It really doesnt look like anyone guards or cares about Alston. Its kind of pathetic. This series sucks.

But horse is right about why Cleveland is losing. There is only one guy on the team who can shoot... and he isnt even shooting particularly well. (though his point total would say he is... he is taking a lot of shots).


I think the league is getting what it deserves. They put on Lebron and Kobe commercials non stop so they are getting an Orlando - Denver final. Just works out that way.

I was watching off and on and noticed that LeBron attempted two jumpers from around 9:00 to 1:00...the Cavs were playing decent, cut the lead, then had a 1 point lead when Jump Shooter LeBron decided to take a long-range 2 with his feet on the 3-point line. BRICK.

All of the other nonsense about help is fine and dandy but the fact remains the guy settles for jumpers in crucial situations instead of driving to the basket. He's a horrible jump shooter compared to the hall of famers he so wants to surpass but never will. This will continue to happen with the Knicks and when he has a competent supporting cast.

I made this point earlier in the thread and is was mentioned last night: Cleveland has not one single player that can score in the post. Not one. Of course Lebron and a couple of the other go down there once or twice a game but they don't have a single guy that can consistently or even inconsistently score with his back to the basket.

I dont recall one title contending team that was designed this way. Am I missing a team?

Cannon mushed the Cavs. If Connie Stevens could paint the Cavs right now, what would the painting be called?

"CONSTIPATED"

http://www.spike.com/video/constipated/2819423?cid=YSSP

She n' Shelley Smith are both going all in with than rouge. http://img.pr.com/release-file/0903/...nieStevens.jpg

I must take responsibility also for Mushing the Cavs. Didnt think that Orlando could win more than 2 games against them (already wrong).. and I thought there was a very good chance that Cavs would sweep.

I should have listened to horseofcourse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cso9Q299ZOc

Now I understand why she looks like a drunk did her make up.

It's not just that, they are capable of scoring enough points to win. Their problem is with Ilgauskas in the game they will give up an open three every single possession with him unable to switch onto the ball off a screen or to roll and cover the man setting the screen. After every pick and roll with Ilguaskas in the game there is someone left wide open and if the help defense comes they just find the next guy wide open. It's pretty masterful.

I guess things are a lil tense in Cleveland right now. This local Cleveland reporter is struggling a bit today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8N5g...eature=related

Absolutely and it was obvious in crunch time last night that they decided to go small for that very reason. Turk and rashard present major matchup problems any way you cut and if Alston is hitting open 17 ft shots like any decent NBA player should, they become very tough to guard. If howard is hitting foul shots, they become a matchup nightmare. Thinkk about this-In regulation when rashard hit that three, they were trying to cover him with 95 year old ben wallace. What else could they do?

I agree that offense isnt a problem for cleveland, i was just making a point that i had never seen a team that successful designed that way. No one plays post. Can anyone else come up with a championship contender without a player that plays back to basket? Illgauskus really doesnt play in the post anymore, he pretty much just spots up.

Yeah, I'm guessing I'm not the only one that as soon as I heard Ben Wallace had come in to cover Lewis thought that it was a guarantee Lewis was going to hit a 3. They didn't need another slow guy covering perimeter players, that was a bonehead decision. Where they need Wallace is to at least attempt to matchup with Howard so that teams can't pick and roll them to death when Varejao isn't on the court.

he is too slow to stay with howard when he comes out on the high pick and roll. It was pretty funny earlier in the thread when cannon actually brought wallace up as a viable defender. Wallace is done.

Having said all of this, I can't help but think the NBA will do all they can to make sure Lebron reaches that final. That call he got with .5 seconds was the most sickening display i have seen since jordan was playing.

Wallace is too slow but he's still far faster than Ilgauskas. At this point they have to play Wallace at the 5 when Varejao is out with how well Orlando is executing the pick and roll. Z should only be an option in this series when both Verejao and Wallace have fouled out.

Yeah, that was a tough block that put Lebron on the line.

