What's up, Cavalier fans! It's AC - what's happening?
The Cavaliers are coming off a strange weekend - having their 13-game streak stopped in D.C. before getting killed in Orlando. Then they turned it around with a really nice win over the Spurs on Sunday.
A lot of people have suggested that maybe it was good for the Cavaliers to take their lumps on Thursday and Friday. I don't ever think it's good to get thrashed like they did, because it leaves a scar. But at the same time, they've been bouncing back all season. It shows that it's a consistent part of their makeup - that they're able to put whatever happened behind them and leave it back there.
This is Mike Brown's philosophy: One game, one day at a time.
And for all the naysayers of that particular philosophy, this is exactly why you do that. Because of games like the Orlando game. You have to be able to say, 'that was an aberration, we're going to just forget about it because we know we're better than that.' And you go from there; you bounce back.
What happens during a long win streak - a 13-game win streak - is that you start to think it can automatically happen - that you can just "turn it on" - instead of realizing that it's the hard work you put in each quarter that makes it happen.
After a while, you start expecting that you can turn it on. The Cavaliers, for the most part, don't have a tendency for that. They don't get too caught up in wins either. They stay pretty level-headed, and I think that's how they've managed the win streaks they've had. Basically they realize that each game is its own entity and you don't get caught up in 'what if we win five more' or 'what if we win two more.'
They only worry about winning this one.
For a lottery-bound team, Washington has given us a tough time this year. And Orlando has given us trouble for a while.
Against the Wizards, it's basically because of their interior. Washington has big, strong guys in the interior. Orlando has one guy, but he's a problem for the whole league. And Orlando has built their team to where they have good shooters on the perimeter. So what happens is, they spread you out and you can either guard Howard one-on-one and guard the perimeter, or you're going to double-team him, make the Magic make two or three passes and hope they miss.
It's pick your poison with Orlando, and that's the way it is.
As far as Washington, last Thursday was their playoff game. They decided that they were going to throw everything at us and we went in there with our regular, everyday approach. But what they're trying to do is sell the players and the fans on next year. They wanted to use that game to promote next season.
Coming back and getting that win over San Antonio was huge, because it did a couple things. First, it continued with that bounce-back mentality. (I still contend that this team has the built-in playoff mentality because of that - because of what we just saw between Orlando and San Antonio. That's what happens in the playoffs. You'll have a game where nobody can hit shots and you can't get anything together. But you regroup, make your adjustments, come back and compete.)
And secondly, it was a win against a quality opponent. I don't quite understand that argument: that they haven't beaten any quality opponents. They have. And you have to remember, this is the NBA. Any team can beat any other team - especially when you're the team with the big bull's-eye on your back.
Look at the Celtics - they had the big bull's eye on their back and they come and play with intensity every night because they know that. They don't fool around. They're out there for one thing, and that's to beat you. They know you're trying to beat them because they're the Champs. So, that's the mentality that we're developing. We're on top now. And when you're on top, everybody wants to knock you down. That's why they need to keep coming with that attitude. Because it's a fleeting moment.
It's a mindset you need to have. And you have to have that swagger about yourself, ready to go out there and prove to people that you are the best. Right now, with us being the new kid on the block, everybody wants to challenge us. We don't present that physical dominant aura to opponents, but we are the consummate team. And our strength is in the sum of our parts.
So when the Wizards roll in here on Wednesday night, I imagine that they're going to go at Washington pretty hard. That would be my mentality. After what they did and the way they acted, that would be the way I would approach it.
We're down to the final five games of the season. The magic number is 2 in the East and they might have to win out to get the top spot in the league. So that's the mentality going into this last week-and-a-half.
In that time, I'd like to see the Cavs get a little better at individual defense. There's been too much dribble-penetration. You can't allow that consistently. There's going to be some, because these are great players you're playing against. But Hedo Turkoglu, for example, would start at the top of the key and get all the way to the basket. Those are the kinds of things you have to stop in the playoffs.
You can't allow a guy to beat you off the dribble. Good defensive teams don't allow that. We have a great team defense concept with help on the weakside. But the first premise of defense is: Stop Your Man. You can rely on help after, but you must try to stop your man first.
We're still not 100 percent right now. You want to get Ben back into the fold, you want to get Anderson straightened away. And you have to forge on; you can't afford to back off. You haven't achieved anything yet!
We have to get home court and keep pushing forward from there. Take care of business this Wednesday and take care of Philly on Friday and wrap up the East. At that point, you have a decision, but you only have three games left. So why back off then?
With those two recent losses, we've been "cooled off." After that 13-game streak, we've been cooled off. And now it's time to start heating back up, with solid defense and good execution on offense. And that should take us right into the playoffs.
And if we get that together, get healthy and go on a 13-game win streak in the playoffs, two months from now we'll be one game up in the NBA Finals.
