Cavalier fans, it's A.C. - checking in. What's happening?
Well, I know that everybody wanted Boston, because we have history with them. But once you get to this place in time - in the Eastern Conference Finals, one step away from the Finals - I don't care if it's the best team in the world or the St. Francis' Sisters of the Poor. Bring 'em on.
I'm not going to mince words: Orlando is a tough matchup for us.
In the middle, with Dwight, you have to use Z, Anderson and Ben. By the same token, the key to Orlando's success is their forwards - Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. One of those two guys have to be stopped for us to win.
I would say LeBron will check Lewis, which would take Anderson away from the basket to guard Hedo. And you have to go with Z on Dwight. That's the way you have to do it. How else can you do it? That's why they're a tough matchup: because both their forwards play away from the basket.
You want to involve Dwight Howard in as many pick-and-roll situations as possible - just like Boston did. That's going to get Z a lot of open shots. And it'll force them to make a decision. Right now, we're the ones who have to make decisions on how to adjust to them. But to me, it's simple: Stop one of their two forwards and you beat them.
It'll be interesting the way we set up our defensive scheme.
The key is to not double-team Howard and don't give the other guys good looks. Howard's not going to score enough points to beat you. (And don't be afraid to foul him.) If you look at how Boston was guarding him - they never allowed him too close to the baseline. What he wants is one or two dribbles and a dunk. You can't allow that.
The Cavaliers need to cut off his angle on the baseline, and when he turns into the lane, roll him out. Never let him turn freely into the lane. Z's got the length to make him do that - he just has to get more physical with him, I think.
You can't play tiddlywinks with this guy. Dwight Howard is not a guy who's going to show an array of shots to shoot over you. He's going to try to overpower you. So you have to fight fire with fire. Get position between him and the basket - and make him shoot over the top. If you're going to double-team him, make sure the open pass is to his blind side. You don't want him to see the double-team coming and make the pass. If the double-team comes, you want him to turn in order to make a pass.
I'm not concerned with our record against Orlando this year, or even over the past three years. But I am concerned about a team that shoots the ball as well as they do.
I'm not concerned that we'll lose the series, because I think we're the better team and because we're back to playing like we did at the beginning of the season. The team is totally focused. So the record doesn't bother me. It's just that it's a tough matchup for us.
But like I've been saying: The key is to win the first two games. No team can beat us four out of five.
Aside from the X's and O's against Howard, we can beat them if we force them to stress. They've already played 13 games - most of them under great pressure. We have to force them into stressful situations for that to take effect. If you allow them to cruise, it won't bother them. But if you force them into stressful situations, where they're down 10 or 15, and are stressed to get back, that's where those 13 games will catch up with them.
We have to go right at them - aggressively on both ends of the floor. Close out strong. Understand their tendencies and take those away from them. They're a smart team, but they're a little jittery.
I'm not worried about rust. They should know from the last series, what to expect as far as remaining sharp.
They should be aware of that and they should be able to overcome that. At this point in the season, rest is a good thing. The other teams are stressing every series, not us. The Cavaliers haven't had that yet, and they have to understand, when they do stress, don't overreact to it.
Keep the pressure on the Magic, because eventually those 13 games will catch up with them. But the key is to keep the pressure up.
I think if the Cavaliers win the first two games - we win it in five. If we split the first two, we win it in seven. But either way, I see the Wine and Gold getting to the Promised Land.
Hey, Cavalier fans! It's AC, checking in. What's happening?
I felt good about the Cavaliers heading into the playoffs, but I'm not sure I could have seen them sweeping through the first two rounds like they did. They were dominant.
Pretty simply, both the Detroit and Atlanta series proved that we were the superior team. And what I was looking for was the team that started the season to come back - and it's back now. And you can just tell: the focus is totally there. Even the matchups that were not in our favor went our way. You look at the way our guards handled their guards.
A lot of people are talking about inferior opponents, but I don't see it that way. The Hawks played well enough to beat Miami. The Cavaliers just made them look inferior because of the way that they manhandled them.
LeBron was his usual amazing self in the Atlanta series. That was on full display. But I thought Delonte was really sensational. He was lights-out. He was definitely the backbone of the team during that series. Defensively, he pretty much shut Joe Johnson down. And offensively, he was LeBron's alter-ego.