Of all your dumb posts this one ranks right up there. Where were all the other foul calls down the stretch that could have bailed out Lebron when he was driving to the lane and there was contact? You cant just fall down in front of a guy, especially in that situation and not expect a foul call. There is no doubt that the NBA has a problem with its refs but they have been inconsistent both ways. And LeBron does cover the PG for the 100th time. Not to mention that Wallace played Howard pretty well last night including blocking a dunk attempt. He is obviously not the same player but can and did contribute. He was a bad matchup for Lewis at the end but it was a perfectly executed pick play and it is hard to believe that anyone would have been able to come through that pick and defend Lewis' shot. The fact is that Orlando has hit an unusually high percentage of three point shots, the french guy and Alston in particular. If they dont hit just one of those shots, they lose. And I guess West is too short to do a good job defensively on the Turk too.

This has to be killing the douchebag Stern. He puts all this effort into fixing the results with all these calls for James and the Magic are basically sticking up his ass. If we could only have him at the games and have the cameras find him whenever the Magic make a clutch shot (after yet another foul call for James) it would be absolutely priceless.

Anybody who watched the game knows that wasnt a foul and if you are going to make that call, you have to make the call on the other end against verijao(sp) when BOTH FELL. LOL. Seriously, if you would like i can put you on intercom and explain the game as it happens. Beyond that, I have offered classes and you havent taken me up...yet

As far as defending the point guard, my point was made over the last two games. Rafer alston scores 18 and 26. If lebron is supposed to be defending, then he cant defend him. If he can defend him, then he simply is NOT defending him or else he wouldnt be scoring 26 points. Either way, im right and you are looking more and more foolish trying to hold on to this stupid position.

That was a great no call. It was a lob situation and both players have equal rights to the ball. It is arguable who initiated the contact (probably Verajao but it wasn't definitive) but it was 100% clear that Howard reached in and got tangled up. To call a foul on one player or the other when both are going for a lob would be as atrocious as two guys bumping into each other on a jump ball and picking one out and calling the foul on them.

He guards the PG. The reasoning is clear but he does guard the PG. And there was no foul on the lob because Howard had hooked the hairy guys arm. Watch the play and stop listening to Doug Collins.

The last second play with James was and always will be a foul, especially in that situation. Not even debatable. If there is contact and the defensive player doesnt have position and impedes a path to the basket it will be a foul.

Listen Dala is not wrong. Just ask her. She insists that Lebron james doesnt cover the other teams PG despite the entire world seeing it. The reasoning doesnt change the fact. But she is right.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

This was a ridiculous call though it is troubling that so many technicals that are called are being reversed. The NBA has a real problem with its refs.

If he guards the pg, then he cant "guard" hiim because he scored 26 and rafer hasnt scored 26 since his name was still skiptomylou...and that was like 10 years ago. That doesnt seem to be getting through for some reason.

As far as the last second play, i dont think you watched it. here is the highlight about a minute in so you can see. Offensive player lowers shoulder to initiate contact and barely brushes defensive player...with .5 seconds left in defensive player's arena. Are you kidding me? Who else gets that call?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jBeG5S_NQQ

I agree. I think it was a great no call. Thats not my point. My point is, you cant make that call at the other end and not make this call. WAtch the link again snipe and tell me what you think.

It was a great no call. I think there should have been one on the other end as well.

LeBron is matched up on defensive with the PG under the defensive scheme set up by the Cavs. Simple. You claimed he wasnt or couldnt or smething else. The success of that PG is immaterial since as you have pointed out so many times that he roams on defense.

I dont see LeBron ever "lower" his shoulder until he was falling down. When there is contact and the defensive player hasnt established position, it is a foul. It was an easy call.

what does one call have to do with another? One was a guy driving to the baskket with the ball. The other was a scrum where both players got tangled up without the ball.

You are just being silly and stubborn now but i think its funny. Rafer scored 18 and 26 on successive nights. If lebron is lined up against the poiint, he cant cover the point so im right. If he is playing a one man zone, which you denied earlier in the thread, you were wrong again. Lebron can't guard point guards. Period. Even bad ones like Alston. Thats why as soon as he started scoring, they switched lebron off so someone could play honest defense. Rafer had 26 chuck. Rafer alston. Think about that.

