(This is the sentence wherein we pay lip service to the Suns-Spurs Game 3 (Winner in bold!), which was a better game, with more interesting storylines, and a more important outcome series-wise.)
If you’re making a list of complaints about lasterday’s Cleveland loss to New Jersey, you may want to start with something along the lines of “Oh, the Cavs were actually at the game?”
Getting more specific, it’s possible one could break into some sort of commentary on why Larry Hughes took 20 shots, as opposed to LeBron James’s 16 shots. (To be fair, Larry actually went 9-20, although we would’ve sworn it was more like 4-52.)
Perhaps the biggest reason CLE lost the game comes down to the season-long love affair they have with just not feeling like it sometimes. Yep, they were outrebounded by the Nets.
“They wanted it more than us,” Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. “Their backs were against the wall. They had nothing to lose, so they came out and were physical and they kept us off the boards, which was huge for us in the first two games.”
Geez, even their post-game quotes are lackluster.
This sin’t to take anything away from the Nets, who had a monster triple-double from Jason Kidd, survived the devastating blow of Vince Carter’s bruised pinkie-finger, and are the far, far, far inferior team. They just are – they were actively trying to give the Cavs the game in the fourth quarter, yet Cleveland…whatever.
As for not having anything to lose, Z…what about (by our calculations) the 6 days of rest you just handed the Lasers, assuming they sweep the Bulls today? And that assumes you win this series in 5 games.
On the positive side, we’re growing a healthly dislike for Mikki Moore, so that fuels the passion for tomorrow’s Game 4 a little more. We need it, since the Cavaliers took our renewed enthusiasm for them and reminded us of the team that made us sick all season.
(Just a quick shout to Baron Davis for that monster dunk over Ivan in last night’s Warriors win over the Jazz. We told you that thing was going seven…GSW is in no danger of losing at home.)
The general consensus when down 0-2 is that Game 3 becomes a must-win for the team in said hole.
Regarding their series with our Cavaliers (“our” indicating that, yes…we’re back), The Nets know this, and as such, plan on making what could be seen as a few desperate adjustments to the line-up.
According to all accounts, they plan to “go small”, a strategy that may, in theory, allow them to hustle to more loose balls, get out and run, and generally aggravate CLE’s bigger front line.
The possible counter strategy, which would not work (see: Mavericks, Dallas) is to insert one’s own small line-up, rather than saying, “Um, no. You adjust to us, not the other way around.”
“If they went small, that would be fine. We’d probably stay big,” [Coach Mike] said. “It could work; it may not work. It will be up to us to pound them on the glass and give Drew some looks down low.”
Somehow…someway…we and Coach Mike have arrived on the same page.
We ask not how that happened, nor why it happened. It’s a tenuous situation at best, and considering our long and angry history with the man from roughly Day 7 of the 06-07 season, we’re hardly ready to say it’s cemented.
So anyway, we expect the Cavaliers to win handily today, especially if “go small” is the strategy. While Z isn’t a racecar at all, Drew Gooden is hardly a slow, plodding big, plus we can throw Varajeo in there at center, and he’ll run non-stop for 746 hours if you ask him too.
Finally, let us ask one question regarding the next round that’s being set up here. Why is the Lasers-Bulls series like a full game ahead of Cavs-Nets? Aren’t the Lasers gonna get extra rest if they sweep tomorrow? This crazy three day break for CLE-NJN Game 3…this was all so it could be on ESPN in the late afternoon? That’s like a huge ratings slot?
Lasers in 4. Cavaliers in 4, as well.
(David Thorpe at ESPN has pipcked the Nets to win both Games 1 & 2, and again picks them to win Game 3. What’s funny about this is if you read his analysis, he basically describes how they have no chance, then picks them anyway.)
Tuesday was a unique day for us for many a reason, not the least of which is that we can say we were legitimately excited to watch the Cavaliers for the first time since roughly November.
To our delight, they beat New Jersey in confident (if not beautiful) fashion, and are now up 2-0 in the series.
We’d love to go all into what’s become the ridiculous offensive rebounding advantage CLE has, but we’re left instead with Vince Carter and His Soccer Uniform lying on the floor late in the 4th quarter…with a cramp.
This is, of course, a curious case of the joke that has already written itself. How does one expand upon Vince Carter and His Soccer Uniform costing his team a point in a tight game because he’s writhing on the floor…with a cramp?
“Owww!” Vince Carter and His Soccer Uniform said of the injury. “My stockings, thigh guards, and other assorted leg wraps failed to protect me from everything they were supposed to.”
