yes, I feel like it was a poor decision on LeBron’s part.
I get where you are coming from Rock but I still disagree. Lebron was feeling it, he was having a great game and was going with the flow. I am not a fan of when he takes the pull up 3 pointer but I won’t criticize it there. If his teammates had been playing a strong game then I would have wanted him to run the offense and set someone up, but the fact is that none of his teammates were going to make shots. They were overwhelmed and it was plainly visible. Lebron running ghe offense was an exercise in futility yesterday. Lebron was getting his teammates open looks and they were bricking them away.
You could ask for Lebron to drive, but he was getting met by 3 players at the rim, not the easiest place to be. I think he drives the ball if his teammates are hitting shots, but they weren’t.
In theory, 3 of 11 from three is indeed feeling it for LeBron, but its still below 30% from that range. It’s just not a good shot, and it’s not what gives this team the best chance to win. We’re on the same page regarding his teammates, though, they definitely let LeBron down, too. But I just feel like there were better options in that possession than throwing up 3s.
I agree with RockKing on this one, there was no reason to take a 3 there even if he was “feeling it” it’s more important to get a bucket or get to the line to at least tie the game. You don’t need a 3 down one with under 3 minutes left, the most important thing to do is to get a bucket or get to te line, as i’ve said, and with the way he was able to get inside yesterday he should have driven it instead of pulling it up and hoisting that 3. I was worried about the previous two 3’s as well because regardless of if they were in ryhtum they were bad shots
I still refuse to place blame on the only player that was going to be able to get the Cavs a win. No one on the team played worth a darn yesterday outside of possibly Delonte.
We have seen in the past that Lebron will pass and set up shots if he has faith in his teammates. Lebron had no faith in his teammates yesterday and he had every right to feel that way
I’m not saying I blame LeBron for the Cavs losing. I’m saying he deserves a small portion of blame for the stale offense in that game. No doubt his teammates were awful and abandoned him in that game. I also know he had no confidence in anyone other than Delonte in that game. My whole point is that jacking up a 3 when you’re down 1 in a key possession like that probably isn’t the best way to beat Boston.
do cleavland fans see boston teams in their nightmares???
Oh I get…because you won. So you think that we see Boston teams in our dreams. Because you won…I get it. Quick question- who helped you log on?
my mom who also laughs at all cleavland teams
not dreams Nightmares
Lebron is an amazing player though!!!! much repect for that Man!!!!