This team has disgraced CLEVELAND tonight

[Littaguy714]

More than anything else the one thing I take away from last night is the players on this team, with the exception of Mo Williams, sent every Cavs fans a message:

They do not give a sh*t about the fans of this team or city.

If they think so little of all of us, why should anyone of us care or watch anything from here on in?

 

[DougHeil]

I too was disappointed but not shocked at the Cavs response to Lebron last night. They should not have acted the way they did. The best they should have done was to nod or say hello from a far to Lebron. Joking, hugging, laughing with him was unaccpetable from competitive athletes turned into serious rivals. Lebron hurt all of them just as bad as he hurt us the fans. Still I'm not surprised at the reaction.

NBA players take things a little differently than we as fans do. They are young, many times immature and really are looking to have as much fun as they can. They don't get caught up in all the drama because they either don't care or don't understand it. Lebron was their friend and in some cases still is. Many athletes, not just NBA players, are like this. Just watch a game between The Steelers and the Browns. Those guys are out hugging before and after the game. THey go to dinner together, they hit the clubs together. Rivalry in professional sports is not the same as it was and it's not the way a hard core fan wants it to be. The only true rivalrys happen in the High School and College level. Those are real. Those are fun to watch. When you make all the participates millionaires, it makes the competition level flatten out and people are playing for themselves and their bank accounts rather than the name on the front of their jersey.

So bash the Cavs players all you want but I really don't think many of you should be surprised by the reaction. Unfortunately, that's how professional athletes handle their business now a days.

Not every team. Replace the Cavs team of last night with the Celtics team OR the Lakers team. Is there a difference? Oh yeah. Those teams not only want to win in a big game, but they take great pride in trying to beat your face in. They both want to destroy, not just win. They play with fire when the setting and the game is the greatest. Our Cavs team is a bunch of pussies with the biggest pussie (shocking) seeming to be our head coach. For him to not give two shits about the coddling by his players and the playing with a complete lack of heart and desire is disgraceful, disgusting, pathetic. Gilbert needs to do something,,....... NOW.

I thought getting some sleep would help me a bit. Not. I feel worse this morning about this team.

 

[Silky Smooth]

After a night to think about it we expected way too much out of our team. We wanted them to ride or die for us but the problem is the were not willing to die for us and they played with the enemy. That's my biggest problem. They didn't play hard and they joked and talked with Lebron making him feel comfortable.

 

[Abdullah67]

Anybody hear Marv Albert reference James “sore elbow” as the reason for his Game 5 performance?….as if that wasn’t completely fabricated.

 

[Noonan]

This guy nails it:

James quickly quiets angry Cleveland fans

CLEVELAND -- This was long after the night had slipped irretrievably away from the 12 men dressed in burgundy uniforms and the 20,562 spectators who had sacrificed their voiceboxes to the cause. Two Cavaliers fans shook their heads, last-call beers in hand, sitting in the mezzanine behind one of the backboards at Quicken Loans Arena.

"Can I ask you a question?" one said. "The world jumped all over Derek Anderson the other night for laughing during a game. Tonight, we had players joking with LeBron James. Isn't that worse?"

"You got 20,000 of us all united in a cause, yelling our hearts out," the other added. "And we pay good money. And we have to see that?"

For many Cavaliers fans who weren't present last night for James' return to Ohio, a lot of the magic had already disappeared on the July night when James had not only deserted them, but did so publicly, their blood and tears on display for public inspection. The Cavs have played well enough, and the Heat have struggled enough, for denial to distract many others.

That's no longer possible. What we saw last night, on a bitterly cold night, was the final flogging of a fan base. Bad enough that James delivered a signature performance, 38 points and eight assists and five rebounds in only 30 minutes of play; bad enough that the Heat chose Homecoming Night to put together a near-perfect game in annihilating the overmatched Cavs 118-90.

No, there was also this: There were pockets of Heat fans who, in the fourth quarter, all but dared Cavs fans to attack them, and a few locals obliged. There was James, once more snubbing Cavs fans, saying on television afterward: "I just want to continue the greatness of myself here in Miami."