Each player did their own thing against the Hawks. Big Z stepped up when he had to. Anderson was all over the place. (That last sequence in the last game in Atlanta, when Anderson got all those offensive rebounds - that was unbelievable. Those offensive rebounds are back-breakers. You could just see the Hawks wilt.) And Mo has such a flair for the dramatic. He might miss 18 shots in a row, but when they count, he's going to hit them. It's almost like he saves up for that big moment.
The Cavs' goal was to keep Atlanta out of transition and that's exactly what they did. They didn't give them any rebounding opportunities, because Cleveland rebounded the ball so well. They pretty much killed Atlanta on the boards. And the turnovers - they weren't turnovers that led to fast breaks - which was key.
It was scary how precisely the Cavaliers followed the game plan in both series - for eight straight games. That's the kind of focus that wins championships. Coach Woodson even said that - that the Cavaliers are playing championship-caliber basketball. And you can just see it. They're focused. It's almost like they're saying, 'We're not going to let all that hard work we put into the season go to waste now.'
I wrote about this in my last blog, and it's something LeBron talked about before the playoffs started, but the Cavaliers really haven't faced much adversity all season. And they definitely haven't in the postseason.
But I look at it this way: They've been on track all year. They've lost two games in a row only twice all year. So they know how to bounce back after a loss. So I'm not anticipating any problems with adversity. And besides, what's wrong with not having adversity? If you're that good and you're playing that well ... why not, like Moses Malone said, go "Fo, Fo, Fo"?
In the Conference Finals and in the finals, you're going to have some adversity. And they'll deal with it. They understand that. But to sit there and wait for the ax to drop, I don't like that feeling. I don't like that anticipation. If the ax doesn't drop, the ax doesn't drop.
They key is, if it does - when it does - to be able to bounce back. This is the playoffs. And that's where the philosophy of "one quarter, one practice, one game at a time" comes into play. Because that's what it's going to have to be.
Like you, I'll be watching the rest of the Orlando-Boston series to see who it's going to be. I feel like we match up well with either team.
The way Orlando is built - if they stick to their guns and use Dwight Howard properly, they can make it tough on you, because they have the huge inside-outside game. But that's a big IF for that team. They don't have the mental focus that it takes, at all. That's why I'm expecting Boston to come out of that series.
As for the Celtics, it'd be like when a dog sees its prey and its ears pop up. That's how we'll be with the Celtics. That's the team we want. That's the team we owe. And if you're going to go through the playoffs to the Finals, you go through the Champion. You can tell that's what our guys want.
And Boston knows it too. Boston knows that we're not sitting back here waiting for anyone else but them.
And I wouldn't be surprised if Kevin Garnett tries to come back for that. It wouldn't behoove him to come back, because he's been out for so long. It'd take him three games just to catch up to the speed of the game, with the intensity of the playoffs. And I don't know if he would risk the rest of his career going out and trying something like that.
If it is Orlando, the key with Orlando is not to double-team Dwight Howard every time; pick your spots. At certain positions on the floor, you attack him and double team. In certain situations, you don't. That means our big people - Z, Ben, Joe Smith - will have to be physical with him, and don't be afraid to foul. Don't finesse him. Don't let him dunk on you. You have to hammer him and make him shoot free throws. That slows him down.
You want to try to put the Magic in adversity. They don't function well under adversity. You want to jump them quickly and make them chase you. Then they might implode.
The Celtics are much different - they have the experience and they are not going to implode. They're going to keep fighting back. You have to flat-out beat the Celtics, because they're not going to beat themselves. And that's what you're looking for.
That's why our team has performed as well as they have through the first two series. Because they know, when they play the Celtics, they have to play flawless ball to beat them, because they're not going to beat themselves.
The players are going to tell you that they don't have a preference of who they play. They're supposed to say that. You shouldn't be worried about anybody you're going to play. You deal with anyone, because you feel you deserve it and you're ready for the challenge.
But I want the Celtics. I think the team wants the Celtics. And that's how we're geared mentally - to take on the Celtics.
That's the series I'm looking for. I want them. They've beaten us too many times. I want to beat them so bad. And we've come too far - so let's go for it. Let's go for the jugular.
Hey, Cavs fans! It's A.C. , back in business on cavs.com. What's happening?
Before we get to the Cavaliers series with Atlanta, I wanted to congratulate LeBron on his MVP award and, recently, for being named to the All-Defensive First Team.
It's unbelievable to see how he has matured as a man and as a ballplayer. I did a lot of LeBron's state championship games. I even did the unfortunate game to Roger Bacon - the only one he lost. And I've watched him mature and watched him learn what it takes to win on the professional level.
