Have The Cavaliers Regained Their Swagger?
In my recap of last night’s game, I failed miserably at explaining what I meant by ‘turning point’. As was quickly pointed out in the comments, a 3-2 team does not really need a ‘turning point’. You are correct, except I wasn’t really talking about wins and losses with that statement.
What I saw last night was a team that for the first time all season looked like the Cavs we loved last year. After getting embarrassed in the first quarter, they played suffocating defense all night long. More than that, they enjoyed watching each other succeed. The new Cavaliers got to experience a little bit of what they saw from the Cavs last season. Even in the Cavaliers wins this season, it was never like it was against the Wizards. Read this quote from Mike Brown after the Minnesota game-
“If they continue to play hard like they did tonight and move the ball like they did,” coach Mike Brown said, “we’re going to get some wins while we’re going through this process.”
That’s exactly how I would describe the Cavs up to this point. They were a bunch of very talented players that won a couple games. There were flashes of being a complete team, but most of those were when the old starting line-up was on the floor. But last night something clicked.
Did you see Shaq leap off the bench to congratulate Daniel Gibson? Did you see the permanent smile on his face in the second half? Did you see LeBron rolling on the floor (literally) laughing when he was on the bench? Did you see players giving 100% when it was their time on the floor? Did you see more players than just Andy Varejao going all out for loose balls and taking charges? Did you see Mo Williams get excited when Shaq knocked Mike Miller’s shot into the abyss? Yeah, I know you did. And that is kind of what I’m talking about when I say turning point. Dare I even say chemistry?
It isn’t just that the Cavs were having fun playing the game of basketball. It was that they were having fun playing CAVALIER basketball. They ratcheted the defense up when they needed offense. They played unselfish ball at the offensive end. Extra passes were made. Big men ran the floor and were rewarded with easy baskets. That is the turning point I’m talking about. Last season, the Cavaliers finally put together games where they played with defensive intensity for four quarters and blew teams out of the water. They were all on the same page. With all the new players, and the difficulties surrounding camp this season, they just didn’t seem like they had bought into the system as a team. That is until last night.
Now, will they sustain that? I hope so. They will struggle to put it together for all 4 quarters for a while. But this Wizards team is no chump team, and they had no chance after the Cavs got their act together. Sure, we had mis-matches to exploit (Shaq and LeBron specifically) but the Wiz weren’t able to put anything together to counter the Cavaliers’ intensity. Few teams will. That’s why this team has the opportunity to be something very special.
November 4th, 2009 at 11:09 am
They never lost it. The articles of panic after a few games where a team with several NEW members was working to asymilate and build chemistry were absurd. Equally absurd were the articles suggesting Shaq was off kilter. This team will build their own unique character and style over time, and it won’t take long. Why it was ever questioned is bizarre.
November 4th, 2009 at 11:17 am
@Isis – It was questioned because other teams with several new pieces hit the ground running just fine, while the Cavs started off looking totally unprepared. It’s not bizarre at all to question what was going on. It actually would be bizarre to assume everything was going to be all right when no evidence of such a turnaround existed.
Now 5 games in, the Cavs are showing some of their potential and Rick hits it right on the head. They did, in fact, have ZERO swagger at the start of the season. Now it appears they are developing a swagger that did not exist 5 games ago. Pretty ridiculous that you’re questioning the basis for this article.
Are you just naturally contradictory? Or are you intentionally trying to piss everyone off? I seriously wonder why you even read WFNY if you’re just going to disagree with every piece these guys write.
Book that.
November 4th, 2009 at 11:20 am
I like chemistry.
November 4th, 2009 at 11:31 am
@Denny – C3 H5 N3 O9 ?
November 4th, 2009 at 11:32 am
You’re silly, BigMatt. I prefer CL-20.
November 4th, 2009 at 11:33 am
@BigMatt – That was funny.
November 4th, 2009 at 11:39 am
I’ll feel a lot better when the Cavs can play like they did for those last 3 quarters w/o needing to get kicked in the face first. As we saw, you can’t make these runs with the Bostons of the world. It was like old times though. Ahh memories!
November 4th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Shouldnt it be swagga?
November 4th, 2009 at 11:45 am
I’ve said it before, but I’m pretty sure that Isis is just a character on the blog. I don’t think he really believes the things he posts or that it’s in his nature to be uncool… I think it’s just somebody having a good time by posting as this character who hates everything and loves to be hated. Sort of like a Dennis Rodman for WFNY. I tend to just read his posts, chuckle, then go, “Oh Isis… you’re at it again!”