When asked to explain how he might change his approach for Game 3, Carter and His Soccer Uniform laughed. “Oh, I don’t care. You pick something.”
Truth be told, Carter and His Soccer Uniform didn’t have a bad game if you look at the box score. The other side of that is actually watching his game on a play-by-play basis. Do Nets fans spend 50% of the game screaming at the guy to go to the hole? To use his talents for good, and not aggravation?
As for the Cavaliers, the offense is pretty ugly, but they’ve managed to buckle down and get it done in the fourth quarter of these games. Add in the offensive rebounding thing, and the Cavs are able to win while shooting like 10% less than the Nets. They get like 20 more shots per game, which TNT announcer Doug Collins taught us in 140 separate sentences over 2+ hours.
(Just a small question here – when you get into the bonus with 10 minutes left in the fourth, how are you not posting up someone – anyone – every single time down the floor?)
Alas, all of this is nice – up 2-0 is clearly better than 0-2 or 1-1. THAT SAID, it’s difficult to project what it means for the next game, let alone anything past that – these are the 06-07 Cavaliers, after all. They tend to do just enough to win, and whether they can up that ante to include non-Washington/Jersey teams is a mystery.
We weren’t going to write anything on Cavs-Nets Game 1 until tomorrow morning, but Killbane, ESQ emailed us before the game to inform us of the following:
My excitement level can be summed thusly: at tip-off, i will be persuing the wares of rag-pickers, alleyway junk stealers, and turkey-jurkey vendors at the kane county, illinois flea market.
while i would never have planned to miss a game, it occurred to me when the schedule came out (and my plans had already been made) that this team hasn’t given me a single good reason — at they’ve had 80-some chances — to organize my life around them. i have the sinking suspicion i’m making the smart play.
i hope i’m wrong. and i hope your post-game musings are so incisive and thoughtful that it’ll almost be like i watched it.
Well, your hopes are correct and your fears are wrong, old friend.
LeBron and Co. did their thing, ie looked atrocious on offense, yet played aggressively effective on defense, thus resulting in a win.
We couldn’t help but get a little caught up in the proceedings in the fourth quarter, even yelling “FINALLY” when LeBron actually drove to the hole once. ONCE. (He says he was sick with a cold.)
A win is a win – we’ve accepted the fact that we just have to accept that fact, even though at one point in the 2nd quarter, CLE was getting their butts handed to them by Richard Jefferson and four CBA guys.
The 81-77 final score was surely spit-worthy for Coach Mike, who has at least admitted he hasn’t really worked on the offense in two years with the team. We stick to our prediction – Cavs in six.
(We don’t know if ABC broadcaster Hubie Brown meant it like we took it, but he described watching this game as being like going to the dentist and having 22 wisdom teeth removed. Or something like that. IE PAINFUL.)
Crucial Game 6 tonight in the East, as the Nets have a chance to take their series (at home) against the TOR Rnaptors.
We’re gonna be on this one, as the winner of this series obviously goes on to play the Cavaliers in the next round. If NJN wins tonight, the CLE-NJN series starts Sunday, which is our preference.
It gives Jersey only a day and a half to prep mentally and physically, and also gets LeBron and Co back on the court sooner. As it stands now, they’ve already been off since Monday, which by our estimate means their brains are set on “July”.
No surprise for us if this goes seven, however – we’re not exactly dealing with the two most consistent teams in the NBA, although the Nets are confident.
We’re refocusing ourselves and everybody’s ready to get going,” Vince Carter said. “I hope we can continue to get better. We took a hell of a punch in the first quarter of Game 5 and said, ‘Enough is enough. Let’s see what happens in the last six minutes of the fourth quarter and we did a great job of just showing poise and executing.’ I look forward to us to come and play a little better this time.”
Vince Carter said this, Vince Carter said that. It’s always with the Vince Carter in this here New Jersey newspaper.
Really, we have nothing else to say on this, so let’s get back to our favorite topic – us.
We made a list last night of things we like about ourself, and after the first slot was taken by “everything”, the second by “and then some”, and the third by “aw yeah”, we were left with only 432 other reasons, things, and attributes.
Far too many to list here. Perhaps you can find more at the FANHOUSE, quite simply the most fantastic website we’ve ever owned, and we’ve owned a lot of them.
While the now-swept Magic’s Grant Hill considers retirement, we sit back in the wake of the Cavaliers’ going up 3-0 on the Wizards wondering one thing, and one thing only:
How is 30/6/9 a “near triple double”, as the Associated Press would have you believe? That’s a nice line for LeBron and all, but it’s not really close to a triple double at all. (We’d put like 30/9/10 or even 30/9/9 as a “near triple double”.)
