Game over. Many things went wrong for the Cavs tonight. I hope this sends a message to Mike Brown, the team, and the whole staff that we are not a perfect team, and need improvement.
We played with no energy at all to start the game, and the Heat did. I was surprised. I thought that after such a tough fought game two days ago, the Cavs would come ready, and with energy. The Cavs played poor defensively, and couldn't hit a shot. I blame Mike Brown for not getting the team pumped up, and yelling at them to drive to the basket! LeBron was the only one who did that. Happy birthday LeBron, a game that one would think was a carbon copy of games a few years ago when LeBron had no help. LeBron and Delonte were the only two who played good.
Through out the whole game, we could not hit a freaking jump shot. That is when we have to drive! No one figured it out. Sure, besides LeBron, we don't have a great driver on this team, but Mo, Delonte, and Boobie could have done much more. As some one mentioned earlier in this thread, Gerald Wallace would be great for situations like these. Need someone to drive to the hoop? Someone to contain Dwyane Wade? G-Force is your man.
Austin Carr said at the end of the game that the Cavs dug themselves into to deep of a whole to come back from. While I agree that it wasn't good that we got down by that much, we cut the lead down to 1-point in the fourth quarter. We dug ourselves out of the hole, but as quickly as we climbed out, we fell back in! I thought that cutting the lead to one would be a huge momentum changer for the Cavs, but after the Heat went on what? A 9-0 run? Rediculous.
Boobie Gibson, where were you tonight? 24 minutes of bad defensive play, a crucial bricked hook shot, 1-7 from the floor when it counted (3-9 total, but two threes when it was over). I'm going to give you the break since you're still probably sore, but when you see the you can't make a shot, quit shooting!
Call me crazy, but this Heat team does not scare me at all for the playoffs. I doubt that we will play them, unless they pull a first-round upset, but they have a lot of weaknesses. First, Mario Chalmers, Michael Beasley, and Daequan Cook. 3 of Miami's big minute rotational players. Mario and Michael are rookies while Cook is a sophomore. A lot of young, inexperienced guys in this league choke in the playoffs. You can't count on it, but it does happen. Also, they don't have a center. If we were smart today, we could have fed Z every time. Z should dominate this team. Finally, compare position by position, and the Cavs are better at every spot but SG.
Very disappointing game, but hopefully they learn from this. Luckily we have an easy week and a half with Chicago, @Washington, then Charlotte to get ready for the big Boston game.
Oh, and one last thing. I'm going to try to stay as positive I can after this loss. Who honestly thought the Cavs would not get upset at all the whole season. Every elite team goes through dry-spells, and hopefully the Cavs are just getting it out of there system, and are ready to start rolling.
Go Cavs!