CAVS -at- LAKERS - 12/25 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Giving them the Fingers... "I've never seen an L.A. crowd react like this before," Phil said afterward. "I like their enthusiasm. I didn't like their demonstrative act."

The Staples crowd expressed their displeasure with the officiating late in the fourth quarter by tossing their foam fingers onto the floor. The much anticipated Cavs vs. Lakers Christmas Day game turned into a 102-87 dud for Laker fans.

Phil made an effort to not get fined during the fourth-quarter interview by talking around what he thought made the biggest difference in the third quarter -- the officiating and a 15-4 freethrow advantage to the Cavs. So, with 4 minutes left and Lamar Odom sent packing by the refs with a tech, Phil decided to take more of a stand. He didn't sub in a player until he got the delay of game tech. That was one of five Laker T's, and Staples began raining foam fingers.

Was the officiating the problem? It was part of the problem (particularly with this type of offensive attack), but it was not the whole story. Certainly Kobe seems to not get a lot of calls in the paint whenever Danny Crawford's crew officiates a game. That has been going on for years; it was no different today. Kobe attacked the paint relentlessly and the frustration and anger grew from there.

Still, it wasn't until late in the first half when the Lakers had fallen behind by 20 points that they finally seemed to match the energy of the Cavs. Cleveland seemed up for the game, the Lakers did not...and they paid the price. Hard to dig out of that big of a hole to a good team.

As far as the LeBron vs. Artest match-up went, Ron struggled a bit early before rallying. The Cavs worked LeBron off the ball a lot more in this game than they did last season. The Laker defense wasn't able set up for him and seemed to be caught off guard by some of the Cavs set plays. Ron was only a -3 when he was on the floor, however. They'll make adjustments next time they meet.

"We're a lot better than that," Lamar said of the lump of coal they gave Laker fans for Christmas.


Kobe -- -- It seems like any time there is a Danny Crawford led officiating crew, Kobe doesn't get a lot of love on the drives. Kobe was fuming most of the game, but he kept attacking and attacking and attacking. The high shot total ended up reflecting a lot of those plays and non-calls. That may have been the most we've seen him attack off the dribble like that all season. The non-calls that the Lakers thought they should have been getting eventually led to a swarm of techs from the players and bench. Kobe was working off the screens and trying to get his midrange game going with the sagging bigmen. He missed several easy ones he usually hits, but also got blocked from behind on a couple. He also attacked and tried to get contact and fouls in the paint, but the whistles were inconsistent. In the past, Kobe has gone right after Shaq, drawing those whistles. That looked like his strategy in this one, but it might have been against the wrong crew of refs. It also seemed to lose some of our focus on the post game. Phil said Shaq was a presence out there. "He knocked him (Kobe) over about four times without a call." Good energy by Kobe today. Really, he was one of the few that brought it from beginning to end. The Stats: He scored 35 points on 11-32 shooting (1-3 from three, 12-12 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 8 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 45 minutes. He was a -18. The Action: He swished a wing jumper off the Bynum (Shaq) screen. He swished a baseline jumper. He missed a 20-footer off the screen. He missed a fade in the lane. He attacked from the post and hit Pau for the dunk. He missed an elbow turnaround. He attacked baseline and missed in a crowd. He missed a corner three. He reversed on the break when Lamar found him in traffic. He attacked with purpose down the lane and scored a layup with contact and no call. He missed a 17-footer. He crossed over in the lane and swished a lefty one-hander. He missed a jumper, we got it back to him and he attacked for FTs, he made both. He missed an easy 10-footer that he should have had. He posted up and missed a short one. He missed another shot in the lane, got it back and hit Fish for three. He grabbed a loose ball and attacked for FTs, he made both. He attacked off the three line in transition and scored a layup. He just missed an And-1 layup on a drive at the end of the quarter, he made both FTs. He scored 18 points on 6-16 shooting (6-6 from the line) to go with 5 assists. Second Half: He blocked a shot from behind, busted out between two players and dunked. He attacked, took contact and was blocked, got it back and scored the layup. He was blocked from behind on a pull-up jumper. He attacked, drew contact on Shaq in the restricted circle and didn't get the call, he then spiked the ball at the other end. He missed a baseline fallaway expecting a foul. He hit Bynum on the break for a dunk. He kicked out to Pau for the jumper. He got rooted and was called for the offensive foul trying to post up, weak call. Forced pass to Artest in the post, turnover. He attacked, missed while looking for the whistle and called timeout when he got it back on the floor. He attacked from the wing and missed a tough reverse looking for the whistle (which should have come). He faced up and swished a wing three. He had 7 points on 3-9 shooting and 2 assists in the third. He missed an elbow face-up jumper. He missed a pull-up from the FT line. He attacked across the lane and drew FTs, he made both. He attacked baseline and "finally gets a call" as Jackson said, he made both FTs. He attacked, spun and kicked out to Ron for an open corner three. He missed a baseline pull-up. He crossed over and missed a layup in the lane, looking at the ref. He attacked again and drew FTs at the rim and made both. He stepped in front of LeBron while hounding him and was called for a blocking call, Staples again outraged. Kobe then picked up a tech. He missed a three. We got it back, Shannon attacked and fed him for a dunk. He swiped a pass to LeBron for a layup. He attacked with speed and missed a layup. He was blocked from behind.

Gasol -- -- "We didn't move the ball well. The game was not balanced out there," Pau said. Lack of balance is code for lack of post game. Look at the lack of notes for Pau in this one and that says it all. It looked like the Lakers might try to feature Pau a bit more in the start of the game, but apparently not. He had very few post touches and the Laker offense paid the price. Defensively, Pau seemed very slow to read and react on some of the offensive sequences the Cavs ran. It just seemed like a lot of plays caught the Lakers off guard (although you could also say they were caught flat-footed, too...probably a combo of both). The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-11 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 39 minutes. He was a -21. The Action: He hit a jumphook in the middle fo the lane. He got tapped on a runner across the lane. He biffed a layup trying to power it up. He dunked off the Kobe drive and dish. He was knocked down by Shaq as he tried to fill a lane, he made one FT. He missed a wing three. He bricked a lefty jumphook badly at the front of the rim. He had 5 points on 2-7 shooting and 4 boards. Second Half: He scored a layup off the Artest interior feed. He swished a baseline jumper off the Kobe kickout. Rare iso attempt for Pau, he worked off the dribble into the middle of the lane and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a fade across the lane. No recognition of LeBron attacking off the curl and LeBron scored the layup (same play with a PG next time down and Pau plugged it up). He missed a face-up 17-footer.

Bynum -- -- Not the kind of game you wanted from Drew on the big stage. A lot of dunks for Shaq in this game as Bynum was slow to move or recognize certain plays. Some of those, he was helping, but others were just poor effort from Bynum. Shaq was able to back him down in the post, as well. Bynum was little more than a warm body that Phil used to match up with Shaq. His All Star bid is slipping away by the game. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-5 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 1 block and 2 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He hit a jumphook over Shaq in the lane. Poor D trying to front Shaq and giving up a dunk (just play him straight up). He missed a lefty jumphook. He tried to finish strong at the rim and was fouled badly in the arm with no call. He had 2 points and 5 boards. Second Half: He was hit with no call on a jumper. He got a post feed and drew the whistle on Shaq, he missed both FTs. He beat Shaq down the floor on the break and dunked when Kobe hit him (more please). He gave up a lob dunk to Shaq out of a timeout. He fouled Shaq twice on post moves, struggling to hold ground to start the fourth. He was late to help on a down screen and Williams hit a three. He couldn't get an Artest pass that he might not have been expecting (the pass looked off the mark, but Ron might have been leading him).