Anyway, we’re not ready to declare anything at all about this team with their recent history, but when the Wiz made a push last night, LeBron et al were everywhere, doing everything, and doing it with some serious intensity.
Yeah, so blah blah blah, this one is all but over, and everyone knows it at this point, which means it’s time to look at ahead a bit at the absolutely terrifying prospect of the New Jersey Nets in round 2. To intensify our fears, let’s journey over to this new blog featuring none other than infamous commentor and Nets fan Becky, who seemingly has aligned with our nemesis StopMikeLupica.
The East is wide open. I want the Nets to win it all. And they can do it. God help me, I know they can do it. They just have to get out of the first round….
Come on, boys. Do it for me. Do it for my mom. Do it for Joe Nets Fan, and the guys at NetsDaily, and every fan who has ever made the trek to the Swamp, and every fan who has not been fortunate enough to be able to do so. But most of all, do it for yourselves. It will be beautiful, and it will feel amazing. I promise.
Are we correct that there’s no way this type of emotional, destiny-ish talk is viable when referencing the Nets? The Nets who have MR. VINCE CARTER?
Is there anyone less deserving of such lavish love, respect, and hero-worship? No, there isn’t, which makes this next round all the more horrific to even think about. Of course, considering LBJ didn’t try for most of the year, we can’t really get behind him other than because we’re CLE fans.
This whole season has been confusing as hell, and for more reasons than just that we didn’t watch most of it. Who’s good? Who’s bad? Why are the Cavs gonna lose to a barely .500 team in Round 2?
(Or maybe LeBron is officially trying now. We await Monday.)
(The Cavalier is on an extended leave of absence. The following was not written by him, although he is sorry it was written at all.)
So I had a nice long(ish) post previewing tonight’s Cavs-Bucks and Bulls-Nets games. It was great. I discussed the possible first round matchup with the Heat and how Z would rather not face Shaq in the first round, how facing Shaq means a larger Scot Pollard presence (though we might get more Pollard and Damon Jones anyway. Hey, they haven’t played all year, of course they’d see extended action in the postseason).
And then I started rambling about the roles of the Cavs and Bulls have switched since the late 80s. At that time the Bulls were built around one star while the Cavs had the team filled with young talent. When Jordan hit The Shot, the Bulls were underdogs and they actually upset the Cavs that year (who had 57 wins to the Bulls 47. Also, they were the 4-seed with 57 wins- that’s nuts) and teams would’ve rather faced Jordan’s Bulls than the Cavaliers.
And how now we’re in a bizarro world where the Cavs are built around a superstar and the Bulls are a team full of talent that no one wants to face. Then I started making player to player comparisons in the whole Jordan/LeBron vein. It was great- Kirk Hinrich = Mark Price (both white point guards- wait, do I need an actual reason?), Ben Wallace = Larry Nance (shot blocker, veteran addition), Ben Gordon = Ron Harper (a scorer who will be traded and the franchise will regret it) and of course there was the inevitable Mike Brown/Doug Collins comparison (see, it’s fun, try it yourself!). Plus I was able to throw around references to Craig Ehlo and Hot Rod Williams- I was delighted.
Then I went looking to see who was on the Chicago roster at the time (can’t throw a Bill Cartwright/Z comparison out there without double checking) and the Bulls website decided to give me a 140 page PDF file. Needless to say, Firefox wasn’t pleased (I probably had 10+ tabs open as well) and I lost all my hard work.
So here we are. A post explaining a lost post. I’m sure the Cavalier is loving this.
Anyways, to recap: in order to avoid a first round series with Miami the Cavs need to take care of business tonight (look for the recap at my site tonight. hooray blog whoring!) and need New Jersey to beat Chicago, Z would rather not have to fight Shaq in the post for 7 games, Kirk Hinrich is Mark Price and I’m too lazy to rewrite a post.
And one more thing, for those us hoping for playoff beards (and who isn’t?) there was this nugget in the Plain Dealer a few days ago:
The team hasn’t decided how they’ll display unity this season but a few ideas floated around the locker room in Washington on Friday night.
“We should all wear duck tails,” said Drew Gooden, who has maintained a patch of hair on the back of his head all season.
The eccentric Scot Pollard, who has worn many hairstyles throughout his career, came up with this gem:
“I wouldn’t have a problem if we all wore mohawks,” Pollard said. “A few guys would struggle with that look. I’d sacrifice and wear a mohawk if that’s what everyone wants to do.”
