Photo: Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer

The deck was stacked against the Cavaliers tonight, but they certainly didn't do themselves any favors. Antawn Jamison's first game as a Cavalier, Mo Williams's first game back as starting point guard, and a back-to-back where the Cavs had to travel after an overtime loss was an absolute perfect storm for the Bobcats. They used their previous success against the Cavs to fuel 55% shooting and held the Cavaliers in check with just 39% shooting. The Cavaliers' absolute carelessness on the defensive end and poor three-point heavy shot selection allowed the Bobcats to dominate the paint 48-24 and cruise to a blowout victory, their third in four tries against Cleveland this season.

New faces all around: Antawn Jamison made his Cavalier debut, coming in off the bench for 26 minutes of playing time. More on that, ahem, showing later. Mo Williams, still on a minutes cap, returned to the starting lineup after playing 19 minutes off the bench last night, but Daniel Gibson found himself with some playing time still since Mo was limited to 25 minutes. As for the Bobcats, they pulled off a trade of their own the other day, and both Tyrus Thomas and Theo Ratliff were in uniform and played big minutes for Charlotte. In other words, this game was a bit wild in the sense that there were often 2-3 players out there who had little grasp of their new team's offensive and defensive schemes.

Yet Another Rotation Switch: Mike Brown's job over the next couple weeks is not going to be an easy one. He played 11 guys tonight, and with Zydrunas Ilgauskas potentially on his way back and Leon Powe back soon from injury, the minutes are really going to get crunched. One thing's for sure: Mike Brown will not be playing 11 guys in the playoffs when LeBron and Mo beef up their minutes. As for tonight, Jawad Williams was the guy left without minutes early since Jamario Moon returned from a DNP-CD last night in Denver to snatch 17 minutes. Daniel Gibson, as mentioned before, did get 13 minutes helping backup Mo.

LBJ's the glue: As is frequently the outcome, LeBron James does his best to hold his team together through the somewhat-frequent transition of players in and out of the organization in the past several years. That was never more evident than in the first quarter, where LeBron had 7 first quarter assists and took just two shots for his 4 points. LeBron has had 24 assists in these last two games, yet only three of those have come in the fourth and beyond in those games. Sure, that's because LeBron dominates the ball more in the fourth, but that's what makes LeBron so great, his ability to distribute even in late game situations. I get so frustrated when I see the Cavalier offense that is so successful in the first three quarters grind to a halt in the final minutes. They are so lethal that if they move the ball, especially with Jamison in the mix, they are almost impossible to cover effectively. LeBron had a pretty quiet night overall on a night where a great performance was really needed to pull them through. Although, after playing 47 minutes last night and pouring in 43 points in a draining overtime loss in the head-to-head battle with Melo, it's hard to expect him to bring more than he did. LBJ posted 22 points on 6-of-14 shooting, 3 rebounds, 9 assists, and 4 steals.

Learning their lesson?: One quick note on strategy that was pointed out by several people the other and one that I chose to leave out, the Cavaliers' decision not to foul with one to give as Melo hit the game-winner. The Cavaliers are tough to handle when they are able to get their best defensive personnel and scheme set up on the court. Back to last night's game, the Bobcats had 3.1 seconds left on the clock as they inbounded the ball. Jamario Moon gave up the foul the Cavaliers had to give, forcing Charlotte to take it out again with 1.9 remaining. Perhaps that was a call from the bench, learning from their mistake the other night?

The Curious Case of Antawn Jamison: Other than injury, it's difficult to imagine a worse possible debut in wine and gold for Antawn Jamison than the one he carved out tonight in his home state. The veteran stretch four turned in the worst shooting performance of his long career tonight, missing on all 12 attempts from the field. I am going to contend that nerves were a huge factor here tonight, and the fact that he got hosed on a no goaltend call on one of his first shot attempts set him off on the wrong foot. Jamison actually had 5 of his attempts sent back as newcomer Tyrus Thomas seemed to be on a one-man mission to make Jamison's life miserable for tonight at least. Jamison also misfired on four three pointers, and his scoreless effort was mercifully ended when he sunk two free throws in the final minutes of the game. Jamison did have 7 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal, and I liked some of things I saw on the defensive end. This was a fluke game considering Antawn's whirlwind the last two days, and I'm more concerned about his learning curve on defense as opposed to offense. Jamison is a natural scorer, and while it will take him a while to get adjusted to the way the Cavs pick and pop, his real adjustment will need to be on defense. Just remember, Jamison brings us something that we did not have, an incredibly capable matchup problem off the pick and roll with a big that can stretch all the way out to beyond the arc. All the intangibles are there, and I think we will be laughing about this opening act in a few short weeks.

