Cavs vs. Nuggets

[Ziner]

Pretty pumped about this game, I have been planning on going all year and then my friend comes through with a free mountain condo for the weekend so I guess I will be watching on TV like everyone else. Vail > Cavs regular season game.

The Cavs need to come out strong and start the road trip right, with the Nuggets being bitten by the injury bug this is a game we "should" win. But we should also beat Charlotte. Read earlier that Chauncy wants to play, but I wouldnt be suprised if they hold him out. Still looking like Melo, Birdman, and Lawson will be out.

[docstank]

Vail is the absolute cat's ass!! Get in those back bowls and get silly!!
P.S. let me know if you can get me a condo at that price!! Cavs will take care of business without you and even if they don't....It's VAIL!!!

[Ziner]

It's my first trip there. I only get 10 this season with my pass so I didnt want to waste it when there was only 25% open. I am pretty pumped. Not sure I can get you that price, it reserved for those who are lucky enough to have friends who are friends with doctors.

[e0y2e3]

Ziner you have less friends than Peeker, stop lying.

[Ziner]

Ziner you have less friends than Peeker, stop lying.

and I even complimented you yesterday.

[peeker643]

Ziner you have less friends than Peeker, stop lying.

I highly doubt that.

I like to tell myself it's quality over quantity. But I'm getting rolled there too.

[fundamentals]

Pretty pumped about this game, I have been planning on going all year and then my friend comes through with a free mountain condo for the weekend so I guess I will be watching on TV like everyone else. Vail > Cavs regular season game.

The Cavs need to come out strong and start the road trip right, with the Nuggets being bitten by the injury bug this is a game we "should" win. But we should also beat Charlotte. Read earlier that Chauncy wants to play, but I wouldnt be suprised if they hold him out. Still looking like Melo, Birdman, and Lawson will be out.

Team with the most tattoos wins. These two teams have to be the leaders in the NBA, no?
Cleveland will win.

[papacass]

Team with the most tattoos wins. These two teams have to be the leaders in the NBA, no?
Cleveland will win.

Every team in the NBA is tatted up about equally anymore, I'd say. But thanks to K-Mart and Redz, the Nugs and Cavs are among the league leaders in neck tattoos. If it wasn't for DeShawn "Honest Abe" Stevenson, it would be a two-horse race.

[e0y2e3]

Melo is probably out.

Denver's bench sucks.

This should be a cake walk.

[Ziner]

Melo is probably out.

Denver's bench sucks.

This should be a cake walk.

Nice jinx

[e0y2e3]

Melo is probably out.

Denver's bench sucks.

This should be a cake walk.

Nice jinx

Feh.

We blow this game I'll be royally pissed. Like wtf is wrong w/ you assholes pissed.

[StewieG]

Lawson's also likely out tonight. We better win.

PDcavsinsider

Sounds like Carmelo and Ty Lawson won't play tonight vs. Cavs. Billups looks like he will play

[Hi Oktane]

Team with the most tattoos wins. These two teams have to be the leaders in the NBA, no?Cleveland will win.

Every team in the NBA is tatted up about equally anymore, I'd say. But thanks to K-Mart and Redz, the Nugs and Cavs are among the league leaders in neck tattoos. If it wasn't for DeShawn "Honest Abe" Stevenson, it would be a two-horse race.

The New York Knicks demand a recount.

[metalhead9x9]

Team with the most tattoos wins. These two teams have to be the leaders in the NBA, no?Cleveland will win.

Every team in the NBA is tatted up about equally anymore, I'd say. But thanks to K-Mart and Redz, the Nugs and Cavs are among the league leaders in neck tattoos. If it wasn't for DeShawn "Honest Abe" Stevenson, it would be a two-horse race.

The New York Knicks demand a recount.

Wild guess at who has the least: the Pacers.

[Ea$t $ide]

ESPN is pimping the LBJ v Melo angle. It sounds to me like he's playing...

[hugerobot]

espn just reported carmelo is NOT playing

[Cease]

Atlanta finishing off Boston in the undercard. Not sure how Hubie's going to make it out to Denver by 10:30 though. Or, we'll have the pleasure of Lil Van Gundy to listen to.

This is going to be a 80%/20% FSN/ESPN game for me.

[FUDU]

Nice move and shot Z.

[hugerobot]

bad game

[FUDU]

Damn LeBron doesn't want this game to end, good.

[metalhead9x9]

Christ, bad night for all the elite teams.

[JJN]

Bad night nothing. How do you have LeBron against Graham and Afflalo and not just keep going to him in the post? If he would have posted up 8 times instead of shooting 8 threes, we win this game. By probably 10-15 points. We blew this game.

At least Boston, Orlando, and LA all lost tonight too, so we didn't lose a game, but it would have been nice to go up one more.

[papacass]

It was freakish what the Cavs did on the road against the West last year. 12-3. That wasn't going to repeat itself.