Artest -- -- The Cavs switched up how they used LeBron in this game. Last year, they were looking to attack on the ball a lot more. Today, was a lot more screens and off-the-ball work. The Lakers seemed to be caught off guard by it as the probably game planned for the kind of attack they saw last year. Some of the Cavs bigger damage all game was when LeBron was off the floor. Ron had a few breakdowns defensively, but he also worked hard. LeBron ended up with 26 points on 9-19 shooting, 9 assists, but 7 turnovers. Ron eventually fouled out. His final foul was trying to get an offensive board when he should have headed back down court. Ron had a stint late in the first half where he helped spark the team to cut the lead in half. Too bad he missed a few FTs during that stretch. Ron worked the low post better today against some of the smaller defenders. He had more space to score, which helped a lot. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-5 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 6 fouls in 30:31. He was a -3. The Action: He kept an offensive board alive to DFish who took it for a layup. He deflected a pass and it helped force a shotclock violation. He missed an open wing jumper. He pulled down an offensive board, but missed a quick fallaway looking for the foul. He ball-watched and was back-screened to give up a dunk. He missed an 18-footer. He gave up low position to LeBron and an easy layup (don't think he was expecting that). He tipped in a Kobe miss. He was lucky when LeBron missed a lob dunk, Ron got the ball, pushed up the break and drew a foul in traffic (he was ticked at getting hit in the face on the foul), he made one FT. He poked the ball from LeBron on a reach-around at midcourt, took a quick outlet and drew FTs, he made one. He curled weak to strong and scored with his left, expecting an And-1 whistle that didn't come. Next possession, he posted up right below the hoop and out-muscled Moon to get the And-1 this time, he missed the FT. He had 8 points on 3-7 shooting (2-5 from the line). LeBron was actually a -2 in the first half. Second Half: He fed Pau in the interior for a layup. He missed a three, we got it back to him and he missed again. He sank a wing jumper off the Pau screen. He swished a corner three on a Kobe kickout. Ron fouled out with 5 minutes left in the game (reach on an offensive board).

Fisher -- -- DFish was giving away possessions in the first half with a series of bad passes. He's only had three other games this season where he has had more turnovers than assists. This was only his second game with no assists all season. That was just one of the signs of the poor ball movement. The post-entry passing by the PGs today was also very, very poor. There must have been at least three passes that were deflected by the perimeter defender. Mo Williams had 28 points and 7 assists. Williams was able to get whatever he wanted against us. The Lakers will have their work cut out for them if he gets those kinds of numbers. Fish picked up a tech and also had words with LeBron on a couple different occasions. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-8 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 3 boards, no assists, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 35:31. He was -5. The Action: He missed a wing jumper, it was tapped back to him and he attacked for a layup. He missed a sideline three. He swished a wing jumper. He fumbled away a drive, dunk the other way. He missed a wing jumper. His post entry pass was picked off. He drained a corner three off the Kobe kickout. Another bad pass, thrown low and outside, turnover. He got leveled by LeBron in the back court, drawing a charge on him. He had 7 points and 3 turnovers. Second Half: He missed an early offense three attempt. He missed a corner three. He felt like he got shoved by his man, so he shoved him back and sent him to the line.

Lamar -- -- He was tossed with his second tech of the game with 4 minutes left. He took exception with the refs from the start. When Lamar plays angry it's usually not a good thing. Later, he and Mo Williams got into it and Lamar was tossed. Phil said he wasn't able to get into the spots on the floor where he has some success. He wasn't able to do a lot of anything. Heading into the fourth, the Laker bench had just 2 points. That's just two more points than the fans had. Lamar played impact ball against the Cavs last season. His first time out against them was a dud. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 block and 3 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a -18. The Action: He tipped in a Kobe missed drive. He pushed up the ball and hit Kobe with the bounce pass for a layup. He got faked into the air and gave up a layup. He swatted a shot on help D in the post. Second Half: He missed an oepn wing three. He iso'd, attacked left and was swatted. He sank a wing jumper behind the Bynum screen. He was hacked in the paint with no call. He attacked across the lane to his left and drew FTs, he made both.

Brown -- -- Our Farmar/Brown combo unit seems to be feeling themselves a bit too much lately. Today, it got both players yanked early from their rotation. Later in the game, Phil actually ran DFish to start the fourth to break it up. We haven't seen that done before and it represented a total failure by the back-up guards. When you are running with three impact players, there's no reason for the bench guards to not run offense through their stars. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He dribbled to the elbow and chucked a fallaway and missed, not running the offense. Second Half: He swished a baseline jumper. He missed a step-back three. He missed a wing three. He attacked off the three line and fed Kobe for the dunk. He charged in the lane.

