Ben

(The Cavalier is on an extended leave of absence. The following was not written by him, although he would’ve written it, if it wasn’t for those pesky kids.)

Cleveland fans aren’t in the best of moods right now. The Tribe is playing its first home games in Milwaukee since Major League (though they won last night and CC is 2-0), Browns fans (self link alert!) are waiting for the Browns to screw up the draft and Cavs fans have resigned themselves to the 5th seed.

With the Bulls win last night, the Cavs are a half game out of the 2nd seed with four games to play (Chicago has three left). Their schedule is favorable (3 at home and all against sub .500 teams- ) and, if they want a first round series that doesn’t involve anyone named Shaquille, they’ll have to win out.

Reportedly the Cavs are in “playoff mode” and that means they’re really serious about winning these last four games. Don’t get me wrong, this is probably a good thing, but one wonders why they weren’t in “playoff mode” against the Heat last Thursday. Or against Boston. Or New York.

During the Pistons game on Sunday, ABC ESPN on ABC showed a telling stat about the Cavaliers season, which I’ll repeat here (because, what’s the point of blogging if you don’t rip off someone else’s work?):

First 9 games: 7-2 (the two losses were to Charlotte and Atlanta)
Next 16 games: 7-9 (with losses Indiana, New York and NOOCH)
Following 11 games: 9-2
Next 22 games: 10-12 (including losses to Seattle, Portland and Philadelphia)
Next 8 games: 8-0
Last 12 games: 5-7 (with losses to New York, Boston and Charlotte)

What does this tell me? That the Cavs are a talented team that has no focus and little mental toughness (though, again, it wouldn’t shock me at all if they went on a playoff run. I also wouldn’t be shocked if they were swept by the Heat).

The current trend of mediocrity prompted Akron Beacon Journal scribe Terry Pluto to ask some tough questions (to himself):

Q: So what do you know?

A: They will make the playoffs, just don’t ask me whom they will play or how long they will survive.

Q: You’re a lot of help.

A: A year ago, the Cavs finished the regular season by winning 14-of-17. After March 1, they were 18-6 to finish with 50 victories. They were playing their best basketball of the season heading into the playoffs.

Q: Did it matter?

A: It seemed to, especially in the first round, when they knocked off the Washington Wizards in six games. The Cavs won three of those games by a single point, two in overtime. They played with tremendous confidence.

Q: And now?

A: They play with tremendous inconsistency.

Q: Whose fault is that?

A: Most fans want to blame everything from global warming to the weekend snowstorm on coach Mike Brown. I’m not a huge fan of the Cavs’ coach, but I do know that Brown is not in the huddling saying: “LeBron, I want you to take the last shot. I want you to dribble until the clock is about to expire, and take the worst-possible, off-balanced, no-look 3-pointer possible.”

Q: So it’s LeBron’s fault?

A: In some of the late-game situations, it is a problem with the young star. As I wrote at some length Sunday, he is so fixated on taking a shot so deep in the clock so the other team has no time to get the rebound — he’s taking bad shots. In the Wizards series last year, he took the ball to the basket with authority in clutch situations.

Q: He’ll just get fouled and miss the free throws, like he did Sunday in Detroit.

A: It does seem like he misses some close free throws in the clutch, and he does. But Elias Sports Bureau had some numbers that shocked me. In the past eight games, James was 17-of-18 from the foul line in the final five minutes of what they consider “close games.” Since the All-Star break, James is 75 percent from the foul line. All the more reason for him to drive.

Q: So most of the fault is LeBron’s?

A: Of course not. In late-game situations, I have a sense Brown is calling two plays in some instances. It’s very clear that in some games — Sunday in Detroit — they come out of the huddle, then the man taking the ball out-of-bounds is looking to the bench and asking, “What do you want?” There is confusion, and some of that is coaching.

But surprisingly, a column where the writer talks to himself isn’t the craziest thing I’ve read in the papers recently. Brian Windhorst is reporting that the Cavs are switching up their late game philosophy and he wonders aloud if the Cavs should be running last second plays for Sasha Pavlovic (by the way, none of this should be considered a knock on Pluto or Windhorst. They are like the Jordan and Pippen Batman and Robin Robinson and Duncan of NE Ohio sportswriters. No one else is even close).

I’m not sure I’m all that confident with Sasha handling the ball, but I am open to the idea of getting the ball out of LeBron’s hands and letting him work/move/play without the constant double teams.
Right now the Cavs are playing into their opponents hands by simply handing the ball to LBJ 30 feet from the hoop and letting him go to work. This is dumb. And this happens constantly. For whatever reason (coaching, LeBron’s own thinking, scared teammates) LeBron always receives the ball outside the 3pt arc.

He rarely posts up, once every three weeks he’ll set a pick for the ball handler and he almost never gets easy baskets that someone else set up for him (once in awhile Z will throw him a lob from the high post). He doesn’t get the ball in a good position to score- he has to work hard for every bucket.
I guess what I’m saying is this: the offense sucks (this just in!). It sucks long and it sucks hard (though, to tell ya the truth, it’s only the second worst offense we’ve seen in Cleveland this year. I’m sorry, but nothing beats the Browns’ fullback-based offense. Fantastic).
It’s doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence when the coaching staff is shaking up the offense with four games to go.
And it’s even less inspiring when it’s obvious it needed shaking up long before now.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }