“Last season, when the Cavs were facing a 1-1 tie agains the Orlando Magic, I was sounding the warning bells. It was mostly because the Cavs had played pretty well and were barely keeping their heads above water. The Cavs aren’t playing well, at all, so far in this series. They certainly didn’t play like a home team in the first two games and also didn’t play like the favorite that they are.” [Brian Windhorst's Beat Blog]
“His post play allowed the Celtics to establish an inside-outside balanced attack with Wallace and Kevin Garnett (18 points on 8-for-21 shooting) pounding in the paint and Ray Allen (22 points on 8-for-15 shooting) hitting from afar. Garnett hit only two of his nine attempts in the first half, but Rivers told his 6-11 power forward to keep attacking.” [Jodie Valade on Sheed]
“The pointless cliche is that a playoff series never really starts until one team wins on the other’s floor. But Boston has won here now, and the Cavs are losing this series, 1-1.” [Bill Livingston on the Cavs Lost Identity]
“But it was his offense — or lack of it — that was the real problem. Williams said the Celtics changed their defensive strategy after his 20 points in Game 1.” [Mary Schmitt Boyer on Mo Williams]
“Whether or not the widespread talk of their demise has added to the boulder on their shoulders, there’s no question that the playoff Celtics are very different than the regular-season Celtics. Either bored or coasting, they played middling .500 basketball over the final four months of the season. But now they’re on another plane, crushing Miami in five games and outplaying Cleveland for the better part of the first two contests.” [Chris Broussard's Daily Dime]
“Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo didn’t just outplay the league MVP Monday night, he outplayed the league MVP and the MVP of Game 1 of this series. ” [Chris Forsberg - ESPNBoston]
Jay Mariotti wrote an article about The Cavs and LeBron.
“Cavaliers coach Mike Brown finally snapped.” [Marla Ridenour]
Defending Dwight Howard for MVP… “By this logic, Dikembe Mutombo was a 5-time MVP. Good lord.” [Bill Simmons]
Tweets To The Present (follow me @tompestak)
“Anderson Varejao day-to-day with back spasms. LeBron to have a scheduled MRI on elbow before Game 3. That was set up last week.” [Brian Windhorst]
“At the Cavaliers complex, waiting for practice to end. Team was initially expected to have day off, but, well…104-86 changes things” [Rachel Nichols]
“Forgotten fact: Mutombo’s best block-reb #’s were better than Howard’s despite playing vs. much better centers. http://tinyurl.com/37ye2b” [Bill Simmons]
Here’s a question though…. if the Cavs end up losing (whether it be this series, the next one, or even the finals if they get there) because LEBRON didn’t play up to his capabilities, would he leave?
No one has brought this up because they assume LeBron will go all out every game, and if the team were to lose it would be the other guys’ faults. But if LeBron doesn’t step his game up, then skips down… wow, that would just be amazing.
I’ve been thinking that since last night Colin. I see everyone on other sites talkin about Mike Brown being terrible and being the reason LeBron will leave. Well, LeBron not playing up to his standards factors into the loss, and if he continues to play like this he should shoulder just as much of the blame. No longer can we say he oesn’t have help. He needs to help himself more than eh did last night.
If the Cavs lose in the playoffs because of LeBron playing poorly, then what? The Nuggets lost game 6 to the Jazz because Anthony sucked. He ran his mouth about needing help then went out and just was terrible. So, what if the Cavs lose this series because LeBron is being average instead of great? Do we blame everyone else, or do we blame him. And if we blame him,does he still leave, or does he leave for different reasons…or what?
I don’t even want to think about this, but if LeBron DOES leave, how will it be perceived? As we all know, right now, whenever LeBron does ANYTHING there are people coming out of the woodwork to hate on him. If he leaves for say NYC, does that change, or become even louder? There’s no guarantee the NYC writers would even protect him, look what they did to A-Rod.
LeBron is loved in Ohio, not so much other places. JA Adande touched on it recently saying he gets 2 negative LeBron posts in his chat wraps for every positive one – there is a lot of hate (mostly undeserved imo) out there for LeBron – it makes sense that it would be ratcheted up a notch if he were to abandon NE Ohio.
@Tom: If he leaves without winning, he’ll be crucified. That said, if he stays without winning, he’ll be crucified.
Todd,
That’s the price people pay for becoming stars in this world. Though the people who most often get crucified are the ones that speak the truth. LeBron will be pampered by his millions (billions?) and doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him. He is a businessman now, not a little boy from Akron.
I’m confident that we win the next game, and win it healthily. I don’t know why, call it a gut feeling. But there’s no denying that the seeds of doubt have been planted. I didn’t even know this Cavs team was capable of such a pathetic showing as last night. Give the Celtics credit where it’s due, but we were not, and havent been, the Cavs I know in this series. Is it the elbow? I dont know. Is it apathy? Hard to believe, but that’s certainly what it looked like last night.