Farmar -- -- A nothing game from Farmar. The Lakers bench failed them in a big way tonight. Farmar probably had the least positive impact of any of the bench players. Again, the remarks made in Shannon's section apply to Farmar, as well. You can't have our two bench guards coming in and feeling themselves at the price of running the offense through our impact players. When DFish is getting torched and having to play big minutes, that's not a ringing endorsement for your back-up PG situation. Not the kind of impact the team wanted (nor Farmar in a contract year on the big stage). The Stats: He didn't score on 0-3 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 steal and 1 turnover in 12:29. He was a -10. The Action: He airballed a three on his first attempt. He swiped a ball on a double with Odom in the corner, then missed a transition three. Poor D and Williams hit a wide open jumper on the other end. Second Half: He was blocked on a wing jumper. His post entry pass was swiped.

Vujacic -- -- Phil used him briefly in a couple spots to cover LeBron. These are essentially minutes that Luke would be getting. LeBron didn't do much against Sasha in those stints. It kind of suckered LeBron into attacking off the dribble instead of off the ball like he was doing all night. And that allowed the Laker help-D schemes to kick in. Sasha hit a couple garbage-time jumpers, but didn't do anything positive offensively when the game was still undecided. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-5 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 1 board and 1 turnover in 7 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He came in for a shooting possession at the end of the first quarter. Back in after a stint on the bench again, he tried to create off the two-man game and threw a pass into a crowd, turnover. He missed a wing three, sagged on D on the push out and gave up a three. Second Half: He passed up an open three, moved in after a fly by and bricked badly. He sank a corner three on a kickout in transition. He sank a wing pull-up jumper. He misse he scoredd another from long range.

Powell -- -- When Lamar got tossed late in the game, Phil took his time making a sub to purposely make a point. After the techs came, he subbed in Powell who got some run. Better minutes from him after his disaster stint in the last game that got him yanked. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards and 1 foul in 4 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He did not play in the half. Second Half: He grabbed a missed three by Shannon and scored. Nice help D on a switch forcing a guard to travel. He drew FTs on the defensive glass. He missed a one-hander.

Phil -- -- Asked in the L.A. Times if he was excited about playing today, Phil said. "Not really. It's become part of the business and that's something you never want to get used to -- routines. But it's a routine. Fortunately for me, I have a family that will travel and come down to where we're playing." One wonders if the team felt the same way with how they started... The Lakers opened the game hitting several shots in a row before going on a dry spell. The Cavs went on a 9-0 run. They were tied midway through the quarter, 13-13... The Lakers made just 9-23 (the Cavs 10-18) and trailed 23-19 after the first quarter... He started a Pau, Lamar, Kobe, Brown, Farmar lineup. The Cavs quickly built a 12-point lead when the Lakers didn't score on several possessions... Phil brought in Sasha for Brown after Shannon had a dumb offensive sequence... Farmar was sent to the pine shortly later... The Lakers fell back 44-25 and Staples was starting to groan. LeBron wasn't even in the game when the lead ballooned... Phil was preaching ball movement, which wasn't happening... The Pau, Lamar, Ron, Kobe, DFish lineup cut the lead to just 9 points. A lot more energy and aggressiveness on both ends of the floor... The Lakers trailed 51-42 at the half. They shot 36.4 percent (16-44, 1-5 from three, 9-13 from the line). The Cavs shot 56 percent (23-41, 3-8 from three, 2-3 from the line). The Lakers had a 9-3 advantage on the offensive glass. The Lakers led 14-4 on second-chance points... Hamblen was ticked at the weak shooting and the poor job by the bench... Late in the third, Phil went with a Pau, Lamar, Kobe, Sasha, Farmar unit. That put Sasha on LeBron... Phil mentioned Kobe getting knocked on the floor with few calls and the Cavs getting to the line too many times in the third (15-4 advantage to the Cavs from the line in the third)... The Lakers trailed 76-59 heading into the fourth. Up until this point, the Laker bench had just 2 points on 1-9 shooting... Phil started a Bynum, Lamar, Kobe, Shannon, Fisher unit. Very different unit than we've seen with DFish out there... Phil took a delay of game call when LO got kicked out and picked up a tech right after LO got tossed. Staples tossed their foam fingers on to the floor... The Lakers shot 36.5 percent from the floor. The Cavs shot 54 percent. The Cavs made 19-30 from the line, the Lakers 20-27...

