Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “Cleveland Cavaliers”

23 Apr 2010
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They got one. No more.

OK, the Cavs dropped Game 3 of their series with the Bulls. We knew this was bound to happen; the odds of the Cavs sweeping another first-round playoff series were slim. After winning seven consecutive opening-round games, a slip-up was going to happen.

And while it wasn’t the only problem, poor free-throw shooting killed the team. The Cavs missed 11 free throws in a two-point loss. Which, again, should be no surprise.

There’s little reason to fear that the Cavs will lose this series, let alone another game. The bigger concern is the player rotation, or lack of rotation. All season long the team succeeded by being versatile: playing big against the Lakers and Boston, playing athletic against Orlando and Atlanta, playing small against Phoenix and Dallas. It was a real strength of the team.

That now seems to be forgotten. Even though Shaq and Z continue to struggle with the Bulls quicker frontcourt players, JJ Hickson can’t get off the bench. He’s played three minutes so far in the series. Why not give some of Z’s minutes to Hickson in Game 4, especially if Z and Shaq continue to struggle? In Game 3 the duo combined for six points and five rebounds. In Game 2 it was 11 points and 10 rebounds.

It’s not like if Hickson plays against the Bulls the Cavs can’t go back to Z in the next round if the matchups favor him. Wasn’t that the whole point of building a flexible roster?

Game 3 is Sunday afternoon.

14 wins to go.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA playoffs
20 Apr 2010

Dropping a deuce on Chicago

The Cavs took the Bulls best shot in Game 2 Monday night and, for the Bulls, it wasn’t good enough, which means the series is effectively over.

The Bulls scored 21 second-chance points, scored 56 points in the paint – the third-highest total against the Cavs this year – committed just four turnovers and took 22 more shots than the Cavs. Shaq only played 15 minutes because of foul trouble, Z was mostly non-existent and Anderson Varejao struggled.

And the Cavs still beat them by 10.

Then there was the brilliant idea by some of the Bulls to dare LeBron James to shoot from the outside.

“They were telling me I can’t make jump shots,” James said. “They asked me to shoot a jumper so I did that. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.”

James finished with 40 points on 16-of-23 shooting, so that may not have been the best strategy on the Bulls part.

Game 3 is Thursday night in Chicago.

14 more wins to go.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, NBA playoffs | Leave a comment
18 Apr 2010

Play Today, Win Today

There’s a tradition in tournament play to not talk about the next step until you’ve climbed the one in front of you. I’m sure going to the state finals is beyond your wildest dreams, so let’s just keep it right there. – Coach Norman Dale

Pretty in the first quarter, gritty the rest of the way, the Cavs took the first step on what hopefully will be a long playoff road by beating the Bulls in Game 1 of their first-round series.

Like several of their games this year, the Cavs took a big early lead (22 points at one time, helped by seven turnovers and several missed shots by Chicago in the first quarter), let most of it dwindle before putting the game away with some clutch shooting down the stretch – after a Brad Miller basket cut the lead to seven with 2:29 to play, LeBron James’ traditional three-pointer and Mo Williams 3-point shot put the Cavs back up by 13 and sealed the win.

The Bulls actually outscored the Cavs over the final three quarters of the game, something that hopefully won’t give them momentum heading into Monday’s Game 2.

And while Derek Rose had 28 points and 10 assists for Chicago, Williams offset him nicely with 19 points and 10 assists. If Williams can stay close to Rose’s output for this series, what little chance the Bulls have to win the series evaporates quickly.

The Cavs were right at their season average in free-throw shooting as they hit 70 percent (12-of-17) for the game. Something to keep an eye on as the series progresses, plus the Cavs were weak from 3-point territory, hitting on six of 23 attempts.

Any rust the Cavs may have had due to taking time off or injuries was a non-issue, as Shaq looked ready as he and LeBron combined for 36 points and seven blocks.

Plus Shaq irritated the crap out of Joakim Noah. Always fun.

Game 2 comes Monday night.

One down, 15 more to go.

