(no subject)
This is basically a basketball journal for me now.
Tonight's Cleveland/Miami game was my most anticipated regular season match up since the Heat/Lakers Christmas Day meeting after Shaq left the Lakers. I feel like that one had more drama despite the immense magnitude we like to build up on whatever is happening now. The reason, which wasn't apparent to me until after, was this Cavs team is a joke.
I don't mean that in a disparaging way of saying they're bad, although they're vastly under-talented in a league swelling with more talent than it has in 15 years (maybe 25). They're a joke because they can't take things seriously. They couldn't the past 4 years, and they can't now.
Charles Barkley said it best at halftime when he said LeBron basically told his teammates they weren't good enough. Despite having the best regular season record over the previous two seasons, no, not good enough. Varejao, Hickson, Mo, I can't win with you. I can't three peat, I probably can't win back to back, and I don't know if this year or next year will be the year, so bye. Sure, it's a business decision. Sure, there's no animosity on James toward them, I can't imagine there is much because it's not in his happy go lucky nature. But as competitors how do THOSE guys not take affront to that? As men who want to be the best in their sport, how do they not get downright pissed at their best chance of that happening walk out on them?
Going back to that Christmas Day Lakers/Heat game, man was there fire that day. Will Kobe/Shaq shake? Will Shaq foul Kobe hard when he drives the lane? We know these guys hate each other, what's gonna happen? That was compelling and dramatic and competitive. It was a fight.
Tonight, no competitive edge. No fire, no passion, no desire to match their crowd's energy. It isn't that the Heat are so much better than them, it's that the Heat outhustled them. That showed in forced turnovers and rebounding where the Cavs were murdered. The Cavs should have wanted to send a message to LeBron. Byron Scott, who was hired to sway LeBron, should have felt the scorn and wanted to beat him. Unfortunately their efforts seemed like a December game....against the Bucks. If Bird left the Celtics to play with Dominique, you know McHale would have dropped his ass in the Garden the first time he drove the lane. Unfortunately in today's NBA not enough players have that pride.
For the first time since LeDecision I felt I understood something that led me to agree with LeBron. He was playing with a bunch of guys who were only as good as LeBron would let them be and didn't want to make anything on their own. Soft, timid, and shying from the moment. Maybe they took on his persona, or maybe that was just them all along. Time will tell. But as flawed as this Heat team is, as bad of a decision I still feel it was to not choose the Bulls or the Knicks instead, I understood. I understood why those guys now seem worth giving up on.
Maybe next time someone is dropping 38 on you, you won't take to his jokes on the sidelines while he's doing it. In the world of pool we call that a hustle, which is what happened to the Cavs Thursday night. They not only got outhustled but flat out HUSTLED.
Tonight's Cleveland/Miami game was my most anticipated regular season match up since the Heat/Lakers Christmas Day meeting after Shaq left the Lakers. I feel like that one had more drama despite the immense magnitude we like to build up on whatever is happening now. The reason, which wasn't apparent to me until after, was this Cavs team is a joke.
I don't mean that in a disparaging way of saying they're bad, although they're vastly under-talented in a league swelling with more talent than it has in 15 years (maybe 25). They're a joke because they can't take things seriously. They couldn't the past 4 years, and they can't now.
Charles Barkley said it best at halftime when he said LeBron basically told his teammates they weren't good enough. Despite having the best regular season record over the previous two seasons, no, not good enough. Varejao, Hickson, Mo, I can't win with you. I can't three peat, I probably can't win back to back, and I don't know if this year or next year will be the year, so bye. Sure, it's a business decision. Sure, there's no animosity on James toward them, I can't imagine there is much because it's not in his happy go lucky nature. But as competitors how do THOSE guys not take affront to that? As men who want to be the best in their sport, how do they not get downright pissed at their best chance of that happening walk out on them?
Going back to that Christmas Day Lakers/Heat game, man was there fire that day. Will Kobe/Shaq shake? Will Shaq foul Kobe hard when he drives the lane? We know these guys hate each other, what's gonna happen? That was compelling and dramatic and competitive. It was a fight.
Tonight, no competitive edge. No fire, no passion, no desire to match their crowd's energy. It isn't that the Heat are so much better than them, it's that the Heat outhustled them. That showed in forced turnovers and rebounding where the Cavs were murdered. The Cavs should have wanted to send a message to LeBron. Byron Scott, who was hired to sway LeBron, should have felt the scorn and wanted to beat him. Unfortunately their efforts seemed like a December game....against the Bucks. If Bird left the Celtics to play with Dominique, you know McHale would have dropped his ass in the Garden the first time he drove the lane. Unfortunately in today's NBA not enough players have that pride.
For the first time since LeDecision I felt I understood something that led me to agree with LeBron. He was playing with a bunch of guys who were only as good as LeBron would let them be and didn't want to make anything on their own. Soft, timid, and shying from the moment. Maybe they took on his persona, or maybe that was just them all along. Time will tell. But as flawed as this Heat team is, as bad of a decision I still feel it was to not choose the Bulls or the Knicks instead, I understood. I understood why those guys now seem worth giving up on.
Maybe next time someone is dropping 38 on you, you won't take to his jokes on the sidelines while he's doing it. In the world of pool we call that a hustle, which is what happened to the Cavs Thursday night. They not only got outhustled but flat out HUSTLED.