I vote for playoff mohawks in addition to playoff beards. Playoff duck tails are just stupid.
You may notice that the NBA has become somewhat web savvy this season, rolling out a bunch of widgets and such, to go along with their fake player blogs.
We’ve installed on such widget in the right sidebar – it’s that same schedule one that’s on NBA DOT COM.
Why do we mention this now? Because we just looked at it and noticed the Celtics are in town to play the Lakers tonight, in an epic battle of struggling struggleness.
The BOS struggles are legendary in terms of the 06-07 season, but it’s the Lakers who carry the more interesting burden right now. On top of losing six in a row, they’re also now dealing with the reality of not being able to get Jason Kidd via trade.
This was something everyone wanted, from fans to casual fans Jason Kidd to Kobe Bryant.
“I think everybody was looking forward to the possibility of Jason coming out here,” Kobe said. “Obviously, that would have been an amazing backcourt, but it didn’t happen, so we just move on from here.”
“I don’t think anybody’s wavered from the fact  at least I haven’t  from the fact we could make some serious noise in the playoffs with the roster that we have.”
We’d like to agree, but the outlook is quite shaky.
Remember, many people early on were of the opinion the Lakers’ great record was a result of like 30 of their first 20 games being at home. Even though some of those were without Kobe, and they’re had many an injury since, results are results.
Tonight should be revealing in that, to put it bluntly, the Celtics stink. A bad performance here is an indication that there’s bad performing going on.
As for Jason Kidd not making it back to California, our only thought is that there’s no team we’re so glad not to be a fan of as the Nets. “Running in place with the wind slowly pushing you backward” is how we’d describe them.
(For the record, we would’ve given up Bynum for Kidd. We’re not agreeing with those who say Kidd puts the Lakers into contention, but we are of the opinion that by the time Bynum is a force, Kobe is leaving his prime. Are you playing for Kobe or Andrew?)
Yeah so Joumana’s side of the story is out, and it’s a doozy.
Head over to SLAM for a little in-depth analysis, or go right to the source and check out all the binge drinking and the strippers for yourself.
We were far more interested in the couple’s propensity to throw foodstuffs at each other, and thus, the following Gtalk conversation with a hot chick reader who knows her hoops.
Rebecca: have you come to share a giggle over the soon to be former mrs. kidd
me: she so crazy
Rebecca: sweeeeet
why are they always throwing food though
french fries
cookies
it seems so WASTEFUL
me: yeah and the rock works so much better – why not stick with it
Rebecca: well if the rock is too big you can’t get enough velocity on it
he needs to keep more baseballs around
me: like a small rock is fine – like the kind you would skip on water
More after the proverbial “jump”.
[click to continue…]
Y’know, we’d love to write all about Jamal Crawford’s 52 points against the Heat last night, but we’d rather crack on Vince Carter a little bit instead.
Even something simple like that gives one more material than is actually necessary, starting with his confusion at not being voted in as an All-Star starter.
Like that’s cool and all, but even better is what now looks to (us) to be the inevitable trading of Vince, partially because he’s given the Nets no guarantees he won’t just walk away as a free agent this summer, and partially because he’s just kinda Vince Carter.
Read this, though – for real.
The Nets have offered Carter for Pau Gasol, Andrei Kirilenko and Ray Allen, sources said.
“I don’t worry about stuff like that,” he said. “I just worry about making sure I’m consistent for this team. I want to be better at that. I’m not always going to have big scoring nights. I want to be able to do a lot of things for this team for us to still win.”
See, that funny to us. GM Rod just calls around everywhere offering Vince up, and people are just like, “ehhh…I dunno.”
What’s funnier still is that Vince is averaging almost 25 a game – the way we talk about him, you’d think he was sending in the Toronto tank job again. So what’s happening here? Hahaha – the fact is, we just don’t like Vince, and no matter what he does, we’ll always speak of him in an ill manner!
Seriously, what’s wrong with us? We must be the worst excuse for an “NBA commentary writing person” ever. Take a look at the stats, and the fact that the Nets are clawing their way back to “respectable”, and get with it.
Self-critical? Yes. Real? Yes. Over 6-3 with a full head of hair? UNGGGH. Yeah, you know it.
(With Pau Gasol, Vince, AK47 (despite denials), Corey Maggette (despite more denials), and maybe a Jermaine O’Neal on the block this February, it could get very, very fun. Be ready.)