And there was this: Cavaliers players laughing and joking and hugging James, all in full view of a crowd that, at the least, wanted to believe the illusion that all fans cling to, that the athletes suffer as much as they do. It's always a hard sell. After this, it'll be damn near impossible for anyone in Cleveland to buy. A TV camera caught one of Cleveland's assistant coaches barking at James to "shut the [bleep] up."

He wouldn't tell his own players that. Maybe because he knows they're a lost cause.

The fans seemed to understand that as the night crawled on, as the Heat's lead expanded, as the Cavaliers dissolved into a mess. They had come here with the dual purpose of hoping to make The Q's walls rattle enough for James to notice, their chants had been clever ("Akron hates you!" "Scottie Pippen!") and cheeky ("De-lon-te!) and occasionally profane.

They booed James every time he touched the ball on offense, stealing an old college trick from the Palestra. There were signs everywhere ("Merry Quit-ness!" "The Lyin' King," "Queen James").

And it barely seemed to register. The Heat led by eight after one quarter, by 19 after two, by 30 after three. James sat down for good after that and by then the place was already eerily quiet except for the drunken confrontations in the upper bowls.

"It's nothing personal between me and the fans," James would say later. "It's never personal. They're frustrated and I understand that. I'm frustrated, too. We never did accomplish here what we wanted to."

In their final moment of inspiration, the crowd at The Q mocked James as Pippen, referring to his willingness to play Butch to Wade's Sundance, and before the insult was out of their mouths, James swished another 22-footer, the lead was back up to 25. And another layer of fight was beaten out of the home fans.

"It's sad," one of the Cavs fans in the mezzanine said, polishing off his brew, "that we care more than any of them care."

By then much of the anger was already gone at The Q. What remained as the final minutes clicked away was mostly sadness and the promise of a long winter watching lousy basketball. The circus would soon be leaving. The sadness would be staying.

 

[Green Lantern]

I knew right before the tap ,LeQuit went over and started hugging certain players and then said somethign to someone on the bench...that ticked me off...after that it made him feel welcomed and o.k with everything.. well it wasn't o.k with me..I say get rid of all of em..

 

[Ron Mexic]

I just tweeted to cavsdan:

Are you as sick to your stomach about the players joking with LBJ throughout the game as us fans are? Clean house, Dan.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

I see it like this: when you detect one case of mad cow disease, you have to annihilate the entire herd.

LeDouche infected the entire team with his stink, and they have to be put down, too. Good riddance.

 

[Typhoon]

Honestly. I dont even know who I hate most anymore. Le_ essentially came in like he was Jesus basically mocking us like "You can hate me all you want, I still love all of you. Anyone would be mad if my greatness left their team, and tonight I'm gonna prove to everyone why I left." And he did with ease, while the bench giggled it up like a bunch of bitches. No one cared, they probably got bent in Le_'s hotel room after game.

LeBron is LeBron, he's an arrogant douchebag we all know this.
Yet this team still loves him, I think that makes the team even worse than he is.

Is this a fucking joke? All fan support was lost after this game, nobody even gives a fuck about the Cavs anymore.

LeBron won everyone.

Im still a CAVS fan, as in fan of the organization. But I am no longer a fan of this team, fuck all of them except Mo. But he's still garbage that doesnt show up.

 

[gratefuldead]

i think its pretty darn obvious that every single one of our players would rather be on lebron's team. i sense no loyalty to cleveland at all. these guys were kissing his butt simply because they're hoping someway they will be with him in the future. if you think there isnt one player on our roster who wouldnt prefer playing in miami for the heat, you're delusional. they could care less about our fanbase being more rabid or devoted. its about living in miami, playing on tv, clinging to superstar nuts.

 

[Spencer Hawes]

100% complete rebuild. Get them all off the team. I'd rather see a roster full of D-Leaguers play with heart than this roster full of women.

 

[brownindian]

On the bright side, If we see anyone defending the players in our current roster saying that they are "building blocks" we can ask them to take their "talents" to south beach.

 

[McCav's fan]

LeBron just a playground bully
Jason Whitlock writes about the sports world from every angle, including those other writers can't imagine or muster courage to address. His columns are humorous, thought-provoking, agenda free, honest and unpredictable. You can e-mail Jason or follow him on Twitter.
PRINT RSS
52 comments »
Updated Dec 3, 2010 3:15 AM ET
CLEVELAND
Mostly, we die from what we don’t know, the things we choose to ignore or never took the time to learn.


