CELTICS-CAVS GAME 5 AFTERMATH: Tempers flaring up in Cavs' locker room?

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After nearly a month of it, tempers have flared. There were a number of angry players Sunday in Boston. They were displacing their frustration over the loss on the coach and not on the lacking effort they clearly put forth. Also, Brown seems to be searching during games without any real plan of what to do. The players can sense this and it undermines him to a certain degree. Very rarely during the playoffs have the Cavs made in-game adjustments that have provided fruit. In between games with practices and film sessions, yes. But not within the game. When the Cavs look like they are going to lose in the first quarter, usually they have lost. Cleveland Plain Dealer

Beyond Brown, however, there are other responsibilities. It lies with the captains and that means LeBron James. While he will be the first to tell you that he's a leader and you can see that his teammates are fully invested in that situation, he has not seemed to act like one during much during this series. First off, he's undermined his coach by acting lax after losses when Brown has been sounding alarm bells. It is James' personality not to be too worried about anything and it was not expected that he'd be throwing people into lockers and such. But his "we'll get 'em next game" philosophy has clearly backfired. With the exception of Game 3, despite all the handshakes and nonsense, the Cavs have been knocked on their heels in every game. Cleveland Plain Dealer

It has further become problematic that James has been disengaged during the games. Not only has he fallen into the trap of "letting the game come to him," but he's been increasingly distant. In huddles he's looking at the ceiling or into the distance. It is not the James anyone on the team knows and his teammates and coaches have seen it. More problematic, they can't explain it and that is making the entire locker room uneasy. Cleveland Plain Dealer

There were two skirmishes on the court. One was with Kendrick Perkins and O'Neal and the other was with Mo Williams and Rajon Rondo. James showed no such fire and then didn't get get involved in the exchanges, staying off to the side. Whatever James says in the locker room behind the scenes stays there. In the past, it has been quite obvious that James has a huge role in everything that happens. Perhaps that is still the case. But the way his teammates are playing they have either tuned him out or he's not showing the same fire as he regularly did during the season, Cleveland Plain Dealer

No more excuses. Not now, not after this biblical bottoming out that pushes the Cleveland Cavaliers to the brink of an unthinkable collapse. And yet, after Tuesday’s ferocious failure of his professional career, the encompassing embarrassment of a 120-88 Game 5 loss to the Boston Celtics, James dismissed his unthinkably poor performance with this colossal cop-out: “I spoil a lot of people with my play. When you have three bad games in seven years, it’s easy to point them out.” Yahoo! Sports

Somewhere, the whispers of the game’s greatest talents became a murmur louder and louder: James still doesn’t understand part of the price of greatness is inviting the burden on yourself and sparing those around you. He missed 11 of 14 shots. James didn’t score a basket until the third quarter. He was terrible, just terrible, and yet James couldn’t bring himself to say the worst home playoff loss in franchise history began and ended with him. Yahoo! Sports

Brian Windhorst: LeBron: "I put a lot of pressure on myself to go out be great and the best player on the court. When I'm not, I feel bad for myself." Twitter.com

“I’ve got to wonder about LeBron James’ mindset,” Charles Barkley said on TNT’s post-game show. “Remember how he played in Game 3 – attack, attack, attack? This [should’ve been] an attack game. … I’m 100 percent disappointed, not by the fact he didn’t have a good game but because of his mentality. Tonight was the biggest game of the season, and I didn’t see the aggression I needed from an MVP at all.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It was as if the altered rotations made the Cavs dizzy. Antawn Jamison was asked if those changes at this stage of the prevented the team from getting in sync offensively. "You can try to make an excuse for anything right now," Jamison said with a little laugh. "That sounds good. But as a team we just ... offensively ... turnovers, not getting high percentage shots." The always chatty Jamison was almost at a loss for words. "It seemed like we were thinking too much instead of doing the things we normally do," he said. "I give [the Celtics] credit. They made that paint look clogged up. We've just got to find a way to counter that and do a better job of getting them on their heels instead of them keying in to everything we're doing. Cleveland Plain Dealer

"As a team, everybody was out of sync and put our heads down and that affected how things went defensively as well." How is that possible with a chance to take control of the series in a home game? "We're still trying to figure it out," he said. "We knew what was at stake. We knew the importance of this game. It's just disappointing to come out and give that type of performance. Cleveland Plain Dealer

Now, the 18-year veteran who had set a goal to "win a ring for the King" when he joined the Cavs this season will have to show his younger teammates how to handle now or never. "You know," he said, "I've been in the league a long time and I've been in this situation before. Our message is very simple. You've just got to win two." Cleveland Plain Dealer

The best player in the series, Rondo had a stretch in which he scored 8 of Boston’s 11 points in the third quarter to signal the beginning of its 120-88 blowout win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. “Just tried to take what the defense gave me,’’ Rondo said. “Didn’t try to force anything. In the second half, I had those looks. Had those gaps. I took advantage of them.’’ Boston Globe

By the fourth, Williams was heated to the point he and Rondo got into it and received technical fouls with 4:40 left. “Mo told me he liked my game when we were talking,’’ said Rondo with a straight face. “I told him I liked his as well. That’s the only words we said back and forth.’ Boston Globe

Rivers was asked if Rondo's postseason breakout signifies a passing of the Celtics' torch from Boston's Big Three. "I'm just trying to get them to pass the ball to each other," he joked. "That torch stuff, I'm going to leave that alone. If they pass it to each other, I'm good." ESPN.com

After the game, in an exclusive interview with The Plain Dealer, Gilbert expressed some frustration at the effort level of his team that he's spending more than $100 million in payroll this season; a team he put together by sparing no expense in an attempt to win the title this season. "Our entire franchise has done everything in its power to put all of our players and its coaching staff in the best possible position to execute when it counts," Gilbert said. "And to deliver to the highly supportive fans of Cleveland a proud, intense, impassioned all-out drive to achieve a championship." "The last two home playoff losses and the manner in which we lost these games does not come close to being anywhere near the high expectations all of us have of our organization. Our fans and supporters deserve more." Cleveland Plain Dealer

Despite his disappointment in the losses, Gilbert, who is known for his optimism, said he's confident his team will be able to rebound in Game 6. "We have to ask ourselves two questions," he said. "Will we remember who we are and choose to impose our will on our opponent for the remainder of this series and beyond? And how much do we want it? I believe in our players, our coaching staff and our entire franchise. This series is not over." Cleveland Plain Dealer