November 4th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
@JK – I thought that that pop culture had simply reduced it to “swag.” I refer you to Soulja Boy’s Tell ‘Em’s “Turn My Swag On” and…Delonte’s KFC freestyle.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I’ve been at work all morning but I’m assuming Shaq’s little 4th quarter dance got some pub? I heard Mcleod talking about this during the Boston game but Boobie had some pretty serious ankle issues last year and he said he’s finally back at 100%. Looked like it last night. It’s either that or the Keyshia Cole effect….
November 4th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Mcleod was talking about it during the Boston game, but Boobie is finally back to 100% from those ‘08 ankle issues. Sure looked like it last night. That or it’s the Keyshia Cole effect.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I see the point Isis was trying to make, albeit a little tactlessly. I think this team is way too stacked to keep up the pattern that existed over those first two games, but make no mistake, I was a bit concerned. The two fluffer games certainly helped get them prepared for last night.
The doom and gloom is typical Cleveland fan fashion, especially after the last 6 months of baseball and football. Nothing wrong with it, all things considered.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
P@,
If that’s true…then he has way too much free time cause I’ve posted this before…he did/does the same thing at Cavs.com that he does here. I don’t know if he’s still over there cause I haven’t been for awhile, but at the beginning, he was hated big time…then people just became indifferent and just knew he wasn’t gonna stop, so they just gave up.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
C,
Word. There’s a few guys here who still try to flame him, but it never does any good so I’m all for ignoring or else belittling him.
I think Isis’s comments are adorable.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
#3. Chemistry! Avagadro’s number. Mmmm Avagadro…
Sorry, my Homer Simpson slipped out!
November 4th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
CL-20 should be saved for a Browns post …
November 4th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Isis is just a classic troll, and as such should not be fed. I’ll admit to replying to him a couple times when I first started reading this (excellent) blog and now I pretty much just ignore him.
Now, Alan Tucker, from Windy’s old blog at the ABJ, there was a troll worth listening to. He was very much a natural contrarian like Isis, but he actually had interesting and often humorous things to say and I really enjoyed his comments even when I 100% disagreed with him.
Isis just seems like an unhappy person.
November 4th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
I’ll feel a little better about the team when they play a full game without a couple of players just being awful. Last night it was Anthony Parker, Z and Jamario Moon combining to shoot just 4-for-22, though Parker was by far the worst offender.
I want to see a couple of games where there isn’t one starter who is dragging the team’s overall performance down like an anchor. The starters all played well against Charlotte, but the rest of the games have featured at least one terrible performance from the group of Williams, Parker, O’Neal and Varejao.
Just like last season, the Cavs have been forced to rely on LeBron James to make up for the fact that at least one starter is utterly useless out there. The Cavs are always playing 4-on-5 out there. And the biggest problem is that the bad player always seems to be a different player each night.
November 4th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Mike,
This is the NBA…you can look at every team and find the same thing. You’re not gonna have 5 starters all perform every night. Look at Ray Allen last year in Boston. He was abysmal on ALOT of nights. If you have a team where 4 or 5 starters consistently perform well, even if it’s a different 4 every night, you’re gonna win alot of games.
November 4th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
BigMatt & Denny,
Do you really want the government taking a closer look at the content of this site and the character of the people who post on it?
November 4th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Then again those background checks might end up resolving this Isis debate.
November 4th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
The debate seems pretty one-sided at this point.
I agree that it was extremely frustrating seeing Anthony Parker jack up a bunch of bad shots, but you have to like his defense and hustle even if the shots aren’t falling. That’s what I expect to see from our players when they aren’t shooting well. Unlike the Larry Hughes era where he would shoot 2-13 one night, then shoot 4-15 the next night, then shoot 4-10 and you start thinking he might be turning things around only to go 1-11 the next night, and no real commitment to defense on any night.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:53 am
I like DWest coming off the bench. I hope he can get his buckets. But he can truly play point in the league unlike Boobie who just plays point b/c he’s the smallest reserve. Boobie is better off the ball and when he can get open looks. Back during the Eastern Conference run Boobie was starting with Lebron.. giving him open looks. Now with DWest, Moon, Z and Hickson playing along Boobie he’s going to get back to his lights out mentality.
If we could only somehow get Andy back on the bench we’d have stellar bench play night in and night out. He’s like the Birdman from Denver… Mediocre as a starter, but has GREAT energy and fits better coming off the bench.
Starters Bench
Mo DWest
Parker Boobie
LBJ Moon
Hickson Andy
Shaq Z
^^That^^ would be a frightening prospect
November 5th, 2009 at 12:54 am
Whoiops… messed that up.. Here is the lineup I’d like to see
Starters
Mo
Parker
LBJ
Hickson
Shaq
Bench
DWest
Boobie
Moon
Andy
Z