Oh shit

[consigliere]

Okay, so how bad was it? Tait didn't make it sound too good with Lebron. Hard shot to the head when hitting the floor? Hope he is okay...

[consigliere]

Whew.

[leadpipe]

I'm not sure what is worse, a blow to the head, or watching the Cavs try to guard the pick and roll. They have three players who absolutely cannot guard that play. Granted, a team like the Mavericks are going to run it better than most, but, man, they got anything they wanted out of that play.

Classic Bill Walton quote of the game; (talking about Hughes) "Larry Hughes is a more versatile player than Eric Snow, What Snow does is basically walk the ball up the court and hand it to Lebron, IIIIII Cooould doooo Thaaat."

Lastly, one thing about Brown that's bugging me is that he doesn't really seem to know who he's going to play each night. Mattch-up dictations aside, you might se Snow for 13 or 31 minutes. Shannon Brown will play minutes in a few straight games, than he's gone for two, Drew Gooden can be in one of his invisible stretches and get 30 minutes, than be in a decent stretch and get 10. At the end of the day THIS YEAR in my opinion they need to get a ton of mileage in the playoffs out of 6 guys, because the rest are either not ready, too old (Marshall is slowing to a snails pace), or just not good.

[consigliere]

Agreed Pipes.

I am geeked as hell for the playoffs to start. Most because of my curiousity to see how this team succeeds/fails in the playoffs and also because the fan in me loves the drama and stomach turning moments in playoff games in all sports. The NBA season for the most part is just so tough to get excited about since the games don't really mean much, but when the lights go on in April and the playoffs start, I LOVE the NBA playoffs.

Can't wait to get these playoffs started so we can truly see whether these Cavaliers have taken another step forward, or end up taking a step backward. Right now, I have absolutely no idea what they will do.....part of my thinks first round disappointment, another thinks we get to the NBA FInals and lose, and the other thinks we can finish anywhere in between there. That's how up in the air I think this postseason will be.

[Wolfy]

Now that's what I'm talking about Consig! Nice reply to my rant yesterday and great post today!

PS. Although my intention was to say the Indians Ownership is the bottom of the barrell in Cleveland it somehow got twisted into wether the Cavs got lucky to be where they were last year...anyway good shit man!

[consigliere]

I gotcha John.

Although I still believe the Dolan ownership gets way more flack than they deserve. And don't misunderstand that as me being a fan of them, as I am not. And because I defend them since no one else will, I feel I am misunderstood as a Dolan supporter. I don't necessarily support them, but do understand their situation. Things today are pretty close to the same direct relation to how things were with Jacobs and spending. I've reserached it, gotten some numbers from some sources, and will have an article on it sometime this year.)

[Wolfy]

Nice! Cant wait to read it. I am not saying that I liked or disliked either ownership better but at the very least the Jacobs spent to keep a great team intact...I am not so sure Dolan would do the same...He is trying to overcome the assraping that Jacobs gave him.

[consigliere]

Yeah, Jacob's gave him a nice ass raping, that's for sure.

But, one thing Jacob's was smart about was getting out when he did. The Indians did have a top 10 payroll during the Era of Champions period from 95-99 under Jacobs, and continued to have a top 10 payroll under Dolan his first three years from 00-02 (the three highest in team history actually).

The big problem is the boom in spending right around 1998/1999. The averagr top 5 payrolls went from 50Mish from 95-97 to about 90Mish in 98/99....and has streadily increased every year. Meanwhile, the teams hovering around the median in payroll and the bottom 5 payroll averages have increased at a much slower rate.

But much more on that later....

[consigliere]

Speaking of "oh shit".....

The Bulls are now only a game behind us and 7 of our next 8 are on the road, including one in ChiTown. Could the Cavaliers really fall below the Bulls? I hope not. One thing is for sure, one of us will get screwed in ending up with the #5 seed.....we'd still have homecourt, but would face the Pistons sooner.