Cleveland Cavs at Dallas Mavericks - Dec. 20th

• Tigerfan00

  

  Cleveland has won 5 in a row and are 8-2 in their last ten games while Dallas is coming off a loss to Houston on Friday night.
  
  Im not sure what Dirks status is for the game but I seen he took a hard shot to his elbow in the Houston game.
• burt07

  Dirk will NOT be playing tonight. The Cavs have done pretty well against the Mavs the last few years anyways, should be able to win this one tonight. Probably need to as every other game other on this road trip other than maybe Sacramento (which is no gimme) is going to be very difficult to win.
• gobucks

  I cant believe they still have this friggin college game on.i really dont want watch fsu versus gt
• burt07

  Mavericks up 52-50 at the half. LeBron with 18, Parker with 9. Gooden with 10, Thomas and Howard with 9 for the Mavs.
• burt07

  Cavs lose 102-95. Just not a pretty game. Only bright spot was Delonte as he had another solid game. LeBron had one of his worst halfs of the year in the second half, he looked pretty awful. Mo brought nothing to the tablet tonight as well. And yet again, Shaq was pretty useless.
• newarkcatholicfan

  

  Great win for Dallas without their star.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  No fire at all. Some nights they just don't look like the even want to be out there. I'm hoping that means they're just patiently waiting for the playoffs.
• Trueblue23

  

  SQ_Crazies wrote: No fire at all. Some nights they just don't look like the even want to be out there. I'm hoping that means they're just patiently waiting for the playoffs.

  All good teams do this.. I mean LA has played scrubs the past few games and not went at 100%, usually barley winning.. 82 games is a long as time, gotta pace yourself.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  Like I just posted in the other thread, I honestly am starting to think that this team has no regular season goals. I don't really think they care about anything other than making the playoffs and their season starts there after what happened last year. It's not a coincidence anymore to see them just looking like they don't care some nights. Even the coaching staff seems to be playing it that way with some of their rotations. A lot of bench minutes so far this year--more than normal, can't be a bad thing because those are the guys who couldn't step up in the playoffs last year.
• h2thaizzo

  That lineup with about 7 minutes left pissed me off.
  
  Mavs
  Kidd
  Terry
  Marion
  Thomas (hot hand)
  Dampier
  
  Cavs
  Mo
  Gibson
  West
  James
  Varejao
  
  So you have a guy in there in Gibson, who isn't a good defender, you have West, our second best defender, going against a guy thats got about 5 inches on him, I just don't get it. The coaching gameplan is shit, the coaching period, is shit. You take a team thats near unbeatable when they put up 100+ points, yet CONSTANTLY put them in positions like this game, where they are held under that number, and lose. This is why the Lakers are so good, and why Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, etc. are going to go down as legendary coaches, and Mike Brown will just be a shadow in our memories, because they know exactly how to win basketball games, and he doesn't. The Lakers know that if they score 105, and the Kings score 101, they still win the game. Thats how they play, score as much as possible, and defend well enough to win. I'm tired of this defense wins championships bullshit we keep getting fed. We have two guys that average nearly 50 per night, and have a team that just managed to score less than 100 against Dallas, who didn't even have their best player in the game. We play our best basketball when we are active and moving offensively, yet about every other game we suck at working the ball offensively. Tonight we get 17 assists. We stand around, running out the shot clock, not looking for the best shot, which is just stupid, and when the plan isn't working, our coach does absolutely nothing to adjust the plan.
• Trueblue23

  

  Good post
• jpake1

  

  If this is a team without regular season goals, then I'm pretty sure this is a team that won't accomplish their lone goal this year.
• burt07

  h2thaizzo wrote: That lineup with about 7 minutes left pissed me off.
  
  Mavs
  Kidd
  Terry
  Marion
  Thomas (hot hand)
  Dampier
  
  Cavs
  Mo
  Gibson
  West
  James
  Varejao
  
  So you have a guy in there in Gibson, who isn't a good defender, you have West, our second best defender, going against a guy thats got about 5 inches on him, I just don't get it. The coaching gameplan is shit, the coaching period, is shit. You take a team thats near unbeatable when they put up 100+ points, yet CONSTANTLY put them in positions like this game, where they are held under that number, and lose. This is why the Lakers are so good, and why Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, etc. are going to go down as legendary coaches, and Mike Brown will just be a shadow in our memories, because they know exactly how to win basketball games, and he doesn't. The Lakers know that if they score 105, and the Kings score 101, they still win the game. Thats how they play, score as much as possible, and defend well enough to win. I'm tired of this defense wins championships bullshit we keep getting fed. We have two guys that average nearly 50 per night, and have a team that just managed to score less than 100 against Dallas, who didn't even have their best player in the game. We play our best basketball when we are active and moving offensively, yet about every other game we suck at working the ball offensively. Tonight we get 17 assists. We stand around, running out the shot clock, not looking for the best shot, which is just stupid, and when the plan isn't working, our coach does absolutely nothing to adjust the plan.

