Well....your best defender is getting killed nightly by somebody....it has either been Hedu, Pietrus or Lee...and WHAT is the major issue there...height! ALL three are bigger and stronger(more body) than West. THAT has cause major match-up issue....
2009 NBA Playoffs
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Well....your best defender is getting killed nightly by somebody....it has either been Hedu, Pietrus or Lee...and WHAT is the major issue there...height! ALL three are bigger and stronger(more body) than West. THAT has cause major match-up issue....
LOL! ....starting to wonder.....starting to realize....just younger as far as personnel and coach....
Oh this series is not over by a long shot....but if you ask which team should have the most concerns.....it is quite obvious who it is.
It's funny how the playoffs seem to magnify a team's deficiencies. This series (Cav's/Magic) is starting to mimic the Golden St./Dallas series a while back. GS had Dallas' number during the regular season, and the Magic have had Cleveland's number for a while now.....
A Positive Spin: Why It's NOT Over
It's not over till I say it's over! We've played 3 games in a 7 game series. You need 4 to win. The Magic won twice. Twice! Not four times, TWICE!
If the Cavs win on Tuesday, the Cavs not only tie the series up, but we regain home-court advantage as we head back to the Q for Game 5. Suddenly the series looks a whole lot different.
The Cavs improved noticeably on the defensive end for Game 3. Unfortunately, our role players were ice-cold from the field, we turned the ball over WAY too many times and Dwight Howard was unconscious form the foul line. If we play the same style of defense on Tuesday and we correct a few other aspects of our game, I like our chances.
Let's not freak out Cavs fans. I know it's hard being a fan in this city. Plus, I imagine the psychological burden on any Cleveland team approaching a League Championship has to be immeasurable. Everyone knows what's at stake, including the players and coaches. But you know what, we have #23 on our team this time. And LeBron has the biggest shoulders in the league. He can carry a team if needed.
I leave you all with a quote from the great Julius Erving.
Throw the hammer down L-Train! Time to bring the series back to Cleveland! In LeBron, we trust! Never lose faith! Never give up hope! Until a team wins 4, we still have a chance!
It's not over till I say it's over! We've played 3 games in a 7 game series. You need 4 to win. The Magic won twice. Twice! Not four times, TWICE!
If the Cavs win on Tuesday, the Cavs not only tie the series up, but we regain home-court advantage as we head back to the Q for Game 5. Suddenly the series looks a whole lot different.
The Cavs improved noticeably on the defensive end for Game 3. Unfortunately, our role players were ice-cold from the field, we turned the ball over WAY too many times and Dwight Howard was unconscious form the foul line. If we play the same style of defense on Tuesday and we correct a few other aspects of our game, I like our chances.
Let's not freak out Cavs fans. I know it's hard being a fan in this city. Plus, I imagine the psychological burden on any Cleveland team approaching a League Championship has to be immeasurable. Everyone knows what's at stake, including the players and coaches. But you know what, we have #23 on our team this time. And LeBron has the biggest shoulders in the league. He can carry a team if needed.
I leave you all with a quote from the great Julius Erving.
Only a few can overcome the fear of failure. Now, it's time to turn it up a notch. Fair or not, the burden of hope in a city so often frustrated by bigger stars from other places is now on LeBron's shoulders. This is your destiny, we are all witnesses to your greatness. It's time to shine you big, bright shining star!
Throw the hammer down L-Train! Time to bring the series back to Cleveland! In LeBron, we trust! Never lose faith! Never give up hope! Until a team wins 4, we still have a chance!
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First step is getting the home court advantage back - namely a win in game 4. Baby steps right now.
Ok...a couple of things here....the realistic response:
If the Cavs win, they DO get homecourt advantage back. But tell me, say the Cavs do win...home much does homecourt really mean when BOTH have won on the others court....means nothing. It mean that now homecourt is really not an advantage...it is up to coaches making the proper adjustments to position their teams to win. The series will not look alot different, it will look like the same way it did at the beginning ......but the ONLY difference is that is a best of 3.
The defense was more or less the same.....the DIFFERENCE was that NEITHER Orlando NOR Cleveland hit open shots. For ALL those supposed open shots that 'the Cavs were not hitting' ....Orlando was doing the exact same thing.
Again, I personally think this series is far from over....
Read this GREAT article about the NBA playoffs and 'Melo.
by Michael Rosenberg, Special to FOXSports.com
Updated: May 25, 2009, 11:35 AM EST
Um, about that Kobe-LeBron matchup to determine the future of the free world ... can we stop the hype? Or at least press pause? LeBron James and the (team nickname here) trail Dwight Howard and Orlando, two games to one — and only won the one on a crazy buzzer-beater by LeBron. Kobe and the (players wearing the same uniform as Kobe) are locked in a tight series with Denver.
