Cavs - Lake Show II

[e0y2e3]

Having Comcast matters 0 on setting your DVR Ziner.

Keep your lame excuses to yourself.

[dmiles]

Pretty rough game for the big man. Gave up 2 offensive boards to Bynum in the 1st half and one right away in the 3rd.

Then they steal the offensive rebound from him, and he promptly hacks the guy on the layup for 3-point play. But he did get that 4th on Bynum.

Too bad Mo got hurt right before this game it would have been nice to get a game in to figure out what to do. With Kobe harassing D-west he's having a tough time initiating. I like the fact that we are keeping it close despite hoisting some questionable shots. If we can get settled here we'll make a run.

[Ziner]

Having Comcast matters 0 on setting your DVR Ziner.

Keep your lame excuses to yourself.

Yeah I know I said that, I am just not a big DVR'er of sports. Don't like knowing I can get the result if I just look it up. So I end up fast forwarding.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

What's the score? i'm not sure it's on down here.

[Ziner]

What's the score? i'm not sure it's on down here.

If only there was a way to find out

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=300121005

Flip on TNT, it is a national broadcast

[dmiles]

"pick up a barbell" Gasol. Reggie taking exception to the "finesse" defense of Pao....

Good recognition by Lebron (duh) with Shaq and Gasol. Like I said we are keeping it close and the guards are still getting a feel. Kobe hasn't had an easy shot this half.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

nm. I totaly forgot TNT.

[davemanddd]

wow, i am just so amazed at how lifeless d-west is playing. he is persona non-existentia tonite. on a night when you don't have mo, you just gotta come stronger than that, redz.

[davemanddd]

and the academy award for best actor goes to derek fisher.

[daddywags]

Hickson is playing like a beast tonight. He must know Powe is close to returning.

[davemanddd]

boy the refs sure a letting 'em play tonite, at least on the inside. calling it somewhat ticky-tacky on the outside but inside, look out. missed an obvious over-the-back on odom when he took the ball away from hickson, knocking him to the ground in the process. j.j. proceeded to trip odom just as he was releasing downcourt but they didn't call that either, so i guess all's fair in love and war???

[Ea$t $ide]

Great game so far...take it home in the 4th Cavs!!!!

[dmiles]

Lebron now 7 quarters without a 3 pointer (not counting the old fashioned way). 0-7 against Toronto, and 0-6 tonight.

He's due, let's get a couple this last quarter.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Craig Sager's stupid wardrobe fucked up the video feed.

[aoxo1]

Craig Sager's stupid wardrobe fucked up the video feed.

Booo. Craig Sager is always a highlight.

[Ziner]

Lebron now 7 quarters without a 3 pointer (not counting the old fashioned way). 0-7 against Toronto, and 0-6 tonight.

He's due, let's get a couple this last quarter.

Nice reverse jinx

[Ea$t $ide]

Setting up for a Kobe v James showdown to the death.....

[Ziner]

The Lakers would certainly give us trouble in some spots, but in a long series I love the potential match up offensively of Shaq on Bynum or Gasol.

[Ziner]

"Pau doesnt go up strong enough" - Fratello

Go figure

[davemanddd]

Setting up for a Kobe v James showdown to the death.....

while i certainly appreciate lebron scoring 48 against the pistons, including 29 of the cavs last 30 points in game 5 of the 2007 eastern conference finals, i still much prefer if all of the cavs were to be involved in a total team victory tonite. like it or not, their worst offense is le-iso even though sometimes it does work. live by lebron, die lebron. which will it be tonite???

[Ziner]

Effin Varejao, never does the little things.

[davemanddd]

Effin Varejao, never does the little things.

like drawing fouls, getting rebounds and making clutch free throws down the stretch???

[hugerobot]

yessssssssss

[Ziner]

Effin Varejao, never does the little things.

like drawing fouls, getting rebounds and making clutch free throws down the stretch???

sarcasm dave, sarcasm. I was hoping Pup was reading.

[davemanddd]

in the immortal words of the late great jack buck - "go crazy, folks, go crazy"!!!

