Were you expecting the Cavaliers to pull off the only win that would have really mattered during this lost season? Why?
Because the Cavaliers lead the NBA in bench scoring and Miami has a very shallow bench? The reason the Cavs lead the league in bench scoring is simple... their starting lineup is so ineffective that the bench gets to play tons of minutes. The Cavs starters scored 28 points last night.
Because the Heat front court plays soft and has been destroyed by every good team in the league so far? The Cavaliers have nothing to exploit that weakness. Varejao? Hickson? The Cavs bigs are under-sized and inconsistent.
Because the Heat have one win this whole season against a team above .500? A win against the Cavaliers doesn't change that stat. Frankly, the Cavs have over-achieved to be 7-11 to this point. I would be surprised if this team wins 25 games. You can't point to one thing you can say the Cavaliers do well. What little talent that is on this team is overpaid and overrated. They are a bad team that will not even find a way to scratch their way to the last playoff spot in the pathetic bottom half of the Eastern Conference. They are a bad professional basketball team.
Because the Cavaliers will be motivated to play hard to beat Lebron for the city of Cleveland, despite the lack of talent to do so? These same guys were goofin' around with that jerk and putting up with his crap for years. Some of them owe a great deal in their careers to him (would Varejao be making 8 million a year had he started his playing career with Golden State or Minnesota instead of with Lebron?). Playing with Lebron got them on national TV all the time and allowed them to be a part of a playoff run each year. And to expect a millionaire who had to do so little to earn their money as a basketball player to actually care about representing a city is just being naive. All of these players and the owner himself were desperate to have him come back despite the fact that he quit on them to end each of the last two seasons.
Because the fans would "get inside Lebron's head" and affect his performance? In order for this to have happened, you'd have to assume Lebron has feelings and/or brains. He doesn't. He couldn't care less that he got booed every time he touched the ball, and the fact that they did came as no surprise to him. Barring on-court interference, there was nothing the fans could do that would affect him, no matter how much they would try.
I've been a Cleveland fan all my life and will remain one until the day I die. But Cleveland needs to get a grip on the reality of things, not just in sports, but in business and politics as well, or the needless suffering will continue.
Ha, Mark. I don't agree with the pessimistic attidude that is runnig deep and parellel to Cleveland fans right now that you are writing this article with. (long sentence, prolly missing commas) I think that the cavs quit, and have every bit of the talent that they needed to beat the Heat. They beat boston the first game, and Boston is a far better TEAM then the Heat. Cavaliers flat out quit and were uninterested in playing Mrs.Wade tough.
ReplyDeleteI will credit my mother, who did watch the game, for this next point that I feel hits the nail on the head. She felt that LeBron didn't really know what to do and was uncomfortable when he stepped onto the court. (started 4/8 shooting) However, once he started yucking it up with his old buds who he completely screwed over, and realized they weren't mad or upset. He relaxed into a comfort zone and it turned into a pressure free shoot around like a practice shoot or something.
Had the Cavs at least played him tough. Maybe knocked him down even ONE TIME! I think that the clinic that was WITNESSED would not have been. I am embarressed by what did happen. Thanks CAVS.