Kobe and LeBron may yet meet in the Finals. But there is a decent chance that neither man makes it past this round. The dream matchup might get derailed by a major problem in the NBA right now: too many good players.
Why is this a problem? Because the NBA, as an entertainment product, is built around the idea of superstar clashes. It is an idea the NBA created 20 years ago, and it quickly got out of control, and the league still cannot quite corral it.
If you love basketball, you'd love to see Kobe-LeBron. But you don't need it. If you really love the game, you should appreciate that we're living in a golden era of hoops, and that if the best one-on-one showdown you get is Kobe-Carmelo Anthony, then you've had yourself one hell of a television-watching spring.
Anthony scored 83 points in the first two games against the Lakers. (He struggled in Game 3, which just makes me think he'll have a monster performance in Game 4.) Kobe continues to be the scariest pure scorer in the world.
Is it Carmelo's fault that LeBron James is better than he is? Is it LeBron's fault that Dwight Howard has a better supporting cast? Can we all agree that the NBA is churning out some serious entertainment right now?
Alas, we cannot all agree. There are two theories about the level of talent in the modern-day NBA. The first theory is that the league has never had so many gifted young players, from James to Anthony to Howard to Dwyane Wade to Derrick Rose and Chris Paul and Deron Williams.
Then there is the other theory, which is: Darn, those fellas have got a lot of tattoos!
Perhaps I'm simplifying. Perhaps not. The NBA became an international phenomenon largely because of image-making: The world fell in love with Magic Johnson's smile and his rivalry with Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan was the pre-eminent say-nothing-and-have-everybody-love-you superstar of the late 20th century. Jordan was always impeccably dressed and starred in a movie with Bugs Bunny.
Then came the post-Jordan era (which actually started in Jordan's final days, and it featured the Kobe-Shaq Chronicles, Allen Iverson talkin' about practice, Rasheed Wallace complaining to the officials, etc.
Tim Duncan is always a gentleman and has never said anything interesting, just like Jordan, but this is actually used against him:
He has always been considered too boring to be a superstar. His fundamentally perfect game (everywhere but at the free throw line) is used against him, too: Duncan is undeniably great but not brilliant, super but not spectacular.
So basically, the Magic-Bird-Jordan triumvirate set a standard that was impossible to match — not so much with their play, but with the perception of their play.
Everybody since has failed to live up to the mythical standard. It is a shame that LeBron James can't match up with Jordan in his prime, because then everybody would see James is bigger, stronger and just as athletic, with better court vision. And we'd see if Jordan's incomparable will gave him the edge over James.
And it's a shame Carmelo can't go back 20 years and show Dominique Wilkins a thing or three. He has become what everybody hoped he would be: as pure a scorer as anybody in his generation.
Anthony joined the league in 2003, fresh off leading Syracuse to a national title as a freshman. At the time, there was a media-created debate about whether he should go first in the draft, over LeBron James, though I don't think anybody in the NBA bought it. James was, and is, a superior talent, with a chance to be the best player ever.
Anthony, meanwhile, has had his pouting moments, a DUI, a "that wasn't my marijuana" run-in with police, an allergy to playing defense and a few other moments unbecoming a superstar. He went from everything that could be great about the NBA to everything people don't like about it.
But you know what? He's started to figure this superstar thing out. He was visibly upset when his team blew Game 3 to the L.A. Kobes at home, but what struck me was that he had earned the right to be upset. He has poured himself into the team and established himself as a player who can (at least potentially) lead his team to a title.
Is that time now? Anthony may never ever play with a better point guard than the 2009 version of Chauncey Billups. He may never have better talent around him than he does now.
You can dismiss Carmelo Anthony for his past transgressions or define him by who he is not. You can do all that, but then you might miss the show.
NBA - Don't bank on Kobe vs. LeBron in Finals - FOX Sports on MSN
by Michael Rosenberg, Special to FOXSports.com
Updated: May 25, 2009, 11:35 AM EST
Um, about that Kobe-LeBron matchup to determine the future of the free world ... can we stop the hype? Or at least press pause? LeBron James and the (team nickname here) trail Dwight Howard and Orlando, two games to one — and only won the one on a crazy buzzer-beater by LeBron. Kobe and the (players wearing the same uniform as Kobe) are locked in a tight series with Denver.
