Links To The Present: February 26, 2010

Who's the bully now?!

1.) The absolute turning point in the game came in the third when LeBron hit a stationary spot up three with Marquis Daniels right up on him.  LeBron’s three cut the Celtics’ lead to six and I remembering noting, “here it is, game over.”  Terrible feeling. -Celtics Hub

2.) But as good as the small lineup may look — and with Hickson playing with such vigor, it looked very good — it is a not a way to play all the time. -From BW’s Beat Blog.

Charley Rosen Agrees: For sure, Shaq is most effective against the likes of Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum — post-up, muscle-up guys who look to score. But against more “ordinary” NBA bigs, Shaq is a liability.

3.) I was wondering if D-Block would get called back now that the big thumb-thumper is out.  Question Answered.   Btw, really cool tweet from Fred McLeod last night: To show how tight these guys are…biggest smiles in the locker room for: Darnell Jackson’s 34 and 12 in Erie tonight…

4.) WFNY analyzes the main obstacles in the East.

5.) There was a funny moment in the TNT studio last week.  Kenny Smith was raving about LeBron always playing well and then he corrected himself after saying LeBron was the best player in the league by adding “after Kobe Bryant”.  Charles Barkley smirked at him and said “He’s [LeBron] the best, you can just say it.”  TD of WFNY is a big Kenny Smith fan.

6.) Not nearly as good as “who wants to buy some DVDs” but I thought this video of Z and LeBron was interesting.

7.) The Clippers have some interest in LeBron.  Jason Fleming of HoopsWorld doesn’t see it:

What does all of that mean? It means if the Clips want to have the cap space to sign LeBron James this summer, they better hope the salary cap number comes in at over $55 million. According to all reports – and of course none of this is locked until the end of June – that’s just not going to happen.

8.) Bill Simmons feels Dallas is the sleeping giant in the “LeBron sweepstakes”.  He even puts down the Vegas Odds of LeBron’s destination in today’s marathon chat:  Ok… Cavs (5-2)… Bulls (5-2)… Knicks (7-2)… Mavs (5-1)… Clips (10-1)… Nets (12-1)… Rockets (25-1)… Lakers (25-1)… Celtics (100-1)

I have 2 immediate thoughts on this:  1.) LeBron and Derek Rose would not be a great fit.  Both need the ball to be effective and D Rose doesn’t shoot well from outside or play off the ball much.  2.) I do worry about the lure of Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson.

9.) Great Piece by Noam Schiller debuting for Both Teams Played Hard:  Jamison also finally gives the Cavs another player that can create offense in late game situations, taking the load off of LeBron and making the Cavs less predictable. Mo Williams should also benefit from this move – he will get more open shots with a player who can score in the post and seems much more fit to be a number 3 option on offense.

10.) The LeBron PER watch is ON! As many of you know, the single greatest statistical regular season since the league started keeping track of turnovers belongs to His Airness with a PER of 31.89 in 1987-88.  LeBron is at 31.83 right now, he’s starting to limit turnovers despite increased usage (Feb has been his lowest TO/g this season) and with Shaq and Z out, you can bet LeBron’s going to have to be even more productive.  In addition,  the Cavs are in a dog fight for best record in the NBA –  there are plenty of reasons to think LeBron could set the record.

11.) Windy’s pre-game blog is up:  Those facets have to be part of the attack, the Cavs cannot stick to hoisting 3-pointers on the road. That is the big temptation without playing without a post player to dump to.