Stock Down: Everyone in Cleveland (Including Lebron)!
I gotta hit everyone here. Lebron first, for his bush league lack of sportsmanship. Look, I know you're mad that you lost, and that your teammates aren't quite up to snuff, but you still shake your opponent's hand and gave them their respect for beating you. That's two years in a row now. If you want to blow off the media, I understand. Who wants to answer dumb questions while avoiding some gotcha attempts to bang on your teammates? But again, shake your opponents hand please. Next up, the other Cavs players. Nothing personal, just business: you guys aren't good enough. I hope Mo Williams enjoyed his All-Star trip this year, because he won't be going back anytime soon. He nor the other Cavs guards and wing players were able to get shots off against Orlando; Lebron is the only guy on the team who can create his own shot, and that will constantly doom them unless they get someone else who can. Which leads me to my next target, Danny Ferry. The GM is supposed to be the most cold blooded, realistic person in the organization. Everyone else, from the players to the owner, is prone to letting their feelings override the truth. Ferry looked at his team's record and was satisfied that the roster was good enough. Yes, there were rumors about them trying to make a trade deadline deal, but nothing transpired.
Now Ferry is faced with the possibility that, if he's unable to make the necessary roster changes to get the Cavs back to the Finals, his star player may look at the roster a year from and decide that it's not good enough for him to stick around. And the prospects aren't looking too good right now. His starting center is 34 and declining; he has a power forward (Anderson Varejao) who is about to force him to either overpay or lose him. Something has to be done, or else bad times lie ahead.
The series is OVER!
Fuugettabouthit! It won't be a sweep, but the Magic have no shot at winning this. They didn't just miss shots in game one, they couldn't get them off in the first place. Howard only had six attempts, and Michael Pietrus was their leading shot taker. That's not good, and it won't get better to the degree that it needs to for the series to turn. Unlike the Cavs and Celtics, the Lakers have multiple players who can defend Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. Rashard was able to torch the last two opponents because they had to guard him with shorter, slower guys who couldn't chase him and get a hand in his face consistently. That is no longer the case here; Kobe Bryant and Tervor Ariza can chase him while Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol can keep a hand in his face. Don't count on any big scoring outbursts there. At the same time, they can guard Dwight Howard straight up with Andrew Bynum; Bynum is big enough to keep from getting bowled over and Howard doesn't have the variety of offensive skills necessary to dominate against a big, strong defender. They have a game, maybe two, where they get hot and shoot the lights out, but there's no way they'll be able to do that four times in six more games.
Preach
I disagree somewhat about Lebron's teammates. The issue was not that his teammates couldn't play well. The issue is the Orlando Magic defended them differently. In other words they guarded Lebron one on one. Most teams try and double Lebron or send people at him thus creating shots for his teammates. Orlando didn't do that. For the first time all year Lebron was defended one on one and encouraged to fire away which is not how the Cavs won 66 games. I repeat...the won 66 games. You can't do that with bum teammates. Maybe Mike Brown should have put Lebron in the post more....which all but would have forced Orlando to double. Instead, he put Lebron at the top of the key and lt him dribble all day before taking a shot or making a pass. THey played bad basketball. And he NEVER went to Z in the post. Z isn't Dwight Howard but he is a competent scorer in the post. In short, the Cavs had a poor offensive game plan. And now the supporting cast that helped Lebron win 66 games is being blamed.
Deep down inside I hope Lebron fails again. I hope he fails because that means the Cavs will fail and Lebron will chuck a duece and move to the kind of bigger market team he should be on like New York, Detroit, San Antonio, Atlanta or Sacramento.
I know it sounds messed up dont it?
But you know deep down you feel the same way too.
I wouldn't call his teammates bums, but they have certain deficiencies that prevent you from winning in the playoffs. Number is the inability to create their own shot consistently. Mo Williams can against the bums of the league, but not against the best. Delonte West can't do it, either. They have a offensive problem at power forward, where their starter has zero offensive game outside of being left open for dunks. Ilgauskas is good from a skill standpoint, but he chose to float outside for the whole series and neutralized himself. That makeup is not a championship winning one, not this year or any year. They'll never beat Orlando or Boston with their current lineup.