Every win is nice, but getting the franchise-record 60th win Sunday was a huge milestone for the Cavaliers.
I think after being here for so many years, it shows that the franchise is in an upward mobility. Our Miracle team of the mid-70s kind of leveled off after our time, then it was Lenny's team that took it to another level, and they stayed there for a while. And now LeBron's era has taken the organization to the next level. And I think some of the records that are being created now will never be broken.
These records are nice, but of course, the Cavaliers main goal is the Playoffs. And if you've noticed, their energy level has picked up lately because they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The dog days are over. The Cavs can see the end, and they know what the end means after all they've put into this season.
The biggest difference between last year and this year is that when the team went through the dog days last year, that's when they had their problems. This year, they went through the dog days at 15-2. There's a huge, HUGE advantage this year that the team has. They've been able to keep their focus through tough times. And now they see the light at the end of the tunnel - and they're getting geared up for what's at the end of it.
You could tell that they're getting focused just by looking at Sunday's game. They came out in that second half and played like they had in the first part of the year - just steamrolling teams and taking the life out of them. And it was just good to see on Sunday. Individually, Joe Smith was phenomenal - he changed the whole complexion of the game.
What I saw yesterday was a Playoff-like game. They didn't shoot the ball well and got into a hole early. And then they methodically worked their way back into the game in the second quarter. Then they destroyed Dallas in the third quarter and rested in the fourth.
The point is that they went in at halftime and made adjustments. That's the key to Playoff basketball.
In the postseason, teams are going to sacrifice their defensive principals to defend LeBron. They'll say: 'Let's stop LeBron James and let everyone else beat us.' Well, that's the beauty of LeBron's game: Whichever way he has to beat you, he'll beat you. He doesn't have to score 50 to beat you. But if he has to, he can. But if teams are going to let the rest of the Cavaliers beat them, LeBron will let them.
That's why we're 60-13. Either way, we're going to beat you.
A lot of the pundits have been talking about resting guys for the Playoffs down the stretch. I don't think you do that right now. The best way to rest the team is the way we did it on Sunday - by beating a team down.
If you're going to rest a guy, rest him after the first half. You don't rest a guy by sitting him on the bench and not playing him. You have to keep this momentum. You don't want to stop and have to rebuild. If you lose a game, you have to rebuild that momentum and rediscover your good habits. We don't want to do that at this point of the year.
This is really the first time that this team has gone through this type of situation - so we're going to have to feel our way through it. The media has no clue, and they keep coming up with these suggestions for resting the team. All they're doing is speculating about "what if's." It's all about second-guessing, but Coach Brown isn't going to second guess himself. He's going to rest the guys he thinks needs it.
Besides, we haven't locked up the Eastern Conference yet. We want to continue to push - at least probably until after the first week of April. By the time only five games remain in the season, it should be settled. But it's not settled now. You don't want to go into the Playoffs with negative momentum; you don't want to let up now.
The way this season has gone - blowing teams out for much of the year - there's been a lot of rest.
Not that you don't want to be fresh for the Playoffs. It's going to be a war. Everyone's gunning for us because we've got the top record. We're the team that everybody wants, and we're going to have to be ready for that.
There's going to be physical play - like what Jason Collins did the other night. That's the way it's going to go in the Playoffs, and it's going to happen to more guys than LeBron, too. They're going to go after Mo a little bit. They're going to go after Delonte and Andy and Z. They're going to go after everybody. There's going to be a confrontation sometime, somewhere - especially if we open up against the Pistons.
The Pistons and Cavaliers have switched roles this year - the hunter has become the hunted and vice versa. The Pistons were on their roll when they went through their six straight Eastern Conference Finals run. And now they're on the down-tick. (They brought Iverson in to try to stay level.) And now the Cavaliers - after they beat the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2007 - are on the up-tick. So, right now, the franchises have just reversed roles.
I don't look at the Pistons as a No. 8 seed if they're playing against us in the first round. Because it's a rivalry, they will play above their heads against us. Now, maybe they might not play like that against the Bulls or the Heat. But against us, they will be ready to play.
That's how they're going to look at it. And we're going to have to take care of our business. Because the homecourt advantage means you have to win your home games - but you still have to play those games, and you have to win them. You have to take care of your business.
And this game on Tuesday against Detroit, you want to send a message to let them know: If we meet you in the first round, it's not going to be easy coming here to Cleveland.
I don't imagine the team will say Tuesday's game is a "message game."
Well, we're back in town for another four-game homestand after winning No. 9 in New Jersey on Sunday. It's great to have the home games back-loaded into this year's schedule, because it gives the Cavs a chance to regroup. With all the road games, it's hard to regroup. Playing on our own floor gives us a chance to regroup and get mentally prepared for the war we're about to head into.
