The Post Up: Cavs No-Show

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• Moose Posted: Feb.27 at 9:08 am
  Marbury expected to sign today and suit up tonight.

• Mendel Posted: Feb.27 at 9:12 am
  RON ARTEST, RON ARTEST, RON ARTEST

• Mendel Posted: Feb.27 at 9:13 am
  Locked the LeKing James down for the first time in his carreer.

• Moose Posted: Feb.27 at 9:14 am
  Well, if somebody’s gotta do it Mendel, it’s Artest. Or maybe Battier.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 9:18 am
  If Ron Ron and Shane played that fluidly and solidlyt from night to night on the defensive end…..they would be the toughest perimiter D combo in the league. They would be hell for any perimiter player….not just Lebron.

• Moose Posted: Feb.27 at 9:19 am
  Speaking of Scalabrine . . . click my name.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 9:21 am
  Moose, check mine.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 9:22 am
  BTW, how do you know Marbury’s suiting up tonight?

• Moose Posted: Feb.27 at 9:24 am
  Saw it on Boston.com. Stephon said he’ll sign today and suit up tonight. Whether Stephon is right or not is different. I’m halfway through it.

• Moose Posted: Feb.27 at 9:30 am
  Check your email, Eboy.

• Jer Boi Posted: Feb.27 at 9:30 am
  NO ASSISTS!? effin ball hog… kidding..obviously..still hate him though..

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 9:33 am
  If Nash is nursing a sore ankle and can miss a huge game like the Lakers……why is he busy kicking a soccer ball in practice as the video on the main page references?

• Bryan Posted: Feb.27 at 9:33 am
  Has he even cleared waivers yet? Lamar Odom = beast.

• Moose Posted: Feb.27 at 9:34 am
  He’s supposed to clear waivers this morning, Bryan.

• niQ Posted: Feb.27 at 9:39 am
  what? marbury is suiting up to sit tonight?

• Ryan Jones Posted: Feb.27 at 9:55 am
  I read this great article last week about how Shane Battier is the best defender in the world….
  Wifey and I went to see “Milk” last night. Looks like I picked a good night to go out.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 9:58 am
  For real.

• B. Long Posted: Feb.27 at 9:59 am
  The Suns are a hot mess.

• Blue Posted: Feb.27 at 10:21 am
  Rockets took care of business last night…I love how they had the halftime report during the Rockets-Cavs game and nobody talked about the game…
  @ Ryan: Where was this article?

• Moose Posted: Feb.27 at 10:27 am
  NY Times, Blue.

• Blue Posted: Feb.27 at 10:35 am
  Thanks, Moose

• The Seed Posted: Feb.27 at 10:47 am
  Where are all the people at saying Lebrick shot has gotten better. When will people starting realizing James hopes his shots goes in. Plus if you are 6’9 260, why are you shooting jump shots, because the refs were calling the offensive fouls on The Prince tonight, but overall the Rockets looked good with Artest as the leader, trade Tmac for David Lee and Nate Robinson or Wilson Chandler.

• Squirrel7 Posted: Feb.27 at 10:58 am
  I’m not particularly hatin’ on Lebron, but after his game against the Bucks (8-11, I think, from deep), everyone was saying how he’d now mastered his jump shot and had a complete game. Did anyone actually watch that game, and see the technique on his shots? The majority of them were heaves from a couple of feet beyond the arc, that most days would all either rim out, or fall short. His technique is woeful, and while his shooting has improved slightly, I certainly wouldn’t class him as a particularly good shooter.

• James the balla Posted: Feb.27 at 11:00 am
  Hey NO ASSISTs for Lebron, what happens when Kobe doesn’t get any? F()cking H0M0′s!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Moose Posted: Feb.27 at 11:05 am
  James, dude. LeBron: 7.2 APG, Kobe: 5.0 APG.

• Justin Walsh Posted: Feb.27 at 11:12 am
  Can I bring in to this that LeBron scores less than wade, assists less than wade, steals less than wade shoots the same FG percentage, shoots around the same FT percentage, they block the same amount of shots, They both turn it over 3-4 times a game….The ONLY thing that Bron has a true advantage over Wade is 2 more rebounds a game. I seriously think people don’t realize that. Eboy this was for you.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 11:34 am
  I realize that.

• Moose Posted: Feb.27 at 11:37 am
  MARBURY JUST CLEARED WAIVERS. GET ON A POST, SLAM!!!