If you dont see lebron lower his shoulder, then i have another link for you: www.lenscrafter.com

Both questionable contact fouls at the end of the game. It was obvious verajao rode him out. Enough for a call? No...but it was just as much a no call as the other. And if you dont get that, i cant help you cannon. Not even my saturday class can help you there.

the first call was not questionable. The second one was entirely different situation and Howard locked Varejoa arm first which makes him riding him out moot.

Cannon Shell created not only the basketball...he also created the circle. Like he was the first ever to make a circle.

At what point does he lower his shoulder? When he is falling after making contact with the defensive player. It is a foul.

so guys like you could have a circle jerk

If it were a foul, how come the other refs arent making the call? Only the back ref blew the whistle. If it were such an obvious call, where were the other refs? I realize the back ref is supposed to follow the ball, but the ref underneath the basket doesnt blow the whistle and the call was made in the paint. I know that is a little advanced for you but try to understand.

He lowered his shoulder before he brushed him and fell because there wasnt any contact. Why else did he fall forward? LOL. The call is done and there is no use deliberating over it. The statement that the call is "obvious" is just dumb.

He rode him out with the hip and it was 50/50 on the arm. A no call, but still a foul to some degree. You just dont call it just like you dont call a block when the offensive player initiates a brush with .5 seconds left.

not enough credit. He invented wood. Basketball would be on played concrete if not for cannon shell.

This is your new defense? The other refs didnt make the call? The ref that made the call was right there maybe 10 feet away. The other two refs are on the opposite side of the court. It was an obvious foul and the correct ref who made it. You cant trip up a guy driving to the basket and expect not to have a foul called. Stop the clip at 119 and you can clearly see Pietrus leg between James legs.

How can it be 50/50 on the arm if one guys is on top of the others and they are going backwards? Lets ask Peegarden about the laws of physics.

The way you watch the game who could tell the difference. Your obvious jealousy at my obvious superior basketball intellect is unbecoming. Plus you know I would school you one on one.

So what you're saying is you were getting cummed on when the circle occured?


Riiiiight.

Are you blind? Good eye for horses, what happens with the roundball?

One blog's take:

James and the Cleveland Cavaliers even were saved by the referees at the end of regulation. With just seconds left in the fourth quarter James drove to his right. The stop-action video allows the viewer to see James two steps above the top of the key, dribbling with his right hand. With his left hand James attempts a stiff-arm of Michael Pietrus to clear him to his left as he begins to plant and go right with his dribble. But the stiff-arm attempt fails. James begins a dash to the right side of the lane but picks up his dribble a step before the foul line. He takes the ball, raises it with both hands and shoves his left elbow into Michael Pietrus’ chin. Pietrus grimaces as he is falling backwards. Two frames later James thinks he has planted with his left foot but in fact catches his left toe on the court and falls forward into Pietrus. James falls first. As his body is parallel with the court, there is no contact between Pietrus’ body and James’. LeBron loses the ball out of bounds. But even as the ball tumbles away James has already turned toward the official to complain.

The only contact made on the play was initiated by James and his elbow knocking Pietrus backward. Other than that, nothing of Michael Pietrus’ body touches LeBron James. NBA referees receive around $300,000 to differentiate between split-second acts like these. But in that moment it was judged that Pietrus somehow fouled the already falling James.

LeBron converted both foul shots to tie the game at 100 apiece.

One-half second of playing time later Anderson Varejao was riding up under a leaping Dwight Howard to ensure he did not receive an inbounds and lay the ball in all in one motion.

No foul was called and the game went to overtime.

So we play ifs and buts,
candy and nuts.

IF Lebron James had missed that last FT
with 0.5 seconds left, Anderson V. would have
tipped it in and the game would have been over.
He was right there in perfect position.

I read a blog today that is convinced the North Korea will launch a nuclear attack on South korea this December. i must have missed the above post there.

If you wrote a blog you could say the same thing and also be wrong.