Cleveland Indians

[horseofcourse]

The Cavs are in deep trouble...opposite of last year when both the team and LeBron were playing better the 2nd half of the year. LeBron is not playing nearly as well as he was the first half of the year (even I can see that!). Last year he elevated his game as the year went on through the playoffs at least until the Spurs completely aborted him. Of course Sczerbiak may apply some lock down defense on Butler to pull them through! You can beat Wash in the interior. If they realize this, and Z and Smith can score 30 a game combined they actually have a chance. Not sure if they'll realize this. Z's had lots off good games against Wash in both regular and post season.

[Mortimer]

And a so-so team can always ignite in the playoffs.

That could be the Cavaliers.






But I don't have any Monopoly money on it.

[horseofcourse]

Nice first game for the Cavs. Though...game 2 is the big one for the team with home court. Very impressed with LeBron today. Very controlled game Avery. He forced nothing. He dominated in the areas he should...in transition and on penetration. And in the points of the game when he should have...when they were down 11 in the 2nd quarter and the last 4 minutes of the game. Only saw him take one 3 pointer early in the first quarter...didn't count his last second heave at the half. I thought good game plan by Brown. They made a concentrated effort to continually feed Z in the post all game long. That paid dividends. The entire team was involved in the offense...even though Wally and West struggled shooting at times. I thought this paid dividends as well as they outscored Wash on an 8-1 run with LeBron on the bench end of 3rd and start of 4th.

I saw almost none of the offense of give it to LeBron and let him dribble until 8 seconds are on the clock and have him heave a 24 footer off balance. Even in crunch time they stayed away from the urge to have him dominate the ball and had Gibson and/or West handling the ball and dish to a MOVING LeBron to get easier penetration to the hole for the two bigggest baskets of the game when under 2 minutes left.

They still shot poorly...Varejao can't make a layup, and LeBron was still abysmal from the foul line (will cost them eventually.) But overall one of the best games I've seen LeBron play in awhile. Still a long way to go...but for at least one game they did things the right way.

(statistically 24 assists on 30 made baskets is tremendous (with 4 players with 4 or more)...and the shot distribution was about perfect...19 for LeBron...17 for Z and 10 each for West, Wally and Gibson.).

[Mortimer]

I did not see the game,but did like your breakdown of it.

[The Bid]

Nice first game?

Brown was still running offensive sets through Verajo with 2 minutes left, down 2. The offense is terrible, Szerbiak cannot shoot at all, Im almost embarrassed hes white. Without some very key misses by Washington the Cavs are down. They didnt outplay Washington to the tune of 10 points. The game they played last night simply wont get it done with a decent team. It may not get it done with Washington

[Mortimer]

I should have known Horse would lie.

[The Bid]

We see the game completely different. The Cavs are very lucky Washington choked late.

[horseofcourse]

Originally Posted by Avery_Smartman

I should have known Horse would lie.

The facts are Bid did not refute one single thing I wrote. End of story.

[horseofcourse]

Originally Posted by The Bid

Nice first game?

Brown was still running offensive sets through Verajo with 2 minutes left, down 2. The offense is terrible, Szerbiak cannot shoot at all, Im almost embarrassed hes white. Without some very key misses by Washington the Cavs are down. They didnt outplay Washington to the tune of 10 points. The game they played last night simply wont get it done with a decent team. It may not get it done with Washington

A win is still a win. They did things better than they have been. You guys are so anti Brown and anti LeBron you refuse to see anything. Find me the last game they had 4 guys with 4 or more assists. Find me the last game they had assists on 80 percent of their buckets. Find me the problem with offensive sets under 2 and a half minutes when down 2 and then with 55 seconds left you are up 4?? You have problems with 6 point swings in one minute??

For shooting under 40 percent...they got as much out of their offense as they possibly could. The ball movement was much better than it had been.

It means nothing...and they could still lose the series...I never said they played a great game. You're talking about a team that lost 3 straight to the Chicago Bulls minus Drew gooden...I think winning a playoff game qualifies as a nice win

I APOLOGIZE AGAIN.

[horseofcourse]

Honestly what would you guys come back with if I said grass was green??

Jesus Christ...I saw a team that had quite frankly played some putrid basketball the last 3 weeks actually come out and win a playoff game and I said nice game.

Grass is green.