95 – 97

Stressful as Hell. That’s how I”d describe the Cav’s win over the San Antonio Spurs tonight. With LeBron sitting another night to get back to health, and Shaq still out, the Cavs were already short handed when Antawn Jamison went out with stiffness behind his knee. However, these Cavs are as deep and resilient as they come, and they gutted out a win. Admittedly, it took some cold shooting from the Spurs, but a win is a win. The big factors for the Cavs were Delonte and the Wild Thing, who made kept the game close and – in Delonte’s case – helped seal the win. Jawad Williams was also a key factor in the game, as his mid-range game made a  huge difference when the Cavs were struggling early in the second half.

No Shaq, LeBron, and Jamison and we still beat the Spurs. I wonder how the Lakers would have fared without Kobe, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, or the Magic without Dwight Howard, Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis? I don’t think they’re deep enough to finish the job.  The Cavs pulled it off, and that’s why I believe in them this year. Go Cavs!

93 – 125

News flash: Cavs kick Knick butt. What, you expected that? You’re not alone. The Cavs always play well against New York. The big news is, to me, LeBron filing for a number change.

LeBron has filed with the league to change his number from 23 to 6, both to honor Michael Jordan and to represent his Olympic career. This is significant, because if he left, the paperwork would be for naught. He could wear whatever number he wanted if he changed teams. It only matters if he stays in Cleveland. Does this point to LeBron being a Cavalier next year? Not necessarily. He could just be covering his bases. We – like we have all year – have to wait and see what he does this summer.

108 – 88

I have to confess: I went to sleep on these Cavs. No, literally. I watched the first 14 minutes of the game on TNT and went to bed frustrated. What I missed was the Cavs making a statement of sorts. Actually, a few statements. One is that yes, they can win in Boston. Another is that even with Shaq out (he sprained a finger in the second quarter) the Cavs are a strong team. Lastly – and this is the big one for me – is that someone tipped LeBron off that his jumpshot needed fixing. Since last game against the New Orleans Hornets (in which 2nd round rookie Marcus Thornton went haywire and nearly knocked us off all on his own), LeBron has stopped falling away on his jump shots. Thank goodness.

I wonder what the Cavs will do with Shaq out (he’ll likely miss a couple games with that injury since they dubbed it a ‘serious’ sprain). They were a more fluid team without him, but if you start Varejao at center, who backs him up? Z’s still in limbo, and we can’t pick up another center without risking our ability to reacquire Ilgauskas. I guess Hickson can fill in at the 5 spot, but that’s not his natural position.

Lastly, let me say ‘welcome back’ to Mo Williams jumpshot. He didn’t have it early on, but he got it back in the fourth when it mattered. He’s getting his legs back, and that will make all the difference in his consistency.  In the end, the Cavs put it to the Paul Pierce-less Boston Celtics, and I missed it. That’s the last time I do that. Go Cavs!

95 – 101

The Cavs have lost. Again. They’re 0-3 since the All-Star break, and I’m losing my patience for their flaws, which have shown up repeatedly since the break.  They are as follows.

1. Antawn Jamison, their vaunted trade-deadline pick up, as done nothing for them. He hasn’t accomplished anything on offense or defense. So much for clinching the Eastern Conference title for us; he may cost us the #1 seed.
2. LeBron has redeveloped a flaw from early in his career – falling away on his jump shot. I noticed it during the All-Star game, and unfortunately it has carried over. I am livid; they spent four years getting him to stop that, and now he’s doing it again. Who do I write to to tell him to stop?
3. Free throws. They – meaning the whole team – can not make a free throw. Shooting under 65% as a whole against the Magic is a crime, but that’s actually an improvement. What’s frightening is that I watched the game in Charlotte on Friday with my Dad, and we were happy to see Varejao go to the line instead of LeBron of Mo, because he actually made a couple. There’s no excuse for poor free throw shooting.

So, three problems and no answer in sight. I think that as it stands the Cavs could well fall to the four spot – at best – if they don’t get their acts together. Forget facing the Lakers in the NBA Finals. They’ll be lucky if they make it to the Conference Finals.

Well, the trade deadline has passed and the Cavs made out like bandits. For what amounts to two draft choices (a pick next year and rights to another player) the Cavs got Antawn Jamison from the Wizards (with help from the Clippers). Ilgauskas is supposed to be cut and then come back to Cleveland, and despite interest from other teams, I feel Z’s loyalty will win out. It looks like a win-win scenario. Some were already chalking up the Eastern Conference title to Cleveland.

And then the Cavs played the Nuggets last night.

118 – 116

Goodbye win streak, hello Cavs haters. This game was ugly from the start. LeBron got off to a cold start, along with the rest of the team. They Nuggets led almost the whole first half, and most of the third quarter until James got hot and helped carry the Cavs back into the game. It eventually came down to Billups with the ball to win at the end of regulation, but he missed a three and the game went to overtime.

The Cavs started slow again, and again LeBron got them back into it. However, when Carmelo Anthony hit a jumper over LeBron, I was ready to turn the channel. I knew it was over. In reality, I should have, because I wouldn’t have seen what happened next. On the inbound for a game winning/game tying shot, LeBron got the ball and fell down. He slipped on the court and had to heave an off-balance shot at the rim that obviously didn’t go down.

This was a game that showed Cavs haters everything they like to see. Cold shooting, weak defense, and LeBron not being able to hit the clutch shot. They’re going to come out of the woodwork now to proclaim the Cavs as dead. I dread going online today.

A few meager bright spots from last night include the return of Mo Williams and LeBron being the first player since Oscar Robertson in 1962 to have 40 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists.

The Cavaliers are making noise towards a move that has me terrified. They have made hints that they would like to acquire Corey Maggette of the Golden State Warriors. This would be a terrible fit, but worse is that I saw the same thing as Chad Ford of ESPN: This has all the hallmarks of the Cavs knowing that LeBron isn’t staying and they are trying to prepare for his departure. Of course, there’s no indication that the Cavs are going to go through with the Maggette trade, but word is that if Antawn Jamison, Troy Murphy or Amar’e Stoudemire fall through, Maggette is their next target. Why would that be? Because without the targets LeBron wants and the pieces he feels they need to win, he might not want to stick around and the Cavs want to have some talent on the team next year.

Another rumor in the wind is that the Cavs could trade for Stoudemire (Ilgauskas and Hickson going that way) and then turning around and sending Shaq to Washington for Jamison. This makes no sense to me whatsoever. For one, the Cavs would have no true center at that point – imagine Dwight Howard’s glee at that come spring. Another problem is that the Wizards seem to want Ilgauskas. The Cavs couldn’t just swap the big men involved in the trades (Shaq to Phoenix, Z to Washington) because Phoenix just got rid of Shaq, and they wouldn’t want him back. Also of importance is that Shaq has melded well here in Cleveland. He’s fit in well, and doesn’t need traded.

A last note is that some say that Maggette could be just one part of a multi-team deal. What that might be is anyone’s guess.

I hope that Cleveland doesn’t do anything drastic. They are still the best team in the NBA right now and are still on a 13 game win streak. Be patient, Cavs!

With the trade deadline looming this Thursday, the Cavaliers are still shopping around for a power forward. They insist that they need a ‘stretch-4,’ a power forward who can hit a long jump shot. The reason for this, at it’s root, is to counter Orlando’s length and range. My biggest complaint is that Orlando is but one of a number of obstacles the Cavs have to overcome to win a championship, and building a team specifically to beat Orlando is a faulty plan. In any case, here are the Cav’s top targets.

• Antawn Jamison
• The Cavs seemed to be headed down this route for certain earlier in the year. I wasn’t against the trade when it involved just Zydrunas llgauskas, a re-signed Wally Szczerbiak and a draft pick, since it seemed to be a decent pick up – especially if Z was released by Washington and could come back to Cleveland. When J.J. Hickson started getting mixed into the trade rumors, I got worried. I still think this is the Cav’s best option if they need to make a trade. One note here is that he could also wind up in Boston or Miami’s hands, which could be a potential problem.

• Troy Murphy
• Murphy is another stretch-4, and now seems to be more likely then Jamison, due to the Wizards reluctance to help improve their ‘rivals’ here in Cleveland. I’m not sold on Troy, basically because he reminds me of a younger, shorter Ilgauskas. His three-point marksmanship is better then Jamison’s, and he’s a better rebounder, but Jamison is a better all-around scorer. My best guess is that he would fit best next to Shaq up front since he wouldn’t crowd the paint. My biggest concern? His health. He has a history of injury or illness which could pop up again at any time.
• Amar’e Stoudemire
• This possibility scares me the most. Phoenix spent 82 games last year proving that Shaq and Stoudemire don’t work together well. Why on earth would Cleveland want to replicate that problem? Amar’e is a good rebounder and can be good for 20 points a game, but if coach Mike Brown had hair, Stoudemire’s defensive effort would make him pull it out. It just doesn’t exist. Plus, he would want to get in the lane, which – what with LeBron and Shaq already tying that area up – would cause a massive log jam. This, plus the loss of J.J., who Phoenix definitely wants back in the trade, could kill the chemistry of this team.

I don’t have a cure-all solution (if I did, I’d sell it to the Cavs for a fortune). Here’s what I suggest, though. The Cavs need to finally decide where to place LeBron. Is he a shooting guard, small forward, or power forward? I think sliding LeBron to the four and getting a solid off-guard or small forward would serve them best. Here’s my ‘dream list,’ which in no way is based on real trade rumors.

• Tayshaun Prince and/or Rip Hamilton
• This sounds the best to me. The Pistons may be reluctant to move Tayshaun, especially to the Cavs, but they’re desperate to get rid of Rip Hamilton. His oversized contract is a big anchor on any trade, but the Pistons want size. Give ‘em J.J., Darnell Jackson, Z’s expiring contract and maybe a draft pick and we could have a solid two and/or three for the next couple seasons. We would just have to hope that J.J doesn’t become a star forward down the line.
• Kevin Martin
• If the Kings are willing to move Kevin Martin, this could be a decent pickup. I just don’t know that the Cavs could offer enough to get him out of Sacramento. Martin can score like nobody’s business, but he could be even worse the Stoudemire on defense. The thing that makes him more valuable, to me, then Stoudemire is that he wouldn’t be fighting with Shaq for space down low.

So that’s what I’ve got so far. Hopefully Danny Ferry can pull the right strings and not capsize the team’s success.

The second half did indeed go according to trend, but only with a twist ending. LeBron continued to play well, but threw up too many dumb jumpers and tried to do too much on his own to win the MVP. That award went to Dwyane Wade, ruining a good night of basketball in the process (I’ll explain why some other time).

The game was cruising to thrilling finish. The score was tied at 137 and the East had the ball with 12.7 seconds left. It looked to many of us that the East called a time out as Wade crossed half court, but the refs signaled instead that Deron Williams had taken an intentional foul. Why? Why would anyone do that? Apparently he forgot the situation. In any case, Wade hit two free throws to put the East up 139-137. George Karl of the West (that sounds like an old military title of some kind) drew up a play for Dirk Nowitzki to take a game winning three, but he was fouled after a pump-fake on Dwight Howard. Two more freebies and the game was tied again. The East draws up a play that breaks down and ends with Chris Bosh driving the baseline with the ball. Unfortunately, he’s not a ball handler and would have fumbled the ball – and maybe the game – away if the refs hadn’t called a foul on Chauncey Billups. Bosh hits two free throws and it’s 141-139. George of the West goes away from what allot of folks wanted to see: either Dirk taking the three to win in his team’s city or having Billups, who had been shooting well in the second half, taking the shot. No, instead Carmelo Anthony goofs around for the last five seconds near mid-court (looking allot like LeBron does on a big play – not a compliment, Melo) before tossing up a drifting three with a hand in his face.

In all, those last 12.7 seconds took a good couple real-life minutes to run through, and I blame the glacial ending on Deron Williams.

Well, that’s the All Star game folks. Cleveland plays George of the West and his Nuggets on Thursday, with their eyes set on a 14th straight win. Let’s go Cavs!

The first half of the 2010 All Star Game was what one would expect after all these years. The stars came out, goofed around and put up almost 80 points per team, and it was all punctuated by an overly-garish half-time show. I immediately discovered I wasn’t the show’s target demographic when my first thought was to hop online and do a  search for the show’s performers. Unfortunately, Googling “who the hell is on my TV” turned up a blank (well, not a blank, but nothing useful) I found the performers in an article from tomorrow. No, I’m not kidding. There’s a blog post, listed as being from February 15th, 2010 explaining who’s in the show. This has been a surreal experience.

I hope that the second half of the All Star Game also follows it’s usual trend, that being that play tightens up as the stars’ competitive spirits take over. I’ll be back once the game is over.

  106 – 115

The Cavs have eked out another victory, this time against the Orlando Magic. It again took LeBron making his mark on the closing part of the game to get the ‘W,’ but a win is a win. This gives them 13 wins in a row, matching a franchise high. Shaq wasn’t a huge difference maker tonight, and Cleveland continued to let Orlando get open shots, but fortunately, the Magic couldn’t capitalize.

For me, the Cavalier’s defense was not good tonight. Jameer Nelson, Vince Carter and – to a lesser extent – Rashard Lewis just weren’t there.  The Cavs weren’t great either, but they still have LeBron, and some nights that’s enough by itself.

My big relief came in seeing Delonte West back on the floor. The Cavs always play better with him there, thanks to his defense and shooting touch. I suppose we’ll have to wait for spring for these two teams to settle their differences for real, but for now, the Cavs proved to be the better team. Let’s hope it stays that way. On to the All-Star break!