Author: Bob (Page 23 of 39)

The Cleveland Cavaliers and the city of Cleveland feel new life. This win in game 3 was a great moral victory for the Cavs and the city. After getting beat twice in Detroit it looked as though the city was preparing itself for the norm, which is losing. Instead, LeBron James and the Cavs came back and pulled out a gritty victory. If the Cleveland fans are honest with themselves, they just wanted to give Detroit a series. If James and company step up and win game 4, in many ways the Cavs have already succeeded.

The city of Cleveland wants to become a winner and you can’t do that overnight. The fact that the Cavs are successfully competing is a good start. If the Cavs do tie this series up, a 3 games series is anyone’s guess.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to hold home court in this 7 game series with the Detroit Pistons, but they will have to play the next 2 games without Larry Hughes.
The wake for Justin Hughes, Larry’s brother, is scheduled for Monday night. This is the same time the Cavs and Pistons will be playing game 4.

The Cavs need Flip Murray to step up and be a floor leader if they expect to have any chance to compete against the Pistons. Cleveland seems to be in awe of the Pistons when they should be rolling up their sleeves and doing the dirty work. LeBron James can’t win alone, he needs support from the team and that includes coaching from Mike Brown.

The Cleveland Cavaliers battle to win there first home game with the Detroit Pistons just got little harder. The unexpected death of Larry Hughes’s brother has forced the Cavs to face the Pistons without their defensive star. LeBron James and the Cavs don’t expect Hughes to return for the Saturday afternoon game.

Coach Mike Brown has stated numerous times that Hughes was very close to his family and fully expects him to stay with them through this tragedy.

The Cavs have won without Larry Hughes in the line-up before as he missed 45 regular season games with a finger injury. Let’s hope with or without Hughes the Cavs can win this one and make this a series.

The city of Cleveland is slowly changing its luck and we are glad a big mouth like Charles Barkley won’t be along for the ride. In the last couple weeks, I have listened to Charles “I never won a NBA Championship” Barkley talk down about LeBron James, the Cavaliers and the city itself.

Barkley, a TNT analysis, continued to point out everything James needs to improve on, while giving Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash an overwhelming stamp of approval. He was frustrated that the Cavs/Pistons game was the prime time show, claiming this series would be a joke. Lastly, he arrogantly stated that Cleveland may fold under pressure, considering the city is not use to winning.

I should step back and say “Thank you Charles” for all of the insight; he would be the best person to teach us how to not win an NBA Championship. If we continue to do the opposite of what Barkley says, we will be heading in the right direction.

The Cleveland Cavaliers started the second round of the playoffs and Zydrunas Ilgauskas still looks lost on the court. As I watched the Washington Wizards series, I was forcefully convinced by friends and media that the Wizards style of play was the reason Z looked so bad.

The Detroit Pistons play a half court offense and Z still looks bad on both sides of the court. I really believe the Pistons designed plays to drive the baseline, knowing that Z is not only out of place, but refuses to do his job and defend against it. I struggle with a man that is making the type of money we signed him for and doesn’t show up for the playoffs. A true competitor will make up for bad offense by playing hard nose defense and hustle for loose balls. He has done neither.

I see Larry Hughes, Eric Snow and Flip Murray struggle from the field, but recover with good defense and hustle. We are only one game into to this series and Mike Brown needs to act quickly if he has any chance to compete against the Pistons. If Z continues to sleep walk through this series, he should do it from the bench.