# Nuggets @ Cavs | Game #70 | March 25th



## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

_*Game 70*_


*Denver Nuggets* *(34-33) VS* *Cleveland Cavaliers** (42-27)*

_*Sunday, March 25th, 2007*_
*Time:* 5:00pm PT, 8:00pm ET
*TV:* FSOhio, *ABC*
*Radio:* *WTAM 1100*
*Location:* *Quicken Loans Arena*, Cleveland, Ohio

http://www.nba.com/games/20070325/DENCLE/preview.html



> The Cleveland Cavaliers faded down the stretch in LeBron James' first two seasons in the NBA. The Cavaliers, though, have learned how to make a playoff push, and are streaking toward the finish line for the second straight year.
> 
> The Cavaliers, winners of nine of their last 11 games, look to continue their run at a division title and the best record in the Eastern Conference when they host the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
> 
> ...


*NOTES*

- Nuggets are a tough matchup with AI + Carmelo. We will need to play much better than we have the past few games to win this one and try to slow down the tempo.

- Lebron vs Carmelo is usually an interesting battle, expect a strong game from the King tonight

- We're only 1 1/2 games back of Det for the #1 seed now, and they play @ Milwaukee. So this is pretty much a must win game.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

I could have cared less about Melo over the first few years but now I'm officially in the hater camp with all the talk of Melo "surpassing" Lebron earlier this year. Hope we get a dominant performance out of LBJ tonight.

AI is the guy I'm more worried about: he's always gone off against us. Gibson needs to get more then 5 minutes for christ's sake against Denver


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Trying to figure out who's going to cover AI is a scary thought. I think Hughes and Gibson will have the best chance. Gibson's the only one with any hope of keeping up with him, but Larry could bother him a little with his length.


----------



## The OUTLAW (Jun 13, 2002)

I'm pretty sure it'll be Hughes on AI


----------



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

Jim Gray is gay... "Melo is going to guard you, what you going to do to beat him?" What kind of question are those... stupid media


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I love Gooden throwing it down like that. Finishing strong in the paint.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Lebron going after loose balls. I love it.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I am pretty sure Greg Anthony just said Larry Hughes is as good as Steve Nash for what Cleveland wants to do.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Sloppy with the ball so far


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

It's nice to see the *other *team actually miss a few FTs.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Damn. Can't give up easy buckets in transition like that.

Steve Blake looks pretty good for Denver.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

We're not playing well at all after that start: sloppy on D and O


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Nice play by Lebron et al. to break up that run out.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

The D is awful right now


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

I wish we posted Lebron like Denver has been posting Melo


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Larry could learn a few things from AI.

Of course, he didn't learn anything from playing with him, so he probably won't learn a whole lot playing against him.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Got to tighten up the defense. Denver is getting good looks every single time the floor with little resistance


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Denver bailing us out with all the missed FT's


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

We always struggle with against good fast-break teams.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

lol I saw that coming. Camby was all over that


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

ugh, our offense looks terrible again.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

In comes Eric Snow. 

On come the double-teams.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Our offense is one pass and a shot. That's why we'll struggle offensively if we aren't shooting well.

And it looks like all our guys are going to foul out in this game.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Snow misses a layup. :nonono:


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

"You're going to find very few guards in the league better at containing penetration than Eric Snow."

Do these guys know anything about our team?


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Brandname said:


> "You're going to find very few guards in the league better at containing penetration than Eric Snow."
> 
> Do these guys know anything about our team?


nope


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

I hate Donyell Marshall


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Donyell....


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Defense if freakin porous today


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I would think that it's bad for Hughes to be taking jumpers because it'll encourage him to take more.

But we all know he's going to continue taking jumpers whether he's making them or not.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

This 2-3 zone Brown is experimenting with look awful


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Where has this Larry Hughes been all year?


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Marshall got bailed out there


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Man, Donyell just isn't a very good basketball player anymore.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

How was that not a foul on Lebron lol


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

ugh, we don't look good so far. We have to tighten up our defense. We're giving up way too many easy buckets. 