He understood what it meant to win in high school, and it came very easy for him. Now, LeBron is starting to play like he did in high school on the professional level. He understands what it takes to dominate and win. And you can just see his maturation.
Each year, he's improved on something. Michael Jordan would do that - every year, he'd pick one part of his game and work on it. And this year, LeBron has worked on his defense and it's really paid off for him - second in Defensive Player of the Year voting, First Team All-Defense.
When you start putting up those type of performances - where you're totally proficient on offense and defense - now, he has a clear vision of what it takes to win a championship. And he's driven. That's one of the things I love about LeBron: as talented as he is, he could just rest on his laurels and collect money. His focus is on winning the Championship.
And I understand exactly where he's coming from, because when I was raised in the game of basketball, every coach I had was all about winning. It was never about individual performances. If I happened to play well individually, it was because I was trying to win. I wanted to win the game and win the championship. And you can see that LeBron is completely locked in on both ends of the floor.
And LeBron's not about to let anybody else lose focus. All his teammates are locked in with him. How can you not be when the main man is locked in? I love seeing what I'm seeing.
I have to admit, I was really surprised that Delonte West didn't receive a single vote for the All-Defensive Team. But see - all that comes with winning. If we win this season, then all that will come - because people will recognize.
To win a championship, everybody knows it's going to take more than one guy. And so then the media starts to watch: 'Let's see what these other guys do to make this happen.' Because that's just how writers are. They get focused on one area and they don't comprehend the group accomplishment. And that's the biggest weapon the Cavaliers have.
The sum total of their parts is what makes the Cavs the best team in the league. Not just LeBron James or Mo Williams - the All-Stars. It's the whole collective unit - everybody playing their part and not trying to do more than they can do. That's what it's all about.
After a slow start, I was really pleased with the Cavaliers performance in Game 1 on Tuesday. We weren't as sluggish as I thought we'd be - shooting-wise. The sluggishness came in our movement.
In that first quarter, we didn't move well at all. And LeBron figured that out right away. And he sort of held us in there until the other starters caught up. When the second unit got in there, we started to play Cavaliers Basketball - moving bodies, moving the ball, hitting open shots and playing tough defense. And then from there on, the starters came back and got into a groove - and everybody was ready to roll.
People talk about the Cavaliers being off for nine days and how it would affect them. But I thought Atlanta was still in Miami - their minds were still in the first round. Mentally, they did not want to deal with another team and did not want to climb another mountain.
I'm expecting a different team tonight. They understand they're in it with the Cavaliers now. And they'll be ready to play.
I really like what the defense did against Josh Smith in the second half. He's going to have to make his own adjustments. The Cavaliers have already adjusted to him. What they did the second half was just keep him in front of them and make him shoot over the top, because that's something he doesn't do well. The more you make him do something he doesn't want to do, the more frustrated he becomes. And he loses a little bit of focus.
Aside from the Cavaliers-Hawks series, I love that things are heating up around the league.
In the Boston-Orlando series, first of all, Skip To My Lou is going to be suspended for slapping Eddie House. Luckily for Orlando, Courtney Lee is coming back. But Boston is displaying the heart of a champion right now. Even without Paul Pierce producing, they beat the Magic handily. Boston plays very well on their home floor and Orlando kind of drifted into a perimeter game and went through the motions.
Now, the series out West between the Lakers and Rockets - on the other hand - is about to get out of hand. If Kobe doesn't get suspended - (which he won't be) - if I was Dwight Howard, I would petition the league office. The rule book says if you throw and elbow above the shoulders, it's an automatic ejection and one-game suspension.
The inequities on things like this are starting to become a problem, I think, in this league. You've already had the referee scandal and now you're having the inequality of punishment from one player to another. It's got to be black and white.
Regardless, that's going to be a battle out West now. It's on. By getting Artest emotionally involved - oh baby! It's going to be fun! L.A.'s finding out how tough Houston is and that the playoffs are all about defense, defense, defense. Houston's rugged and tough-minded. That goes a long way in the postseason.
The Cavaliers will need some of that tough-mindedness when they return to Atlanta this weekend. I'm expecting a whole different team.
The Hawks are a little bit of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. At home, they'll play differently. Guys will start hitting shots they're not hitting here. They'll get on the boards after we killed them in terms of offensive rebounds in the first game. In Atlanta, they're a different team.
And the Cavaliers will just have to fight the adversity. That's something that LeBron has talked about. They haven't had any adversity - even in the offseason.
So, the key is: how do they handle things with their backs against the wall, knowing that it's going to be a hard-fought game?
