# Game #37 - Cavs vs Sonics - Tuesday, Jan 16th 10:00 PM



## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

*vs*









*Cleveland Cavaliers (23-13)* *vs.* *Seattle Supersonics (14-25)*

*Date:* Wednesday, January 16th, 2006 
*Where:* Key Arena
*TV:* FSOhio, NBA LP
*Radio:* WTAM 1100
*Time:* 10:00 PM - ET

















































*C:* Zydrunas Ilgauskas (11)
*PF:* Drew Gooden (90)
*SF:* LeBron James (23)
*SG:* Larry Hughes (32)
*PG:* Eric Snow (20)
























































*C:* Nick Collison
*PF:* Chris Wilcox
*SF: * Mikeal Gelabale
*SG:* Ray Allen
*PG:* Earl Watson


*
Game Notes:*

- Hughes is listed as probable for this game on the Cavs website.

- Sonics are a dangerous team, Ray Allen is fresh off a 54 pt game so he will obviously be the key to this game. Perhaps Lebron will take the challenge and check him down the stretch?

- Ridnour/Watson will give our backcourt some problems with their speed, so there may be an opportunity for Gibson to get some minutes. 

- Gameplan should be to again pound the ball inside to Lebron, Drew, and Z. Lebron in particular should have a strong game against the Sonics forwards.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

There is no reason Lebron shouldn't dominate tonight. We can't be afraid to give him the ball and let him score a load of points.

This year, it seems we have specifically tried to keep his scoring down, but when we have a mismatch like this, I think it's to our advantage to let him go to work. And he has to attack. After watching the Heat-Lakers game last night, I would like to see him attack every time down the floor to see if he can get some Dwyane Wade calls. Put the pressure on the refs -- don't make their job easy by shooting jumpers. 

Our backcourt is going to get severely outplayed tonight. We'd be better off keeping the tempo down to a minimum. Seattle likes to score and doesn't care as much for defense. 

Finally, I would like to see Lebron guard Ray, but because of the foul issues in the new NBA it's hard for star players to guard each other. Kobe guarded Wade last night, but Wade rarely went right at him, preferring to go around screens and make the Lakers switch off. They may try something similar with Collison and Wilcox for Ray, so we have to be prepared to fight over the top of these screens, or it's going to be a long night. 

This will be a good game to see whether Mike Brown can effectively control the tempo on an opponent's home court. Should be a good game.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Larry starting the game, let's hope he doesn't make his injury worse


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Violet Palmer is officiating this game.

****.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Damn Lebron just dunk that on Collison.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Sonics killing us early, Hughes still can't make a layup


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Haha, Lebron looked like a mother protecting her child there. I think he thought he was going to send Ridnour into the stands. lol


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## LostInGeorgia (Jun 29, 2006)

i can't see the game on tv, but the boxscore online looks promising, good free throw shooting (for us), and not forcing a lot of outside shots


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I love Lebron attacking the hoop tonight.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Brandname said:


> Violet Palmer is officiating this game.
> 
> ****.


Uggh: how does she still have a job?


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> Uggh: how does she still have a job?


Please don't make me answer that. :biggrin:


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## LostInGeorgia (Jun 29, 2006)

looks like we are getting them in foul trouble early, and actually making them pay


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

I wish Marshall wasn't playing


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Gibson must be playing terrible in practice.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Hopefully they can keep Lebron on the bench for awhile with the back to back coming up


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Nice pass by Marshall, I like this new wrinkle with the curl play in the offense


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Brandname said:


> Gibson must be playing terrible in practice.


He has been riding the pine for awhile now. Kind of disturbing how we don't even attempt to develop our most promising young guard


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Hughes just cannot buy a foul. It's incredible.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Why is Marshall in the game instead of Gooden or AV?

He freakin looks like Old Man Lebron out there from the Lebrons commercial


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Sonics have no one who can even remotely stay with Lebron. He's going wherever he wants on the floor so far


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Benedict_Boozer said:


> Sonics have no one who can even remotely stay with Lebron. He's going wherever he wants on the floor so far


Yeah Lewis is actually a tough matchup for Lebron but w/o him Lebron is bigger or quicker then anybody on the team. I'd go with Wilkins on him


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

These Sonics announcers are very good. I like Lenny Wilkens. They just admitted Varejao had good position on that blocking foul. They've given the Cavs a lot of praise, too.


