DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs Regular Season

Our biggest issue right now is HEALTH. 3 starters and our best plus/minus guy were out tonight.

No kidding. Mozgov and Delly both out hurt us badly. It was good to see Shump doing drills before the game. Shouldn't be long before he's back.

Lebron and Love both sort of had the body language like, "We know we could beat these guys, but this is like game 15 of 82, and there's no need to bust our backs to prove that we can win."

I think having Moz out is hurting us a little defensively. Remember last year before we acquired Moz, teams were running roughshod through the middle of our Defense. Even though he looked poor on offense and questionable in the 1-on-1 defense, he still prevents guys from waltzing in the lane. Missing Delly and Shump means we really had no perimeter defensive guy either. Jared Cunningham put up 20 minutes of play tonight, and he's supposed to be the guy at the end of the pine.

We need Mozgov back immediately...

Yes it's the regular season and it doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but GS just looks unbeatable. Again, just Cleveland's luck.

j/c:

I know we have on shot to win w/out LeBron, but it's like being married to the devil. He called a player's only meeting after our latest loss.

Seriously?

What's he going to tell the guy's? To follow his lead? You know, turn the ball over and then walk back on defense......Amazing!

And pout when he doesnt 'like' something..actually i think they are following his lead..Don't play defense every possession slow to get back and defend..lose concentration for stretches at a time..and like you said turn turn the ball over.

Honestly thought the same thing..what the hell can he say thats not already been addressed with the team before.

Love Bron but he does have some questionable habits on the court that he likes to rip his other teammates about.

On that note I hope they get their stuff together by may and just rip everyone apart and get the rematch with GS and beat them:)

I agree, Lebron's Schtick is wearing thin on me..He's not the end all and he's not the reason we've been winning as much as he is the losing. the bottom line is if he isn't driving and creating open shots, he's worthless...problem is he can't beat many people off the dribble now so he's settling, and he's always been a very average jump shooter. His attitude is not conducive to a team environment, giving teammates dirty looks and barking at them on the floor, its childish and he needs to look in the mirror when it comes to his own faults. Hey lebron, how about you hit FT's at a better rate than shaq. I get the whole "get the winning attitude early" mantra, but its really hard to do that when your best player and best defender is hurt..its just stupid. Right now should be about developing chemistry and just trying to stay healthy. Lebron needs to grow up and realize being a leader is alot more than barking and degrading teammates..all he's doing is bringing down morale and making people scared to just play.

When you've been told you're the greatest for as long as he's been told that (and truthfully, he's one heck of a player), it kinda sometimes goes to your head. Think Kobe. Or, think Manziel.

Not just that has "chosen one" tattooed across his back and refers to himself as the king..nah he doesn't have a bloated ego/opinion of himself.

Good post Arch

Offense looks out of sync.

Damn Lebron is still freakishly fast for his size. He doesn't have the ungodly speed he had when he was younger, but he's still a blur at times.

Cavs win on road 95-90.

good win tonight..got away a bit midway but pulled it together...

Is it really a stretch to say we have the best SF, PG, and PF in the eastern conference?

The reason for LeBron's behavior is because he knows they can't beat GS, and two years after arriving without a title is not going to sit well with fans.

He is already feeling the pressure of beating GS not even 20 games into the season.

That's why he's behaving the way he is. That's why he's talking about GS in his pressers when they haven't even played. That's why he's already calling players only meetings.

I think he thought he'd be able to deliver on his promise within two years. That's in serious jeopardy. The pressure is getting to him big time.

I know I keep talking about GS. But I'm just so damned bummed for the city of Cleveland that when they should be steamrolling the entire NBA on their way to Cleveland's first championship in forever, there is a historic juggernaut that appears to have gelled overnight standing in their way.

It's so Cleveland. It's really heartbreaking.

When will it be the city of Cleveland's time?

I can't claim to be a diehard Cavs fan. But my love for the Browns extends to the city and I really want the city to get the championship drought monkey off their back. It's going to take a heroic, monumental effort to beat GS.

I think the Cavs can do it but the doubt that they can do it is why LeBron is so on edge.

oh i agree there, the pressure is getting to him for sure, but he's not going about it the right way. His body language etc towards teammates on the floor isn't helping anyone.. I think once kyrie and shump get back he'll relax a bit. You don't replace a kyrie irving with mo williams and delly. As far as Golden State goes, no denying they are good this year, but they really haven 't played anyone yet. They've played 2 teams with a winning record. Not discounting how good they are but they will eventually level off as the season goes on. I still think a healthy cavs team beats them in 5

Not to mention, they have yet to deal with any adversity. The Cavs had to deal with injuries to LeBron, K Love, Kyrie, Shump, JR, Delly, Andy, etc.etc. I would completely agree that this team is fully capable of beating them.

