The Cavaliers are looking to make a clean sweep on the road out here. Friday's win in Denver was a big one, and it was good to see us knock off a team that's given us problems for so many years.
A lot of people have said that the Cavaliers needed to beat a "quality opponent" like Denver. I have mixed emotions about the term "quality opponent." Some of the teams that we've beat, they were playing at the time we played them. Those might have gone into a tailspin after we played them, but they were doing well at the time.
Nonetheless, it was good for the Cavs' psyche to beat a division leader, and the second-best team in the Conference in their own arena. So the win does have some meaning to it. It was a big game and the way we beat them and I thought that was a very significant win for us.
The first quarter might have been the best quarter the Cavaliers have played all year - in terms of executing on both ends of the floor. They were superb.
Another thing I liked on Friday - and throughout the season, really - is that they no longer let the referees get into their head. It's a huge part of their maturation process. They're into the task at hand, which is winning the ballgame. And a lot of that has to do with the type of people that we have, emotionally.
The people that have been here with Coach Brown, they don't get too high or too low. And the people that we've brought in, they fit right into that philosophy. We don't have guys that are hyper-emotional, and that makes a huge difference.
Getting Z back is huge because, first of all, he spreads the floor. He essentially takes the opponent's big man out of the equation and opens up the lanes for everyone else. And when he's drawing that big man out of there, there's a lot of action around the basket.
Then, defensively, he and Ben have become like one. They're playing very well together. You can just see: when he's out there, things look less congested - everything's in order. When he's not, it almost seems like there's too many people on the court. And mentally, the way he started out, it just relaxed the team. You could almost sense that they were thinking: "Well, we're back to normal now. Let's go."
Big Z plays differently on the defensive end now that he's teamed up with Big Ben. I think Z is willing to challenge more shots now. He's willing to take more chances on defense because he knows he's got Ben out there backing him up. Ben covers so much territory east to west that it doesn't look like there's any room to move against our defense.
They were building a wall against Carmelo on Friday and he and J.R. Smith had nowhere to go. It's amazing to watch how they're all coming together now after they've all had a Training Camp together.
Delonte also looks like he's got his touch back. He's a player who takes what the defense gives him. And the defense gave him the open shot in Denver. In Minnesota, the defense was trying to close out on him. But if you notice, even though he took some outside shots, he still attacked the basket, and that's his game - he goes inside to set up his outside game. And that's the perfect two-guard mentality.
The Cavaliers are running on all cylinders and need to just keep it rolling. They might not say it now, but they're keeping a close eye on the Celtics. They're not going to tell you that. They're going to take it one game at a time - that's the mentality when you're playing an 82-game schedule - but they subconsciously have their eye on Boston.
It's OK to watch Boston, because it gives them a goal - something to shoot for. And they won't get complacent. Boston is definitely hitting their stride, but we have our eye on them. And that's a healthy thing.
Hello, Cavalier Nation! It's AC, checking in - what's happening?
That was a tough loss on Saturday and I hate to see the winning streak come to an end. But I was pleased with the effort of the Cavaliers down the stretch. They really did miss their injured guys on Saturday.
What I noticed with Z out of the lineup - and Boobie not there - is that Z is always like an outlet. If the play bogs down, you can always find Z and run the two-man game and get him a shot, or get whoever's running the two-man game with him a shot. Things don't look as congested. Things look congested without him in there. And then on top of that, we don't have that spark off the bench. Boobie would come off the bench and the energy level would remain high. It was a noticeable difference.
We didn't play our best game. They kept the turnovers down - they did a nice job with that. It wasn't their best shooting game but they fought back and showed the heart of a champion. We got back in the game and really had two good looks in the end that easily could have tied the game.
So, I really didn't have any ill feelings about the loss. This is still December and some of the problems defensively at the end - the switches on Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby late - all those things will be corrected as the season goes on. With the kind of year we're having now, I liked what I saw because we found a way to get back into the ballgame. Two years ago - that's a 15-point loss.
The spirit of the team is different; the heart of the team is different this year. Injuries are part of life in the NBA, but if the Cavaliers are 100%, we beat Atlanta. I came away disappointed in the loss - just because I'd gotten so used to winning - but I'm not going to get down because of this loss and Mike Brown won't let the team get down. We made errors we won't be making two months from now.
Even though the Cavaliers are off to such a great start, and we're trying to get the No. 1 or No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference, we still have to keep our eyes on the prize, which means to keep improving game after game. What we do now is correct the problems we had against Atlanta, go on the road and we go to work trying to get better.
You don't ever want to lose, but if there's one good thing about it, it's that the loss will make them realize that they're not quite there yet; not exactly where they want to be. It should be something that's a motivator to push them forward. You're not trying to satisfy the media, you're trying to satisfy yourselves.