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## LostInGeorgia (Jun 29, 2006)

i hope we can stretch this lead to double figures by halftime, and then keep stretching it out in the 3rd quarter, we haven't had a lot of run-away wins and it would really be nice to start a 4 game-5 day end of a road trip with one


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Lebron's passing razor sharp tonight


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Watson can really push the ball


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Who the hell is Andre Brown?


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I don't understand how Lebron gets these and-1s up. It's almost as if you have to give him a flagrant or he'll score.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Holy Lebron


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Sonics keep hanging around


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

We're giving up way too many easy scores in this game. If we hit a funk, we're going to be in danger of falling behind. I do like how we're getting to the line, though.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Brandname said:


> I don't understand how Lebron gets these and-1s up. It's almost as if you have to give him a flagrant or he'll score.


Does Lebron even lifts weights? I remember by buddy read Bo Jackson documentary and he said he never even lifted weights when playing professional sports!

Although they played different sports, I see a lot of Bo in Lebron in terms of athletic ability


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Haha, Andy didn't hit the rim on either of those free throws. It's just that one went in and one didn't.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Benedict_Boozer said:


> Sonics keep hanging around


Yeah feels we should be up more at this point


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Brandname said:


> Haha, Andy didn't hit the rim on either of those free throws. It's just that one went in and one didn't.


Free Throw coach: come on Dan Gilbert open the checkbook


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> Does Lebron even lifts weights? I remember by buddy read Bo Jackson documentary and he said he never even lifted weights when playing professional sports!
> 
> Although they played different sports, I see a lot of Bo in Lebron in terms of athletic ability


I'm not sure. He does look like he's gained ~10 pounds of muscle since he's been in the league, IMO.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Dagger 3 by Allen, Cavs only up 5...ehhh, not feeling good about it. We need a strong 3rd qtr


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Pioneer10 said:


> Does Lebron even lifts weights? I remember by buddy read Bo Jackson documentary and he said he never even lifted weights when playing professional sports!
> 
> Although they played different sports, I see a lot of Bo in Lebron in terms of athletic ability


Bo Jackson never lifted weights? Damn. He might be the best athlete of all time


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## LostInGeorgia (Jun 29, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> Who the hell is Andre Brown?


they just signed him to a 10 day contract over penny hardaway, i guess he was a rebounding stud in college, but i forget where he went


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Blah that 3 by Allen was big. Keeps Sonics well within striking distance. We've had very good 3rd quarters lately so hopefully we can continue that trend


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> Free Throw coach: come on Dan Gilbert open the checkbook


I still can't believe there's only one free throw coach in the entire league.

Say what you want about Cuban, but what he's done for that Dallas Mavericks franchise has been nothing short of spectacular. In addition to opening his wallet on players and contracts, he's also done all the little things for his team. He's gone the extra mile to make sure his players are comfortable. He's the only owner that pays a free throw coach. He probably hires more scouts to watch games and officiating patterns to get his team any edge he can. And it shows. Mavs look unbeatable right now. 

I really admire what Cuban has done with his team.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Benedict_Boozer said:


> Bo Jackson never lifted weights? Damn. He might be the best athlete of all time


I used to live in LA when Bo was healthy. Some of the running backs like LT and LJ are good but they don't hold a thing to Bo Jackson. He'd over a lineman and then outrun the whole secondary. Him and Sanders were just ridiculous


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## Seattle2Finals (Nov 1, 2006)

We are terrible at defense its kind of embarrassing to watch, Andre Brown is the only reason to even watch the Sonics play


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Seattle2Finals said:


> We are terrible at defense its kind of embarrassing to watch, Andre Brown is the only reason to even watch the Sonics play


Yeah he is impressive, nice athletic ability for his size.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

We did not play a good first half of basketball. Lately, we've been coming out strong in the third quarter, so I'd like to see the same thing here.

I expect to see a renewed emphasis on defense here.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Bad start: Eric Snow continues to suck. What else is new


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Brandname said:


> We did not play a good first half of basketball. Lately, we've been coming out strong in the third quarter, so I'd like to see the same thing here.
> 
> I expect to see a renewed emphasis on defense here.


Foot, meet mouth.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Correction Terrible start: stop shooting 3's and playing Seattle's game


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Good timeout by Mike Brown, let's see if the team responds


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

7-0 Seattle run


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

8-0 start to the 3rd qtr for the Sonics


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Let smash some clipboards!!!


