Author: JEC (Page 44 of 46)

I didn’t get a chance to watch the game, but I saw the Cavaliers, under interim head coach Brendan Malone, waxed the defending champion Pistons 91-76 Tuesday night. A quick look at the box score is very telling, with Eric Snow getting the start over Jeff McInnis while McInnis, Lucious Harris and Anderson Varejao each logged 20-plus minutes off the bench.

But after all this talk yesterday about the team relying too heavily on LeBron, he still played 43 minutes, the most for either team, while hitting for 29 points, six boards and six assists. Snow, meanwhile, notched 10 assists vs. just one turnover in his 25 minutes while McInnis, despite logging comparable playing time, scored just four points with three assists and two turnovers. It’ll be interesting to see how Malone handles his point-guard minutes — he may keep splitting the time pretty evenly, though tonight’s stat line perhaps suggests that Snow should be seeing the bulk of the PT.

Finally, a couple other notes of interest: Tractor Traylor, one of Silas’ guys, played just 12 minutes while Sasha Pavlovic, who everyone seems to think Silas should’ve played more, only saw seven minutes of action. Still, a win’s a win, and with Washington currently getting blown out by Denver, the Cavs should find themselves tied for the fourth seed by night’s end.

Some interesting topics in an ESPN poll on the Paul Silas firing, including the effectiveness of the Cavs’ young core of LeBron, Z and Drew Gooden, and the number of coaches LeBron will have before winning his first title.

For the record, I said two: Silas and Phil Jackson.

I just listened to GM Jim Paxson and team owner Dan Gilbert outline their reasons for firing Silas at the team’s press conference, and it seems the main point here was they didn’t agree with Silas’ rotation and general player management.

According to Paxson and Gilbert, the team relied too heavily on LeBron at times, with several players on the floor often standing around watching LeBron in action. Coming off last night’s game, which saw the Cavaliers lose despite 56 points from James, this is certainly a valid point. They also suggested that Silas didn’t think as highly about his bench players as management did, and his handling of Jeff McInnis was discussed as well. Still, I don’t agree with the timing of the decision. With 18 games left in the season and the Cavs only three games from falling out of the playoffs, I just don’t see how switching from Silas to Brendan Malone makes this team any better and any more likely to qualify for the postseason.

Finally, Pax and Gilbert both denied that LeBron had any sort of role in the decision, but I’m not buying that. I mean, LeBron IS the franchise, pure and simple, and if you want to keep the franchise, you’ve got to keep the franchise happy. Maybe Paxson didn’t call LeBron Sunday night to ask him how he’d feel if they canned Silas, but I’m sure they wouldn’t have made the move if they thought it would jeopardize their chances of keeping LeBron in Cleveland.

Of course, the Phil Jackson rumors can now officially start. His name was mentioned during the press conference and, predictably, Gilbert denied any interest, but come on…. You know his was the first name mentioned when they started talking about long-term replacements — how could it not have been? Jackson took Jordan, Shaq and Kobe to the next level, so there’s no reason to doubt that he could do it with LBJ.

Not really sure what’s going on just yet, but Cleveland.com is reporting that the Cavaliers have fired head coach Paul Silas. “They released me,” Silas said. “They didn’t think the team was performing as well as it should be and they wanted to make a change.”

Maybe it’s because the Cavs have lost three straight and nine of their last 12, or maybe it has something to do with the comments he made about Carlos Boozer, but whatever the reason I think this is a terrible move. You’ve got a young team fighting for its playoff life and in the middle of it all, you’re going to can the team’s head coach? It seemed that Silas had a good relationship with most of the players on the team, including LeBron James, and he’s been able to get solid production from career underachievers Drew Gooden and Tractor Traylor, so I’m not sure what a move like this is supposed to accomplish. If the goal was to motivate the team, I would think there’s a better chance of exactly the opposite happening.

Silas’ son, assistant Stephen Silas, was also fired, and assistant coach Brendan Malone will be the interim head coach. The team has called a noon press conference.

This team can be so friggin’ frustrating. LeBron James became the youngest player in league history to eclipse the 50-point mark Sunday, scoring 56 against the Raptors on 18-36 shooting, including 6-12 from downtown. Despite his historical outing, though, the Cavaliers still fell to the lowly Raptors, 98-105, thanks to a quiet afternoon from Zydrunas Ilgauskas (10 points, 8 boards) and a pitiful performance from the bench, which scored one lousy point.

You’d like to think that this team has the potential to do some damage in the playoffs, but nights like this leave you hoping that they can just qualify. The Cavaliers are currently slotted fifth in the East, two games behind the fourth-seeded Wizards but only three ahead of #9 Orlando. With 18 games left on the schedule, including dates with the Pistons, Rockets, Mavericks, Kings and Wizards, there’s still time for them to pull it all together. Then again, there’s still time for them to fall completely apart too.