Right now, Coach Brown is starting to work on his rotations. The big question I've been asked is whether Ben returns to the starting lineup or whether Andy should stay. And I'm pretty sure it's going to go back to the way it was in the beginning - with Ben starting and Andy coming off the bench.
That makes us deeper - and in the Playoffs you need depth. So I think it'll go back to normal. I mean, we were 25-5 with Ben in the starting lineup, so why not go back to it? That just makes us a deeper team heading into the Playoffs.
How deep Mike will go into his rotation is still a question. It all depends, but as long as you're productive you're going to play. Granted, Mike Brown's going to go with a seven- or eight-man rotation and if a ninth or tenth man is playing well, they're going to get time. If you're resting guys in the Playoffs, that's a good thing - it means you're winning all those games!
Mike Brown won't let his team get complacent in these final 12 games. But really, it should be easy to stay focused now, because you actually haven't accomplished anything. You haven't done it yet.
I realize Boston and Orlando are saying that the Cavaliers have the East already wrapped up. All they're trying to do is use the psychological part of the game to see if we'll fall for it. I call it the "okie-doke." They're trying to lull us into a false confidence.
I mean, you saw what the Celtics did to us up in Boston. They played like it was Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. We went in there a little lackadaisical and not really understanding what the game meant to them - and they jumped on us. I think we have to realize that, at this point, Orlando and Boston will pull out all the stops to see if we'll stumble trying to cross the finish line.
Right now, the Cavaliers just need to take one game at a time and get ready for the Playoffs. That's all we're doing right now: trying to get better every game and fine-tuning the defense, the offense and the rotation. (Even though we really won't be able to fine-tune the rotation until the final week or two of the season, with Ben and Wally still out.) As it is, Mike Brown, I'm sure has an idea with what he's looking to do.
As it stands now, it's looking like when the postseason does roll around, it'll be the Bulls in the First Round. It'll be a good matchup.
Chicago doesn't have the interior, but they have a great perimeter game. And that's where we'd have to be careful with them. Because if we let them go crazy out there on the perimeter - we're going to have trouble. If we can cut them down from the outside, we can beat them on the inside, like we did with New Jersey. We would need to just methodically grind them up and get them out of the way.
Because we faced the Bulls so early in the season - before they made their big trade - they're a different team. But basically it's going to be the pick-and-rolls from the wings and the guards shooting three-pointers. They haven't changed that part of it. They don't dump the ball down into the post on a consistent basis; it's pick-and-roll from the sides and trying to get out on the fast break. They don't really do anything different; they just have different personnel.
The Cavaliers will have the same personnel they've already faced, and by the time we reach the postseason - against whoever we'll play - LeBron James will have won the Most Valuable Player award.
How could you say he's not MVP? All these other guys - their good games are "40, 3 and 4" or "40, 5 and 6." LeBron's games are "40, 10 and 9." To me, it's LeBron, hands down. And defensively, he's there every night. With Ben out, LeBron's been the "defensive catch-all" - he handles everything and everybody.
And when you add his defense to what he does offensively, I don't see any way LeBron James can't be the MVP.
The Cavs are coming off a great three-game run on the West Coast and topped the Knicks on Sunday night when they got home. I don't like seeing the team fall behind and have to come back like they did out West, but in April - all that matters are W's and L's.
But there has been a little bit of a problem with their interior defense. And tonight, we'll find out: have we corrected the problem?
They weren't having this problem a month ago. But since Ben went down, it's really been something they need to solve. Big Ben takes ownership of that paint and I think all the other players follow suit. We miss Ben with second chance opportunities - especially with him and Anderson on the floor together. But on defense, he does not allow open lanes to the basket; he won't allow it. And all shots are contested.
So, naturally, we miss him. But if you're going to win a Championship, you still have to get by on the short term without some of your players. And we've done that all season. And we'll get that attitude back when he's ready to play.
I'm looking forward to tonight because Orlando has almost caught Boston and they've become a threat to us. We have to play them one more time down in Orlando. So, we want to win this game tonight to even up the score and then, hopefully, go down there and beat them.
The Magic have had a lot of success against the Cavs. It's their inside play; they have a perfect balance. They have the inside game and the outside game. You can't give them both.
You have to shut down either the inside game or the outside game. And the most conventional thinking is that Dwight Howard is not going to beat you by himself - even if he gets 30 and 20. The key is you can't let him do that and the other three guys get 15 or 20. It's tough to beat them like that.
So the Cavaliers might take a page out of the Pistons' book. The Pistons don't double-team Howard unless he's in a situation where you can double-down on him quickly. They just let Rasheed deal with him and dare the other guys to beat them. And that seems to affect the Magic. When they don't hit their outside shots, they're not the same team.
