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The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to get swept unless they can score some points. Zydrunas Ilgauskas was the only Cavaliers player who took a minimum of 5 shots and made more than he missed. In 2 games, Cleveland has put up a grand total of 145 points, which the Warriors can put up in 3 quarters.
This is exactly what happens when it’s only LeBron James carrying you most of the season and you don’t do anything consistently. Last night was a disgrace. Cleveland had a 21-9 lead in the first quarter, they were hitting shots left and right and the Celtics were turning the ball over and missing easy baskets. How do you lose by 16 points and only put up 73?
It’s not the Celtics defense (okay, some of it is), because the Hawks were able to drop 100 on them twice before their game 7 implosion, but it’s the Cavaliers slow down everything offense that will lose them the series. These are typical Cleveland possessions with the ball inbounded at full court:
Inbounds pass to James, passes it to Gibson, Ilgauskas on the low posts catches Gibson’s pass, takes 6 seconds to back in on Garnett, travels.
Inbounds pass to Szczerbiak, West is open in the corner, finds James at the top of the key, James drives to the basket with 4 defenders around him. James then puts up a wild pass that scurries out of bounds, turnover.
Inbounds to West, James handles it with :17 on the shot clock, gets it to Wallace, back out to James with :09, puts up a three, hits the backboard.
They are just terrible in trying to be fast paced. LeBron has been pathetic in this series, the Celtics are just ripping him limb from limb. The free throws aren’t working, Wally Szczerbiak is about as reliable a defender as Ben Wallace is a free throw shooter in crunch time. Mike Brown has a disaster on his hands, and when the offseason comes along, draft some BETTER players for James, and sign or trade for BETTER veterans for James, like the Lakers got Pau Gasol and drafted Jordan Farmar. What has happened? The Lakers are a BETTER team, Kobe has BETTER teammates (Kwame Brown is gone is what I’m trying to say here).
Cleveland now is in a position where they can’t afford to lose anymore, because they have proven to me, they can’t play a full 48 minutes on the road, and they flat out cannot shoot when it matters.