W Clippers 105 Cavaliers 112 OT

[NarlCavs]

Z was huge tonight. I guess there won't be too much bashing tonight. Kamen is a decent young C and Z dominated him. Brand was pretty much unstoppable but after Brown put Z on him in the 4th I'm pretty sure Brand only scored 2 more points with Z on him.

Cavs seemed to be playing well but the Clips were right there throughout and almost pulled off a win. Offense was more efficient tonight than previous 2 games. Perimeter D continues to be a problem. Cassell had a fairly easy time against both Snow and Jones. LeBron did a terrible job when defending Maggette. Cavs are lucky Maggette committed a couple of dumb fouls to get him in foul trouble. It's tough to watch Maggette and know that the Cavs should have had him instead of Langdon in the draft.

Looked like Gooden was benched but late in the game he was shown with ice on his foot. No word on any injury though. Gooden was having his worst game of the season.

Nice win but things still seem slightly off. Clippers are a solid team with a good starting lineup (bench is weak) but Cavs still should have had an easier time since Clips were on the road on the 2nd night of a back to back. Dunleavy has to be considered one of the better coaches in the NBA for the job he's doing.

 

[Maximus]

The coaches had talked to Z the last few days and said they would get him more involved, he was understandably getting frustrated by his unclear role in the offense. Looks like it worked.

Elton Brand scored his 31st point a minute into the 4th quarter and didn't score again until 2 minutes to go in overtime.....Z completely shut him down.

Drew did hurt his foot, I left early after the game and didn't get the report....he may have been faking so Elton wouldn't drop fitty on him.

Lebron's man-to-man defense was atrocius....pathetic....non-existent!

Perimeter D still suspect.

I talked to Ira, he said he could play in a week but they're making him wait 2 to get into game shape....he wasn't thrilled about that.

Key to victory: With 2:00 to go the Cavs were losing by 3.....during the timeout they flashed a clip of Maximus from Gladiator on the jumbotron.....Cavs ralley and win. Conicidence? I think not!

 

[Karma]

Drew Gooden was nursing a sore ankle but was quoted saying he would not miss any matches. So running scared from Brand was pretty accurate.

 

[bubabinski]

well now that karma got 30+ posts for updating us (kinda like sports center, without steware scot). that game was a grat win, reminds me of that orlando game 3 weeks ago, before the browns steelers game...

 

[LyXo]

Nice, close game. It was made boring throughout the whole thing though. A lot of people didn't show up to the game.. they just picked up their bobbleheads and left.. Losers.

But the refs made it kinda tedious, so many fouls, no flow to the game. At least it was close. It was only when there were 40 seconds left that the crowd really got into it.

Z was extremely solid throughout the game. This guy sitting next to me was bashing him the whole time... saying how slow he is, etc. etc. etc. Z being perfect from the line and garnering 29 points 10 boards really shut him up good.

Donyell's putback was masterful. Got the crowd going real well after continuing his slump through the game up until that point. After that, everything was money.

Hughes' slam was a nice cap to utter home domination. The crowd getting realy rowdy towards the end gave the Cavs a lot of energy on both ends, making sure that we'd come back, send it to overtime, and dominate. On Z bobblehead night, we struck gold. Last year, it was a huge shot in the waning moments of regulation. This year, stalwart defense on the last play.

 

[highplainsdrifter]

Key to victory: With 2:00 to go the Cavs were losing by 3.....during the timeout they flashed a clip of Maximus from Gladiator on the jumbotron.....Cavs ralley and win. Conicidence? I think not!

Are you serious Big Max?! Good to have you on our side, fighting for the glory of the Cavs Empire!!!

Lesson to the competition: dont f*ck with Maximus! :chuckles:

 

[highplainsdrifter]

Donyell Marshall saved our asses again, like he did @Orlando. I think he is living up to the billing as the "Cavalier Robert Horry". Z was huge. Hopefully this win will give us momentum for the 3 game West Coast trip.

 

[MarkPrice25]

Good win against a solid team, and that's all we could ask for. After the first quarter, Z stopped pounding the ball and began to take it strong to the hole. He gets in trouble when he dribbles too much on the block. Also, he needs to establish himself CLOSER to the bucket when he posts up. But, Z was nails and showed why he is one of the top centers in the game.

LeBron was awful on Magette ALL NIGHT. He was just about daring him to take wide-open threes. But, The King came through in crunchtime. Marshall was huge along with Larry.

