Preview: Cavaliers at Celtics, May 13th
2010-05-13Well, here we go. It’s a three-game series, and the Cavs are down 0-1. They’re 48 minutes away from tying this series up and going back to Cleveland for the deciding game. It’s not over. At least not yet. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not ready for LeBron’s last game as a Cav.
This game can be won. The Cavs have the talent. They won easily in Boston not that long ago. If they believe they can win this game, they can do it. LeBron says he knows what the stakes are. He needs to play like it, now more than ever. This entire team needs to hit the boards like their pride is on the line. No sloppy turnovers. Every possession could mean everything. Play defense on everyone, for the full 24 seconds, and get the ball if they miss.
Limit transition opportunities. Contest KG’s catches. Try to stop Ray Allen from getting it going. Hope Pierce doesn’t have one last bullet left in the holster.
On offense, play aggressive and confident. LeBron needs to come out early attacking and make the game his. Guys need to shoot when they’re left alone, and know when to reset when they don’t have the looks. Use Shaq to get in the bonus, then play matchup ball. Delonte’s gotta provide a spark. A lot of things need to go right. They can. The Cavs have won 67 games this season. They need two more right now.
A loss will hurt. If the Cavs go down fighting, I can take it. This team needs to play with pride. They need to play like they want another couple weeks of this. I do. I’m sure all of you do as well. This can happen. It is not over. But it needs to start right now. Not next game, not next quarter, not next possession. This is it. Having your back against the wall isn’t an excuse to quit. It’s an opportunity to leave everything out there. Any iota of effort this team doesn’t give will stay with them until their graves. 48 tough minutes, or a lifetime of infamy. It’s their choice.
Regardless of what happens, I love this team. I’ve loved watching them. I’ve loved talking about them. I’ve especially loved writing about them. It’s been a great journey. Let’s keep it going.
It would have taken a miracle but I was sad they gave up with 1:30 left too. The Varajeo three pointer was a gross but fitting end to this disaster.
Here’s to Cleveland.
@ JKrolik/Tom
Thanks for all the hard work you put into this blog. Everyday I looked forward to reading the newest post.
I wish I didn’t delete my recording, cause I swear I didn’t see coach do anything the last minute of the game.
If someone has it please post somewhere, so I don’t have complete hatred for the man.
I don’t know enough about the x’s and o’s of basketball to say for sure, but I agree with Rich (I think it was Rich) that the lack of an offensive system is a real problem, and maybe an inexcusable one. I really don’t think the supporting cast is that bad, but you have to run an offense that makes the most of them. The Celtics went all out on shutting down Lebron and the Cavs had no answer. The Cavs half-court game often looked like a bunch of guys thrown together for a pickup game.
From the final 50 seconds or so he was yelling and winding his arms as if to say, Go Foul! and they didn’t.
@Kevin
If you can get video of this I’d love to see it, because it looked to me like he wasn’t doing anything at the end
Whoa, Rich, are you serious?! Mike Brown was standing on the sidelines screaming at them to foul and they ignored his ass! They quit on him!
I heard when you end everything with an exclamation point it means you want to be taken seriously!!!!!
@LeChoke
Right cause LeBron just forgets how to dribble because he’s a choker. Your an idiot, please go away.
Sorry Todd. Hugs not drugs.
@Rich, I wasn’t trying to suggest it wasn’t Browns’ fault at all. I was just speaking against the WHOLE team. I have to believe if someone cared on the floor they would have fouled anyways, screw the coach.
Please Lebronalier fans he wasn’t even wearing that protective sleeve!!!! The LeElbow was fine!
Please do not feed any of the trolls that come on the board tonight…
LeChoke lived up to his name!!! He quit, he didn’t want to be there in game 5, and his teamates followed suit. Better luck next year Cleveland! Hahahahahahahaha
Hylton, fouling on purpose is a direct call that comes from the coach. The coach didn’t tell them to do it, so they didn’t.
Again, Cavs WOULD HAVE WON THIS SERIES HAD MIKE BROWN REALIZED THE CELTICS WEAKNESS. Good riddance Mike Brown. Love you in the regular season, can’t stand you in the playoffs. Made Jamison look like a terrible player because of no offensive system to speak of. oy….don’t have a good thing to say about Brown tonight.
1) A Root Canal
2) Running a marathon Die-Hard style on broken glass
3) An hour in a sauna with a fat guy and a plate of baked beans
4) Staring in a love scene with Cathy Bates
5) Sleeping in a barbed-wire hammock
6) Having your genatalia ripped out Braveheart-style
7) Watching an all-day Gigli marathon
8) Getting a full body message from Richard Simmons
9) Chinese water-torture with sewer water
10) Hell
For everyone saying LeBron isn’t clutch, are you forgetting that he took a team with Eric Snow, Larry Hughes, Damon Jones, Sasha Pavlovic, Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall to the finals in 2007? He’ll bounce back, whatever team he’s on (except the Clippers). Not to totally excuse his sloppy play tonight, but if he were playing with an amputated arm, haters would still be shouting for him to suck it up and carry the team.