• Ryan Jones Posted: Feb.27 at 11:44 am
  Blue: Check my most recent Farmer Jones post, in which I linked to said article, and mocked it semi-extensively.

• Z Posted: Feb.27 at 11:47 am
  I think we can all agree (w/ or w/o stats) that all the GMs in the league would take Bron over him. No knock on Wade though, he’s an animal.

• Z Posted: Feb.27 at 11:55 am
  I’m worried about the Cavs. 1) LeBron has to make a decision. Either he stops settling for jumpers altogether or he has to start asserting himself. LeBron is a really good shooter with his feet planted shooting a set shot (no elevation). I remember him taking and making that shot at an alarming rate with Team USA. That’s his shot. He shouldn’t even think about shooting a 3 unless it’s off a dish. 2) The Cavs offense is so effing STAGNANT! When James is not his usual-self (creating for everybody), it’s quite pathetical. Run some sets, Mike.

• RV Posted: Feb.27 at 12:17 pm
  Holly, not mention of the word “defense”, you’re better than that! The rockets played their defensive game plan perfectly, sure the Cavs missed some shots as well, but the Rockets’ D was what put them in a funk to begin with. Zero assists, first time IN HIS CAREER, that’s not just an fof night for cleveland, it’s Yao and shane swattig shots, chuck holding down Big Z at times, Ron playing tough D…In their 6 game winning streak houston is winning by like 16 pts a game, holding opponents to like 79 pts a game. I realize they’re not contenders anymore, but they deserve more credit for what they are doing NOW.

• Anton Posted: Feb.27 at 12:34 pm
  @ Z: a pathetical shamockery?
  But I agree with you, they need to run more, Bron needs to hog it at strategic times,and they need to go back in time to get Marcus Camby.
  The Wallace injury is a blessing in disguise, though. Varejao averages more than triple the amount of points and actually has energy in him, plus JJ Hickson can get some non-garbage time minutes.
  The Spurs shall feel thine wrath tonight.

• Rocklet Posted: Feb.27 at 12:35 pm
  Totally agree with RV – people need to start giving the Rockets defence credit rather than suggesting contenders like the Cavs just played badly. Now if only we could find some offense…

• RV Posted: Feb.27 at 12:41 pm
  Oh yeah, Lebron also only had 1 rebound…..Rocklet, i think offense is less of an issue now, without Tmac the spacing is better, everyone’s getting in shots and Brooks scores more than Skip and with better percentages…and Landry has been out for 4 of the 6 games not bad..

• Darksaber Posted: Feb.27 at 12:44 pm
  ok i know it’s not your fault Holly (i blame mr. Nelson) but whata with putting me on a slam newsletter list and sending me some b-jennings/under armor nonsense without permission. I never asked for that, and i hate being spammed. New strategy for slamonline is forced ad spamming? Really? Weak.

• Darksaber Posted: Feb.27 at 12:46 pm
  and this whole injury bug is depleting nva rosters fast lately!

• Darksaber Posted: Feb.27 at 12:48 pm
  damn i’m so heated, i’m not even spellchecking my comments. Grrr.

• Izzo Posted: Feb.27 at 12:49 pm
  Darksaber:You never didn’t ask for it,either.

• Justin Walsh Posted: Feb.27 at 12:51 pm
  Darksaber, I got the same brandon jennings ad. it’s not that big of a deal. It’s not like SLAM pimps out twenty per day or anything. It’s one picture link that can be clicked or not. In this recession, I’m not that irked by it.

• Z Posted: Feb.27 at 12:56 pm
  Ben Wallace won’t be missed, you’re right about that Anton. He’s completely useless at this stage of his career, he can’t lockdown bigs anymore so… yeah.

• Darksaber Posted: Feb.27 at 12:59 pm
  izzo: really? That’s what you are going with?

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 12:59 pm
  Dark…..settle down, homeboy. You’re just sad that it wasn’t a Dirk ad that was emailed to you.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 1:00 pm
  

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 1:00 pm
  F*cker.

• Darksaber Posted: Feb.27 at 1:03 pm
  Not today, E. Not in the mood. Thanks for trying to cheer me up in your unmistakeable way though. Whatever, i’ll unsubscribe and hope it stays that way. Sorry guys and gals, please proceed

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 1:05 pm
  Killjoy.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 1:05 pm
  I love you.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 1:06 pm
  Sorry.