Posted in Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, NBA playoffs, Shaq | Leave a comment
16 Apr 2010

Take one, they’re free

With the Cavs opening the playoffs Saturday against Chicago, the fear is palpable that the team’s poor free-throw shooting may turn out to be its Achilles heel. The Cavs finished 30th (that’s last if you are scoring at home) in the NBA at .720 percent this year.

The PD’s Bill Livingston laid out a sound argument in a column this week that a team can win an NBA title while shooting poorly from the free-throw line. The good folks at Waiting for Next Year did a lengthy statistical breakdown last month of the Cavs’ woes.

But just because a team can win while shooting poorly on free shows, that doesn’t mean the team should take a cavalier approach at the line. This is still Cleveland after all.

In fact, poor free-throw shooting has played a major role in Cavaliers playoff history.

In the Miracle of Richfield season, the series with Washington was 2-2 as the teams returned to the court for Game 5. With the Bullets up by one with seven seconds left in the game, Washington’s Elvin Hayes went to the line with a chance to put the Bullets up by three, which would have closed out the game as there was no 3-point shot at the time. Hayes bricked both, allowing the Cavs to steal a win on Jim Cleamons’ last-second shot.

If Hayes had made those shots, the Bullets probably would have closed out the series back home in Game 6.

In 1985, poor free-throw shooting absolutely killed the Cavs in their upset bid against the 63-win Celtics. The Cavs lost the series 3-1, but the three losses were by three points (126-123), two points (108-106) and two points (117-115) and in the series the Cavs missed 26 free throws.

And, in 2006, Gilbert Arenas missed two free throws with 15 seconds left and the Cavs Damon Jones’ subsequent game-winning jumper led to the Wizards’ season-ending 114-113 loss in overtime.

Still not worried?

With four of the Cavs top five big men shooting below 70 percent from the line – J.J. Hickson (.681), Anderson Varejao (.663), Antawn Jamison (.506) and Shaq (.496) – it’s going to be interesting to see how Mike Browns works his rotation late in a close game.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, free throws | Leave a comment
13 Apr 2010

Rest is the Sweet Sauce of Labor

“Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit: team, team, team – no one more important that the other.” – Coach Norman Dale.

Coach Dale preached and practiced the concept of team first, a valid philosophy that Cavs coach Mike Brown is right to follow as the regular season comes to a close Wednesday in Atlanta.

Despite the fuss raised by some about the Cavs resting key players down the stretch, with Tim Povtak of FanHouse leading the brigade of fools, Brown is paid to make the hard decisions and look at the big picture – how to get the 16 playoff wins needed to capture the team’s first championship. And he has been masterful at putting the team’s needs above everything else down the stretch.

Finishing the season with 61 or 62 wins is completely unimportant – having the team ready when the playoffs start is priority one. And while some of the players, most notably Shaq, may need the first round to shake off some rust, that shouldn’t be a problem. While the Cavs may not have the cakewalk they experienced last year in the first round against Detroit, any lingering impact from players resting should be minimal.

Plus the Cavs earned the right to rest players by fighting for the best record in the NBA. They worked hard during the season and this is the reward for that effort. If other teams don’t like it, oh well, maybe they should win more games so they have the opportunity to do the same.

With playoff positions becoming more focused, the pieces are falling into place perfectly for the Cavs. It looks like Boston will draw Miami in the first round, and if Kevin Garnett thought Kevin Durant got all the calls, wait until he gets a load of Dwyane Wade in the playoffs. Orlando will have to deal with a tough Charlotte team followed by a potential second-round matchup with Atlanta.

The pairings are working perfectly in the Cavs favor, why risk going against your gut instinct just to appease a few people?

Luckily, we can be assured Brown will make the right call. He’s not the most successful coach currently in town for no reason.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA playoffs, Shaq | Leave a comment
05 Apr 2010
1 Comment

Indian Fever Starts Today

The Wahoo Warriors open their 109th season of baseball this afternoon against the White Sox. Optimism is running, well, tepid is probably the best way to put it.