I had quit on them by that point. The writing was on the wall. It was over.
@ Capital T, They may have played hard for parts… but how could you ever forgive the no fouling late in the game? Its a total slap in the face and there’s no excuse for quiting!!!
Chip P. Do you want to fight? I will offer this to any Boston/New York trolls on this board tonight. You do not want to screw with scorned Cleveland fans. Especially right now Blue-collar people will murder you and cover it up. We’re not poor, and the airfare is worth it. Mostly because we make dirty connections in more cities this way. Hey, you gotta buy cement on the cheap from someone.
Just a memo–this is all satire (as far as JK is concerned).
Celtics Lakers finals, with Lakers winning in 7.
Kevin, that is going to be a walk over. The Suns, like the Jazz, have 0 chance of defending the Lakers inside.
Is anyone here really pumped for that Suns/Lakers series?
The elbow looked good with those effortless threes.
Lebron brought the energy tonight but the sloppy hands killed us. Props to Mo playing with heart and almost TOO MUCH energy.
lbj tanked it, he’s leavin cleveland. game over.
Also, past the shooting, was his inability to handle the ball well. Points further to something wrong with the elbow.
I agree with Rich. I think it’s the elbow. I’m disappointed, but I think most of the Cavs at least went out hard in Game 6.
I’m going with the elbow theory at this point. LeBron played extremely hard, but couldn’t make a shot to save his life.
Didn’t the Suns turn down that offer anyways…
And Rickc, THEY TRIED. Phx said no. You realize a trade takes two teams right?
The worst thing to happen to this team was Mike Brown winning Coach of the Year.
I don’t really know what to say about this collapse. I suspect there is an explanation and it will come out eventually. I’m really curious. Lebron is a total enigma right now. Can’t believe he was slapping hands with Boston fans as he walked off the court.
Yea, Delonte and/or Varejao will HOPEFULLY be packaged in a deal this summer. If Deron Williams gets his way, Carlos Boozer iscoming back. If Carlos Boozer is going back to utah, Millsap is going to be on the market. Boy, oculdn’t they use a guy like Anderson Varejao to give them some size and defense against the Lakers. Already thinking about the summer my friends!
Ryo, no i was saying we should have traded JJ for Amare when we had the chance…no use holding onto that no defense, Mike Brown confusing bum
Oh sorry. I forgot to mention that Delonte was absolutely ABYSMAL on the offensive end. That was terrible.
Although, and Colin mentioned this a few days ago, how do we as fans take the regular season seriously anymore? I mean, I dunno if I’m even gonna care next year during the regular season. How could you? What does it mean? I was thinking about this earlier today. The best Cleveland has looked in the playoffs is amazingly in ’08. Think about this, the team they lost too was the Celtics who won the title. That year, they had 7 close games and everyone talks about game 7 being the one to remember, but remember game 1? Remember when… Read more »
Maybe Dan Gilbert will shell out another $16 million + luxury tax and get us Bosh and resign LeBlown Games?
I was gonna get bent out of shape about this, but if the players don’t seem to be too choked up about dramatically underperforming then I guess I should calm myself down. Props to Mo for showing up in the first half, warts and all – I think he sensed if he wasn’t the guy, no one was gonna be the guy. Jamison… christ. Abused on D. Has open lanes and opts for 15ft fadeaways. I know he’s all about that wierd release, but sometimes a plain vanilla layup or dunk is in order. I don’t know what happened to… Read more »
Yeah, LeBow is clearly bothering LeBron. As for Mike Brown, he brought great defense to this team, but he’s not a good enough in-game coach to get it done. He needs to go, though don’t be surprised when we end up with someone much, much worse. It’s not his fault we couldn’t hit a 3 to save our lives (our bread and butter all season) but he should have gone small and exploited our obvious advantage in athleticism. My real problem stems from the fact that within 5 minutes to play, we didn’t go exclusively to LeISO. I know everyone… Read more »
In other news, we actually out-rebounded them for once.
ps: Jamison-I stuck my neck out for you. 20% shooting in an elimination game, and letting your counterpart shoot 58%? Heck, we could have gotten that from Larry Hughes.
Well, next year will be interesting. Cause even if LeBron comes back, the roster is going to be way different. Mike Brown won’t be back, and because of that I doubt Shaq comes back. Also, Delonte has to be moved for about 20 different reasons. Oh well, for another day.
