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Jason Lloyd's final thoughts

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Anyone know what Lloyd asked Blatt during post game when Blatt said "I won't answer that question." He looked visibly upset by the question.
 
Anyone know what Lloyd asked Blatt during post game when Blatt said "I won't answer that question." He looked visibly upset by the question.

Here:
2. It seems to be open hunting season on the league’s best player. Now the question remains: Who on his team will do something about it?

3. In a vacuum, the flagrant foul on James in this pivotal Eastern Conference swing game wouldn’t have been of great significance. But since it came three days after James Harden kicked the royal jewels, an alarming pattern is perhaps developing on both sides: teams going after James and no one on the Cavs doing anything about it.

4. Harden’s punishment was a flagrant-1 and ultimately a one-game suspension. Valanciunas’ foul doesn’t rise near the level of a suspension, but no one retaliated in defense of the league’s best player.

5. Part of the problem was the Cavs’ smaller lineup. With Timofey Mozgov on the bench and Kendrick Perkins out of the rotation entirely, Tristan Thompson was the only big on the floor at the time of the foul. Still, sooner or later the Cavs have to deliver a fastball to the opponents’ ribs.

6. “There’s a difference between a hard foul and a dirty play. Obviously that was a dirty play,” said Kendrick Perkins, the league’s resident savant on hard fouls. “We don’t have time for that type of s---.”

7. Perkins is out of the rotation because he’s not as good as the guys playing ahead of him. David Blatt is not going to juggle a rotation that is obviously working very well right now just so Perk can go thump someone. But it might eventually come to that.

8. “There’s a time and place you can get one off,” Perkins said when asked if it’s time to throw an elbow back at someone. “You just have to make sure it’s the right time. But at the end of the day you just try and go out there and play basketball. It’s a physical game and obviously (Valanciunas) was trying to send a message because he’d been getting beat out there in pick-and-rolls. But it’s just bull----. It ain’t cool.”

9. Blatt wouldn’t touch the topic. “I’m not going to answer that question,” he said when I asked if he believes in retaliation for hard fouls. “That’s a dangerous question. It’s not a question I’m going to answer.”

10. Valanciunas denied intent, just as Harden did on Sunday. “I wasn’t trying to hurt him,” Valanciunas said. “I was just trying to stop him from dunking the ball and I was protecting the rim and that’s it. I was just doing my job, protecting the rim, and it doesn’t matter how. I wasn’t trying to get anyone’s attention. An easy foul is not going to work on that player.”

11. Valanciunas raises a fair point. James is powerful enough to burst through most arm fouls when opponents are trying to stop him from getting to the rim – he did it again Tuesday against the Celtics. So where is the line between hard foul and dirty play?

12. James is used to all this. Teams have been coming at him for years. The Bulls’ Kirk Hinrich tackled him in a game two years ago to prevent a dunk, just one of countless hard fouls James has endured throughout his 12 years.

13. “I don’t want to get too much involved in it because I don’t want to cry about it,” James said. “There’s a lot of plays that just aren’t basketball plays. But the referees take care of it and decide what it is or not, that’s what we’ve got rules for. I have to maintain my focus and understand how important the game is but at the same time protect myself as well.”

14. James didn’t seem to mind that no one came to his defense tonight, but for someone so concerned with team building moments and developing camaraderie, watching one of his teammates drop the hammer on someone (should it happen to James again) would sure seem to go a long way toward that chemistry.

15. “You have to understand the game is more important than trying to deliver a hard foul,” James said. “At that point we all know everyone is looking for the reaction. It’s the old elementary school house rule that the second guy always gets caught. So you just relax and play the game.”

Ouch:
28. You know who would’ve got in Valanciunas’ face after that foul on LeBron? Dion Waiters. Talk to you Friday from Atlanta.
 
15. “You have to understand the game is more important than trying to deliver a hard foul,” James said. “At that point we all know everyone is looking for the reaction. It’s the old elementary school house rule that the second guy always gets caught. So you just relax and play the game.”


28. You know who would’ve got in Valanciunas’ face after that foul on LeBron? Dion Waiters.

Exactly.
 