The consensus puts the Tribe around 75 wins – that’s the over/under in Vegas – with the Beacon Journal’s Sheldon Ocker going high – 82 wins – and Sports Illustrated going low – 66 wins. Everyone else falls into the 75-win range, with the five Plain Dealer writers splitting at two with 75 (Bud Shaw & Bill Livingston), two with 76 (Terry Pluto & Dennis Manoloff) and Paul Hoynes with 77. The New York Times puts the Tribe in fourth place, saying “The Indians should score but will struggle on the mound as they wait for a new wave of talent to mature.”

So what to expect this year? How can the Indians top most expectations? A solid start to the season would help. It’s no secret that the Indians struggled in April & May under Eric Wedge, so a reasonably good start will help things out. If the Tribe can pick up one win they weren’t expecting each month of the season that would add six wins to the 75 and put them at .500. Since most people believe the division can be taken with 88-89 wins, can the Tribe pull out a few more and contend? It’s hard to see that happening, at least this year.

One of the best things that could happen is also one of the worst for the Indians – a deep playoff run by the Cavs. Since everyone will be hyper-focused on the Cavs until June, there will be no pressure on the Tribe early in the season. However, if we all get up the day after the Cavs season ends and find the Indians 10 games under .500 and 12 games out of first, we’ll collectively hit the snooze button until training camp starts for the Browns. Apathy is far, far worse than indifference.

We’ve all been down this road before with a rebuilding team. Sometimes, like in the ’90s, it works. More often for the Tribe it turns out more like the 1970s. The 1996 book Total Indians recalls how fans were optimistic about a young team in 1977 that seemed to be building a core of young players in Buddy Bell, Rick Manning, Charlie Spikes, Duane Kiper, Dennis Eckersley and Jim Kern. That year, the Indians added 20-game winner Wayne Garland via free agency only to see him tear his rotator cuff that spring. Manager Frank Robinson didn’t make it through the season as the team lost 90 games. Two months into the season GM Phil Seghi traded reliever Dave LaRoche for two players and $250,000 to keep the team afloat. The team lost 31 of its first 57 games.

The following year the break-up of the team continued when the Indians traded Eckersley (who ended up in the Hall of Fame) before the season and Bell (six Gold Gloves) after the season for some spare parts.

They summed up the decade by saying “The Indians’ treadmill to nowhere, as usual, was running at full speed.”

Sound familiar to anyone?

Now we’re left to wonder what to make of the coming season. Do we root for Travis Hafner to return to his old self because it will help the team, or because it will increase his trade value? Do we want Grady Sizemore to make the leap to the next level, even though it would mean he would be pricing himself out of Cleveland? That’s the joy of being a Cleveland fan in today’s unbalanced Major League Baseball.

In any event, it will be an interesting season with lots of young players who will hopefully show significant progress during the season.

For a look at what they’re saying in the other Central Division towns, check out:

Chicago Sun-Times

Detroit Free Press

Kansas City Star

Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Posted in baseball, Cleveland, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, NBA playoffs, opening day, Tribe
29 Mar 2010
2 Comments

Only the Strong Survive

After years of reading sports articles on mainstream media sites as well as other quality sites (like Waiting for Next Year and Cleveland Frowns) and commenting, we’ve decided to expand our horizons and join the community of bloggers.

This site will primarily be about Cleveland’s pro sports teams – Cavs, Browns & Indians – but we will also talk about other sports topics as they arise. We’re not looking to compete with other, more-established sites, but rather provide another opinion on the local sports scene from what we consider to be a typical Cleveland sports fan of a certain generation – that is, one who has never experienced a championship season.

In our lifetime we’ve seen the Tribe play in two World Series, the Cavs in one NBA finals and the Browns, well, the Browns have been a source of more anguish than any one fan should have to endure.

Other fans get more attention for allegedly being “tortured,” but no one knows heartbreak, unfulfilled promise and utter disappointment more than a Cleveland fan.

But that’s life as a Cleveland fan and that’s what we hope to capture for as long as we can sustain this blog.

Cleveland sports fans: Only the Strong Survive.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians

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