I often wonder what opposing teams, their beat reporters
and bloggers are saying about the Celtics after playing the Celtics.
Here's a dose of 'enemy chatter' from Cleveland.
First off, he's undermined his coach by acting lax after losses when
Brown has been sounding alarm bells. It is James' personality not to be
too worried about anything and it was not expected that he'd be throwing
people into lockers and such. But his "we'll get 'em next game"
philosophy has clearly backfired. With the exception of Game 3, despite
all the handshakes and nonsense, the Cavs have been knocked on their
heels in every game.
It has further become problematic that James has been disengaged
during the games. Not only has he fallen into the trap of "letting the
game come to him," but he's been increasingly distant. In huddles he's
looking at the ceiling or into the distance. It is not the James anyone
on the team knows and his teammates and coaches have seen it.
More problematic, they can't explain it and that is making the entire
locker room uneasy.
There were two skirmishes on the court. One was with Kendrick Perkins
and O'Neal and the other was with Mo Williams and Rajon Rondo. James
showed no such fire and then didn't get get involved in the exchanges,
staying off to the side.
Cavs reporter Brian Windhorst does a great job detailing all of the Cavaliers woes. From Mike Brown's inability to settle on a rotation to poor in-game adjustments to players bickering to the disappearance of James, Windhorst covers it all.
LeBron's play takes me back to a scene from one of my favorite movies:
Come on, kid. Get in there. Engage.
- You've got a bogey at two o'clock.
Take the shot, kid.
You can engage any time, Maverick.
- Where the hell are you going?
- It doesn't look good.
What do you mean? It doesn't get to look any better than that.
Hey, man. We could have had him...
I'll fire when I'm goddamn good and ready. You got that?
Remember one thing Lebron, there are no points for second place.
On Page 2, the lowest of the low for one Cavs blogger.
I’ll start with this. I’ve had some tough moments as a Cavs fan. I
remember how close the Cavs came to beating the Pistons in game six back
in 2006. I remember how LeBron was completely overmatched by that Spurs
team right after the best moments of his career. I remember how the
Cavs just couldn’t get over that hump in Boston in 2008. I remember the
Cavs blowing that lead, wasting a career performance by LBJ, and
watching that Lewis three go down in game one last year. I remember how
close they came to taking game four in that same series. The Cavs have
disappointed me. They have made me profoundly miserable.
All that said, this is my lowest moment as a serious Cavalier fan.
Why? Because I have never been ashamed to be a fan of this team or
LeBron James until tonight. I am now. There’s no excuse for that type of
effort. I’ve defended LeBron a lot in the past. I can’t, in good
conscience, do so tonight. He couldn’t hit a jump shot. He wasn’t
aggressive enough. He couldn’t do anything against Boston when they
collapsed on him in the paint.
…
I’m really starting to think Ray Allen isn’t going to sign with the
Cavs this off-season. I’m also starting to think he’s somehow one of the
most underrated players of his generation.
Ray Allen on the Cavs? He's a cold blooded killer who with no fear of taking big time shots and a track record for making them. Cleveland doesn't want a player like Ray, he'd have nothing in common with the guys on their roster.
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