Kobe and LeBron may yet meet in the Finals. But there is a decent chance that neither man makes it past this round. The dream matchup might get derailed by a major problem in the NBA right now: too many good players.
Why is this a problem? Because the NBA, as an entertainment product, is built around the idea of superstar clashes. It is an idea the NBA created 20 years ago, and it quickly got out of control, and the league still cannot quite corral it.
If you love basketball, you'd love to see Kobe-LeBron. But you don't need it. If you really love the game, you should appreciate that we're living in a golden era of hoops, and that if the best one-on-one showdown you get is Kobe-Carmelo Anthony, then you've had yourself one hell of a television-watching spring.
Anthony scored 83 points in the first two games against the Lakers. (He struggled in Game 3, which just makes me think he'll have a monster performance in Game 4.) Kobe continues to be the scariest pure scorer in the world.
Is it Carmelo's fault that LeBron James is better than he is? Is it LeBron's fault that Dwight Howard has a better supporting cast? Can we all agree that the NBA is churning out some serious entertainment right now?
Alas, we cannot all agree. There are two theories about the level of talent in the modern-day NBA. The first theory is that the league has never had so many gifted young players, from James to Anthony to Howard to Dwyane Wade to Derrick Rose and Chris Paul and Deron Williams.
Then there is the other theory, which is: Darn, those fellas have got a lot of tattoos!
Perhaps I'm simplifying. Perhaps not. The NBA became an international phenomenon largely because of image-making: The world fell in love with Magic Johnson's smile and his rivalry with Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan was the pre-eminent say-nothing-and-have-everybody-love-you superstar of the late 20th century. Jordan was always impeccably dressed and starred in a movie with Bugs Bunny.
Then came the post-Jordan era (which actually started in Jordan's final days, and it featured the Kobe-Shaq Chronicles, Allen Iverson talkin' about practice, Rasheed Wallace complaining to the officials, etc.
Tim Duncan is always a gentleman and has never said anything interesting, just like Jordan, but this is actually used against him:
He has always been considered too boring to be a superstar. His fundamentally perfect game (everywhere but at the free throw line) is used against him, too: Duncan is undeniably great but not brilliant, super but not spectacular.
So basically, the Magic-Bird-Jordan triumvirate set a standard that was impossible to match — not so much with their play, but with the perception of their play.
Everybody since has failed to live up to the mythical standard. It is a shame that LeBron James can't match up with Jordan in his prime, because then everybody would see James is bigger, stronger and just as athletic, with better court vision. And we'd see if Jordan's incomparable will gave him the edge over James.
And it's a shame Carmelo can't go back 20 years and show Dominique Wilkins a thing or three. He has become what everybody hoped he would be: as pure a scorer as anybody in his generation.
Anthony joined the league in 2003, fresh off leading Syracuse to a national title as a freshman. At the time, there was a media-created debate about whether he should go first in the draft, over LeBron James, though I don't think anybody in the NBA bought it. James was, and is, a superior talent, with a chance to be the best player ever.
Anthony, meanwhile, has had his pouting moments, a DUI, a "that wasn't my marijuana" run-in with police, an allergy to playing defense and a few other moments unbecoming a superstar. He went from everything that could be great about the NBA to everything people don't like about it.
But you know what? He's started to figure this superstar thing out. He was visibly upset when his team blew Game 3 to the L.A. Kobes at home, but what struck me was that he had earned the right to be upset. He has poured himself into the team and established himself as a player who can (at least potentially) lead his team to a title.
Is that time now? Anthony may never ever play with a better point guard than the 2009 version of Chauncey Billups. He may never have better talent around him than he does now.
You can dismiss Carmelo Anthony for his past transgressions or define him by who he is not. You can do all that, but then you might miss the show.
NBA - Don't bank on Kobe vs. LeBron in Finals - FOX Sports on MSN
If the Lakers and Cavs were to lose, I wouldn't be upset at an Orlando-Denver matchup (though I don't think HD could handle another Cleveland letdown).
(This wouldn't be like 2005, when the exciting Suns and your Heat lost in the Conference Finals, and the Finals pitted two extremely boring teams against each other. Orlando and Denver are fun to watch, unlike Detroit and San Antonio- both teams are great from three-point range and they have starpower- Melo and Superman.)
eh I'll be watching something else instead
Vince vs. E. Stan Kroenke from the Staples Centre
LMAO!! So will I...it should be fun....
eh I'll be watching something else instead
Vince vs. E. Stan Kroenke from the Staples Centre
Oh man, thanks for the reminder Ice! :up
I used to watch EVERY Raw, but THIS is a can't miss!