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Typical Hughes shooting night: <35% from the field.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Pioneer10 said:


> Typical Hughes shooting night: <35% from the field.


It's a joke


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> Typical Hughes shooting night: <35% from the field.


Well at least he's playing pretty good defense on Allen. He's staying on him pretty well.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Why does Lebron want to be Ray Allen?


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Allen is such a freakin good shooter.


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## Larry Hughes for Retirement (Jul 5, 2004)

Collison to the bench for the rest of the quarter

Larry has 3 assist in our last 3 possesions.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Awesome, Andy draws the 4th foul on Collison. It was a bad call, too. Andy was still trying to get out of the circle.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Wesley for Retirement said:


> Collison to the bench for the rest of the quarter
> 
> Larry has 3 assist in our last 3 possesions.


That's kind of the way I'm seeing it. I don't think we can expect Hughes to be a big scoring threat every night. And I'm not sure we need him to be, since we have a team full of offensive weapons (Z, Drew, Lebron, Snow, etc.). But in order to be valuable, he's gotta contribute in other ways. He's gotta keep up this good defense, make good passes, and grab big rebounds.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

I could live with the bad shooting from Hughes if he just got to the damn line. I'd live with 2-8 shooting nights if you can get me something like at least 5-6 FTA at the same time


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Wow, that was a blow to the head. Not intentional, but I think blows to the head are usually flagrant.


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## Seattle2Finals (Nov 1, 2006)

No comment on the officiating tonight


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Seattle2Finals said:


> No comment on the officiating tonight


Do you think it's been one-sided?

I mean, I always expect a poorly officiated game when Violet Palmer is there, but I don't think it's been biased.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Pioneer10 said:


> I could live with the bad shooting from Hughes if he just got to the damn line. I'd live with 2-8 shooting nights if you can get me something like at least 5-6 FTA at the same time


My thoughts exactly.


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## Larry Hughes for Retirement (Jul 5, 2004)

Violet sucks muff ... bailed out Allen on that one


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## Seattle2Finals (Nov 1, 2006)

no but its terrible on both ends, it always is with Violet Palmer


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Seattle2Finals said:


> no but its terrible on both ends, it always is with Violet Palmer


I will definitely agree with that. I think she's easily the most incompetent ref in the league.


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## Larry Hughes for Retirement (Jul 5, 2004)

great pass by Lebron... and Marshall finished? wow ;-)


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Marshall. Worthless.


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## Larry Hughes for Retirement (Jul 5, 2004)

Missed layup then he trys to hit a step back 3 ball? 

Marshall needs to go ...


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

DJ killing us with these long bricks, how about giving Gibson some mins??


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I wonder if we've noticed that we seem to increase our lead when we attack the basket. And lose it when we shoot 3s. 

Probably not.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Bad 3rd qtr. Not feeling great about this one


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Great play to end the third. Watching our team jack and jack from 3 might be the most frustrating thing in the world. That, and watching our team getting killed by the pick and roll. Yeah, that too.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Nice play by Sasha there.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I really like seeing Lebron take on the challenge of guarding Ray.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

STOP FIRING 3's, we're 1/10


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Benedict_Boozer said:


> STOP FIRING 3's, we're 1/10


lol. can't.take.it.anymore


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

DJ having an awful game


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Goddamnit. Somebody's gotta tell Lebron about Ridnour there. No excuse for not communicating. 

And what the **** is Jones doing here. Get your **** together Mike Brown and coach this team.


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## Seattle2Finals (Nov 1, 2006)

Both teams are just launching three's like crazy


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

This will be a tough game to lose because it will be due to our mental mistakes.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Mike Brown needs to step up here and bench Jones. Plus get in Lebron's face: attack the basket they can't guard you!!!!


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

uggh Ridnour eating us up in the 4th


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> uggh Ridnour eating us up in the 4th


Hmm... small quick point guard?

