Well...at least Z played well once

[moohead]

It's just doing it twice in a row that's the problem. Seriously. Part of me is simply being a cow here. But Z was pushed around (literally) and didn't show up. How does an All Star get only 10 and 5 in 30 minutes against a centerless team???

And on a different note (hooray), why doesn't someone tell Damon Jones to fight through screens every so often? Perimeter defense dies with him in the game. Another McInnis.

Welcome to the road and the West Coast. Now lucky if we get one win out of 3.

Moo

 

[Painaxl]

While I'll admit Z didn't do a lot with the ball last night, he certainly didn't get a lot of opportunities to do it. Beyond the first quarter I hardly saw Z get the ball down low.

As for Damon, on the other hand, I kept wondering how many times the Sonics were going to run that SAME screen play for Flip Murray before Jones got the idea. The funniest thing was, he NEVER DID. They put in Snow. That was ridiculous.

Oh yeah, this is my first post. Hi.

 

[Maximus]

That loss goes to Mike Brown. Everyone knew the Sonics were going to hoist 3's and he had no answer.....except to let his players try to shoot 3's too. He made no adjustments the whole game. We had no business shooting 25 3 pointers last night. He should have ran more plays Z's way and gotten him more than 6 shots. I also think he has to use Z differently that having him pick and rolling at the 3 piont line. Get him the open on the block not at 22 feet. The reason we came back and beat the Clips the other night was we pounded inside and made free throws....last night we tried to outshoot one of the best perimeter shooting teams in the league in their house....hmmm....not a good idea. It's Mike Brown's job to get the Sonics to play our game....unfortunately they had us playing their game last night.

Lebron has to start taking the ball to the hole in the 4th. He needs to drive and get fouled, he can't keep on hoisting 3's....he's not a very good 3 shooter. What he can do is out muscle people taking it strong to the rack. You get the opponents in foul trouble and you get FREE points. He was 0-5 from 3 point range last night.

 

[moohead]

Is it the offensive set, or the lack of execution (favorite Browns question, too).

Is Z clearing enough space down low? I notice a lot of times he catches, holds, and waits too long to find an open man. Even the ESPN announcers were saying how slow every facet of his game seemed. By the time he starts his move, a double is inevitable, and he can't pass off the dribble.

We seem to have no toughness out there. Fortson's rough housing did not fire Z up at all. He meekly smiled. We need a guy to stand up to a goon like that, and get the team going. Jordan had Cartright and Oakley. You didn't mess with them.
We have no nasty boys.

Damon Jones is an idiot. He literally gave up the game on the defensive end, while he's bragging about hitting 3's. One time, while he was clapping for himself, Ridenour blew right by him for a lay in. Pathetic.

No defensive effort=no road wins.

Moo

 

[Cleveland56]

the Cavaliers can't stop anyone. That is their main problem. Their offense is fine. They are averaging 102.7 points a game.

 

[Maximus]

Is it the offensive set, or the lack of execution (favorite Browns question, too).

Is Z clearing enough space down low? I notice a lot of times he catches, holds, and waits too long to find an open man. Even the ESPN announcers were saying how slow every facet of his game seemed. By the time he starts his move, a double is inevitable, and he can't pass off the dribble.

We seem to have no toughness out there. Fortson's rough housing did not fire Z up at all. He meekly smiled. We need a guy to stand up to a goon like that, and get the team going. Jordan had Cartright and Oakley. You didn't mess with them.
We have no nasty boys.

Damon Jones is an idiot. He literally gave up the game on the defensive end, while he's bragging about hitting 3's. One time, while he was clapping for himself, Ridenour blew right by him for a lay in. Pathetic.

No defensive effort=no road wins.

Moo

It's hard to clear space down low when you aren't playing down low. I thought Z was fired up....couple hard fouls....T'd up....and almost tossed.

Damon Jones is an idiot. That goofy ass 3 sign he does after every 3 is really annoying. Why fire up the other fans? Every once in a while....at home....maybe. But after every single 3? Get your ass back and play D instead of talking to the fans. The leg kick is pointless....accomplishes nothing....cept for make him look stupid. Coach needs to have a sit down with Damon and tell him to focus more on the court and less on being the "Court Jester".

 

[moohead]

Damon is what my Dad calls a "pop bottle". He's a self absorbed head case who has ended up not wanted anywhere. We can see why.

It is hard to justify a one dimensional player with a bad attitude. it's like Ricky Davis Part Deux. He seems oblivious to the ass he's making of himself.

Moo

 

[Painaxl]

We seem to have no toughness out there.
Damon Jones is an idiot. He literally gave up the game on the defensive end, while he's bragging about hitting 3's. One time, while he was clapping for himself, Ridenour blew right by him for a lay in. Pathetic.
No defensive effort=no road wins.