• Darksaber Posted: Feb.27 at 1:07 pm
  jeezus! E is such a chick

• nick Posted: Feb.27 at 1:07 pm
  Thank you RV. I’m tired of people (i know holly didn’t mean it…but still) describing this as an “off night” for lebron. Yes, King Crab had a bad game, shooting poorly and netting zero assists, but this came as a DIRECT RESULT of the way the rockets played him. It started with Ron going under every screen and forcing bron to be a jump shooter, which isn’t his strength and takes away the drive-and-dish game that cleveland’s offense (and bron’s assist numbers) rely on. When he did drive, he met either an artest-Yao sandwhich or Shane Battier using his nerd-mind to anticipate and pick spots to take clean, flop-free charges. In the 2nd quarter, the cavs started having success using Lebron as the screener for Mo Williams (forcing artest to hedge out to prevent an open Williams shot and giving lebron an advantage on the subsequent pop). That worked for a while, then the rockets adjusted to put Battier on Williams and Brooks/Lowry on Delonte/Boobie, and switched every Williams/Lebron screen. Whenever a rockets player did get beat, the defensive rotations were frenzied in their intensity and acute in their choice of coverage, preventing open shots and, at one point, forcing a 24 second violation (something which, when your team has lebron, should never, never, EVER happen). Could Lebron have hit more jump shots? Yes, but that’s not his game. Forcing him to be a shooter was a conscious gameplanning decision by Rick Adelman and (rockets assistant) Elston Turner. Lebron wasn’t himself last night, but it wasn’t because of an “off night”. Lebron wasn’t himself because the Rockets forced him to play like someone else. Credit where credit is due, please.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 1:08 pm
  I knew I’d get a reaction out of you.

• nick Posted: Feb.27 at 1:08 pm
  I apologize for the rant, but it needed to be said.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 1:10 pm
  Back to ball……is it humanly possible that a combination of an off night from the Cavs and King Crab and a really good showing by the Rockets happened on the same night? Not possible? Possible? Inconceivable???

• Darksaber Posted: Feb.27 at 1:11 pm
  E-chiqa!

• BigWalt206 Posted: Feb.27 at 1:11 pm
  Justin, did you happen to catch that UDub v Arizona State game last night?

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 1:14 pm
  Very mean of you, Dark.

• B. Long Posted: Feb.27 at 1:15 pm
  Ron Artest is reminded me that he is still nasty last night. How’d I ever forget?

• Darksaber Posted: Feb.27 at 1:16 pm
  anyone notice how flappy and oversized Kob’s likes to wear his jersey. The ‘pits are so loose, his undershirt show. Odd for such a fancypants dresser. Is this better for taking fadeaways against double teams or what?

• nick Posted: Feb.27 at 1:16 pm
  @eboy: It’s not only possible, it’s definately what happened. However, to describe it as a “no show” implies that the rockets had nothing to do with it. “Cav’s off night” and “Swarming, strategic team defense spearheaded by two of the L’s best perimeter defenders” are likely co-productive. Could the cavs have played better? Sure. Would that have been sufficient to overcome great defensive strategy and an effort that handed them their worst lost of the season? not so sure.

• Darksaber Posted: Feb.27 at 1:17 pm
  you can handle it whitehot.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 1:18 pm
  B…check SKO.

• Anton Posted: Feb.27 at 1:20 pm
  Come playoff time, they’ll look suspiciously like the 2007-2008 Cavs. Unless Mo Williams proves to be a huge impact in the post-season, it’s time for good ole fashioned ball hogging! If they get home court it might help but like Kenny Smith said, the cake tastes good but there’s an ingredient or two missing.

• Tarzan Cooper Posted: Feb.27 at 1:22 pm
  HOW ABOUT GIVING THE ROCKETS SOME FCUKING CREDIT!!!!! cavs didnt show up, lebron showing hes human, all bs. the rockets destroyed the cavs, quit making excuses for lebron and co.

• Justin Walsh Posted: Feb.27 at 1:22 pm
  Walt, it was a very good game, and may I say an OVERTIME game. I was wrong, UW won, and congrats to it. Justin Dentmon was the MVP of that game no doubt. NO doubt. But like I Said, it could have gone either way. Great for UW though, winning this kind of assures that they win the PAC10. This also means more teams from the PAC10 will get in. Washington, Arizona, UCLA, California, Arizona State, possibly USC…I mean really, them winning the PAC10 would make the PAC10 a stronger conference.