Oh, by the way, Elton Brand is pretty good isn't he?

 

[ootbttnlagitnbasf]

we are the best. especially at home on bobblehead nite.

our offense can't be stopped when the refs make the right calls and get us to the line. having three players each with more double digit foul shot attempts is sweet and shows that we are a team that attacks the basket. not a team of outside chukkers.

z was our best player tonite, which says a lot about a team that has the King on it. z dominated and the clippers didn't have an answer for him.

Lebron and damon and marshall will be better on nites when their shots are falling. but Lebron still made his average and he almost had ten assists and the team won so he has to be happy.

elton brand is a great player but he is a short power forward which is one of the reasons why the clippers have never made the playoffs with him. he has struggled to contain the power forwards in the west the last few years. the bigger players wear him down and he is not as effective at the end of games. he has great hands, great soft touch around the hoop and is a great offensive player, but when you have other talent on your team and don't make the playoffs, it is obvious that there are other aspects of your game that are weak. once that pattern emerges, players start padding their stats and shooting for individual honors like allstar appearances. brand would be a better player if he played for a tougher coach that forced the team to be more cohesive and not be a collection of individuals. the individual approach works fine for a year or so, but then the players start competing amongst themselves for stats. watch for magette and brand and cassell and company to do poorly next year when they try to give control of the offense to livingston.

it's the difference between good players and good team players.

10-4 is so fine, giving us the third best record in pro hoops. finally getting our due.

 

[B Mac]

I got to go to my second game of the year last night, the first one being the blow out LeBron bobblehead night against the Sonics, and last night the Z bobbledhead OT win against the Clips. Some things from the game.
Z- I loved how we went to him early and often. You could definatly tell that Coach Brown got the hint that we have a big Lithuanian All-Star, we should use him. The Clips had no match for him and he carried us all night. His D actually looked well above average as well. He got screwed over on a few calls but hey thats life.
Marshall- I felt bad for this guy for the first 3 quarters. You could see him struggling and slapping his hands together for every missed shot, let alone the crowd grumbling each time he missed. But that all changed and he became one of the heros. Glad to see the vet working through the struggles.
Luke/Sasha- One of these guys needs to step up. Luke just flat out looks scared out there. He had a few open looks in his limited minutes and everyone in the Q was yelling shoot but yet he didnt. Sasha was at least active, but picked up 2 quick fouls. At least we know hes not afraid to shoot.
Gooden- He came out looking bad, and we missed him all night. I think with a healthy Drew we would have pulled this one off in the 4th.
Hughes/LeBron- Well they got it done in the clutch again. That fake handoff play by Hughes to Z that led to an easy dunk was something to see. One thing you may not have caught on tv, LeBron called for 3 alley-oop passes from Hughes and Larry didnt give him one. 2 out of the 3 times LeBron had an easy dunk while the other LeBron should have put his hand down, but it seemed the Larry just flat out missed LeBron cutting to the basket. Would have liked one of those.
D Jones- Had a little extra "swagger" last night as it seems him and Cassell are good buddies and they were putting on a show for each other the whole time.
Cassell- Looks like the alien off of Signs and loves to talk to refs.
Kamen- Thats one ugly dude.
Brand- Looked unstoppable, then Z stopped him when it counted.


I think we should have bobblehead night be every night.
Z last night had 29 points and 10 boards
Hughes on Nov 15 had 22 points 4 boards and 8 assists
and LeBron on Nov 9th had 31 points and 5 boards all in Cavalier wins!

 

[Jimmy]

great win, a good come from behind win against a form team.

 

[Jimmy]

The coaches had talked to Z the last few days and said they would get him more involved, he was understandably getting frustrated by his unclear role in the offense. Looks like it worked.

Elton Brand scored his 31st point a minute into the 4th quarter and didn't score again until 2 minutes to go in overtime.....Z completely shut him down.

Drew did hurt his foot, I left early after the game and didn't get the report....he may have been faking so Elton wouldn't drop fitty on him.

Lebron's man-to-man defense was atrocius....pathetic....non-existent!

Perimeter D still suspect.

I talked to Ira, he said he could play in a week but they're making him wait 2 to get into game shape....he wasn't thrilled about that.

Key to victory: With 2:00 to go the Cavs were losing by 3.....during the timeout they flashed a clip of Maximus from Gladiator on the jumbotron.....Cavs ralley and win. Conicidence? I think not!

and he's Australian too