  I think Brown was trying to invigorate the offense with that lineup, as it kind of did as they put up 28 in the 4th but the defense definitely suffered because of it. I can't really blame him for wanting to put a spark in the offense as they only put up 17 in the 3rd. Just couldn't find the balance tonight. Also, have to give credit to Dallas, they shot lights out from the free throw line and were very careful with the ball as they only had 6 turnovers.
• h2thaizzo

  You can put spark in an offense that you don't know how to coach. 3rd quarter scoring has been a weak spot on this team ever since he became coach. There's just no explanation for it.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  jpake1 wrote: If this is a team without regular season goals, then I'm pretty sure this is a team that won't accomplish their lone goal this year.

  :huh:
  
  There are plenty of teams who have come into seasons not giving a damn about the regular season. Recent Spurs teams for instance. I mean they have a goal--win the division because there is no way they shouldn't win it. That alone gets them in a good playoff spot--but I don't think they're too concerned with the regular season. I guess I just don't honestly believe that the reigning coach of the year is THIS bad--I think there is a method to some of the madness. They don't want to replay last year all over again, they were the regular season champs last year...what'd that get em?
• hoops23

  

  The Spurs were waaaay more talented than anybody else in those seasons and also had to care for their aging stars/role players..
  
  I'm still not seeing consistent offensive flow, which really scares me. That's not something you just turn on come playoff time...
• SQ_Crazies

  

  They haven't had a consistent offensive flow since Mike Brown took over, so I don't really see what's different. The biggest difference is consistency and defense. They aren't defending like they were at this point last year--it's all about effort, they're lacking it in a big way. I just don't think they're motivated for anything but the playoffs--that's what they built this roster for. And as far as consistency goes--Mike Brown's lineups are messing with that to an extent. Pro's are creatures of habit and routine. There isn't much about his rotations that is routine except for making damn sure he limits LeBron's minutes.
• Footwedge

  Shaq is killing this team at both ends of the court. After this brutal 7 game stretch, I look for management to deal Shaq, unless they show overall improvement.
• hoops23

  

  I disagree with that assessment. Shaq isn't killing the team, the 4 spot is killing the team.
  
  JJ is still way to inconsistent and Andy is very limited (though he at times feels like he's Kareem with those hooks he tries)
• 2kool4skool

  

  Shaq being on the floor makes Cleveland worse against every team except Orlando. I'm not sure the positive of MAYBE beating the Magic IF they play them in the playoffs, is worth the negative.
• hoops23

  

  So bad, that the Cavs at 20-8, are only a 5 game win streak (something they've done twice this season) is standing in their way of matching a 25-8 start that they had last season.
• Trueblue23

  

  LTrain23 wrote: So bad, that the Cavs at 20-8, are only a 5 game win streak (something they've done twice this season) is standing in their way of matching a 25-8 start that they had last season.

  Too bad that win streak is need during the Christmas week
• 2kool4skool

  

  LTrain23 wrote: So bad, that the Cavs at 20-8, are only a 5 game win streak (something they've done twice this season) is standing in their way of matching a 25-8 start that they had last season.

  lol, that's a kind of odd way of comparing things. They're also only a 54 game win streak from being the best team of all-time when you put it like that. They're 20-8, last year they were 24-4, they have twice as many losses at this point in the year Isn't that a more valid comparison if we want to use records?
  
  Regardless, I'm not really basing this off the team's record anyway. From what I've seen, they are playing significantly worse this year with Shaq on the floor. Specifically he's completely unable to defend against any sort of hi-low screen or pick n' roll, and clogs up the lane on offense.
• hoops23

  

  Oops, we were never 25-8...
  
  It was 28-5.
  
  It doesn't matter though, Shaq doesn't make this team worse. We were already a sow half court team to begin with. He's better than Z.
  
  We do need a legit 4 if we are to be serious contenders..
• jpake1

  

  SQ_Crazies wrote:

  jpake1 wrote: If this is a team without regular season goals, then I'm pretty sure this is a team that won't accomplish their lone goal this year.

  :huh:
  
  There are plenty of teams who have come into seasons not giving a damn about the regular season. Recent Spurs teams for instance. I mean they have a goal--win the division because there is no way they shouldn't win it. That alone gets them in a good playoff spot--but I don't think they're too concerned with the regular season. I guess I just don't honestly believe that the reigning coach of the year is THIS bad--I think there is a method to some of the madness. They don't want to replay last year all over again, they were the regular season champs last year...what'd that get em?

  You said you didn't think they had any regular season goals. I'm assuming that their lone goal is to win a championship and that nothing less is accectable. They've won the conference, they've got the #1 seed, they've been to the finals... all of that is nice. However, they expect that to be part of their journey to their actual goal-- a championship. I'm just saying that I don't think this team will reach their ultimate/lone goal. If it is indeed all or nothing for this team, they'll be enjoying nothing during the early summer months.