Impossible.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Nice team work for that Z layup


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Ridnour is stealing Snow's candy


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Foul Collison out. Now.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

There we go Lebron will get at least 10FTA's today


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Pioneer10 said:


> Ridnour is stealing Snow's candy


LOL


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Lebron 10-11 frm the line: he's really improved his FT shooting last couple of games


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Gooden's jump hook is the single most unstoppable weapon on our team outside of Lebron.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Ughg why shoot that 3, Lebron? ATTACKKKKKKK


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> Ughg why shoot that 3, Lebron? ATTACKKKKKKK


The worst part is that it wasn't even a 3. One foot was completely over the line. ughh


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Box Out Collison, Wtf


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Collison > Our frontcourt


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Freakin A. Can't put this team away


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Another 3? Didn't Mike Brown say anything about that yet?


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Sonics playing with way more heart


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

We sure know how to take advantage of a player who's in foul trouble. 

We are pathetic on the glass right now. Pathetic.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

We're getting killed on the offensive glass.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Great time to miss a FT


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

I don't think we can play Snow in this lineup, they care cheating off him too hard


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

We are completely clueless against the zone. ****. 

We have no idea what we're doing out there. This is a high school offense.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Foul Collison the **** out of the game!!!! Jesus ****ing christ, we are a team of morons.


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## LostInGeorgia (Jun 29, 2006)

attack the paint!! their two big guys have 4 and 5 fouls, don't take outside jump shots!


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

King of obvious but Collison is killing us when he's been in there


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

This could be the most frustrating game of the season. 

This loss is a big one on Mike Brown. How can a professional team be so completely clueless against a basic zone coverage? We look like children out there.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Watson/Ridnour: 21 points, Snow/Jones: 3 points. Can't win with such lopsided production if you aren't completely dominanting other positions


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Brandname said:


> This could be the most frustrating game of the season.
> 
> This loss is a big one on Mike Brown. How can a professional team be so completely clueless against a basic zone coverage? We look like children out there.


It helps when they don't even have to defend 1 of the players


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Brandname said:


> This could be the most frustrating game of the season.
> 
> This loss is a big one on Mike Brown. How can a professional team be so completely clueless against a basic zone coverage? We look like children out there.


How can you beat a zone when Snow is on the perimeter? I'm serious it's seems to me almost impossible if you're defensive team knows what it's doing (see Detroit game 7)


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Benedict_Boozer said:


> It helps when they don't even have to defend 1 of the players


Also Mike Brown's fault. :sad:


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

****


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Brown listens to us and puts Jones in (uggh what a bad "right" option)


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Was that a foul on Hughes?


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## LostInGeorgia (Jun 29, 2006)

and of course, put marshall back in the game...WE DON'T NEED 3 POINTERS YET


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Lebron needs both of these


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> Was that a foul on Hughes?


Violet Palmer (from across the court) thinks so.

Lebron can't afford to miss any more FTs here on out.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Still in this game. 1 min left, need a stop down 2


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

My guess is the Sonics come with the pick and roll with Allen+Collison


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

One of the basic things our team HAS to do to win is rebounding because of our other weaknesses and we've been outrebounded by 7 tonight


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Blah: dagger by Wilcox


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Another 3. 

The right team won tonight.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

No comment.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Outcoached, Outsmarted, and Outhustled


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Why shoot a wild 3? Does the idea of attacking the basket not even occur??

Unbelievable


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## Larry Hughes for Retirement (Jul 5, 2004)

Where does Marshall think he has the right to complain about playing time, he is complete garbage.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

We lost this game for all the wrong reasons.

THEY SHOT 42%

And we couldn't score when we needed. We couldn't figure out a zone. We couldn't stop shooting three's. 
This was not a sign of a smart team.


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## Larry Hughes for Retirement (Jul 5, 2004)

He could have easily reversed that ball, and he launches a 3.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I was struck last night at Wade and Kobe being aggressive and leading their teams in all the right ways. 

Lebron didn't do that in the 4th quarter tonight. He disappeared, didn't set the tone, didn't attack the basket. And the rest of the team followed suit. Mike Brown didn't get on him. I'm not even sure Mike Brown understood the situation. 

Collison played the entire last half of the 4th with 5 fouls. We didn't attack him once.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

It's not so much the loss, it's the WAY we have been losing that is frustrating.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

There's so much more I could say about this game. We did just about everything wrong. 

But I am tired and would rather sleep.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Bad loss. It's a road game and all but they had no one to guard Lebron and we ended up doing all the wrong things.

Too many 3's.
Played Snow against a zone
Ridnour ate up Snow on offense
None of our bigs could box out
Freakin foul out there big man by attacking the bakset


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Portland is now a must win tomorrow.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Teams are realizing that to neutralize Lebron, you just have to give him a hard foul.

He'll just jack up 3s for the rest of the night. I'm very disappointed tonight.

EDIT - I just looked at his shot chart for the 4th quarter. Christ.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Brandname said:


> Teams are realizing that to neutralize Lebron, you just have to give him a hard foul.
> 
> He'll just jack up 3s for the rest of the night. I'm very disappointed tonight.
> 
> EDIT - I just looked at his shot chart for the 4th quarter. Christ.


Hard to attack the rim when the zone is in and collapses. Same thing happened against Detroit in Game 7 (when they weren't going iwth the hard double). Simple reason is the zone will have spots where you can take a jumper but it will collapse on the drive. Preferrably you have shooters around James and that will make the drive easy but that means playing Jones/Marshall: catch 22 with our team.

Marshall looks like toast. Occasionally jones will show up but tonight he was just jacking away


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

One small positive: Hughes's defense against Allen was solid.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

One area of concern is how boobie seems to be fading out of the rotation completely. For awhile he was at least getting 4th qtr minutes, but now he is getting DNP's.

Brown seems extremely impatient with young players, we really need to be developing Gibson right now for the stretch run


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

*Box Score*

*Seattle 101, Cleveland 96*

----

I watched this game at a friend's house and I must say it was a bad loss.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

BW nails it:


> Seattle -- Just wanted to pop in before I leave KeyArena for a little snap judgment on tonight's game, which the Cavs lost 101-96. This is still the difference between a team like the Cavs and a team like, say, the Spurs or Mavericks or whomever up there. None of those teams loses a game like tonight. In my opinion the Cavs have been turning a corner over the last month because they've been dedicating themselves to defense, which I wrote a little about today. If they stay on this path, and I'm making no predictions, they will win a bunch of games the rest of the season. They are really getting it, I can see it and I can feel it in the locker room. They say the right things and doing the right things defensively.
> But while they continue to make strides there, I still believe they will occasionally be these setbacks due to focus and offense. Nine of the Cavs last 10 shots were long jumpers. Which is why they lost. After handling the Sonics zone all night with drives and excellent passing, they just bombed away. This is partly due to focus and partly due to not having a more sound offensive attack in crunch time, which can be blamed on the sideline and the guys on the floor.
> Here's what I mean. After the game, LeBron James said:
> "When you shoot 18 percent from the 3-point line it is going to be tough, we had some great looks we usually knock down."
> ...


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

As usual, BW maintains a much more level head than me about the loss. 

My biggest concern is that the offensive end is one area where we just don't seem to learn from our mistakes. I predict in the not-too-distant future we will end up losing or almost losing another game we had controlled because we're bombing away with a lead.

Last night, I think Mike Brown should have taken a timeout when we first started firing 3s and demanded that we don't shoot any more 3s until we score more points in the paint.

We can't play Snow because he can't shoot. We can't play Damon because he can't defend and fires up 3s even if he's not hitting. We can't play Gibson because..... well I have absolutely no idea. There's no reason a player that has shown as much maturity and talent as he has this year can't even get into a game. He does everything we want. And he's not looking to jack the ball up. I'm curious as to why Windhorst hasn't addressed this recently, as I see it as a big problem.

Hell, if I had my way, we'd throw him into the starting lineup one night to see what he can give us running the point with major minutes. That would open up the offense so much without really losing a whole lot on defense. Our wings would actually be able to guard their natural position because Gibson is the only player on our team whose quickness defensively can match Larry's. 

One more thing, it's been bothering me when Lebron says those kind of statements after a really bad loss like this. It seems that every time we get lazy and jack up 3 pointers/long jumpers and end up losing because of it, Lebron says we had good looks and just didn't hit them. Well that's exactly what their defense is trying to do. Give minimum resistance to the long jumper and prevent the drive. Some players (i.e. Dwyane Wade) don't care and stay aggressive anyway. Our team simply takes the bait.

We didn't lose because we missed jumpers we normally hit. We lost because we did exactly what the Sonics wanted us to do. They controlled what our team did on offense because we couldn't execute plays to counteract the zone coverage. 

I hope Mike Brown realizes this. Because we're in trouble if our team believes what Lebron said in BW's column.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Brandname said:


> Because we're in trouble if our team believes what Lebron said in BW's column.


Oh I believe they do. I saw the post-game interview where he said it. I mean alot of the looks were wide open from Hughes and Damon, but like you said they are streaky shooters - there's a reason teams give that up instead of inside baskets. 

Bottom line Hughes and Damon, and to some extent Lebron, love to chuck the outside shot at the first opportunity. I think it's more a mental problem than an issue with the offense itself. It's the difference between us and a team like the Lakers, they don't beat themselves, we do it all the time.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

> *SEATTLE - *The Cavaliers knew their rugged Western road trip would very likely be defined by how they performed at the start of this week.
> So far, it's sketchy as the Cavs let a winnable game get away Tuesday night, losing 101-96 to the Seattle SuperSonics.
> It wasted a tremendous effort from LeBron James, who played one of his most athletic games of the season. He attacked the basket, attacked the glass, and was whipping passes all over KeyArena on his way to 30 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, the closest he's been to a triple-double in a while.
> But his teammates weren't quite on their game, especially offensively. The Cavs (23-14) managed to shoot just 41 percent, 37 percent in the second half. Defensively, they weren't on top of their game either, but probably played well enough to win.
> ...


http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/sports/basketball/nba/cleveland_cavaliers/16478552.htm


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## UrFavTeamSux (Jan 17, 2007)

I don't understand why the Cavs would dominate the Sonics all night with passes inside the paint, and then when things get shakey they abandon the working gameplan and then switch to hoisting 3s in panic mode. It's so painful to watch, and honestly if this is how the Cavs strategy will work come playoffs time, we have no hope. For instance we beat the Wizards last year thanks to Lebron driving to hoop, either drawing the foul, making the high-percentage shot/layup/dunk, or even getting the and-1; not thanks to Marshall and DJ hoisting 3s (except for game 7, but that obviously is not consistent enough to rely on). 

Also, it just becomes more and more apparent just how much we need to shake things up at PG. It's gotten to the point I'd be willing to get rid of someone like Gooden and a filler for a better point. 

-ps, "hey", I'm the new guy that'll be around the Cavs section alot now. Seems like a pretty intelligent forum.


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

What's up Cleveland Steamer? Good to see you here. Post as often as you want, don't be a stranger. :cheers:


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Cleveland Steamer said:


> I don't understand why the Cavs would dominate the Sonics all night with passes inside the paint, and then when things get shakey they abandon the working gameplan and then switch to hoisting 3s in panic mode. It's so painful to watch, and honestly if this is how the Cavs strategy will work come playoffs time, we have no hope. For instance we beat the Wizards last year thanks to Lebron driving to hoop, either drawing the foul, making the high-percentage shot/layup/dunk, or even getting the and-1; not thanks to Marshall and DJ hoisting 3s (except for game 7, but that obviously is not consistent enough to rely on).
> 
> Also, it just becomes more and more apparent just how much we need to shake things up at PG. It's gotten to the point I'd be willing to get rid of someone like Gooden and a filler for a better point.
> 
> -ps, "hey", I'm the new guy that'll be around the Cavs section alot now. Seems like a pretty intelligent forum.


Welcome aboard! :cheers: Nice 1st post, I agree 100% with all your points


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## UrFavTeamSux (Jan 17, 2007)

:cheers: Thank you, nice to be here


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Cleveland Steamer said:


> I don't understand why the Cavs would dominate the Sonics all night with passes inside the paint, and then when things get shakey they abandon the working gameplan and then switch to hoisting 3s in panic mode. It's so painful to watch, and honestly if this is how the Cavs strategy will work come playoffs time, we have no hope. For instance we beat the Wizards last year thanks to Lebron driving to hoop, either drawing the foul, making the high-percentage shot/layup/dunk, or even getting the and-1; not thanks to Marshall and DJ hoisting 3s (except for game 7, but that obviously is not consistent enough to rely on).
> 
> Also, it just becomes more and more apparent just how much we need to shake things up at PG. It's gotten to the point I'd be willing to get rid of someone like Gooden and a filler for a better point.
> 
> -ps, "hey", I'm the new guy that'll be around the Cavs section alot now. Seems like a pretty intelligent forum.


Welcome aboard Cleveland Steamer. It's always good to have another intelligent contributor to the Cavs board, as well as a good representative of Cavs fans. I think we're some of the most civil fans on this board.


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