In fact, media-wise, some of the things I've read lately have writers saying that we haven't beaten any quality opponents on the road. But those teams ahead of us are playing the same teams we're playing, but you don't hear about the quality of their opponents. It's like all of a sudden people are trying to poke holes in what the Cavaliers have been doing.
But I think the Cavs will stay true to themselves and get into the bunker and deal with what they have to deal with.
If you can get three-out-of-four on four-games-in-five-nights the rest of the season, every team in the league would take that. I'll take that for the rest of the season and I don't care if we're playing the Little Sisters of the Poor - a win is a win.
In the upcoming road trip, I'm looking for us to handle our business. I'm looking for at least two wins, but I'm looking for us to make a good run at Denver. Chauncey Billups has made such a huge difference on that team. They act differently, think differently, they play differently. It's a different team now and I hope we're ready to deal with it.
I'd like to get Z back before the road trip is over and would love to see Boobie return right behind him.
I'm looking to win all three games. We have the capability to win all three, but you can't get ahead of yourself. As a fan, you can get ahead of yourself, but as a team, you have to worry about the Timberwolves first and take care of your business in Minnesota. You can worry about Denver and the rest of the trip after that.
Those were a pair of nice wins over the weekend. The Cavaliers are keeping it rolling, but they have another tough week - four games in five nights - ahead of them.
Right now, our will is so much stronger than other teams; it's worth at least 10 points right there. We know what we're doing, we have confidence in what we're doing, and we believe what we're doing. That's the whole thing. What you have with other teams - they're not quite sure what they're doing and they don't have confidence because they haven't won anything with it.
And that's the major difference. Other teams have just as much talent as we have. But the difference is we're utilizing our talent at a much higher level than they're utilizing theirs.
Look at the two games in the back-to-back - the Pacers and Charlotte. In previous years, when we played against Charlotte, you almost had this feeling that they had the edge on us. Now, we play Charlotte, you're waiting for them to get the game over with. Even if they have a good quarter, you know this isn't going to last forever. The mindset is so much different now.
Look what the Cavs did to Indiana. The first time they came in here, Danny Granger went off. On Friday night, LeBron didn't give Granger room to breathe. He shut him down in the first quarter and it changed the whole complexion of the game.
And now we have other guys contributing. The bench is strong now - Wally, Boobie, Anderson, all coming in with positive minutes. Then you have Sasha, J.J. and even Darnell Jackson in the background. When they come into the game, they're giving you positive minutes. The starting unit is functioning well offensively and defensively, with Ben out there, man, they challenge every shot. You don't see teams getting anything up the middle against us anymore.
Our whole team now is focused on dominating the opponent. They're not worried about little petty stuff. The petty stuff is gone. I'm not knocking anybody we had on the team before, but the petty stuff bothered us. This team is focused on one thing: we have this one goal and the question is, how do we get there? They're not worried about the little stuff. There was always a bottleneck there that hurt a good flow. And that's not there anymore.
I just think the individuals we have on the team now, they're mindsets are different. A lot of the guys we had before were set in their ways and some of them didn't know how to be happy. I'm not going to mention any names, but they just didn't know how to be a positive team member. Their whole careers they had been in negative situations. They didn't know how to be positive.
All that has changed. That positive energy is great, and the team is feeding off it. It permeates through the whole team. Now, they have like a college spirit - and that's really refreshing in the pro game.
LeBron has been dominant lately - and he's not even scoring like he has in the past. His defense has been incredible.
LeBron has more energy to play both ends of the floor now. He's a triple-double player - points, rebounds, assists - that's the first premise. He focuses on all three areas during the game. In the past, he had focus on just one - usually scoring - just to keep us competitive. Now, he can play his game and we can win with him playing his game.
That's where we're strongest - when LeBron can play his game and not have to worry about scoring 40 points. That should be the aberration - when he's having an especially hot shooting night. If everything else is constant and LeBron has a night like that, we're really going to blow a team out of the water.
On the defensive end of the floor, whoever LeBron is guarding is going to have a tough night.
The team defense has also been spectacular. What we do now - because we're small in the backcourt - we understand that ball pressure is very important. It keeps our guys from getting posted up so much. That's very important. As long as we concentrate on getting good pressure on the ball out there, then Delonte and Mo won't have problems with consistent post-ups. That matters a lot, because you saw what happened in the Pistons game. Detroit got us into foul trouble immediately.
I know some people are concerned about all these blowouts - that maybe somehow the Cavaliers could lose their "edge."
But I think this is where Coach Brown's style of coaching comes in handy. Because he won't let them get too low when they lose or too high when they win. So they'll still work to get better. In other words, they don't look at the score, they worry about how they played. They know if they play "the right way" - as Coach Brown says - the score will take care of itself.