More misses from the stripe: Cleveland really has to get this foul shooting issue under control. It's a given that Shaq is going to be a nightmare at the line, you just hope that he minimizes his attempts and can make close to half. The real issue comes to the surface when LeBron and other solid free throw shooters start missing. Shaq did have four of the Cavaliers six misses, but LeBron missed two and Parker and Mo each missed one. The team shot 17-for-25 or 68%.

LBJ sits, Charlotte pulls away: Coach Brown continues to raise eyebrows as he is feeling out that rotation. Tonight, he sat LeBron with about four and a half minutes to go in the third. In that time, Charlotte took a close game and made it a no-doubter after three quarters. The Bobcats surged past the wine and gold with a 17-4 run to finish the quarter where they hit 5 of their last 7 shots in the third. It was a 32 point third for Charlotte, and they wiped out any realistic comeback effort by the Cavaliers as they trailed by 14 after three.

Laying the icing on the cake thick: I felt the Cavaliers phoned it in a bit during the fourth quarter. Their defense became even less effective, and the Bobcats kept getting great looks and sticking them in the Cavaliers' faces. The Bobcats got multiple uncontested dunks in the final quarter, where I would've really liked to see someone get planted by a Cavalier big. The Cavalier offense crawled to the finish as well with just 4 points in the final 4:21 of the game. All of this led to one of the largest disparities in field goal percentage against the Cavaliers all season long. The Bobcats shot 55%, which is the best effort against the Cavaliers since the beginning of the season. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers shot sub-40%, which is another rarity as well, especially considering their fantastic shooting pre-All-Star break.

Why we don't want the Bobcats in the playoffs: Besides the obvious with the 1-3 record against them and the 0-3 record against Charlotte with Stephen Jackson on the team, the Bobcats have multiple elements of a team that can knock off the Cavaliers. Both Stephen Jackson and Gerald Wallace pose a great deal of athleticism and scoring that the Cavaliers have a tough time with covering. Personally, I think the Cavaliers would have to switch LeBron to Jackson instead of Wallace in a playoff series and make the much poorer outside shooter in Wallace to beat them. Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon both had issues with defending Captain Jack, and now you can see why the Cavaliers would have loved him in wine and gold earlier this season. The Bobcats also have point guard Raymond Felton who falls into the category of Cavalier killer from seasons past and Boris Diaw, who is capable of strong all-around performances. The real X-factor may be Nazr Mohammed, who has done a pretty stellar job on Shaq this year. Adding both Tyrus Thomas and foul-machine-for-hire Theo Ratliff, the Bobcats may prove to be one of the most palpable challenges for the Cavaliers on their path to the Larry O'Brien trophy.

goes to: N/A. This is a first in Curse Of Cleveland's coverage of the Cavaliers. I am not awarding a game ball tonight, because of the total lack of effort combined with the fact that no one really performed far and above their normal output. If I had to choose one, it would probably be Anthony Parker or Delonte West, but it's still not enough for me to give either the nod. With all the times I've given multiple awards, I guess this is just the law of averages.

Team Grade: F

A victim of circumstances, the Cavaliers still were far and away lost in their own defensive principles. The Cavaliers are going to lose about any game where they give up 55% shooting. Furthermore, the Cavaliers are going to lose almost any contest where they shoot just 39% themselves. Add those together, a 48-24 domination by Charlotte in the paint, and a rebounding battle in Charlotte's favor 47-37, and you have a hideous blowout.

The Cavaliers have little time to adjust to their new piece and even less sympathy from the schedule when they travel to Orlando on Sunday afternoon to take on a very likely heated Orlando Magic team. I have a terrible feeling in my gut that Shaq's flapping jaws from the last game, combined with an Orlando home crowd will prove to be far too much for the wine and gold to handle at this point in the season.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment