Archive for February, 2010

So on Saturday afternoon I had a brief conversation with Andrew Melnick over at HowardtheDunk and the two of us agreed on a little wager for Sunday afternoon’s matchup between the good guys (the Cavs, of course) and those petty thieves from Orlando.  That wager was comprised of this: “If the Cavs win, [Andrew will] write up a piece on the game that says how great the Cavaliers are. And if the Magic win, I’ll write up a piece on how great the Magic are.” And it gets worse: “I’ll even refer to Dwight “The Thief” Howard as Superman!” I [...]

I am very much an optimist when it comes to my Cavaliers. I try to focus on things they do well while, at the same time, pointing out the things that they’re doing poorly. However, I have absolutely nothing positive to say about Friday night’s performance against the Charlotte Bobcats. Because, quite frankly, they played like the New Jersey Nets.  I was completely disgusted with their lackadaisical performance and was forced to turn the game off completely midway through the fourth quarter. I just could not watch it anymore. After missing seventeen free throws the night before, the Cavaliers missed [...]

They do call them free throws for a reason, right? They’re supposed to be free points.  And the Denver Nuggets treated them as such on Thursday night going 21 of 26 (80.8%) from the stripe. But they were more like very difficult throws for the Cavaliers.  Cleveland missed seventeen free throws.  Yes, that’s one-seven.  Seventeen! LeBron gave another stellar effort but he too missed five free throws.  Shaquille O’Neal missed all six of his attempts.  Daniel Gibson was just one of three. Let’s be serious: you and I could convert more than 57.5% (23 of 40) from the free throw [...]

Well, after keeping me on the edge of my seat for nearly a week now, Danny Ferry finally pulled off a deal for Washington’s Antawn Jamison. The Cavs have been targeting the services of Jamison for the last two seasons and were able to acquire the six feet-nine inch forward in exchange for Zydrunas Ilgauskas, a first-round pick and the draft rights to Emil Preldzic.  Ilgauskas will likely be bought out and will return to the Wine and Gold after 30 days.  So basically, Ferry worked his magic yet again and swapped a first-round pick for a former all-star.  As [...]

How many games will the Cavaliers win after the All-Star break?(poll)

Let’s give the trade talk a rest for one night and talk about Sunday night’s All-Star game: This year’s 141-139 Eastern Conference victory was much more entertaining than last year’s Western smack down.  And King James, Cleveland’s only representative, provided quite a bit of entertainment himself.  James went for 25 points, 6 assists, 5 rebound and 4 steals in the contest and certainly played well enough to earn his third All-Star MVP. But Dwyane Wade’s 28 points, 11 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals in front of 108,000+ was enough to steal the trophy right out of Bron’s hands.  Chris [...]

Okay so for those of us who watched the game on Thursday night, we saw the interview with Stan Van Gundy after the first quarter.  After getting ripped apart by JJ Hickson, the woman asked him about whether  or not he needed to make some changes to his game plan in order to accommodate JJ’s game.  And Van Gundy’s response was, “No. We’re not worried about JJ Hickson.” Well, I hate to tell you Master Choke Artist Van Gundy, you probably should have accounted for number 21. Considering that number 21 torched your team for 20 points – yup, more points [...]

Cleveland improved their winning streak to three times as many games as New Jersey has won all season.  Twelve.  Number twelve didn’t come easy for the Cavaliers as they trailed early on.  The New Jersey Nets battled as hard as they could battle but they just don’t have the type of firepower needed to hold off the Cavaliers. LeBron James rattled off 32 points to go along with 11 assists on the night but, surprisingly enough, posted a -2 efficiency rating for the game.  He played for 42 minutes.  So Cleveland’s bench outscored the Nets by nine points in the [...]

The Cavaliers carry their eleven game win streak back into the Q to take on the 4-46 New Jersey Nets.    And here’s how the two teams matchup:    Devin Harris v. Daniel Gibson    Devin Harris is enjoying another solid season as far as individual statistics are concerned.  The New Jersey point guard averages better than 15 points and 6 assists a night.  Nate Robinson exposed Daniel Gibson’s defensive weaknesses the other night for the Knicks so I expect Harris to do the same thing on Tuesday night.    Boobie has been playing very good basketball for the Cavs since West and Williams [...]

Since coming to Cleveland, Shaquille O’Neal has accepted an obviously lesser role than he has in previous stages in his career. He knew that when he came to the greatest city in the world and he embraces his opportunity to play within a system that is constructed around the best player in the NBA, LeBron James. O’Neal vowed to “win a ring for the King” when he was first introduced to the Cavalier nation but his 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds a night fall far below his career average of 24.2 points and 11.1 rebounds per game.  Though his role, [...]