So true. Other teams are getting physical with us and we're backing out. As much as I hate to say it, a Traylor or Dale Davis would have really helped there. Not to get on Alan Henderson, who has done a fair job playing out of position, but he's not an (wait for it...) "enforcer."

As far as Damon goes, I really don't understand how he thinks that he should start. His defense is about on par with McGinnis' (maybe a little better) and his antics are getting old real fast.

 

[B Mac]

Moo- Im not sure Ive seen you say more than a few good things about the Cavs. As a supposed all-around sports fan I would think you would understand the game of basketball a little more than you are showing, and really I think you do but just have a personal vendetta on Z. How in the world can you say he wasnt fired up last night? He got himself a T he made some very hard fouls, the next step would have been for him to get thrown out and then you would have been on him for that. I cant believe we didnt set up plays for Z, especially after the Clippers game and how well it worked there. My guess is tonight that we go right back to Z early and often as we should every game.

Maybe you should pick a new target to bash since it seems thats all you can talk about with the Cavs, and no ones buying your trashing of Z anymore. How about you pick on Damon you seem to have started in nicely on him, and at least the stuff you are saying about him is more warrented.

 

[Wine and Gold]

The ppoints of issue in this game involve Lebron James continuing to play lazy defense ....he's the leader out on the court, not Damon Jones. This team goes as Lebron goes ...when he dogs it on defense, the team takes on that same mindset ...when he decides to step it up, so does the team. The Clippers game is a great example. Lebron didn't start to care or work hard on the defensive end until about the 5 minute mark of the 4th qtr. It's like night and day ...from when he plays his usual lazy and uninspired brand of defense, to when he actually steps it up and plays hard. For the most part ...Lebron is a bad defensive player ..but not because of inexperience ...it's due to just flat out lazy play on the defensive end.

I

 

[highplainsdrifter]

You cant blame Z for this loss. The Cavs got sucked in to playing Sonic ball, and they didnt get the ball into Z enough. The Sonics controlled the tempo pretty much the whole game. It seemed at the end Coach Brown told the players to switch all screens, matching up Damon with Lewis. And Flip Murray played great, smoked LeBron on a layup near the end.

I agree Damon needs to stop the 3 sign after every make. Keep your head in the game. It reminds me of the DMiles head bop.

The Cavaliers just seem uncomfortable on the road, big difference than at home. theyre like 2 different teams. They need to start exerting their will on the opposition, rather than getting controlled by the home team. They gonna have to fire themselves up. Gotta get MEAN! Nice guys dont win on the road.

 

[highplainsdrifter]

We have no nasty boys.
Moo

I agree. This is why i wanted Jahidi White in preseason. Zendon is riding the pine. We dont need dirty players like punkass Fortson. But hard nosed players whove got your back and will not back down when it gets physical.

 

[Rimage]

It's just doing it twice in a row that's the problem. Seriously. Part of me is simply being a cow here. But Z was pushed around (literally) and didn't show up. How does an All Star get only 10 and 5 in 30 minutes against a centerless team???

And on a different note (hooray), why doesn't someone tell Damon Jones to fight through screens every so often? Perimeter defense dies with him in the game. Another McInnis.

Welcome to the road and the West Coast. Now lucky if we get one win out of 3.

Moo

They didn't get him the ball. I mean look at how many damn threes were shot. Look at the number of shots Z took. Z essentially got Fortson ejected...got Collison in foul trouble, but still he got very few touches. Did you see how many stupid cross court passes were made by the Cavs? Is that our game. Z suffers as much blame as the entire team does.

 

[Rimage]

Who is the Spur's "nasty boy"...Narz? Bowen? Please. We don't need a goon...Fortson got ejected...good for him...what a marvelous player.

 

[Kypus]

Wow, not a good start to the road trip. I was hoping to see them show some offensive sets, but instead they reverted to what looked like last year's defense. Only 1 or 2 guys were actively defending at once, they were reacting instead of forcing the whole time. Ridnour was in complete control almost the whole game, shooting the jumper every so often just to keep us honest. And for some reason we got scared, I have no idea why.

And wow, I love Z just as much as the next fan, but dammit, Seattle's interior defense is a joke. He should have been *owning* them on the block. Yes we were settling for too many outside shots, but Z bobbled just about everything they did get to him. He was way out of his spin-around/duck-under rhythm.

That play Fortson got thrown out on was a joke. All he did was push Z out of the way with his right hand and Z crashed out of bounds because he's tall and unsteady on his feet when running. Z knows he can't afford to get too mad, the simple truth is Fortson and most centers could have beat the piss out of him. And no one on the court at the time would have stopped him. One wrong fall and there goes the 10 million dollar foot, or even a broken leg. We need an enforcer in the worst way- wonder if Zendon is up to the challenge? Not that Mike Brown would ever condone that.