[davemanddd]

Effin Varejao, never does the little things.

like drawing fouls, getting rebounds and making clutch free throws down the stretch???

sarcasm dave, sarcasm. I was hoping Pup was reading.

i know. me too!!! hee-hee!!!

[pup]

Effin Varejao, never does the little things.

like drawing fouls, getting rebounds and making clutch free throws down the stretch???

sarcasm dave, sarcasm. I was hoping Pup was reading.

I am. Where were you when he was getting abused for 3 1/2 quarters?

[aoxo1]

Kobe, what a 4th quarter killer!
http://twitter.com/PDcavsinsider/status/8055208745

[davemanddd]

Kobe, what a 4th quarter killer!
http://twitter.com/PDcavsinsider/status/8055208745

um, i think maybe the cavs defense might have had something to do with that???

[bookelly]

Kobe is a lot more hurt than he's letting on...

All the same. Great win!!111!!ty


/Got me pumped. Just screamed "Fuck LOS LAKERS!!" out my front door. Lucky my neighbors already know I'm a crazy white boy.

[Gradysmanldy]

That was incredibly unexpected. Love how Shaq has become such a force late in Games, and a BUNCH of Cavs stepped up at the end to support a show stopping performance from Bron. <gushing with manlove>

[davemanddd]

Kobe is a lot more hurt than he's letting on...

All the same. Great win!!111!!ty


/Got me pumped. Just screamed "Fuck LOS LAKERS!!" out my front door. Lucky my neighbors already know I'm a crazy white boy.

oh my gawd, there's 2 of me??? hee-hee!!!

[Orenthal]

40 posts prior to the game and not a single one with 10 minutes left in the 2nd. Missed most of the first, damn Mountain Time.

Don't you have DirecTV? I usually miss the starts of games and just set the DVR to record online at work during the day.

Also, I love how Reggie Miller described Kobe falling down as LeBron crossed him up as "a lot of people will think that was LeBron making Kobe go down, but if you know basketball it was just Kobe losing his balance". Um, yeah, lost it because of LeBron. WTF?

I would love to have DirectTV instead of Comcast, however I live in an apartment building where my balcony faces the east. If I got DirectTV I could get the regular signal, but I have no line of sight to the HD satellite. However, that is irrelevant because I do have DVR with Comcast, I was just at the gym and lost track of what time it was. I am running a half marathon with the wife mid march so I need to get my mileage up.

http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/

Love 'em. Don't generally measure my time or distance, but I'm sure I've done around a half marathon a few times in them.

btw I bought those the last time you mentioned them. LUV THEM!

Yeah, I called Anderson... :)

[daddywags]

Solid game, but they're going to need more from Delonte and Gibson with Mo gone. I had trouble figuring out why Gib didn't get any looks in the second half (from what I saw).

[e0y2e3]

Kobe struggled late but he is still so awesome to watch play O. When he is playing O it is great art. Just beautiful.

When LBJ is playing shit is exploding, a nuke could go off at any second and meteors are hitting all over the place. He brings straight Armageddon. Amazing to watch, but a much different kind of amazing than Kobe.

Both are amazing. Can only hope LBJ develops half of the creativity Kobe has over the years as he matures to go along w/ the physical insanity.

And to wags, agree. Offense was PUTRID. I don't understand how Fish destroyed West the way he did on D, West has initiated the offense plenty this year and should be fine doing so. Gibson getting no burn was simple. Couldn't sit West, Gibson isn't a PG and Kobe would have scored 80 on Gibson due to size alone. Kobe's game is (as Reggie said) shooting above or around you and w/ that much of a height disparity, EGADS it would have been ugly. And couldn't exactly put LBJ on him and leave Boobie to pick up Ron Ron. Lake Show are just too big for Boobie.

[Orenthal]

Very odd Fisher kept D-West in check. Pointed out several times this season that when D-West is playing point the O has looked much smoother. Then again, and it sucks that this may be the case, but who knows what kind of day he was having. I'll wait to see the next couple games and see if a trend develops, or this is an anamoly.

Freaking bi-polar stuff is serious business. I wouldn't wish that on anyone...

