Category: LeBron James (Page 11 of 19)

Not sure I think it’s all that bad, but Livingston makes a good point. If Lebron plays better defense, everyone else will play better defense, too.

Cavs let one get away last night. The way Lebron played in the first quarter, I was a bit perturbed to see the offense drift toward other players. Another late game tonight. This is a pretty big one…I’m worried they’ll go 0-3 on the road trip.

The Cavs blowout loss to Indiana last night looked a lot like their blowout loss to San Antonio. On the road, against a top tier team, which shut the Cavs down with defense. That loss was freshman year, first semester, Playoffs 101. This was freshman year, second semester, Playoffs 102.

They simply were never in the game. The first quarter the Pacers jumped all over a Cavs team that appeared to have had the same perfect combination of Thanksgiving turkey and wine that put Jerry Seinfels’s girlfriend to sleep so that he and George & Elaine could come over and play with the Easy Bake Oven. It’s as if they really did not want to play a baskebtall game, and instead roll over on the couch, put on the football game, and doze off.

Lesson #1 was delivered directly to Lebron…defense. Ron Artest shut him down early and often. Lesson #2? When that happens to Lebron (which it will), Larry Hughes needs to step up. That did not occur. Result…Cavs get throttled. Good news is, we’re 9-3, with a home game coming up.

There was a hint of better defense in the 4th quarter of last night’s 123-120 road comeback victory last night, but really, it was all about Lebron. And the PD breaks down how they did it…they moved Lebron to point guard.

Coach Mike Brown made a move in the third quarter when James switched to point guard. James easily blew past defenders and either scored or passed off for easy layups. The Cavs cut the 16-point deficit to nine heading into the fourth quarter. “I knew he would be great at middle pick-and-roll,” said Brown, about putting the ball in James’ hands. “Instead of having someone else bring it and getting him the ball at halfcourt, we said, ‘Why don’t you just bring it, spread the floor and lets play middle pick-and-roll and make a play for us.’ ”

I think we just saw a picture of how the Cavs will win all their close, big games from now on.