[markjay]

first .

I was at a family get together and didn't get to watch the game much -- thankfully. I am going to hope and assume this was just a bad outing and not a sign of anything serious. It seems that not one Laker had an excellent game while Mo Williams was terrific and Shaq was playing very well too.

[DancingBarry]

[fsc401]

Pau should catch the ball and attack quick facing up against the bigger ones like shaq or Big z. The slow post up against bigger bodies just seem to never work for Pau, where he usually goes no where.

I would've liked to see much more of weak to strong cuts today from the triangle, whether it's Kobe or Pau comming off. Just too much dribbling, one on one, without any ball movement. If you're gonna isolate Kobe, do it by moving him weak to strong, so he can get better position.

Anyway, I'm beginging to get tired of all these early offense chucking from our bench guys. Really the only guys who should be allowed to shoot jumpers in transition is Kobe or Fish.

[fsc401]

Also, I'm a little woried this season that Kobe- Pau two man game does not seem as effective as last couple seasons.

The main reason I think is because basically we have not enough shooting out on the floar. Teams are willing to give up open shots to ron and Lamar instead of letting Kobe turn the corner. Just look at today,

Kobe bascially didn't do much off the two man game, which is very surprising considering that Shaq or Big Z are not good in terms of Pick and Roll D.

I think it would've been much better if they ran two man games from the top today instead of wings where Kobe can get more space, but still, Kobe-Pau two man game hasn't been as effective this year and this must be adressed since that's gonna be our bread&butter come playoff time.

[DancingBarry]

With Pau out so long, they didn't run the two-man game at all. Then just recently only started to explore it. Lamar isn't an issue if we run it right, he's actually a key to those sequences.

Kobe did work off the screens a bit, trying to take advantage of Shaq. Just couldn't work the midrange or get fouls like he was expecting.

They could have definitely worked it more where Kobe passed to a rolling big, but their timing is way off and Kobe seemed more focused on scoring in those situations today.

[OregonLakerGuy]

I hope the team sees this as a wake up call.
Thank you for the write up. Must have been painful

[Laker7]

Drew has been in a funk lately. Not sure what is going on but he is missing easy shots.

Pau just happened to have a bad game. Z and Snaq are too big for him to score from the block and his jumper was missing.

The bench is the problem that bothers me the most. Other than Brown's dunks and defensive intensity. the bench has stunk it up all season. People need to step up. IMO Mitch is looking to trade one of them but they way there are playing, no one wants them unless Mitch takes back a bad contract. Not sure what the answer is but something has to change.

L7
_________________
Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[ClutchShot]

i believe there's nothing we could have done this game to get a W. but that's just me.

[Luca Brasi]

a poor effort all around today - but i wouldn't be too panicked about this loss. during the course of the season you will have games where you play poorly, it's just unfortunate it had to be a home game on christmas.

we win tomorrow and we're tied for the best record in the league. we'll be fine.
_________________
"i was born down in the valley where the sun refused to shine, but i'm climbin' up to the highlands, goin' to make that mountain mine" ~ Lakers, 2011

[Klone_dd]

It certainly was a lump of coal. Phil surprised me with his honest remarks about playing on Christmas, but he may have, unfortunately, set a bad tone for his own team. Aside from Kobe, everyone else played lethargic and uninspired which quickly became frustrated and wild.

I feel that this was a measurement game that the Lakers failed miserably. Even though the record is impressive, most of the wins are against mediocre to poor teams. Today's game on the big stage with massive over-hype should have been a better indicator about the team's focus. Instead it amplified a lot more of the Lakers weaknesses.

Well, tomorrow is another day.

[ImmortalD24]

Thanks DB.
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60!