And for the love of god, we *have *to get Eric Snow out of there.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Well we're up. Not really confident though with the quality of play so far though


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Is Gibson at the level of Wesley now in the rotation? He's tailor made for this sort of matchup

That 2-3 zone looked awful. Don't you need good mobile shotblockers to play that sort of D?


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Haha, I've never heard Warren Buffett talk before. He's still really sharp at his age. And he's quite well-spoken.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Why in god's name are you playing SNow/Newble together. WTF is wrong with this guy at times.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

We give up 5 quick points and it's tied.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Marshall didn't even try on defense there.

This might be one of our worst lineups yet. Lebron, AV, Marshall, Snow, and Newble.

Who's going to score?!?!


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Lead goes away real quick with Snow/Newble. ****ing pathetic


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Mike Brown realizes he's an idiot and takes a timeout.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

I seriously wonder how Mike Brown can be an NBA coach at times like this. That was completely moronic to go with that lineup


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Eric Snow ****inga afs;djfapioweihfpoawdjsfoasjdf sucks


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> I seriously wonder how Mike Brown can be an NBA coach at times like this. That was completely moronic to go with that lineup


I know. It drives me nuts. He's so good at implementing a defensive system, but he's soooo bad at rotations and in-game decisions.

And he comes back out with an almost identical lineup!


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Iverson gets about 2x the calls that Lebron gets. It must be because he's small and light.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Also, Larry was actually playing well for once. Why take him out for so long?!?!!


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

OMG, Snow is killing us


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

How many layups does Snow have to miss before he gets taken out?

Mike Brown needs to be taken out behind the shed and beaten.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

I might to have to stop watching this coaching debacle. My blood pressure is getting way to high right now


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Lebron gets his luxurious 20 seconds of rest.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

They're getting run outs because our offense is abysmal.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

What happened to Sasha's shot?


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Brandname said:


> What happened to Sasha's shot?


He's hesitating for some reason


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Why are Gooden/AV off the floor? This coach is an absolute idiot. Make them matchup with us instead of trying to play these ****ed up lineups


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> Why are Gooden/AV off the floor? This coach is an absolute idiot. Make them matchup with us instead of trying to play these ****ed up lineups


Yeah, we're not a top-tier team until we can get other teams to play our style. Make them adjust to us. That's a huge thing we're missing right now.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Hahaha... Mike Brown is getting outcoached by Lebron.

oh man... this sucks.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

ROFL: Lebron knows more then this ****ing coach


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Lebron realizes "small" means giving Snow more minutes.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

*Player-coach?* :biggrin:


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

This makes more sense Newble in ONLY NOT with Snow


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Gibson hits a 3!!!


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Gooden got fouled there


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

haha, the basket is an ocean to Gooden.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Why does Hughes have to shoot those jumpers on the break?


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Lebron with a dunk contest!


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

The Return of Larry Hughes!


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Terrible pass by Lebron. He's got a lot of TO's today. This is just a sloppy game on both sides


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Not a good first half.

Our players can coach better than our coach. Hell, our coach can probably play better than our backup PG. We have a few issues to work out still.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

When Gooden's midrange jumper is on, we should just continue to feed him. It's pretty automatic.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Lebron comes out aggressive. I like seeing that.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Wow, I didn't know Nene could hit that shot.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

What the hell happened with Z there?


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

WTF is going on with our transition defense?!


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Nice pass by Gooden there.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Melo's money from that range.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I love Z's passing from the high post. He hits cutters very well.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

24 second violation. Nice defense there.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Sasha doesn't hesitate on that shot, and sinks the 3. I like it when he's got confidence.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Larry with a transition 3 pointer!!! Great decision!


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Iverson flops, gets the call.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Nice off-the-ball cut by Lebron there.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Why does our defense suck so bad this game? Lebron was stuck trying to guard 2 people there, and Blake gets a wide open shot.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Our players are losing their assignments when Iverson drives. He's finding people wide open underneath the basket. 

The Nuggets aren't an incredible offensive team like Phoenix is. We're just no putting in the effort defensively tonight.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

We need to take advantage of JR's gunner attitude. 

I also love Lebron's offensive aggressiveness tonight. He's getting to the rim at will.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Great. Now who's going to score?


