Cavaliers Week in Review: Dec. 2nd-Dec. 6th

Sorry guys, the site has been down for so long. My son is having some health problems and when that isn’t be dealt with, I’m catching up with my paying gig. On top of that all of the writers that help out have been unavailable for one reason or another, please bear with us. The site isn’t down and I’ll try harder to keep this going on a more consistent basis.

OK, now onto the Cavaliers…wow, I never imagined that they would go through this kind of losing stretch and turmoil. Even Paul Silas is showing the stress of it. He seems to be wishing for the return of Wags, even without having any clue if it will help. Ricky Davis keeps being a thorn in his side and doesn’t seem to be getting the offers that he should be getting for a man of his abilities. LeBron is coming along nicely, I’m sold he is easily the best 18 year old to ever enter the NBA. As for the rest of the team, well some fit the system nicely and others well, they just never should’ve been signed.

1-3 since I last wrote the week in Review, maybe I should just go to the 7^th and keep it a week, that way I don’t have to talk about the Toronto game, also that way we finish the week at 1 and 2. This team just has no idea how to close out a game. It doesn’t matter if they have the lead at the half or at the 2-minute mark, they just don’t have the killer instinct yet.

December 2^nd, the rematch of Melo vs. King James; I truly hope that heading ends soon. It takes away from the game when all you hear about is how these two did. I thought 5 guys were on the court at once, yes they are trying to sell tickets and get people to watch, but could my fellow sports writers at least talk about the teams afterward instead of comparing these two every single time they play. I remember how much I hated it when Magic played Jordan and their stats were all that seemed to get mentioned…well that and the score. They are different types of players and no one in this business can convince me that LeBron isn’t the better of the two.

But, I digress…there was a game it had both of them in it and well I would say Nene, Z and Mihm are more of a story than the aforementioned players. Nene continues to abuse Z, one thing is certain; the Cavaliers must have a healthy Diop to compliment Z. They are the Yin and Yang of Centers and both are needed for this team to play well. Z dropped 14 points and pulled down 13 boards, not bad considering I just said he was abused. Mihm who has been a scoring machine off the bench pulled down 10 boards in only 20 minutes of playing time. This guy is another must resign in my opinion. He can bring it off the bench and bring it from two separate positions.

This is the game that brought down the house when talking about Silas. He had been preaching patience; well he now has seemed to lose it. He’s now talking about needing veterans and more team players. Well, yes he right, but listening to him in post game at times you would think he was Chris Palmer on his way out the door. Silas has job security, but I think it’s his pride that taken a hit. He thought he could bring the great young talent that the Cavaliers had and turn them into winners. Now I think he understands why it is that these guys could be had for the little Paxson gave up to get them. This is not a wide generalization but a small snippet of some of the players.

Anyway back to the game, Bron was good with 19 points and Ricky was with his 17...this is all relative in hindsight might I remind you. Miles had a solid night off the bench w/ 11 points and 10 boards in 18 minutes, did I say solid?? But when it came down to it LeBron again lost both head to head and on the scoreboard 115-103. Did I mention that they had a two-point lead at the half? Keep reading.

December 3^rd, against the Los Angeles Clippers did I have the painful reminder that the Cavaliers passed on my favorite college player in recent history when they didn’t get Corey Maggette? I love his game, why they were afraid of a 19-year-old kid is beyond me, look what an 18 year old has done for them. But, Corey dropped 22 on the Cavaliers that night, only eclipsed by Q. Richardson’s 25 and Z’s 24. Did I mention how much they need Zydrunas on this team? The worst part of this night? Well LeBron didn’t have his shot and got sat. Good call by the coach, not a good game by the kid, typical responses from the fans following.

The Cavaliers were only down by 2 at the break, and really into the game. But, "If I could get out there and play for them (at the end of games) I would," Silas said. "We need more people to step up and concentrate” In case you hadn’t guessed we had a 2 point lead at the end of the 3^rd quarter and were into it up to end. Well not the very end, but close enough. By the way, how do you get a Technical with the game on the line with less than 4 minutes in the game? That is just undisciplined basketball regardless of the situation. The Cavaliers took the loss 90-80 in another game that I don’t think they should’ve lost.

December 6^th, well some nights there are some players that you just can’t stop. If you remember back to Jordan entering the league, many teams just said, “fine he’ll get his 25-35, we’ll shut down the other 4.” This was one of those nights. Shareef Abdur-Rahim had that night, he put up 43 and the Cavaliers basically let him. Sometimes you don’t have a choice, but this time they got it right. Boozer had a double-double again with 12 points and 10 rebounds, Ricky Davis had 12 points in only 19 minutes Zydrunas has 19 points and 8 boards in the game, while LeBron had only 8 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists in 36 minutes (how dare a rookie have two bad games in a row). But, the most unlikely and the most repeat guys came through for the win. Every time I talk about the Cavaliers it seems that I have a game that Darius Miles contributes big time to a win. For all the so-called wasted talent, the guy comes through for this team more than some of the so-called stars. No I won’t mention names.

Darius Miles dropped 15 points in 21 minutes, add in another game that I have to sing some praises of Chris Mihm who had 6 points, all in the 4^th quarter which is what made them important. But this game was one from the deep ball of Jason Kapono; yes that Kapono. The guy that got drafted by the same team in the same year as LeBron, didn’t most hate this pick? He is fighting off being just a trivia question. Jason was 2 of 2 from long range to finish with 16 points in limited minutes, 22, I believe. But what he did on both ends of the court to help win this game is what gives him the fat game ball for the first Cavalier win in 9 games.

Yes, ok there was another game since my last weekly report. But, I really like to keep positive. I’ll be back Monday with our current weeks games. Hopefully I’ll again be able to report progress. Oh and before I forget, I know that we talked trade and fans really love that kind of talk. But the facts are this, it’s just not happening because certain players are worth more in their mind that in everyone else’s. Once that happens someone either has to hope it turns around and they get good value or they eat it. This team isn’t in the position to eat anything. As much flack as Jim Paxson has gotten, he has gotten this one right. No one on this team is so much a problem that we can't wait for the right deal.

Promise guys, I'll be here Monday with our next installment.

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