I don't get Lloyd and his hard on for attacking the other team because of hard fouls. Its not like the Cavs on the court were pointing at LBJ laughing at him. There were words said and that was that. Also LOL at the Dion statement. If Waiters were here we would be in the 6th seed if lucky. The Waiters trade turned us into a legit contender.
 
I think it's silly too. It was a close game and securing the win comes first. LeBron knows that.
 
i also think T-Mo would have done something had he been on the court and considering he jumped in last time

The Two guys right there were Delly and Trisitan both non-fighter types but we def could've used a little more physical presence from Double T there but it's not like no one on the team left him hanging along in Houston

Sorry but OKC can keep Dion and I'll keep this team and I think LeBron would too
 
I'm always torn when it comes to how much the Cavs should react when guys take shots at LeBron. You want to get in their face and have a few words, but is it really worth it mixing it up with fugazi tough guys like Valanciunas?
Say a guy like Dion does get in their face, so what? He's already committed the foul and nobody is going to not take those cheap shots just because Dion or whoever is going to bark at them. Do you have Perkins elbowing guys' faces?
Really I think the solution is the the refs need to really take control and throw guys out when they make non-basketball plays. That's what's going to get this under control.
 
I love Lloyd's writeups after each and ever game, but his Dion comment has me puzzled and frankly annoyed. What's his point exactly? Like LBJ said, it's the teams job to win games, not to win a tough guy contest, anyway. So who cares. Let teams play cheap, let the refs handle it, and go get the best revenge possible, win.

Not that I'd have a problem with bringing Perkins in to give the refs an assist from time to time.
 
Lebron is impressively mature and mentally strong about all this physical stuff. Doesn't let it get into his head, if anything plays better afterwards.

But the refs can't let this continue. If they do then we should send Perkins out there to knock some peoples' heads off. This is the entire well-being of the franchise we're talking about. Hell, if Lebron gets a career-threatening injury, Gilbert probably loses a couple of hundred million in asset value right there, so if I were him I would take out a hit on anyone who starts head hunting Lebron.
 
Hey, @tn819 go check out Bob Cousy's MVP in 56-57 and go back to agreeing with what I said.

@BimboColesHair props on the history lesson, but since most people talk about this kind of statistic post merger and they didn't even collect a lot of statistics, the basis for comparison is slim
 
I love Lloyd's writeups after each and ever game, but his Dion comment has me puzzled and frankly annoyed. What's his point exactly? Like LBJ said, it's the teams job to win games, not to win a tough guy contest, anyway. So who cares. Let teams play cheap, let the refs handle it, and go get the best revenge possible, win.

Not that I'd have a problem with bringing Perkins in to give the refs an assist from time to time.
It's a fine line, because had Blatt suddenly subbed in Perk in the moments after the foul, every official, player and fan would know why he was coming in and they'd anticipate something about to go down. Furthermore, I believe Casey subbed Val out of the game immediately after the foul. The Cavs would have had to target someone on the Raps who really had nothing to do with the play.

It's different if it happens early in the game and then you can give it some time, making it less obvious. Both the Val and Harden situations happened basically at the most crucial moments late in the game. It's hard to react too blatantly. Now, if this were a playoff series where they had to come to Cleveland tomorrow or if we played them again later in the season? I could see utilizing Perk's unique "skillset" under those circumstances.

As for the Waiters comment, I wouldn't read too much into it. I think he was just saying that, for all of Dion's faults (and there were quite a few), he had an edge to him and he's a guy who would have likely been on the floor in that situation. None of the guys in the game in that moment for the Cavs have that kind of edge... for good or bad.

Lloyd is sharp enough to know that the Cavs are now essentially tied for 2nd in the conference because of that trade. Otherwise, we'd probably be on the road in the first round. It almost goes without saying at this point that the Waiters/pick for Mozgov/Shumpert/Smith trade was probably the best and most meaningful in the league all season by any team.

It might have been the single most important trade in the last several years depending on what happens in the playoffs over the next few years.
 

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