I have confidence that the MVP will find a way to figure it out.
I was really impressed with the Cavaliers' effort on Saturday afternoon. You could tell that over the last 20 games of the season, they were already getting geared up for the Playoffs. They took each game one game at a time and they had the best record in the league after the All-Star break.
They didn't get ahead of themselves. But you could tell that they were ready emotionally for the postseason around 20 games ago and they came out firing on Saturday. They're no-nonsense now.
Their focus is there. Just like Kobe said of the Lakers on Sunday night: This is what they've waited for. This is what the Cavaliers have been waiting for all year. And they're focused now on taking care of their business.
Sometimes, LeBron will get his teammates involved early in the game and then look for his own offense. But on Saturday, he was aggressive offensively right from the start of the game.
He's setting the tone. Because, what he understands about the game is that - the way Detroit is going to play Cleveland - he has to establish himself early. Now, once he gets established, he can play the rest of his game. He can draw the double-team and dish.
The entire team is moving the ball much better now than they were even in the last 10-12 games of the regular season. LeBron is drawing everyone to him, and - BANG! BANG! BANG! - guys are hitting their open shots. And once guys hit two or three shots, instead of the Pistons cheating over to LeBron, they're cheating away from him. That opens up all kinds of avenues for him to penetrate.
So a lot of things happen when he establishes himself early. Everyone's radar goes off when LeBron starts scoring early.
He knows, everyone knows. All the teams Cleveland's going to face are going to set up to stop LeBron. And I wouldn't be surprised to see the Pistons starting to take LeBron out of the air pretty soon. Sooner or later, they're going to get physical with him. And that's why it's going to be so important to establish the other guys. Get Anderson scoring around the basket, with Mo, Delonte and Z doing their thing. That was beautiful to watch.
The Cavs took Rasheed Wallace right out of the game, because they gave Rasheed the decision: do you want to come out and guard Z or do you stop LeBron coming off the double-team. Every time Rasheed would jump out on LeBron, he would make that pass to a wide-open Z - who knocked down the shot. Rasheed just couldn't get over there in time.
The Pistons don't really like to double anybody. That's how they play Orlando - they don't double Howard. That's not how they do things. But you look at the other teams the Cavaliers might face down the road - like Atlanta - that's all they'll do is double-team, because they're not a good man-to-man defense. So now you have to decoy yourself and let the other guys soften the defense up.
I'm not concerned about Mo Williams' slow start. It was foul trouble that messed him up.
I've been in that position many times. That first quarter, if you get two quick fouls and they take you out of the game - that kills your whole rhythm and while you're sitting on the bench, it feels like the game has gone past you. You're a passenger. And when you get back in, you have to catch up to the game speed again. It was nothing about nerves.
You saw what Mo was like when he came back in the third quarter - he was attacking the basket, making his jump shots. He did a great job in that third quarter of staying out of foul trouble so he could stay aggressive on the offensive end.
Foul trouble can screw up an entire team's rhythm. That's why you have to have a deep bench in the Playoffs. Mo gets two quick fouls, now right away, that takes a huge cog out of our offense - which probably slowed us down in the first half. But you had Boobie and Delonte do their thing and the Cavaliers had some nice, balanced scoring. Joe Smith was awesome and Wally was solid off the bench.
Detroit's going to have to stop the bleeding quickly. Michael Curry mentioned that they have to figure out a way to stop LeBron. So I imagine it's going to be an all-out war against LeBron in Game 2. They'll be tackling him, double- and triple-teaming him, anything they can do to stop him.
In other words, Curry's basically saying we're going to make someone else beat us besides LeBron. And the way the Cavaliers have played this year, they might just blow Detroit out if they focus too much on LeBron.
Detroit is going to put up a fight during the rest of this series, but I don't feel any trepidation. If the Cavaliers come out and take care of business on Tuesday, the only game that they'll have to be really concerned about is Game 3 on Friday in Detroit. Because then they'll come at us with everything they've got, so they don't get swept. If the Pistons don't get that one, their goose might be cooked.
Well, it's that time again. This has been a Cavaliers season for the ages, but none of it matters now as we start the Playoffs.
Out of all the teams we could have faced - Detroit, Chicago, Philly - the Pistons are the only team that I had a little bit of hesitancy about, because they know what it's like to deal with what they're dealing with. Mentally, they've got their feet planted on the ground.