[reppination7]

Kobe struggled late but he is still so awesome to watch play O. When he is playing O it is great art. Just beautiful.

When LBJ is playing shit is exploding, a nuke could go off at any second and meteors are hitting all over the place. He brings straight Armageddon. Amazing to watch, but a much different kind of amazing than Kobe.

Both are amazing. Can only hope LBJ develops half of the creativity Kobe has over the years as he matures to go along w/ the physical insanity.

And to wags, agree. Offense was PUTRID. I don't understand how Fish destroyed West the way he did on D, West has initiated the offense plenty this year and should be fine doing so. Gibson getting no burn was simple. Couldn't sit West, Gibson isn't a PG and Kobe would have scored 80 on Gibson due to size alone. Kobe's game is (as Reggie said) shooting above or around you and w/ that much of a height disparity, EGADS it would have been ugly. And couldn't exactly put LBJ on him and leave Boobie to pick up Ron Ron. Lake Show are just too big for Boobie.

i forget who said this but i couldnt of agreed more

"Kobe makes things look impossible, LeBron makes things look easy"

[e0y2e3]

FWIW: I have been saying forever that LBJ won't develop into a team player in the 4th quarter until he gets a true PG he trusts to run the O. Windy is asserting on Twitter that Shaq is filling that role this year and LBJ respects him enough to actually run a real O. Great observation from Windy. Shame Shaq is 88 and can't keep doing it for years to come.

[OldDawg]

Cavs D started very slowly. Dang, it was like, "hey, guys, do you know Kobe can shoot??"
4th qtr doubles on Kobe were effective. Seemed to bother the Lakers. Thought the Lakers panicked a little and took some bad shots/bad plays.

Love how the Cavs just stuck it out, hung around, and made enough plays to pull it out in the end. LBJ coming in off the bench to put some room in the lead. Still don't like all the isolation at the end. Still would like LBJ to mix in more penetration in those isos. However, it almost seemed like the Lakers were daring him to shoot Js.

Big to come out w/o Mo and still find a way. They had virtually no time to prepare to play w/o Mo. Brown was right, it was not a pretty win. But to be the best, you got to win some ugly ones.

Fired up about the W.

[e0y2e3]

On an equally enjoyable note, Ricky is still Ricky:

[papacass]

FWIW: I have been saying forever that LBJ won't develop into a team player in the 4th quarter until he gets a true PG he trusts to run the O. Windy is asserting on Twitter that Shaq is filling that role this year and LBJ respects him enough to actually run a real O. Great observation from Windy. Shame Shaq is 88 and can't keep doing it for years to come.

Windy has been imploring the Cavs to get Shaq more touches for about a month now. The injury to Mo is going to do exactly that.

Minus Mo, the Cavs are going to become a far more traditional, inside-out offensive basketball team that relies on post play to carve out buckets close to the hoop, as opposed to dribble-penetration from the backcourt. It's actually a very good primer for the postseason.

If Shaq can ramp up his offensive production somewhat over the next 4-6 weeks, and in that time Powe comes back and the Cavs maybe acquire a PF who can do some post work, maybe the whole concept of setting up the offense in the post and working out from there will become ingrained into the entire team.

I can dream, can't I?

[British_Pharaoh]

My West and Gibson predictions didn't exactly pan out but that just makes the win even sweeter.
No Mo, our starting PG only scored 3 points and we beat LA again

[Mr. X]

FWIW: I have been saying forever that LBJ won't develop into a team player in the 4th quarter until he gets a true PG he trusts to run the O. Windy is asserting on Twitter that Shaq is filling that role this year and LBJ respects him enough to actually run a real O. Great observation from Windy. Shame Shaq is 88 and can't keep doing it for years to come.

Windy has been imploring the Cavs to get Shaq more touches for about a month now. The injury to Mo is going to do exactly that.

Minus Mo, the Cavs are going to become a far more traditional, inside-out offensive basketball team that relies on post play to carve out buckets close to the hoop, as opposed to dribble-penetration from the backcourt. It's actually a very good primer for the postseason.