Jet lag is a factor, and the Cavs have been on the road as much as any team so far this year, so you pack general fatigue and lack of practice time on top of time zone changes, and losses happen.

Might sound like excuses, but it's the truth. A team can start to burn out a little bit. The good news is, after this Western swing, 11 of the next 13 are at The Q, including the first 18 days of February. The Cavs players who aren't participating in All-Star Weekend can go two and a half weeks without setting foot on an airplane if they so choose. That's virtually unheard of in the middle of the NBA season.

[peeker643]

All I know is JR Smith has range out to the Rockies when he has it going. That three inside a minute was 26 feet in rhythm and without effort.

He's fun to watch.

And that was a statement game for the 'Nugs. Undermanned and w/o their guy they came out with intensity and focus and played as a good a game against LBJ as you'll see (especially one that ends with James still willing his way to 35).

Winning 3 of the next four is fine with me. 3-2 on this trip would be good.

[peeker643]

mogotti2

Tough one 2nite. Can't sleep. West coast got my hours off. Refs didn't help us in no way. No excuse team. We still should have won. I'm sick.

Windy disagrees. Vehemently.

Wow. I sent him a note to quit ledging, btw

Simply, when LeBron takes 28 shots and has eight turnovers against seven assists it is terrible offense. He took a stunning 18 shots in the second half and had just one assist. It is not totally his fault but a lot of it sure is. He's breaking off the plays and he's sucking the creativity out of his teammates, which he's been doing at times over the last five years. He did a lot of good things, especially at the defensive end late, but this was a game that could have been had and it would have been a good win. A win that paid off as teams kept coming in here and losing over the next three months.

It wasn't a loss because of a few bad calls, it wasn't a loss because the Nuggets made some clutch shots (and, wow, did they) it was a loss because LeBron took 18 shots in the second half and the rest of the team took 20. If he gets the 18 shots out of good offense then fine. He's a megastar so everyone lives with it. He's going to win games by himself way more than he's going to lose them. But as with everything this season, it is all about the playoffs and doing that in the playoffs won't do. Won't do.

[Orenthal]

Great take by Windy and you can watch the games and see times where is is calling for the ball completely outside the offense. Sometimes to the point I think he is going to grab the ball outta the hands of Mo/West/Parker. The good thing is the amount of times he carries the team/passes unselfishly far outweighs any other moments.

[fundamentals]

Awesome take by Windhorst. LBJ sometimes reverts to World B. Free when it isn't necessary.

[Cease]

Windy's right. Heat checks are not an offensive strategy, which is what James' game rerverts to at times. Waving off picks and hoisting 25 footers in the second half irritated me.

LeBron has a bit of binging problem. He's a binge shooter. It's not all the time, but when he falls off the wagon, he needs to seek counseling.

[hermanfontenot]

You see what happens when Mo Williams is stymied or otherwise having an off night. LeBron takes it all on himself.

This team really, really needs another guy who is good for 15-plus a night.

[FUDU]

You see what happens when Mo Williams is stymied or otherwise having an off night. LeBron takes it all on himself.

This team really, really needs another guy who is good for 15-plus a night.

Or a PG who can get to the hoop almost at will, more than willing to dish it out regardless of the expense.

I like Mo a lot and I think he has the skills to be that PG but he just doesn't do it enough for some reason.

[peeker643]

You see what happens when Mo Williams is stymied or otherwise having an off night. LeBron takes it all on himself.

This team really, really needs another guy who is good for 15-plus a night.

Or a PG who can get to the hoop almost at will, more than willing to dish it out regardless of the expense.

I like Mo a lot and I think he has the skills to be that PG but he just doesn't do it enough for some reason.

That'd be tremendous Donny. That'd allow Mo to move around to 2G for a good chunk of the time.

Now which of those guys you gonna go get and what do PGs who can get to the rim at will cost these days?

But mostly, which one you got your eyes on?

[JCoz]

mogotti2

Tough one 2nite. Can't sleep. West coast got my hours off. Refs didn't help us in no way. No excuse team. We still should have won. I'm sick.

Windy disagrees. Vehemently.

Wow. I sent him a note to quit ledging, btw

Simply, when LeBron takes 28 shots and has eight turnovers against seven assists it is terrible offense. He took a stunning 18 shots in the second half and had just one assist. It is not totally his fault but a lot of it sure is. He's breaking off the plays and he's sucking the creativity out of his teammates, which he's been doing at times over the last five years. He did a lot of good things, especially at the defensive end late, but this was a game that could have been had and it would have been a good win. A win that paid off as teams kept coming in here and losing over the next three months.