I want to see how they handle MAJOR injuries and have to deal with minor ones throughout the season. They have also been very fortunate and lucky on top of being good. But I wouldn't lump them into the Lakers, Celtics, Bull dynasties.

We are all witnesses

LeBron with a heroic game winner ... but man, he was one of the reasons this game wasnt the blowout it should of been.

Pretty sloppy play all around.

yep but what an ending:) and I hope they get everyone healthy and back playing and start running through people.

By the way excel..off topic..but I hope u get your answers soon..I think about it quite often..and if you would let me know what happens in a pm good sir..if you would please.

yeah he was, he settles way too much, so many times we'd get close by 2 and he'd jack up a 3 and miss instead of driving..lebron is a horrible 3pt shooter and i wished he'd never take one. But we got the win in the end..but man way too much wrong right now. Our bigs are plain bad.. Mosgov and TT are two of the worst defenders. They can't play tough enough. This team right now doesn't have the same physicality it had last year. Mosgov playing for the MLE it looks like..lol

Kobe announced he will retire after this year.

I hate what the Lakers and Kobe have become, but during his prime Kobe was a top ten player of all time.

Well at least he's going out still on top.

kobe has been retired for 3 years, just hasn't formally announced it

Looks like I've got tickets to the last Lebron vs Kobe matchup then. Too bad Lakers fans will be selling similar tickets for pennies on the dollar by then.

Not to see LeBron. Those tickets will be through the roof.

But at least he has held that franchise hostage for those three years. He single-handedly has helped destroy that team. I mean, I don't care, but I have never liked him. Another star athlete who rapes someone and gets away with it.

Kobe is the most overrated player in the history of the NBA.

And I think he's right in that 8 - 12 range all time.

Jim Buss has done more to hurt the Lakers than anyone. Kobe just took money he was offered.

I think that's where most people have him.

I never liked Kobe, but the guy is one of the greatest players of all time.

Other than MJ, I don't know if I have ever seen a player who plays w/more intensity than Kobe.

He is a warrior and was great in the clutch.

Couldn't stand the guy because of his personality, but he was one of the greatest competitors of all-time in any sport.

Kobe Bryant is not clutch. He has just taken a lot of shots in the clutch and made some of them.

Kobe was a high volume shooter that often put his team in a precarious position because he never shot a good percentage. There are two types of clutch. One is taking over with 5-6 minutes in the 4th because your team is down and leading a team to victory without needing a last second shot. The other is taking that last second shot. The difference between MJ and Kobe is MJ did the former consistently and no one was better at the latter than him. Kobe was famous for shooting his team out of games to where it had to come down to a last second shot. He wasn't afraid to take it. The moment was never roo big for him. But he created the situation a lot of times.

A lot of people compare Kobe and MJ because Kobe patterned some of his game after MJ. The problem was a young and athletic Kobe patterned his game after Jordan part 2 when he should have patterned his game after Jordan part 1. Kobe never attacked the basket with reckless abandon the way MJ did, which is one of the reasons why his shooting percentage wasn't as good. But Kobe was really never as good as people thought at finishing at the basket either.

The closest player to Jordan part 1 was actually early years Wade.

And Kobe was a terribly overrated defender.

He still belongs in that 8 - 12 range though. He was a great player, but he was overrated by many and there were enough differences in his and MJ's game that people just didn't want to acknowledge.

Well..............we disagree. Again...........I couldn't stand Kobe, but he had the heart of a lion and was one of the greatest clutch players of all-time.

Heat of a lion? Yes. Clutch? No.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/lebron-may-be-the-most-clutch-playoff-shooter-of-his-generation/

I think Kobe is an Ahole, but so was Jordan, and pretty much Bird, Magic, Wilt, and just about every other of the greats of all time.

I dont like to rate Guards(or SF's) with the bigs.

But Kobe is top 3 of SG's and SF's.

Agree with you cfrs, but maybe's it's because we're in the heart of Kobe-land over here. You'd think the guy could walk on water with the way the radio guys fawn over him. Talking to Laker fans all the time, you'd think he'd made every big game shot of every game in recent Laker history. Then you look at links and story similar to what you post and find out it's pretty much the opposite. I seem to remember more "clutch" game winning shots from D.Fish and Big Shot Rob than Kobe.

Then you have to consider that he never really won in the Finals or even got far in the playoffs without an All-NBA big-man in the lineup with him. Laker fans are quick to jump on Lebron for losing in the Finals despite carrying empty rosters on his back through the entire playoffs and couldn't win it without Wade and Bosh ... but they always seem to forget that Kobe couldn't even get past the first round whenever he didn't have an All-Pro big-man with him.

But yeah, all that, and I'd still consider him a top 5 player.