LEBRON'S RETURN
LeBron dominates Cavs, quiets fans
Whitlock: LeBron a playground bully
Reiter: 'Bron ruins revenge fantasies
Photos: Check out the Cleveland fans
LeBron video: 'It's nothing personal'
Heat or 3Peat: Inside Heat/Lakers
Thursday night, an hour after LeBron James bullied the overmatched and cowardly Cleveland Cavaliers with a masterful 38-point, three-quarter explosion in The Return, King James continued his public-relations self-destruction.

“My intentions,” James said of The Decision that fueled a night of hate at Quicken Loans Arena and turned the NBA’s best player into a national villain, “was on point. Maybe the execution was a little off.”

James, just 25, has never heard or can’t comprehend the meaning of a very old cliche: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

In the aftermath of bludgeoning the Cavs, denying outraged and still-hurting Clevelanders a measure of revenge for his classless exit, James refused to jump on the highest road and apologize for the pain he caused the fans who loved him for seven years.

He won’t express remorse, he says, because his intentions were good. The Decision, he says, was created to help kids.

BP drilled for oil in The Gulf with the best intentions, too. The captain of the Titanic intended to get its passengers across the Atlantic Ocean in record speed. Jim Jones intended for his followers to drink Kool-Aid and go to heaven.

People apologize for the consequences of their behavior. James can’t grasp that because his immense, God-given talent allows him to negate the consequences of his improper actions.

He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. Fame and wealth reduce the consequences of ignorance. Most Cavs fans and Ohioans aren’t famous and wealthy. They lived vicariously through LeBron James. His uncaring departure ripped open old wounds of insecurity, of being The Mistake by the Lake.

Thursday night, as James powered the Heat to a 118-90 victory, James undercut the brilliance of his performance by mocking the Cavaliers with non-stop trash talk and taunting body language. Throughout the first half, he took every opportunity to stand in front of the Cavaliers bench and talk to his former teammates.

“From me it was,” James responded when asked if the trash talk was good-natured.

From the Cavs, not so much. An assistant coach told James to shut the hell up. James and Mo Williams seemed to have an uncomfortable pregame exchange. Boobie Gibson took the most interest in jawing back and forth with James.

James’ intentions were good. He wanted to create the impression that the signs, the “ass----” chants and the boos did not hurt him.

Instead, he looked like a bully.

Despite their early-season struggles, James and the Heat have perfected the art of beating up bad teams. They’re 11-1 against teams with sub-.500 records. The Heat are 12-8 overall. You do the math. Ponder what it says about the Heat.


Thursday night they embraced the villain role because they knew Batman was in San Antonio or Boston or New Orleans or Dallas or Los Angeles.

The Cavaliers, 7-11, did not want to win Thursday’s game with anywhere near the intensity of their fan base. If they did, someone on their roster would’ve planted James on his rear early in the game. Some Cavalier would’ve sent James a message.

James could smell the fear and conducted himself accordingly. Bullies feast on weaklings. One of my peers compared Thursday’s game to Mike Tyson walking across the ring and knocking out Michael Spinks in less than a minute.

Evander Holyfield never feared Tyson.

I’m not sure what to make of Thursday night. For my money, the most significant sign of progress for the Heat was the strong, high-energy play from big man Joel Anthony. He grabbed eight rebounds in 24 minutes. He can’t compensate for the loss of Udonis Haslem’s face-up jumper, but Anthony does provide toughness and rebounding.

For the most part, the game was irrelevant. The theatre and how James handled it was far more enlightening.

James learned in high school how to dominate inferior talent. We’re still waiting for proof he knows how to compete against equals.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/...d-cavaliers-miami-heat-bully-in-return-120210

 

[Surge]

These Cavs???

 

[SanduskyCav]

LeBron is a great player. Our players are a bunch of pussies.

They couldn't have made him feel more welcome than they did before the game.

I don't find it surprising that LeBron played his best game of the season when he finally found his comfort zone, the Cavs bench...