The Pistons know - when it comes to the postseason - exactly what they need to do. They know it's a tough mountain to climb, but they know what it takes to climb it. That's the biggest difference between Detroit and the other two teams. Of course, in the Playoffs, some of the new guys that they've brought in - Bynum and Stuckey - they'll see that there's a big difference.
Both teams are perfectly familiar with one another; they know what the other team wants to do.
Offensively, you've got to guard the pick-downs on Hamilton. You need to have a clear understanding of how you're going to deal with that. You can't let McDyess roam around free. And you can't leave Rasheed, either. Because he's going to try to get your bigs away from the basket. Both McDyess and Rasheed are not going to go to the basket on a regular basis. So you don't have to worry about them going by you. You just need to worry about keeping them in front of you.
I think the guard play is going to go a long way in shaping the series. The Pistons are a guard-oriented team - they've always been that way.
Our guards have to do a good job on them defensively. Stuckey, Bynum, Hamilton - those guys are always going to be looking to go to the hoop, always looking to score. So you have to have a solid defensive scheme against them. But if we can turn our defense up and get on the break a little bit - run them - we can get about 15 fast break points a game.
Although I know that's the advanced billing, I don't expect the series to get overly physical. I would imagine if we beat Detroit both games here, that's what it'll turn into up there. But I don't see that happening here. They'll be scuffling to try to beat us here in Cleveland. When they get back to Detroit, they'll feel more comfortable. They might get one of the two in Detroit. And we should come back here and have them where we want them.
I didn't really want to fool with the Pistons, because, again, they will play over their heads when they play us. And beating the Cavaliers would erase a whole season of frustration. There's no shortage of motivation.
Three or four years ago, we were the upstart team. Now, we're on top and they're on bottom. And personally, I'm not sure they know how to deal with it. They don't look at themselves that way, and being there, it has to have an effect on them.
Allen Iverson is a Cavalier Killer, so not having to deal with him helps. But I think Iverson not being with Detroit has almost helped them. They didn't know how to play with a guy like Iverson.
Chauncey Billups is more of a guy who you can understand what he's going to do. He's methodical and he plays the game a certain way. Iverson is helter-skelter. You don't know what he's going to do. You might run a pick-and-roll with Iverson and he's the one setting the pick after he passes you the ball. You don't know what he's going to do, and sometimes he doesn't. Playing in Detroit slowed him down, playing in a structured system - because he's not a structured player.
There are a few players on both sides who'll be getting their first taste of Playoff intensity, and it will have an effect on them. That's why Playoff experience is so important.
That experience is huge because everyone plays at a higher level, a more intense pace. It's much different than the regular season. Every possession counts, because - aside from the rare blowout - it's going to come down to the last five minutes of the ballgame.
Your focus has to be there. And I think that's the biggest thing about Playoff basketball: you have to retain your focus for such a long period of time. But you still have to still be loose enough where you can play. You can't stymie yourself by getting too focused. But that's the way it is in the postseason: the intensity is there from the moment the ball goes up until the last tick on the clock.
I remember my first trip to the postseason. When I first made it, I was so happy to get there, that I wasn't even thinking about the difference between the Playoffs and regular season. And that was the wrong attitude.
In the Miracle Year, we went right on through the postseason. We were such a deep team that I had a chance to sort of work myself through it, and we were still able to be successful. But it was quite an experience. The same guys you were chummy with all year are now right up in your face. And it wakes you up right away.
Something else you have to have an understanding of in the postseason is the referees.
You have to, in a way, "scout" the referees. How are they letting you play? You have to figure that out in the first quarter. Because foul trouble can cause you huge problems in the Playoffs, if you don't watch what you're doing. If the refs are calling it tight, then you have to back off a little bit. You don't want to get two or three fouls and mess your team up because you made some stupid decisions on defense.
I think the Cavaliers should win this series in five games, six at the most. I think they'll give us a run. That's just the competitive nature I see in the Pistons. And granted, you always want a sweep. But I'm trying to be realistic, and I think the Pistons still have some fight left in them. I don't feel that we're threatened to lose the series, but I don't see us sweeping them.
The Cavaliers won't worry about how many games it'll take. They'll go with Coach Brown's philosophy of one game, one day at a time - just like they did all season. That mental approach is what got the Cavaliers through the season and kept them in the moment. They stayed in the moment. It's one of the reasons they never lost more than two straight games.
As long as we don't get ahead of ourselves, we'll be OK. We just have to stay in the moment. And everything will work itself out from there.
Cavalier fans, it's A.C. - checking in. What's happening?