It's like being in the desert and you don't have any water. Then you find an oasis and you have more water than you can handle. You're still cautious because you might run out. They've seen the downside, so they don't want to get too elated on the upside, because it could go back. And that fear is just enough to keep them level-headed.
As good as they've played, the statistics in December are even better than they were in November. So this team is actually still improving. They're starting to get that swagger. They get offended when they lose a quarter, now. And that's when you know you have a winner. When you see that they're embarrassed any time a team does well against them - that's when you know they have the mentality to win a Championship.
One big thing I wanted to write about before I leave is to say a few words about Zydrunas Ilgauskas - who should break the franchise all-time rebounding record on Tuesday night at The Q.
I have a certain closeness in my heart for Z because I went through almost the exact same thing. Sports medicine was so much better when Z was going through his rehabilitation. He was able to bounce back, whereas I really couldn't.
I have a special feeling in my heart for Z because I understand what it takes to rehab. There are those days where that little man on your shoulder is telling you, "Why don't you just quit? It's not worth it." And then after a while, the little man on the other shoulder is saying, "There might be a chance. There might be a chance." And you go through that battle day-in and day-out.
It's amazing how Z has hung in there, and it's a testament to his individual makeup as a man.
When people ask me about my situation, my most exciting thing after my injury is that I was able to become a starter again after all those major operations. I started for another two years after I came back. And that was one of my proudest accomplishments. I was stuck rehabbing while everyone else was having fun. And that's what Z was doing.
To go through all the operations he's had and all the ups and downs he's had and still be able to produce, and do what he's doing now, it's a testament to him as a professional and as a person.
He'll be the leading rebounder for the Cavaliers, and nobody deserves it more than him. One day, his number will be hanging in the rafters and I'll consider it an honor to be next to him.
Hey, everyone! It's AC - checking in. What's happening?
That was a great run the Cavaliers just finished up, capping off four games in five nights with a big road win over the Bucks.
I thought about it on the way back from Milwaukee - I thought: this is the first time I've seen the Cavaliers that focused in a situation like the fourth quarter at the Bradley Center. You can tell that there's a higher goal for this team - and they all know it. And I think they just want to keep close to Boston. They want one of those top two spots. They understand the importance of it.
One of the biggest things they have going this year is being able to rest LeBron, where he can stay fresh. You can see the difference. You saw it in the Milwaukee game. It was the fourth game in five nights and he was as fresh as a daisy going down the stretch. Cleveland needed him to get over the hump, and he just took over the game. On some of those layups he just exploded into the basket. And Milwaukee just stood there and watched him score.
To have him fresh like that at the end and to be competitive like that despite shooting as poorly as we were - and they were still able to win. That tells me that the team is focused on higher goals.
They see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but they're not losing track of the day-to-day work that it takes to get there.
That game in Milwaukee - the fourth in five nights - that's a game we lose last year. But the team's mindset is different now. They understand that each game has a meaning to it because of what they're trying to reach at the end. And they know: they're off to a good start and they don't want to blow it.
Now, you're starting to see the season being set up - and you can see that the die is being cast. You have Boston, Cleveland, Orlando and, to some extent, Detroit. Everyone else is hovering around .500. That means you have four of five teams fighting for the first four spots and everybody else fighting for the next four.
The battle at the top is awesome, because Boston is back to their old selves now. How Boston is different this year is that Pierce doesn't have to have 28 points to win. Their bench has been giving them big minutes. There has been almost no dropoff with Boston (and their bench) and you might even say that they're better - with House, Tony Allen, Powe.
Boston's confidence is way up and we're about the only team that has the bench that can compete with them. And Boston knows it, too. They know that we're the ones they're going to have to deal with. That's why we have to keep pace with them. Each game is one you want to win and that's the way you have to go about it. You're not going to win all the games, and if you do get on a negative streak - you have to limit it to two games. You have to find a way to come out of it.
It seems like every week a new player or group of players has been stepping it up. Over the past week or so, it's been Big Z.
The big fella's been great lately. And that's the beauty of the Cavaliers right now - total versatility. The Cavaliers can go small, they can go big, and they can play halfcourt with Z. You can see Z rarely gets double-teamed any more. Now, LeBron is down below the freethrow line and teams are constantly wondering where he is. If you cheat too much on him, you've got Mo and Delonte hovering on the outside and Z down low. If you run at the guards, they'll beat you off the dribble. The whole game has changed because we have guys that can produce at several positions.
