Selective memory on a NBA blog

Following the recent blockbuster trade that sent key players from Chicago to Cleveland, Cleveland to Chicago, and Seattle to Cleveland, but nothing to Seattle (seriously, what did the Sonics get out of that trade?), I have been waiting for today to arrive.

Today, the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers took on the new-look-but-still-suck Chicago Bulls. Even without Zadrunas Ilgauskas, Sasha Pavlovic and Boobie Gibson, the Cavaliers took care of business 95-86. The final score doesn’t really capture how close the game actually was, but it does magnify how LeBron James took over the game when it counted the most. And it also showed that the Cavs are no longer a one-man team (well, not ALL the time).

James accounted for a LOT of the team’s points in the first half (more than 50%, to be precise), and he did score 6 points down the stretch when we pulled away, but James now knows he has a LOT of depth around him. When double-teams converged on him, he dished off to Joe Smith (who scored 8 4th-quarter points), or found a wide-open Wally Szczerbiak behind the 3-point line (17 points for the new papa off the bench)*.

The final 5 minutes of the game was fun. Watching LeBron take over a game, seeing Andres Noccioni try to bear-hug him to keep him from getting the ball (and still failing), witnessing Larry Hughes fling up 23-footers with his eyes closed, and seeing JoaKim Noah realize that he’s a bat-boy in a man’s game….that all was quite enjoyable.

But not nearly as much fun as watching the subhumans at Blog-A-Bull desperately flail their arms in outrage. Some of the highlights from their open game thread;

What a shitty game
And the cavs don’t really play basketball… It’s just Bronball. As a basketball purist I am nauseated.
by Bass on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 01:18:00 PM EDT

I’ll take a charge over a travel
But it would be nice if they called traveling on LBJ at least ONCE a game…
by Bass on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 01:28:38 PM EDT

Not ONE WORD
about the Bulls during half time…no surprise.
And who really gives a crap about LeBron being the youngest player to hit 10,000 points?
Rather academic when you don’t ever play one college game and go straight to the NBA from high school.
by BullishPNW on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 02:30:31 PM EDT

That was a clear fucking moving pick
by Lebron on that 3 point shot
by RogersPark Kris on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 03:11:57 PM EDT

So the Cavs are permitted moving screens
Thanks NBA refs.
by NBA Observer on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 03:29:26 PM EDT

That one
would have been nice to get a travel call on!
Which it was…
by Bass on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 03:29:29 PM EDT

Keep in mind….these are fans of the FUCKING CHICAGO BULLS!

Zero recollection of what the Jordan Rules were, I take it? Do you have ANY memories of the 4-step cha-cha that Jordan got to take every night? That infamous “final shot” of his career against Utah? He pushed off and got away with it.

Are the NBA refs usually easier on the superstars? Yes.
Do violations often get overlooked? Yes.
Is it unfair? Yes.

But the LAST people who should EVER bitch and whine about it are Bulls fans.

Thank God we won’t have to deal with these losers in the playoffs.

* – side note – Szczerbiak named his newborn son “Maximillian Jack”. Yes, the kid’s name is Max Jack Szczerbiak. Say it out loud. S’fun.