If Shaq can ramp up his offensive production somewhat over the next 4-6 weeks, and in that time Powe comes back and the Cavs maybe acquire a PF who can do some post work, maybe the whole concept of setting up the offense in the post and working out from there will become ingrained into the entire team.

I can dream, can't I?

+1

Would be great going towards the playoffs and more selfishly, for my fantasy team. I'm glad we've got a stretch of mostly home games coming up because Boobie can really feed off the crowd if he knocks down a shot or two early.

[fundamentals]

Can't find the article now, but when is the hearing on West's situation with the weapons' charge? And, I wonder what Stern's punishment will be for him once that has taken place?

With regard to the game, the Cavaliers' ability to throw different defenders at Bryant paid dividends and I thought Hickson played well.

[Orenthal]

FWIW: I have been saying forever that LBJ won't develop into a team player in the 4th quarter until he gets a true PG he trusts to run the O. Windy is asserting on Twitter that Shaq is filling that role this year and LBJ respects him enough to actually run a real O. Great observation from Windy. Shame Shaq is 88 and can't keep doing it for years to come.

Had the same thought, posted in the Raptors game thread, once we started to work inside out later in that game we put it away. Shaq's age, and the fact he his foul shooting pulls him out of tight games usually leads back to LeIso...

I'd kill for a real offense. Downright scary...

[fundamentals]

FWIW: I have been saying forever that LBJ won't develop into a team player in the 4th quarter until he gets a true PG he trusts to run the O. Windy is asserting on Twitter that Shaq is filling that role this year and LBJ respects him enough to actually run a real O. Great observation from Windy. Shame Shaq is 88 and can't keep doing it for years to come.

Dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, worked last night. My ten year old daughter watched the fourth quarter and said "why is the guy with the big hair keep trying to screen for LeBron, don't they have another play?"

[Gradysmanldy]

From what I saw most of the game, Kobe was on Delonte and Fisher was on either Parker or Boobie. And in Delonte's defense, Kobe is easily the best or second best defending 2 guard in the league. (I'll hear the argument for Chauncey, at this point, since his strength helps him defend off guards and bigger PG at this point vs. lightning bugs)

Still sucks to see Redz so tentative....he clearly wasn't in the flow of the offense this game. I'm hoping a few games at the point fixes this, since Boobie wasn't able to shake free of a defender once all game that I saw. (Fisher bottled him up 100%, and late in the game they were helping off of him to give help for someone else)

I also feel like Boobie ended up being a decoy more frequently than a part of the offense, since Cleveland was so hellbent on moving the ball into Shaq and feeding JJ off screens. Boobie shot a pull-up for his only bucket, and generally didn't force anything else.

Hopefully starting Saturday Green sees a little more time on the court....but looking at the box score from last night, i'm not sure whose minutes he gets. (Delonte will see a LOT of minutes with Mo out because there's no one else besides Lebron that can initiate offense, and the only other option is Jawad)

[Larvell Blanks]

Good game to watch even for a casual NBA fan.

My concern coming out of this game was how the back court was neutralized. Fish did a number on DWest but it seemed like everytime there was a big possesion coming, Black Mamba was out top playing really tough D on the Hangah, making it difficult to get the offense flowing and taking West totally out of the game. Windy mentioned this during his game blog, it's a shame that when Kobe stepped out on West, how come the Cavs couldn't expose Parker being guarded by Fisher.

Gasol=Charmin.

Surprised we didn't see the Twin Towers lineup last night, though I'm sure Bynum's foul troubles helped w/ that decision.

JJ had a nice game but you still see the Gooden come out in him on D way too much, still.

Love watching Kobe play the game. As stated up thread, hopefully as he gets older, James develops some of the creativity that Kobe has.

[khetti]

Worried about Brother Redz' finger injury. It's his left hand, so hopefully nothing too serious...

[Gradysmanldy]

Favorite JJ channeling Drew Gooden move of the night: rips a fierce rebound out of Odom's(?) hands, spins on the pivot, and then the ball slips out of his hands. Dives on the floor to get it and gets trampled.