[JHT]

The bothersome thing about this game is our lack of mental toughness in this game. We get a little frustrated and we completely fell apart. We kept whining at the officials to be point of annoyance. PLAY THROUGH IT. I didn't care for Phil's comments before the 4th quarter. Let's give the team even more excuses. Pathetic effort. Toughen up like we know you can..A little adversity should not cause you to get blown out in your own house, I don't care if Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Bill Russell were officiating the game..

[LSULaker]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[Addicus]

What I saw was a team get punked (not just by the refs either). The defense was simply terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrribbbbbbbbbbbbbble. The energy was non existent most of the game. The offense was terrible. Gasol shot poorly, but truth is - we weren't looking for him. Bynum looked sissy and Lamar just seems incapable of playing aggressively vs anyone not named Phoenix and Boston.

I expected the Lakers to come out serious, win this game and lay an egg tomorrow. I'm now wishing it's the complete opposite and not just half.

Thanks for the write up DB - you're the greatest to do this after this crappy outing our team gave.

Oh yeah - Sasha is mentally done. Artest did well against LeBron, but LO got ripped by Andy V.
_________________
Stop crying and start doing.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addicusbrown

[davidse]

no laker had a good game - which could happen i guess, buti felt like kobe and ron were the only ones who played their hearts out - and that's not acceptable, and it sure ain't gonna cut it.

but more than anything - this was a coaching clinic from mike brown who absolutly schooled jackson.
don't care how many rings phil has - he was outcoached offensively and defensively in a bad bad way tonight.

[Rick12322]

I missed the game, thankfully. Watching the team thus far I've got the feeling they are missing Rambis. I think Bynum is missing his coaching the most.

[kei122]

I think somebody needs to talk about Bynum's mom before the game. Maybe I'm used to a big man like Shaq dominating the paint, but when Bynum gets nasty around the rim, the Lakers will be a seriously dangerous team. If he's anywhere near the rim he should dunk the ball. I'm so tired of him being so friggin lazy! He has never played better than when he came back after Kobe wanted him traded for Jason Kidd. He was a beast before his 2nd injury! Something has to get this kid motivated....He should be averaging at least 18 and 10 by default, and 25 and 15 on a good day. There is no way that Lamarr should average more rebounds than Bynum coming off the bench. This is a 7ft Center who suppose to be the closest to the basket to get rebounds. I can live with effort in a loss, but I can't stand laziness and no effort.....Kenny Smith said last year that its hard to root for the Lakers because they are arrogant, I didn't agree with that statement until yesterday.

[ClutchShot]

its so sad that we will never get to see a real kobe vs lebron game. every time the refs control the game and completely manipulate it. i mean it's been happening every season for years. such a joke.

[StuLantz#1]

Knew I was going to miss the game like I do most Christmas games, but I sure am glad I did. Just caught the foam hands raining down on the hard court part, and a couple instances of Shaq backing his way down to the basket like he use to. I know people are upset that Bynum didn't play well, but even with him being a shell of his former shell I'm thinking a focused Shaq that really wants to beat us is just too much for Bynum to handle regardless. And 11-32 has to be one of Kobe's worst shooting performances--that's brutal. You just look at that number and you know there's zero chance we won the game.

THe crazy thing is Lebron going 9-19 with 7 turnovers isn't amazingly impressive either, but William's 8-13 is just absolutely terrible. Fisher's D and the Brown/Farmar combo is something we have to unfortunately compensate for most nights. Then when you have pathetic scrubs like Moon killing you forget about it (when I saw the final score I was actually hoping a lot of pathetic scrubs had amazing nights).

4-11 from Gasol is just unacceptable too, especially with Kobe's night. Brutal game, and only made worse with Boston catching us. Cleveland really is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, because barring major injury, if we make the finals that's who will be waiting for us (hopefully without homecourt advantage).

[SLYONE4KB]

I don't mind losing as long as we, as a team, compete. We didn't do that yesterday. I really don't know what we were doing out there and I have no idea what our game plan was. I don't want excuses from our coaches or players. I just want to see them compete WIN OR LOSE.

[Keyser Soze]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[Gallofa]

Wake up call, big time.

I am not particularly worried, as everyone played significantly below their level. It's one thing to play your best and lose, and another thing to play your worst and lose.