Cleveland Watch Revisited

When I posted this topic a few weeks ago, maybe even over a month ago, the wheels looked like they were coming off the wagon for them. I have to say now they have righted that ship and are probably playing the best ball in the league as of right now. They've been in every game and LeBron has made some strides to getting his teammates involved and playing like a team on a mission. They do well on the road, Mo Williams is becoming more of a factor, given the Cavs the one-two punch all potential championship teams need. The announcers/media are gingerly comparing them to last year's team with more options. They are clearly once bitten and are dragging the ball and chain drought of Cleveland sports along as evidence.

But...has anything changed? They haven't experienced the injury bug to any great extent like the rest of the contenders. Shaq, while putting up double doubles is doing all he can given the circumstances. LeBron is still LeBron. Mike is still Mike, I think. Is the second verse the same as the first, given another month of games has lapsed?

Again,

Concerned but not sweating profusely in NC

Gotta wait it out some and see if they are just having a good stretch or if they actually got it going for the season.

Phoenix looked mighty good at the beginning of the season

How many winners of the Boston Marathon led at the half way point?

(before heartbreak hill)

By the way I don't have the answer.

beat

PS Having run a few marathons (years ago) I know the second half is a hell of a lot longer than the first half.

dbrown4 wrote:When I posted this topic a few weeks ago, maybe even over a month ago, the wheels looked like they were coming off the wagon for them. I have to say now they have righted that ship and are probably playing the best ball in the league as of right now. They've been in every game and LeBron has made some strides to getting his teammates involved and playing like a team on a mission. They do well on the road, Mo Williams is becoming more of a factor, given the Cavs the one-two punch all potential championship teams need. The announcers/media are gingerly comparing them to last year's team with more options. They are clearly once bitten and are dragging the ball and chain drought of Cleveland sports along as evidence.

But...has anything changed? They haven't experienced the injury bug to any great extent like the rest of the contenders. Shaq, while putting up double doubles is doing all he can given the circumstances. LeBron is still LeBron. Mike is still Mike, I think. Is the second verse the same as the first, given another month of games has lapsed?

Again,

Concerned but not sweating profusely in NC

"Shaq, while putting up double doubles"???

He's got two in his last 17 games.

OK, close to them. I like Shaq. I was giving him a few points and rebounds here and there!! Maybe it just feels like he's doing that!

James will shit the bed in the playoffs. He is all about what makes him look the best and makes him the most money. All those iso hero ball threes will fall away when it counts. I really liked him when he came into the nba but he chose the dark side of the force.

Just watched the Jazz score 12 points in the last 29 seconds to beat the Cavs 97-96.

Fun stuff.

The game-winning three at the buzzer was hit by a total unknown on a ten-day contract - Sundiata Gaines - who had never made a three-pointer in his life (0 for 4 before tonight) and had only scored a total of 12 points in his pro career before that shot. Stunned disbelief on the faces of all the Cavs as they watched it go through as the horn sounded.

I think it was the wildest fourth quarter I've ever seen. Cleveland led 64-57 with 9:46 to go and over the next five minutes Utah went on an amazing 23-3 run to go up 80-67 with 4:39 left. The place was going nuts and starting to celebrate. Jazz still led by 12 at 83-71 with 3:30 to go and for the next three minutes Cleveland went on an even more incredible 20-2 run (featuring three ridiculous three-point bombs by James, and 20 in the period for him) to go up 91-85 with 32 seconds left to seemingly seal it for the Lebrons. Three times in the final 23 seconds Utah fouled quickly and the Cavs went to the line and only made one out of two each time and three times the Jazz answered with an immediate score, setting up the final three-point bomb by Gaines to win it by one as time expired. Refs went to the replay booth to make sure it was good and the replay showed it just leaving Gaines's hand as the light went on.

Unbelievable. Worth staying up for...

You know what the really great news about all this is, Steve? We're down three big players and we are still keeping pace with the elite in the league. I know it's sliipping a bit, we had some run to wiggle. Despite losing to CHI which they deserved, given the time off we have coming and the home stretch, things are REALLY looking good for us.

We keep saying it about being healthy, but heck, every team needs to be healthy. No team needs to be healthier than another. LAL won't make it w/o Kobe or anyone else in their weak supporting cast. Same with LeBron and their cast. We, however, are getting to see what this team is really made of in the worst possible conditions. Good news is, there are no back-to-backs in the playoffs. We just don't come off of those very well.

Great game for Utah last night. I love it when LeBron gets a taste of his own buzzer beater medicine. Especially from a no-name 10-day contractor!

Amazingly, we are still keeping pace with CLE in the win/lose column. They are playing incredible ball and we have been decimated by injuries for weeks. CLE is hanging by a thread. Maybe this knife to the heart will send them into tailspin we all know is coming for them.

I still love it no matter who wins it, but grown professional millionaires jumping around like they won the world championship. Did you catch the look on Mo's face walking off the court while Utah stormed the court? Priceless...Rudy!! Rudy!! Rudy!!!

Steve, I say worth DVRing, going to bed, waking up in the morning and watching the last 3 minutes with my 7 and 5 year old!! They love buzzer beaters!! I got two from the price of one with it being CLE getting the shaft! I love it!! (Of course I cheated. I got up in the middle of the night and saw the highlights on ESPN. Then in the morning when everyone is getting up, "Boys, you gotta see this. You're gonna love it!!" That's what I'm talkin' about, baby!!

dbrown,
I agree with you. Cavs are a very solid team -real contender. And as any other team they have ups and downs. But unlike any other team, it's simple to deal with them: isolate LJ with the ball from the rest of the team.

AK

The guy who hit the winner for the Jazz was playing in just his 5th pro game.

dbrown4 wrote:OK, close to them. I like Shaq. I was giving him a few points and rebounds here and there!! Maybe it just feels like he's doing that!

dbrown - Shaq last night agaist the Jazz: 5 points, 3 rebounds, 4 turnovers, 5 fouls in 19 minutes. Guess he's lost a bit from his heyday...

dbrown

As to the look that Mo had. If I was a Cleveland fan I WANT that look. I want the players pissed as hell. What would it have been like if he and Bron did a little dance on the way to the locker room after that finish?

Certainly I enjoyed it that they lost and how they lost BUT they are certainly a team that is not to be taken lightly at all and really have been playing quite well over the past month.

Long season and things have an ebb and flow.

And we have yet to see the C's with all moving parts..........moving at the same time.

beat

It's good the C's know how to play CLE to win a playoff series. However, we are coming to rely lately too much on the final hope and statement of "When we are healthy come playoff time" or some reasonable facsimile. That's a big "When". After all we have been through to this point, that is our kneejerk response to all challengers. We need to kick butt now and I think we are. This line-up shuffle is going to pay huge dvidends come playoff time. Doesn't do much for current starter chemistry, but Doc and staff are getting a look at a ridiculous number of combinations. Hats off to Scal nailing all those threes and stepping up. Eddie got back in the groove last night.

When teams like CLE who are having great success early on have to scramble at the end of the run like we did with KG out, I can assure you they will not be able to make the adjustments as well as we did. Every move they make is magnified 10X in CLE land. Yes, we came up short against ORL, but CLE will blow a microchip if even the slightest puzzle piece is out of place, given everything that is on the line for that team, LeBron and the city this year. House of cards comes to mind. Looking forward to the inevitable 5 MPH wind coming along. They were very good with off-season "Panic Moves" as with Shaq, etc. so it will be very interesting with the in-season moves coming up with the trade deadline approaching as to where they think they are and the proverbial gun shooting themselves in the foot.