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Wow, nobody else can hit a shot when Lebron's on the bench. Go figure. 

Nuggets up 81-75 at the end of the 3rd.


----------



## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

I'm sorry but I still don't like Larry Hughes as our point guard. He makes so many terrible decisions with the ball. And he misses so many wide open cutters.


----------



## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

And yeah, don't know what happened to our defense today, but Mike Brown won't be happy. It's bad enough to lose, but to lose because of our defense, will probably really irritate him.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Great, Eric Snow back in the game.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

The weird part is that MB said he likes Hughes at the point because of his basketball IQ.

And what ever happened to Shannon Brown? I thought he was on our team.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Larry finally gets the memo that he's supposed to be a slasher.


----------



## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

Brandname said:


> And what ever happened to Shannon Brown? I thought he was on our team.


Reduced to sporting a suit the last few games.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

remy23 said:


> Reduced to sporting a suit the last few games.


What happened? Did he get hurt?


----------



## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Defense stepped back up, and we immediately go on a run.


----------



## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

Tie game! Go Big Z!


----------



## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

Brandname said:


> What happened? Did he get hurt?


They put Brown on the inactive list even though he isn't injured. Unless he behaved in a way that hurt the team behind closed doors, missed some practices or something, it seems done on a whim for no reason at all.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

remy23 said:


> They put Brown on the inactive list even though he isn't injured. Unless he behaved in a way that hurt the team behind closed doors, missed some practices or something, it seems done on a whim for no reason at all.


Ugh, just more veteran favoritism. Which means missed layups left and right.

Anyway, I really like how Z got such deep position on that last possession.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

That timeout would have been a perfect time to bring in Lebron for Snow.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Coach is really dropping the ball leaving Lebron out for so long. We need to take control of this game right now.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

ugh, where's the rebounding?


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Actually I don't think that was a foul. He looked like he got all ball there before there was any other contact.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Wow, they've gotten 25 FTs to our 10.

And Lebron gets doubled really hard because Snow is in the game. Get him the **** out of there! Mike Brown is so damn stupid!


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Terrible shot from Lebron there.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I'm sorry but I'm convinced Mike Brown is stupid. He's leaving Snow in for the entire 4th.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Nice extra passing there.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Goddamn our defense sucks today. Lebron resorts to jumpers. This one might be lost.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Even if we win, I'm pretty disappointed with the effort tonight.


----------



## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Yeah doesn't look like we're going to get the stops to win this one. We've let too many of their players get going. AI and Melo are both going good. JR Smith is going good. Nene is hitting. Klieza. I guess Marcus Camby hasn't done much...but basically we decided for some reason that we were going to try and play Denver's game today, and now we'll be taking the L.

I hate how this team never dictates the game to other teams. We always play how they want us to.


----------



## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

So...we've lost 3 of the last 4 now. I think the Larry Hughes point guard experiment has run it's course.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I don't know. There were so many obvious coaching mistakes tonight I don't know who to blame this on.

That, and this team just wasn't prepared defensively at all. Which is unacceptable because we had plenty of time to prepare.

It's almost as if we didn't know they were going to come out and run.


----------



## Husstla (Nov 5, 2006)

The refs are blind. I'm not even kidding they are ****ing blind


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

****ing pathetic.

Lebron basically decided he didn't want to play.
Our coach after a whole year doesn't know the strenghts and weakness of his players and continues to run retarded lineups


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

The Cavs just started settling for jumpers at the end of the game. We really gave this one away. It was very winnable.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Jeez coach for just one minute could you just play you're five best players together: Z, AV, Lebron, Sasha, and Hughes? Just for a few moments.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Sometimes I really worry that we won't be able to win with Mike Brown. His poor in-game coaching just isn't getting it done. Once the horn sounds to begin the game, MB is in way over his head. He's not ready for the bright lights.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

I would want my money back if I paid money to see this game. **** it I payed for cable and feel like I got screwed.

Blames goes all over tonight: Lebron dicked around way too much. You have to wonder if he just was pissed at Brown by the time he came back in the 4th. 

What can you say though, Mike Brown again proves his level of cluelessness can be amazing


----------



## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Pioneer10 said:


> Lebron basically decided he didn't want to play.