• Darksaber Posted: Feb.27 at 1:24 pm
  Artest broke MJ’s rib in summer workouts! That solidified his badass status in my book a long time ago. Good to see him back on a winning team.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 1:24 pm
  I have a question. Who wins in a 7 game series between the Cavs and the Rockets?

• RV Posted: Feb.27 at 1:33 pm
  I dont remember how many shots Lebron missed, but he missed a lot of drives because he was either getting blocked by Yao or Shane or he was getting bumped around and that caused him to miss shots. I’m sure that kept him from getting a rythm going o his shots, so technically he just missed shots himself, but i think a large percentage of the credit goes to Houston. Think about it, only one rebound, that means they kept a body on him all game, the whole team only had 10 assists..if the whole team had an off night, their lowet offensive output of the season, Lebron first time held without an assist, and only one board, no one shot 50% or better except for garbage time Kinsey, they had quarters of 10, 29,11, and 24 pts, so they had some good quarters, but being up and down like that tells me houston made the right adjustments after cleveland made an adjustment, that’s closer to being shut down than having an off night.

• Anton Posted: Feb.27 at 1:35 pm
  Trick question: Rockets start sucking more than Paris Hilton on spring break in the first round

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 1:36 pm
  At the end of the day….I think the Cavs will take a place in the ECF instead of crapping out in the first round and crying about this game in May and June.

• BigWalt206 Posted: Feb.27 at 1:38 pm
  Yes sir it would, it was to see JD rebound from a near catastrophic mistake. That is what really stands out about this team, the mental toughness. The last two years this team would have shut down, but this team is different. Now if they could only get ranked higher than the teams they are beating in their conference that would be great. I wonder if people will stop jocking ASU after they just got swept by a UW team that most people still don’t feel should be a top 25 team.

• RV Posted: Feb.27 at 1:41 pm
  Eboy, that’s irrelevant, no one is claiming houston is a contender or that they are better than cleveland in the long run, all we’re saying is that it’s possible that Houston outplayed them THIS game and shut them down THIS game and given their current run, in which they have been scoring well and playing great d, they should be given credit for what they’re doing NOW. So many people think that they are giving up on the season and calling it a year, maybe they don’t have a shot at the big prize, doesn’t mean they can’t cause some damage the rest of the season and early in the playoffs, no one would blame them for dropping to a lower seed or falling out of the playoffs, but yet they are not only trying to keep winning, but actually winning, and doing it well, climbing up the seeds, from 5 seed and like a game out of 8th seed, now they are one game within the 3 seed, i know thats only because the standings are so tight, but they did the same thing last year, when some teams are hoping others lose so they can keep their seed, these guys are taking things into their own hands and making sure they stay in it, and that deserves some credit at least.

• RV Posted: Feb.27 at 1:44 pm
  Eboy, i read your question late, so my post right after wasn’t my reply

• nick Posted: Feb.27 at 2:06 pm
  Again, thank you RV. I need to come back here more often and have you (and hursty’s) back on all things rockets. No, eboy, we may not be the better team in the end, but we are on a six game win streak (and an 8 game home win streak). During that time, we beat the piss out of the cavs, won solidly against dallas, and were beating the piss out of the blazers until we declined to score for about 7 minutes…and still won. I honestly believe, and i know i’m in the minority here, but i really do think that the rockets in their current form (plus carl landry) are the best rockets team since 96-97. Will that be enough to get out of the first round? I have no idea…but i like this team.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 2:13 pm
  Guys…..i know the feeling. After the Heat won against the unbeatable Lakers earlier this season….I felt like they were truly validated. Obviously, that’s not the case. In the Rockets case….their validation is whether or not they can get a playoff run going….since that’s what they were expected to do from the beginning of the year. If what nick says is true and this is the best Rockets team in 11 seasons, with or without Tracy….they should make us all believers in April.

• jbn74sb Posted: Feb.27 at 2:23 pm
  Farmer’s 9:55 a.m. comment should have read:
  “Wifey and I went to see “Milk” last night. Looks like I picked a good night to COME out.”