In my heart of hearts I still believe that LeBron will stay with us, but part of me feels like if we lose in these playoffs in a frustrating manner, he could choose to leave as some kind of emotional response. If he leaves people around here will feel betrayed, and eventually hate him. I think this may be one of the greatest factors in getting him to stay. No star athlete wants people in his HOMETOWN to hate him. I can’t think of one other superstar athlete of LeBrons caliber that has had to deal with a similar situation. Imagine Jordan playing his entire career in Charlotte (I know the hornets weren’t around when he joined the league but bear with me) that the closest parallel I can think of. But even this does not seem to do the situation justice as I believe Cleveland to be a much greater sports town, with a much more engaged fan base, but maybe I am biased. This brings us to the next point of Cleveland’s entire existence as a competitive sports town hinging on “the decision.” It would be morally and ethically wrong for LeBron to leave Cleveland to further wallow in professional sports misery. I mean, I feel like the Browns are finally on the up and up, but even then, it could be years before any Cleveland team is championship competitive again. Surely LeBron realizes this. Right?
Billions is a stretch. Jordan, with his own team and clothing line that is immensly popular isn’t really all that close to being a billionaire.
None the less, Kevin is right. That is the price you pay for getting that much money to play a game. For you to be able to recieve that type of dollar amount to play a simple sport is because the public pays you for it. because the public pays you for it, they have the right to criticize you as they see fit. Maybe a lot of the criticism is misplaced, but it doesn’t mean it won’t and shouldn’t come. Basically, because I watch the games, by Nike gear, pay for a LeBron jersey, and go to a game every now and then, I have the right to say w/e the hello I want about LeBron, so long as it pertains to what he does on the court. Todd is right, if he doesn’t wina title this year, he is going to be utterly massacred. Probably not fair, but not totally unreasonable either.
That said, I’ll be at game 5, anyone else going?
I think lebron scores 50 in game 3. Seems like the perfect opportunity. Or maybe 35 triple double or something
@kevin
I feel the same way. I think game 3 in Boston is the perfect opportunity for Lebron to silence critics and subdue fan worries. He knows this, and as the leader of this team he feels responsible and he will make it right in game 3.
@Kevin: At no point did I suggest he shouldn’t be crucified. That’s simply what’s going to happen if he doesn’t win.
There’s crazy pressure on the Cavs this year (and every year until they don’t win). That pressure is one of the reasons why I think Lebron will/can win a ton of championships after he wins one, because at least some of that pressure will be lifted.
…I was agreeing with you.
So the Hawks just scored a total of 22 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. I know Orlando is a better team, but how on Earth can a team with that kind of offensive talent look like they are playing in the 1920s? I mean…22 points? 44 points after three quarters? They shouldn’t even be allowed to play the 4th.
”I can’t explain it. We all got our behind kicked. Every single one of us starting with myself did not fight tonight and it showed on the court. You’ve got to give the Celtics credit.” – Mike Brown
At least he admits it. Whether or not the Cavs respond is another question.
Dear Mike Brown,
Stop trying to generate offense through Shaq at the beginning of the game. It kills the Cavs by slowing down the game. If you havent’t noticed the average age of a Celtics player is around 84, they like playing slow. Put in a small lineup and run them off the floor.
Brown should have taken a page out of his mentor’s playbook and left Shaq on the bench when he got back from the injury (a la Tony Parker this year). Pops recognized his team’s improved play with their current lineup, and realized that Parker would do wonders attacking the opposing teams bench.
The Cavs had just started to build a chemistry with their starting 5 when Shaq got back. He should have left Shaq on the bench, and utilized him against the other team’s second string.
We knew it wouldn’t happen, but it makes a ton of sense.
Great points Dean and Colin!
Yup. We have to get ahead early by getting more points in the paint:
Offensively: Open with Hickson, run fast transitions before the oldies get there, LeBron, Jamison and JJ dominate the paint.
Defensively: Start with Parker on Rondo, force the Celts to take contested shots.
@colin i agree. The things which Pop knows and recognizes of his team are what makes him a great coach. He knows the strengths and weakess of the spurs and plays to the strengths. Mike brown is knows that his bigger lineup is a horrible idea (hopefully he does) but plays them anyway. For reasons I fail to understand, he is yet to give up on this lineup and play the kind of basketball the cavs are more suited to playing.
@Colin and Siefer209: I think there are about a half dozen coaches in the league who are both smart enough to have recognzied this problem, AND have enough stature in the game that they would have brought Shaq off the bench under these circumstances w/o giving a damn if it upset him: Phil Jackson, Popovich, Jerry Sloan, Riley, Larry Brown and Don Nelson. Maybe a couple others? Whereas Mike Brown, I suspect, recognizes that the team was playing better with Hickson as a starter, but doesn’t want to alienate Shaq now when he’s counting on him as a key to winning the “next” series (if the Cavs even get there).
That said, the timing of Shaq’s injury and the way the team played afterward (until Lebron sat out the last few games) gave Brown the perfect opportunity to stick with the late-season lineup and cover himself by saying that he preferred not to disrupt things too much at such a late date. And it’s the type of decision for which Danny Ferry presumably would defer to the coach to some degree. So in my mind, this counts as a screw-up by Brown.
Im tired of Lebron holding the city hostage
If he leaves I just hope we get somebody else like Wade….Wade never has games with no effort
@ Joseph, if you want Wade, will you be happy if the Cavs become the Heat?