Game 27 | Cavaliers @ Soni.. err Thunder Dec. 21st, 7:00PM (ET)

[Nicky]

I'm so sick of Austin Carr's "Throwin' the hammer down" phrase.

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

Mike Brown pisses me off to no end. Seriously? Having LBJ play almost the entire 4th quarter while the game has been well in hand for the past four to five minutes? This has been a trend for the past couple of games. Browns rotations are different now, with LBJ starting the fourth, and playing until there is only 2 minutes left in the game. Watch as LBJ's minutes approach the near 40 range again. Book it.

I noticed this as well. Win is great, team is playing well, etc. etc. but.....Mike Brown needlessly putting wear and tear on LBJ is a bad trend.

The last couple games he has been doing that and I don't get why. JJ could have easily filled in 4-5 mins, or Pavs, etc. In fact I think Lebron played the whole 2nd half?

 

[KingSimba]

Lebron giving his shoes away again lol

 

[Corey]

[Tom Hamilton]BALLGAME![/Tom Hamilton]

And the Cavaliers open up an 8 game lead over the Pistons in the Central Division!
We're now 23-4, and have a winning streak of 3.

Tuesday.
4.

 

[Mr. Glass]

It wasn't that pretty, but we outscored 'em in each quarter.

 

[GaryBriggs]

i think that the starters did not get the job done in the first three quarters, the game was not out of reach, so the starters don't get to rest.

that's just a guess, but that seems to be how MB rolls - if they do what they need to do, good. if they don't, they'll play.

they didn't get the job done on the glass, which is all about effort. If they don't give the effort, they don't get the reward.

 

[Karma]

Solid road win against a team that played hard and never quit. I'll take that effort.

Houston up next will certainly test us.

 

[KingSimba]

I noticed this as well. Win is great, team is playing well, etc. etc. but.....Mike Brown needlessly putting wear and tear on LBJ is a bad trend.

The last couple games he has been doing that and I don't get why. JJ could have easily filled in 4-5 mins, or Pavs, etc. In fact I think Lebron played the whole 2nd half?

Lebron is smart enough to know the game is in hand so he doesnt give alot of effort in thos last 4 min. He knows not to do anything to risk injury just bring the ball up court, pass, shoot, get a rebound if it is an easy one. He is a smart player and he wont risk injury lby going all out in a double digit lead with 3-4 min left

 

[KU_216]

I noticed this as well. Win is great, team is playing well, etc. etc. but.....Mike Brown needlessly putting wear and tear on LBJ is a bad trend.

The last couple games he has been doing that and I don't get why. JJ could have easily filled in 4-5 mins, or Pavs, etc. In fact I think Lebron played the whole 2nd half?

Finally! Someone who agrees with me. For example, he played 42 minutes tonight, and all but 38 seconds of the fourth. For christ's sake, the game was decided with 5 minutes left in the fourth. It's not only putting more unecessary wear and tear on LeBron, it's also opening up the possibility of an injury. The longer he's out there, the greater the chance he can get injured. It pisses me off so bad.

 

[Blue Bomber]

LeBron needs to push those new shoes out the door for Nike :chuckles:

 

[Redz West is Best]

i think that the starters did not get the job done in the first three quarters, the game was not out of reach, so the starters don't get to rest.

that's just a guess, but that seems to be how MB rolls - if they do what they need to do, good. if they don't, they'll play.

they didn't get the job done on the glass, which is all about effort. If they don't give the effort, they don't get the reward.

They Won. They won each quarter. Game was never in doubt in 2nd half. Job Done.

 

[Redz West is Best]

But it's not on the boxscore so most wont realise it. They'll be just saying West is ballin! (which he is offesnively)

I agree that Sasha helped to get a better matchup in there, but again the Sonics were using alot of energy trying to exploit that matchup rather than playing within the flow. Things were stable when Mo was out there just as much as when Sasha was in.

Minnesota and then again tonight tried to exploit the delonte matchup in the beginning of the game but then never went back to it ever the rest of the game.

If the delonte mismatch creates a 3pointer for Jeff Green..i can live with that. He hit a couple tonight, I'd let him take that everytime.

And yes West was ballin more so in the 2nd half creating steals, making shots, and creating some opportunities for others. I didn't notice any problems defensively in the 2nd half regarding west.

 

[Karma]

I agree that Sasha helped to get a better matchup in there, but again the Sonics were using alot of energy trying to exploit that matchup rather than playing within the flow. Things were stable when Mo was out there just as much as when Sasha was in.

Minnesota and then again tonight tried to exploit the delonte matchup in the beginning of the game but then never went back to it ever the rest of the game.

If the delonte mismatch creates a 3pointer for Jeff Green..i can live with that. He hit a couple tonight, I'd let him take that everytime.

And yes West was ballin more so in the 2nd half creating steals, making shots, and creating some opportunities for others. I didn't notice any problems defensively in the 2nd half regarding west.

This certainly wasn't a dig at your man West. You read through the game threads whilst watching the game and most just see the glaring obvious stuff (West hot shooting) but miss the solid defensive play. Again this was not a Sasha vs West thing at all, both did their jobs for sure tonight.

 

[-Akronite-]

Finally! Someone who agrees with me. For example, he played 42 minutes tonight, and all but 38 seconds of the fourth. For christ's sake, the game was decided with 5 minutes left in the fourth. It's not only putting more unecessary wear and tear on LeBron, it's also opening up the possibility of an injury. The longer he's out there, the greater the chance he can get injured. It pisses me off so bad.

The guy usually plays over 40 minutes, and has been practically having a vacation this year. It's not unnecessary wear and tear, it's making sure the game is held on to, but every time we got a lead, they fought back and Mike Brown made sure LeBron beat them until they died. That's when JJ was thrown in.

Seriously, you are worried about injury from extended minutes? This was even extended minutes for LeBron, it was regular minutes, he's just been playing a lot less this year. Cool off he's fine, we won, we're going home after another night's rest and will face off against a good opponent. Why don't we focus on that?

 

[KU_216]

The guy usually plays over 40 minutes, and has been practically having a vacation this year. It's not unnecessary wear and tear, it's making sure the game is held on to, but every time we got a lead, they fought back and Mike Brown made sure LeBron beat them until they died. That's when JJ was thrown in.

Seriously, you are worried about injury from extended minutes? This was even extended minutes for LeBron, it was regular minutes, he's just been playing a lot less this year. Cool off he's fine, we won, we're going home after another night's rest and will face off against a good opponent. Why don't we focus on that?

Just because these are "regular" minutes for LeBron, that justifies it? Did Mike Brown not say he'd like to keep LBJ under 40 minutes a game this season? Then why is LeBron playing 43 minutes against OKC, when the game had been decided half way into the fourth? He did the same thing against Denver, and the same thing against Minnesotta. Not to mention LeBron arguably takes the most damage (other then Dwight), then any other player in the league on a given night. For crying out loud, he had back problems at 23 years old last season. That's not normal. When you have the opportunity to rest your superstar, especially when you're up big, then you did it. It can only pay dividends later on in the season when the going get's rough.