Category: Cleveland Cavaliers (Page 38 of 88)

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are continuing to prove all the critics wrong. James received player of the week for the fourth time this year. This is the same player that everyone, including our local writers, continued to question his ability to close a game. Charles Barkley (TNT) and Roger Brown (Plain Dealer) continue to amaze me with there criticism of James.
LeBron is a team player that feels “everyone” should contribute and is learning when to pass the ball and when to shoot it. James and the Cavs are heading to the playoffs and the only question is who they will play in the first round.

LeBron made the big shot to send it to overtime and made a great pass to Ilgauskas in the final seconds of the extra period to help seal the deal for the Cavaliers as they beat the Houston Rockets 104-102 Sunday afternoon. Damon Jones continued his hot streak, hitting 5 of 6 from beyond the arc and scoring a season-high 22 points as the Cavs won their fifth straight. Yao Ming, who finished with 27 for the Rockets, gave the Cavaliers all they could handle but it was the Wine and Gold who came out victorious.

It finally seems like the Cavaliers are figuring out how to win at the end of games. Home or away, it appears they have no fear when it comes down to crunch time. LeBron is starting to take charge and is really becoming a team leader for us which is huge at this point in the season.

“Going through games like this should really help us to be able to close it the right way,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said. “To execute it offensively and defensively at the end is huge.”

The Cavaliers won their fourth straight game Friday night and are inching closer to securing a playoff spot. LeBron James led the Cavs with 36 points as they beat the Boston Celtics 94-82 at the Q. The Cavs got some much needed support from their bench, outscoring the Celtics 22-11. Donyell Marshall provided the spark, scoring 12 points on four three-pointers.

“We’re learning to close out games,” said Marshall. “Winning games like this shows we’re a playoff team”.

We need to continue to take care of business, especially at home, in order to hold on to that critical fourth seed. And let’s hope Marshall and Damon Jones stay hot because their production off the bench is going to be crucial come playoff time.

After continually being criticized for never being able to hit a game winning shot, LeBron James finally got that monkey off his back during the Cavaliers’ thrilling 120-118 overtime victory over the Charlotte Bobcats Wednesday night. With time winding down and the game tied, LeBron, who finished with 37 points, pulled up for a mid-range jumper to give the Cavaliers their third straight win. Not to be overlooked, Flip Murray was the man again late in fourth quarter, hitting a three-pointer from the corner as time expired to send the game to overtime. This guy continues to hit big shots at key times for the Cavs.

Hopefully Wednesday’s game winning heroics by LeBron will shut up the critics once and for all. And how about that outstanding pass by James to Flip at the end of regulation.

Classic take from the best columnist in sports:

In the last edition of “Big Picture,” I thought the Cavs were one of the seven teams with a realistic chance of winning the title because of LeBron’s Tremendous Upside Potential. Then I watched them play a few more times … it’s just a poorly conceived, poorly coached team, and LeBron isn’t ready to carry them on a night-to-night basis against good teams (especially at crunch-time). So I’m sticking them here. We’ll know they’re ready for primetime when LeBron stops chewing his nails like a little kid during fourth quarter timeouts. And not one second before.

Here’s the question – does Flip Murray change this analysis?