It wasn't a loss because of a few bad calls, it wasn't a loss because the Nuggets made some clutch shots (and, wow, did they) it was a loss because LeBron took 18 shots in the second half and the rest of the team took 20. If he gets the 18 shots out of good offense then fine. He's a megastar so everyone lives with it. He's going to win games by himself way more than he's going to lose them. But as with everything this season, it is all about the playoffs and doing that in the playoffs won't do. Won't do.

Windy echoing my thought from last night....absolutely felt last night that the loss was squarely on the shoulders of LBJ by choice.

Not ledging at all either, but LBJ played an absolutely shitty game last night and was the clear reason we lost. I've seen it before, kind of thought he was past this phase though. I always get annoyed when he gets into these H2H games within the game. Chauncy comes out on fire, and LBJ trys to match him, instead he bricks bad jumpers and turns the ball over for alot of the 2nd half.

I don't know the numbers, but LBJ seems to be turning the ball over at 2x the rate that he did last season, and these are bonehead TO's, they aren't forced.

It's a new day, but LBJ brought his rookie game with him last night.

[aoxo1]

Cavs look like they've lost interest after that stretch where they established their dominance. Back to careless turnovers.

JCoz, Lebron is turning it over 3.6 per, was at 3.0 last year and 3.3 for his career. And it's not a head to head thing that caused him to shoot a lot of jumpers. That has been his MO for most of the year.

It is clear that LBJ is trying to take it easier this season after what happened in the playoffs last year, when he was completely worn down. Don't forget what happened after game one of the Orlando series.

I can't say I blame him, although it would be nice to see him going all out every night. If he can play at 75-80% efficiency during the regular season and still have us in position for the top seed, let him. No reason to take the punishment he would take driving to the hoop over and over or playing in the post. Especially when he is having his most efficient year scoring of his career. Over 50% from the field (never hit 49% before) and over 35% from 3. And that's with what at least seems like an increase of 30% in jumpers.

The only thing that is troubling is that he NEEDS to work in the post, so that he can call on those skills when the time comes. All the practice in the world is great, but he has to get the reps in game situations so that he trusts the moves and it is second nature.

Oh, and despite all of this, they nearly beat the Nuggets on their home court. A team many consider the only legit challenger to the Lakers out west. So what happens if LeBron plays like its a playoff game?

edit: should also note that the Nugs were obviously without Melo as well.

[JCoz]

Cavs look like they've lost interest after that stretch where they established their dominance. Back to careless turnovers.

JCoz, Lebron is turning it over 3.6 per, was at 3.0 last year and 3.3 for his career. And it's not a head to head thing that caused him to shoot a lot of jumpers. That has been his MO for most of the year..

Yeah, I had a feeling those numbers wouldn't show how it seemed to me...maybe its because the TO's seems to be more boneheaded...

edit: should also note that the Nugs were obviously without Melo as well.

Which is not all that dissimilar to saying "we almost beat the 2009 Cavs, though it should be noted they were without James"...not trying to be a smart ass at all, just meaning that Melo has been damn good this season. Not that same contender w/o him...

I'm all for him taking it easy, but not at the expense of the team...this team is good enough for him not to have to work as hard.....doesn't mean he has to go shot for shot with the rest of the cavs, particularly when you dont have it that night.

[aoxo1]

Which is not all that dissimilar to saying "we almost beat the 2009 Cavs, though it should be noted they were without James"...not trying to be a smart ass at all, just meaning that Melo has been damn good this season. Not that same contender w/o him...

I'm all for him taking it easy, but not at the expense of the team...this team is good enough for him not to have to work as hard.....doesn't mean he has to go shot for shot with the rest of the cavs, particularly when you dont have it that night.

Right. Of course, teams often turn it up a notch for a few games when a star is out.

My post was more that LeBron has been doing this jump shooting thing all year. But if you want to talk about last night in particular, then you have to consider that Mo struggled, Shaq was in foul trouble, Delonte's head was not there, and Brown still won't give Gibson any burn.

[JCoz]

Which is not all that dissimilar to saying "we almost beat the 2009 Cavs, though it should be noted they were without James"...not trying to be a smart ass at all, just meaning that Melo has been damn good this season. Not that same contender w/o him...

I'm all for him taking it easy, but not at the expense of the team...this team is good enough for him not to have to work as hard.....doesn't mean he has to go shot for shot with the rest of the cavs, particularly when you dont have it that night.

Right. Of course, teams often turn it up a notch for a few games when a star is out.

My post was more that LeBron has been doing this jump shooting thing all year. But if you want to talk about last night in particular, then you have to consider that Mo struggled, Shaq was in foul trouble, Delonte's head was not there, and Brown still won't give Gibson any burn.

Good points. Not much more to add.

[JCoz]

NM

[davemanddd]

Melo is probably out.

Denver's bench sucks.

This should be a cake walk.

Nice jinx

big time jinx. how about going back to all the "parade of traps" instead. those tended to be very creative and quite entertaining, but guarantees almost always come back to bite you in the a$$.