Right now, Orlando's every bit the threat to us that Boston is. We have the mental capability of dealing with the Celtics, but right now, I don't know where we are with Orlando. We're not quite there yet, mentally - as far as how to stop them. We know what we have to do to stop Boston. But we haven't quite figured out Orlando yet.
Hopefully, we'll start tonight. Because now is the time to start ramping ourselves up for Playoff basketball.
You want to give yourself a chance to be able to see what works before you get into the Playoffs. You have to start setting your rotation - tweak your rotation a little bit here and there, which Mike Brown seems to be doing. You want to work on your schematic on the backside of your defense or do some things differently on your in-bounds plays. Now is the time to see how these things work so when you get into the Playoffs you understand every nuance of your team and how you want to attack an opponent.
The Cavaliers haven't been their sharpest of late - most notably on the defensive end. They really have been tired over the last few games. But the thing to remember is two years ago, we would have lost all these games. Last year we would have lost these games - because they would have found an excuse to let them lose the game.
But this Cavaliers team is a no-nonsense, no-excuses team. And they fight through adversity. That's the biggest thing I took from the West Coast trip. They have learned how to fight through adversity. And that's what winning playoff basketball will be all about.
Hey, everyone back in Cleveland! It's A.C. - what's happening?
Well, we're headed back out onto the road, and it was nice to get a win on Saturday before we left. A lot of fans are still a little upset about the Boston loss, but I don't read too much into it.
The way I see it is: this is not the team that's going to go into the Playoffs. As well as we've played, we still have shortcomings. It's up to the coaching staff and the players to make the proper adjustments when we head into the Playoffs.
As long as Mike Brown's been here, that's the way this team has been geared: The team that you see in January and February is not the team you see in April. They will make adjustments and do what they have to do to become Playoff-ready. The do it one game at a time - that's Playoff mentality right there.
To bounce back against Dwyane Wade - and to pretty much handle the Heat - told me a lot about this team. You could tell they were tired, but they were able to muster up enough to win the game. (The home crowd helped a lot on Saturday, too; on the road, they might have lost that game.)
Now, the game they're shooting for is the game against Boston on Easter Sunday - because that's right before the season ends. And that might be the game that gives us the Eastern Conference's top spot. I want to make sure that we're able to take advantage of that game.
It's been a tough stretch for the Cavaliers. They played seven games in nine days, got a one-day break, and now head out to the West Coast.
I think this whole stretch is wearing on the team a little. But at the same time, that's why we added Joe Smith. So we can have that depth. The bench is going to be key over these next three games, because the starters will run their course, but they'll need the bench to either boost them up or get them back in the game. And they're going to need production from the reserves.
The bench hasn't been very productively lately. It sounds simple, but they really just need to make shots.
Basketball is a simple game. If you defend well, you have to make shots, In other words, what we can't get into during this road trip is a long spell of missing shots. That's when you get in trouble. We defend well enough to get stops, but we have to score to keep our leverage. Once you get into a scoring funk, you lose your leverage. And that's when you get in trouble.
That's why getting Joe Smith is so important, especially at this point of the season. The coaches can already see how productive Joe Smith is. They threw him right into the fire. In that Boston game, he was the only one fighting around the basket. He's going to mean a lot to us, but he's not in shape yet because he didn't play a lot of OK City. He's getting there. But you can see what he's going to mean to us once he gets totally in-tuned with what's going on.
The Cavaliers wrap up the West Coast for the regular season this week - taking on the Clippers, Suns and Kings.
The Clippers are like a Dr. Jeckyl-Mr. Hyde kind of team. So you're going to have to be good defensively against them. If you can stop them offensively, they'll lay down. They'll get an emotional lift if they get Kaman back, but Kaman's not going to be a player who'll destroy you. They're a running team that likes to get up and down the floor, so you'll have to slow them down.
Phoenix is essentially Shaq, right now. If you can keep Shaq from going off, you can beat that team. That'll be somewhat of a barometer game because of how we've been playing defensively in the paint. But Shaq's just one man; we've been getting beat up by the entire frontcourt in some of these games we've lost. So we'll find out where we stand.
I'm looking for them to win the first game on the trip and things to unfold from there. I think we can win the Phoenix game and then they should handle Sacramento. You don't want to get ahead of yourself, but if you start out well tomorrow night, you get a good jump on the trip right away.
After these three, the really tough road part of the schedule is definitely up - and I have to imagine that it'll give the team some buoyancy. Almost everything else is a one-game-and-out situation after this week, with the long road stand coming up. So if we can come off this stretch - and, say, win all three of these out West - and come though this 8-2 (or even 7-3) after one of the roughest parts of the season - we'll be rolling into the home stretch.
What's up, Cavalier fans! It's AC - what's happening?
