Thursday, March 25th, 2010 at 11:23 am  |  8 responses

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Game Notes: Cavs at Hornets

Like a Toyota, LeBron can’t be stopped.

by Toney Blare

PRE-GAME

– There’s more of everything when the King’s in town. More people in line to get through the gates an hour early, more inflatable hoops and skills games for the kids, more perfumed ladies, more…meat? Yep, ribs, pulled pork, and beef brisket in the media room. Not mad, at least not for a couple hours.

– Lot of Cleveland 23 jerseys in the house. RE: Bronapalooza 2010: Basketball-wise, I think staying home is the play. That team evolved around him, and they’ll keep on getting him what he wants. Two years in a row with the best record, if you don’t make the Finals, that’s on you as the franchise. As a former NYC resident and observer, I think the Knicks are a huge gamble. How often does this work, the bold outsider taking on the city and making it his? Often enough. But on that stage, with that sports media, and the whole terrible sports/celebrity culture of downhill America? A-Rod, anyone? And, yeah, A-Rod was a smaller star, but he went to a way better franchise than Dolanville. I think staying and fighting in the rustbelt is the more epic, marketable, zeitgeist-lifting story. But I produce public oral histories at a non-profit for a living, so what do I know about global image?

– Great to see Chris introduced. The whole season went off-center without him.

FIRST QUARTER

– Hickson gets some good looks, the Cavs seem to be taking things casually, and its 10-10.

– LeBron looks like the older kid out there, playing on a lowered hoop. The difference between him and Kobe is that Kobe plays basketball as we know it. LeBron creates a vacuum and resets gravity via his elevation, weight, passing, speed. He makes a one-handed steal of a CP3 pass and hits Varejao for a lay-up, suddenly 20-10.

– They’ve been around long enough now that when the old lady Used-to-Bees dance squad comes out innocently “On the Boardwalk,” you know there’s about 20 seconds ’til it takes a turn for the dirty. Sure enough, a Jersey Shore-inspired free-for-all. Never saw the show, but I have seen the shore. No, thanks.

– DCollison cherry picks a lay-up on a long pass from DWest to make it 26-19 after 1.

SECOND QUARTER

– Marcus Thornton has that CP3 upper body, but more defined, and bowls through for some slick finishes. He could be a 6th man on a contender.

– With 7:00 to go in the half, 37-29 Cavs, Jeff Bower combines the three guards CP3/MT/Collison with Posey and Songalia, playing a zone D. See how this goes.

– Biggest cheers of the night go to the World Champs: Tracy Porter, Robert Meachem and Will Smith of our Saints.

– The three-guard line-up leaves the Cavs a bit like a fat cat who has the mouse wounded, but decides to watch and see what exactly the mouse might try. West replaces Songalia. A Thornton 3 cuts it to 44-42 with 3:00 to go, and some slick passing ends the half at 52-49. If N.O. had a dynamic wing or an athletic big man to slip in there (I no longer speak of Okafor), the three guards might be a look. Probably a reason for Chris to be back this late in the season with no Playoff hopes.

HALFTIME

– PJ Brown in the tunnel rocking a giant navy blazer, dark jeans, and some white Izod shoes. People treat PJ like the mayor here. OK, a mayor, not the current mayor. Anyway…

THIRD QUARTER

– Boobie Gibson: Did you ever think that, you know when Hugo the Hornet wears the gold dress. Yeah, did you ever, like, think that was kinda…hot? Oh, right, we’re supposed to be in a timeout here.

– Hornets try to hang in there, but Cleveland starts to hit their 3s.

– Hickson should strangle Donnie Walsh before the off-season. He could have a really, really good career with the King.

– Chris tries to draw a foul off a LBJ bullrush, ends up on his back with Bron at the line.

– More Jersey Shore. Someone in the Hornets marketing department must be really into silicon and mousse. Is that what they have on that show?

– 87-71 Cavs at the end of 3.

FOURTH QUARTER

– Sitting next to the homey Niall Doherty of Hornets247.com tonight at the top of section 100. We agree that if the Bees can cut it to 10, we’ll get to hear “Halftime” by the Ying Yang Twins. Yep, that’s pretty much where the season’s at: hoping for Ying Yang Twins.

– Bron pump fakes Thornton, calmly takes a step to his right, and drains a 3.

– I’m saying, maybe Toyota isn’t the best sponsor for the basket supports right now.

– If you think James Posey is a savvy vet now, just picture him in 2012 in his contract year. Oh yeah, Robert Horry 2.0. Oh, yeah. The Hornets need to figure out a way to replace the three-headed Mo-Pete/Posey/Peja seniors’ home with a young wing. Niall mentions Iguadola. Good idea.

– In any case, that man is not Julian Wright, who appears on almost every promo. For real, I thought I saw him working security before the game. The way its going, he could be on the Buzz Patrol next season doing trampoline dunks. Which I’d watch, btw.

– The three-guard set returns and Chris ends up guarding LeBron. This takes on a Father vs. Son in the Driveway dynamic, really unfair for a great player in his second game back. Of course, Chris battles and bucks, but it ain’t pretty. We aren’t getting any Ying Yang Twins tonight, are we, Mom?

– Collison tries to save a ball that would’ve been out on Cleveland. Still a rookie, despite a great season.

– Christ, there’s JuJu. He’s like the anti-Ying Yang. Yang Ying? Peace to Ping Ping! You’re my boy, Ping Ping! You’re my boy.

– Game, 105-92 Cavs. LeBron finishes with 38-6-9 and it wasn’t even that impressive. He just did him and out spat those numbers. The Hornets aren’t the best measuring stick, but the business like manner in which Cleveland dispatched them smells a lot like a championship team. Let’s get these Playoffs under way!