Lil Red Machine

I should’ve known.

I mean, it’s the Los Angeles freakin’ CLIPPERS we are talking about.  They are right in that same conversation for ineptness as the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Bengals (gulp) are.  They are the joke of L.A.  The red-headed stepchild, if you will.  Their arena, from observing it on TV, has the Lakers purple seats, the retired jerseys in the background, and for all I know, they keep out those championship banners for Clippers games as well.  I guess that leads to an interesting question: Do the Clippers have ANY banners up?  Did they have a banner raising ceremony commemorating their last playoff appearance?

OK, enough Clippers bashing.  Honestly, I can’t rag on them too much, because unlike Lakers games, you have actual human beings that are able to attend.  The glitz and glamor crowds stays far, far away.  Anyone who supports that team is a true fan–and being a Bengals fan, I know what a true fan is.  As for the game, it looked like the Cavs were dead in the water.  If you had been hiding under a rock and had no prior knowledge of which team was shooting for a 60-win season, and which one was lottery bound, you would’ve thought that it was Cleveland that was the moribund franchise.  The Cavs came out dead.  No energy at all.  I think that playing in L.A. is a tough deal for the visiting team, due to all the distractions that Hollywood can present.

Down by 19 in the 4th quarter, I shut it off.  I awoke this morning to a text saying that the Cavs won 87-83.  Eh?  After burying the palm of my hand into my forehead in a reactionary move for missing this, I go to read up on it.  The whole team, outside of Lebron, really played like crap.  King James poured in a triple double, totalling 32 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists.  If you want to make an MVP argument for LeBron, last night was a good case to present to the table.  The starting backcourt shot a combined 5-23, and they got a whopping 15 points from the bench players.

I do have to give Mo Williams a lot of credit, though.  He played well in the 4th quarter, hitting a gigantic three-pointer with six seconds left to give the Cavs an 85-83 year.  It was interesting, but not totally surprising, to see the numerous arms that went up in the arena when that shot went through the bottom of the net.  After all, the Cavs are the top road draw in the NBA.

As for the Clippers?  I have to wonder about a team like that.  Are they afraid of success?  When they had that large lead in the 4th, did they panic and say “oh crap, we better not blow this!”  They probably did.  Bad teams play well for large stretches of any given game, but they don’t know how to close the deal.  I can only imagine having to also deal with all the negative energy in the arena when the other team starts making a few shots as well.

Most importantly of all, the Cavs increased their lead in the Eastern Conference race to 1.5 games over Boston.  Given that they seemingly can’t win in Boston, every game from this point is so critical, so that they can get that homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs.

This was their chance.   No KG in the starting lineup for Boston, and with potential homecourt advantage in the playoffs up for grabs, the Cavaliers laid a big egg.  The Cavs yet again lose a game to an elite team.  There’s a big shocker.

This team isn’t going anywhere until it can figure out how to guard in the post.  Good teams with excellent post play beats us everytime.  On the offensive side of the ball, Mike Brown and the Cavs completely abandon the offense when faced with any sort of crisis situation.  The “give the ball to LeBron and have everybody else get out of the way” strategy will never lead to a championship.

Their new aquisition, Joe Smith, was a non-factor.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas put up some shots, but was abused defensively.  Anderson Varejao played well, posting up 15 points, but all in all, the Cavs still have major weaknesses in the interior, and good teams will continue to take advantage of that.

There’s a very good chance that the road to the finals will go through Boston now.  Despite the Cavs adding new players and trying to tinker with what they have, it’s clear that Boston just has their number in that building.  The old parquet floor from the old Boston Garden is long gone.  The rat infested visiting locker rooms has long ago been demolished.  However, there still seems to be a bit of Garden mystique working against Cleveland.  That, and just the problems that occur when facing a great team that has shown no championship hangover.