Cavs Scratching Back; Indians Continue Spiral
What a game…That’s all I can say. After being outplayed for about 90 of the first 96 minutes of the Eastern Conference Semi’s by the Pistons, the Cavs spat right in the face of the Mighty Pistons, winning the way Detroit usually does. Ugly. Defense, efficient offense at crunch time and your superstar taking over when he had to. LeBron James continues to amaze. In what might have been his best 48 minutes of basketball in his career, James 3-dubbed the Pistons, while at the same time playing the kind of D that will become a constant later in his career. Even more impressively, the Cavs stepped up without Larry Hughes, back in St. Louis after the sudden death of his brother. No one is saying this, so let me be the one: Injuries and tragedies aside, the Cavs HAVE to be kicking themselves for giving Hughes 60 Mil in the offseason. Before the injury, the Cavs were 18-10 with Hughes in the starting lineup. After acquiring Flip Murray and inserting him into the starting line-up, the Cavs are 18-9, including Game 3, and during a much tougher stretch. I love what Larry brings to the table, and wish him the best at this tough time, but what does Larry bring to the table that Flip Murray does not?!?
Game 4 is tonite, and Rasheed Wallace not only guarunteeed a victory in Game 4, but in Game 5 as well…Easy ‘Sheed. You might be right, but I’m sure your teammates don’t want you lighting a fire under King James, and to me, this is a direct slap in the face of James….Let’s see how he reacts…
Things have finally hit ROCK BOTTOM over at the Jake. The losing streak now at 6, the Tribe is festering 4 games under .500. After a 6-1 start to the season, the Tribe is 11-20, and that is against mediocre competition at best. The Bullpen has been awful, and when they do get some pitching, they forget how to score. The One-Run Loss bug has crept up again as well, with the Tribe losing 3 of the 6 by a single tally. I know it is still early, but last year proved that no matter how well you play late in the year, you cannot bury yourself too deeply early. With the next 7 games against KC and Pittsburgh, the time is now for the Tribe to turn it around. To me, 5-2 is the LEAST! 6-1 is the expectation. 4-3 would be a disappointment in my book.