This was one of those games where he tried too hard to get everyone else involved, and never got himself going. Having to sit out with the fouls, killed his rhythm going into the fourth.

It's dumb though, because when Lebron struggles, we don't run plays for him, where he can get an easy bucket.

And I don't know why in the final minute when we needed a quick bucket, we were running the ball into Z.

This team does very stupid things a lot of the time.


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Yeah I didn't even realize it, but did Lebron only like score a few points in the second half? Wow, that's really not good at all. 

This was an important game, but we can forget about catching Detroit anyway. I'm not as worried about Lebron because I know he'll step it up in the playoffs. 

What I *am *worried about is the fact that I honestly believe Mike Brown might have no idea what he's doing. Like seriously, completely lost out there. He makes some of the worst decisions I've ever seen.

The most revealing thing tonight was Jim Gray's interview about Lebron and Mike Brown. It was very clear from that interview that Lebron knows more about coaching the MB. And Lebron knows that, too. He doesn't respect MB, and I'm sure most of the other players don't, either.

That's what I'm most concerned about right now.


----------



## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Brandname said:


> The most revealing thing tonight was Jim Gray's interview about Lebron and Mike Brown. It was very clear from that interview that Lebron knows more about coaching the MB. And Lebron knows that, too. He doesn't respect MB, and I'm sure most of the other players don't, either.
> 
> That's what I'm most concerned about right now.


We've been hearing those stories all year.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Still have no idea what kind of Cav team will show up. We could end going all the way to Finals if Lebron gets hot or easily being upset in the 1st round.

No matter I think this team is going to need a shakeup in the offseason. If Brown is coach we're going to have to cut/trade/waive whatever to Snow so Brown can't play him


----------



## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

futuristxen said:


> We've been hearing those stories all year.


I know. 

The problem is that Lebron knows rotations better than Mike Brown. But if Mike Brown listens to Lebron, he loses his respect (which has probably already happened anyway). But I don't want MB's stubbornness to cost the team, and that appears to be what's happening right now.

Brown doesn't understand how to dictate a game. So we're going to have to go through the playoffs trying to beat teams at their own game.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Another thing is why when a player is hot do we take them out?

Hughes is hot in the first quarter: he gets subbed out

Sasha hit two shots in the third: he gets subbed out

Z gets a few buckets: he gets subbed out.

Doesn't make sense


----------



## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

As you guys have said, I just don't understand Mike Brown's rotations. Why is he going back to extended minutes for Snow? Why is he playing a Snow/Newble backcourt first off the bench? 

We go on an extended winning streak and he just abandons the rotations that got us there. It just doesn't compute.

It also drives me insane how he ALWAYS lets the opposition dictate what our lineups will be. Lebron clearly doesn't respect his coaching decisions...I don't see Brown sticking here after the season.

I want to like the guy, he is solid on defense, but he might be in over his head.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Lebron not giving a **** in the second half has to be a bad sign for Mike Brown. It looked like the pre All_star game James had come back


----------



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

What exactly were Lebrons comments after/before about Mike Browns decisions in this game ? never caught that!..


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

> As has happened several times this season, the Cavs allowed themselves to be sucked in to playing outside their skillset tonight in getting handled by the Nuggets, 105-93. There have have been a handful of such losses this season, though this one is more costly because both Chicago and Detroit won today and there's a five-game trip in the offing.
> My view...
> --There were some odd things happening in this game. The Nuggets didn't even try to play defense. Seriously, they didn't even foul. They committed just 10, the fewest in the NBA this season. Plus the Cavs allowed 60 percent shooting, the most they've allowed in four years. Yes, the Cavs were poor, but the Nuggets also played very, very well.
> --Overall, this game just highlighted a general loss of focus over the last week. The Cavs lost their offensive edge against Utah eight days ago. Now, they've lost a defensive edge. Again, this shows the difference between the Cavs and a team like Dallas or San Antonio. When they get it going, they don't lose focus and they win 10, 12, 14 straight. The Cavs won a game when they played badly against Utah and they let it go to their head. I am throwing out the win over the Knicks, they didn't care.
> ...


Cavaliers Blog


----------