• nick Posted: Feb.27 at 2:30 pm
  Eboy–I’ll agree to that. Right now the best i can do is be cautiously optimistic. I do see positive trends–intensity, defense, fluid ball movement, and the resultant 6 game win streak which all point to structural improvement rather than a flash in the pan. Losing Alston and T-mac is addition by subtraction, as they were the teams 2 least efficient scorers (they combined for an average of 25 shots per game and hit only 38 % from the field). T-mac at 60% capacity was only hurting the team (less ball movement, less defense, low accuracy volume shooting, as evidence by the rockets 20-15 record with tracy and 17-6 record without). Our locker room is great, chemistry seems great, we still have good depth, and we’re actually running rick’s offense a little bit. Again, none of this provides proof (the proof, as Eboy accurately states, is in the Playoffs), but it does show, in my mind, an improving team structurally capable of winning in the playoffs, so for now i’ll cling to that hope.

• Eboy Posted: Feb.27 at 2:34 pm
  Look….I’ve got to be honest…..I thought the makeup of this years Rockets team was one of a championship caliber squad, regardless of their past playoff failures. The T-mac injury sucks majorly…..but I still contest that an early round meeting with the Rockets is similar to an early round matchup with the Jazz……they’re both capable of beating squads out of the blue, because of their defensive makeup. As Ron and Shane proved…..even the games best can be tkaen down a peg or two if played just right.

• MeloMan13 Posted: Feb.27 at 2:35 pm
  james the balla= most annoying poster at SLAM

• witness Posted: Feb.27 at 4:03 pm
  CAVS DIDNT HAVE AN OFF GAME. THE ROCKETS JUST HAD A REALLY GOOD ONE.

• RV Posted: Feb.27 at 4:06 pm
  on a side note, is that jason caffey coming up on Dr. Phil? The promo showed him coming up on a deadbeat dads episode…

• Wayne Posted: Feb.27 at 4:45 pm
  Ron Artest Handled LBJ plain and simple. He’s the best perimeter defender in the league.

• Wayne Posted: Feb.27 at 4:46 pm
  Then again, 20+ pts on a bad night says alot about him too…Most players don’t get that on a good night.

• RV Posted: Feb.27 at 4:48 pm
  humm…going back to what darksaber was saying, i have been getting a lot of emails from SLAM lately, like duplicate emails, i don’t mind the updates, but i just got 3 emails saying the next issue it out, and i think i got 2 of the under armour in one day and then a third one the next day…

• nbk Posted: Feb.27 at 4:56 pm
  Free-Marketing will only get crazier in this economy RV….E-Mails are a great way to get your brand into someones temporal lobe

• KozmicKid Posted: Feb.27 at 5:11 pm
  Did anybody hear RonRon sayin that LeBron is the new and improved version of him? Man this guy is the sh*t!

• Moose Posted: Feb.27 at 5:16 pm
  Yeah, same with RV.

• Justin Walsh Posted: Feb.27 at 5:21 pm
  this is going to sound biased, but i only got one of each. i will say that it took upwards of 50 times to enter my name and email to actually GET SIGNED UP for the newsletter because it wasnt going through.

• David Curran Posted: Feb.27 at 6:23 pm
  spose lebron deserved one bad game

• ab_40 Posted: Feb.27 at 7:03 pm
  reggie… are you allright? hahahaha that line made my day marv albert is THE MAN

• Anton Posted: Feb.27 at 9:40 pm
  Checking in, #8 Stephon Marbury!!!!!

• tealish Posted: Feb.27 at 9:56 pm
  Oh Sheesh. Someone called this. Detroit wins one without Iverson and all you non-haters better watch out cause people are gonna come swinging and swinging hard.

• Hursty Posted: Feb.28 at 12:28 am
  Ok, the cavs didn’t play great, but the rockets played well. Both were on a 5 game winning streak, and the Rockets have won 8 in a row at home.
  Ron Ron did a great job, and Yao rotated well to cover (most of the time). Oh, and Bron got blocked by Yao on a dunk. Nice.
  I was happy with the game. That’s it.
  More impressed that they beat the Cavs AND Dallas AND Portland. Not just one of them out of the blue.

• Darksaber Posted: Feb.28 at 2:10 am
  Shaq just scored 45 on 20-25 shooting! Rejuvenation in effect. So much for sports guy’s theory on ageing centers.

• nick Posted: Feb.28 at 11:03 am
  GREAT MOMENTS IN RAPTORS COACHING HISTORY: “Hey, lets guard shaq 1 on 1 with andrea barngani!”

• Darksaber Posted: Feb.28 at 12:54 pm
  dont say this much, but that last line by the infamous nbk was fun…ny!