So now, when Z gets the ball, teams are really reluctant to double-team him. Teams try to play straight up, and with his ability to pick-and-pop, there's a lot of good things happening. And I think the root of all this is how we're playing LeBron. Teams just can't sit on him any more. And when they do try to sit on him, that's when everything opens up. When he goes to the basket, you don't see a whole bunch of people on him anymore like you used to.
On the defensive end, what I like now - from Z all the way down: is that they don't let you have uncontested shots at the basket. Ben Wallace started that. Ben does not let you come in there free of charge. That just doesn't happen anymore. There's no "free of charge" sign around the basket.
The Cavs get on the floor for loose balls, they do a little full-court pressing. And a lot of it has to do with Ben's agility in that area. He can cover a lot of ground - east to west - and that just confuses a lot of teams. And if we do happen to go against a big four who can score, Ben can shut him down and keep him from his regular production. And that's going to help us win ballgames.
Big Ben's getting back to his old self. He's challenging shots. They're all challenging shots now. Z has always challenged shots, but he was worried about fouls. You can tell though, Z isn't worrying about that right now. He just plays the game. And he and Ben won't allow you to come into the post uncontested. There are very rarely any open lanes to the basket any more.
The defense will get another test on Wednesday when the Knicks roll in.
New York is such a freelance team, it's similar to Golden State - they "junk up" the game. So you have to be ready to stick to your principles and not get caught up in a Wild West show. The Cavaliers are much more mature now and won't be lured into that style of play. They know this it is a game they should win and they'll come out and do the proper things on defense.
What surprises some of these teams - especially these running teams - is that we can run with them. We just take better shots in the running game than they do. And we'll defend. That's the difference. The Knicks, last week in New York, thought they could just out-run us. But that doesn't work anymore. The Cavaliers are much more diversified.
The Cavaliers just need to keep focused and keep beating the teams they're supposed to. The Boston games will roll around soon enough - and those should be some epic battles. And they'll treat those games like playoff games. If we're close in record - as we are now - the next time we play Boston, we have to win that game, because that makes us even at one game apiece.
We want those games to mean something, and the only way to do that is to win these games and take care of your business on a day-to-day basis.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008, 04:04 AM EST
[General]
Hey everyone, it's A.C. here! What's happening?
Well, that was an impressive win on Tuesday night in the Garden. The Cavaliers are starting to get on another roll.
It's always good to get a win in Madison Square Garden. This is "the Mecca." It's where it all started, so consequently, everybody wants to have their best game and play well here. Fans understand the game here. They understand a good pass; a good defensive play. The little parts of the game besides just scoring points - they applaud those things and you just appreciate that feeling.
Even when I was in high school, I'd get goosebumps just warming up here. It's just a great place to play.
People were wondering if the Cavaliers players were distracted by the New York media circus around LeBron. I don't think they were, because, really, it doesn't involve them. And to be honest, some of those guys already know what LeBron's going to do. Because LeBron talks to those guys more than he talks to the media. So they have a good feel what's going on. And if you don't hear any of them making any remarks, then I don't think we should be worried about it.
Doing a four-games-in-five-nights stretch can be tough on a team, but they have to work through it. It's a team effort - four in five nights. Everyone knows there are times you're going to be tired and you may not play exceptionally well because of the energy level. That's when your bench has to step up, big time.
The bench has to become a significant part of a four-in-five-night stretch, like they were in New York. The Cavaliers bench had 54 points in New York. This is why you have to have a strong bench to compete over the course of an 82-game schedule. Every man must play his role for this thing, as a whole, to work.
One thing I like about this team is they don't play down to their competition. They're hungry every night. I don't see them having that same problem because they know the goal is to stay close with Boston. The Cavaliers know they have to keep on winning as long Boston continues winning. It's really the greatest motivation a team can have. We're going after the No. 1 team and we're in the chase for the duration.
The Celtics don't let games go against weaker teams; we can't let those games slip away either. If we lose to a team we should beat, it should be because they really brought their A-game and beat us, not because we took a night off and they brought a higher energy level.
I'm just liking what I see out there by this team - they're distributing the ball, they've turned up the intensity on the defensive end (which has ignited the offense) and when LeBron is out of the game, they're still productive.
Again, the bench is going to have to be productive enough to give the starters some rest. It's as simple as that. They have to produce enough, so that you're not wearing out the starters in order to win these games.
The Cavaliers play more of an up-tempo game this year, but it's still not like the Knicks or Golden State or even Milwaukee play. So the Cavs are going to have focus on their style of play and not get caught up in their style of play, then we'll be alright.
If the Cavs are shooting the ball pretty well, these matchups should be no problem.
Before I go, I want to make sure to wish everyone out there a safe, happy and blessed Thanksgiving holiday. Enjoy the Cavaliers against OK City on Wednesday and your turkey on Thursday.