Don’t go over to the ESPN comment boards… it’s a bad decision. Crack open a beer, grab a bottle of rum, etc… that’s just going to be painful. It’s already going to be bad enough reading some of the comments here.
ben tej, that was FREAKING HILARIOUS
Todd (with a d for dumbass) – have you EVER seen Lebron do that? A guarantee you haven’t. Get off his nuts already.
And Mo gave us one good half. I suppose that’s better than none, but still…
My head hurts thinking about what is probably transpiring on the ESPN comments board for the game. Anyone had the temerity to wade into the sewage over there?
Well, I saw a lot more to like out of LeBron tonight. Most impressive thing: Going up strong and getting rebounds. Least impressive: all the turnovers. After this game, I’m much more ready to blame it on the elbow. I feel like he was trying, but really was thrown off of his game by not being able to hit Js. So the Celtics pack the lane and he can’t drive. There goes his game. Wish he could have figured out how to adjust, but alas, he didn’t. Good riddance, Mike Brown. I have officially stepped over into the “You are… Read more »
Most players take off their jerseys when they get in the tunnel. Oh freaking well. He took off his jersey. What a disgrace to Cleveland *rolls eyes*
I mean, that is if he doesn’t stay in Cleveland.
That was not a sub-par game. He had a lot of turnovers and shot a lot because no one else was making any shots or doing anything offensively… They stayed in it early because Mo Williams helped out, but in the end it was a Lebron who was clearly less than 100% trying to carry the team, and he was simply not capable. It wasn’t a great game, but anytime you have 19 boards and 10 assists… that’s at least an average game.
I hope LeBron goes to the Lakers. The wires will cross in ESPN chat land and the Universe will implode as the LeBron debate reverses poles. Cleveland fans spamming in “LeBrick is overrated” and LA fans shouting back that he’s better than MJ. Plus, that leaves open the chance of New York being forced to sign Rudy Gay to a max contract to give Knicks fans their poetic comeuppance, trading in their King James jerseys for ones that say Gay on them.
Yea, Kyle. I’ve seen so many Cavs players over the years not choke. Get real. We all should want the guy to re-sign.
Lebron takes off his jersey .5 seconds after getting into the tunnel. I hope we never see him put it back on. Cleveland doesn’t need someone to disgrace them like that. Get out of town and don’t let the door hit you on the way out you god damn choker.
Omfg p. Get out of here dude. How can you take delight in an entire fan base and city being crushed yet again. You might hate leBron or cavs fans, but give us at least a couple of hours to absorb it.
Let’s be clear here. LeBron James had 3 straight sub-par games. that will never get it done against a good team. Don’t let the final line fool you, He still shot very poorly, and had 9 turnovers. He was never right this whole series.
However, Mike Brown’s failure to realize what EVERYONE ELSE KNEW is going to be his final mistake. Guessing he gets the axe sometime within the next few days.
wow look how quick they took off those cleveland jerseys. ha ha ha have a nice summer cavs fans
Sorry guys. I wanted to believe.
Well, cya Mike Brown. Jamario Moon 7 minutes. Hickson 0. The two guys who needed to play a lot of minutes and they get none.
beautiful, last shot of a disgraced season is a Varejao three pointer
Well everyone played hard. but this is the playoffs. You need people to do more than play hard, you need to make shots. No1 on the Cavs could make a shot tonight, including the great one.
LeBron, thanks for the effort in these final five minutes. Where was it the last two and a half games? If you were playing like crap to send a message…well, it done back fired.
It’s ECF inability to get a loose ball all over again!!!
Also, why does Mike Brown pull the Hack-a-Celtics last game and not now when the C’s are shooting horribly from the line?
It’s Cleveland baby. It’s always over.
Still not over guys…
Rickc, buddy, get out of fantasy land. We didn’t hold onto Hickson, the Suns said no. In what world are the Suns going to give up a guy like Amare Stoudemire for JJ Hickson? As soon as the rumors started I called them fake because that is just silly. Isn’t like Ferry looked at the situation and said “Hey, you know, I’d really rather have Jamison than this other guy who is clearly better so long as we can hang on to the great HIckson.”
Ouch at the chant!
Rickc, so are you saying that you’d rather have JJ, Jamison, and no Lebron for the next decade over Amare and (still only possibly) Lebron? The Cavs clearly were going for it this year, If you’re not gonna use JJ in the playoffs why hold on to him?
Sorry Clevelanders. I feel for y’all…
I read a very foretelling quote at the beginning of the year: “The only guy who could stop this team is Mike Brown. And he’s very capable of doing it”
Seems like that came true much earlier than I thought.
Go Suns? I’m a glutton for punishment :p
Jamison is worthelss. So glad we held onto JJ to get him over Amare.