LeBron James Redefines “The Shot”
May 23, 2009ECF Game 2 Numbers and Words
May 23, 2009While We’re Waiting aims to be the round-up of the recent WFNY-esque information for your morning viewing. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email in the sidebar.
The debate over how Orlando defended the final play (See Craig’s post below for a full recap): “Again, Van Gundy wasn’t specific on what he could have done, but we can take an educated guess, and part of that guess involves Pietrus, who blamed himself for chasing Sasha Pavlovic almost all the way to the midcourt line as Williams was still holding the ball. Had Pietrus stopped chasing Pavlovic two steps earlier, Williams wouldn’t have had a clear passing lane to get the ball to James.” [Chris Sheridan/Espn.com]
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Magic fans seem to be zeroing in on the non-technical call of Mo in the 1Q as the difference in the game: “Cleveland 96-Magic 95 + One Missed Technical= 0… OT.” [Matt Moore/Hardwood Paroxysm]
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There is video of the shot all over the web, but it is always mandatory to re-live a great Cavs moment through Joe Tait’s voice. [Cavs.com/Joe Tait]
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After calming down from the high of the final play, it was distressing to read Windhorst’s measured view on the series: “Not to be branded a sourpuss, but once the Cavs’ celebration for LeBron’s huge shot tonight settles in they are going to realize they have a huge, huge problem. The Cavs are, in my mind, the decided underdog in this series right now. If the Magic keep playing the way they are playing, and I honestly don’t think they are going to let up, I’m simply not sure the Cavs can beat them three of the next five games. Orlando has pretty much neutralized the Cavs defense, their greatest attribute besides the greatness that is LeBron.” [Brian Windhorst/Cleveland.com]
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If your heart needs a break from watching the Cavs, it might be worthwhile to head out to serene Canterbury this afternoon to watch the 3rd round of the Senior PGA Championship. Greg Norman had one of his typical blow-ups yesterday afternoon: “He was 2 under through 15 holes at Canterbury Golf Club, moving from a 54th-place tie to inside the top 20. But it all came apart during a 10-minute stretch on the par-5 16th hole, when a skulled chip led to a triple-bogey 8. Norman bogeyed the 17th hole and signed for a 2-over 72 that left him on the cut line at 5-over-par 145.” [Craig Dolch/PGA.com]
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With this characteristic Wedge quote, the Tribe continues to monitor Travis Hafner’s “progress” as they flounder in the anonymity of the Cavs playoff run: Here’s what manager Eric Wedge wants from DH Travis Hafner before he rejoins the Indians from his rehab assignment at Class AAA Columbus. ‘First of all he’s got to be able to withstand the volume [of swings],’ said Wedge. ‘Not feel good one day and not feel good the next. He’s got to be somebody we can count on. And we’d love to see a swing that works. That’s far enough along where he can come up here and have success.’ The Indians will evaluate Hafner after Sunday’s game against Class AAA Buffalo. He played Thursday and Friday, will have Saturday off and play again on Sunday. [Paul Hoynes/The Plain Dealer]
18 Comments
Thanks for posting Tait’s call! That was awesome.
Windhorst is basically right about our defense having been neutralized. LeBron alluded to this in his post-game, on-court comments. There’s a lot that those guys have to do still, to keep Orlando from bombing us out of competition.
My brother was on vacation and didn’t get to see the game. He asked me what happened. What happened? Here’s what I told him.
The Cavs jumped out to a 23-pt lead by early in the second quarter. Then it was a slow, agonizing downward spiral, like blood-letting, just as in Game One. The Magic simply could not miss a three-point shot for long stretches. The Cavs hit a few shots here and there, but the Magic seemed once again to have the basketball gods in their favor. They took the lead by a few points with about 4 and a half minutes left. Then the game see-sawed till about 10 seconds left, with the score tied. At that point, Hedo Terkoglu dribbled, dribbled, and dribbled, and just as Jordan had hit a shot from near the top of the key over Craig Ehlo, he shot the ball over a defender and sank it with a single second left in the game.
Orlando 95 Cleveland 93. One second left.
The oxygen in the building quickly exited. People dropped their heads everywhere, some started hitting the aisles. At that moment, LeBron told Mo that, whatever happened in the inbounds play, get the ball to him and he would make it. The play designed was a lob straight at the rim that LeBron was supposed to alley-oop in for a tie game. However, Terkoglu anticipated the play call and cut LeBron’s path off to the rim. With four seconds of five possible seconds already counted off on the inbounds time, LeBron jumped out toward the top of the key and received
Mo’s sharp pass across half the court. As he grabbed it, he lept high into the air, away from the basket, and Terkoglu went skying after him with his hands outstretched. Another defender did the same, at a different angle. The ball floated above their outstretched hands and made a giant rainbow over the rest of the players, who all looked up, frozen in place, as if they were watching a UFO appear over the horizon. The ball hit the back of the rim, the front of the rim, and after hitting the back of the rim once more, fell in. Mo Williams fell to his knees and started pounding the court with his right hand. People swarmed the floor. The whole place erupted in pandemonium.
Out of a long, slow, torturous death, LeBron had pulled one final trick and shocked every Cleveland fan with the intoxicating scent of sweet salvation.
Thanks for the new ringtone, Joe Tait!
@Phil. That’s pretty good stuff.
The Cavs guards are getting killed on the dribble drive. This makes no sense to me considering they’re smaller and faster than the Magic guards. This and that bloody moving screen that Howard gets away with on 8/10 picks are just maddening to watch.
Why do the cavs keep playing d the proper way..1 on 1, no rotation and not allowing 3’s in the 1st half and get way up…. then play (what is typically proper cavs d against any other team) and start to collapse the lane leavign the shooters open? Just defend the 3 the magic CAN NOT beat you with 2’s they are not driver, they can’t shoot runners and howard isn’t scoring 40 even playing him 1 on 1…stop the 3 and win easy.
What does mike brown not get about this?
Lebron saved us…for that I’m happy but unless Brown does his job and adjusts I agree with windhurst were gonna be in trouble.
I posted this on HP, too, but before Magic fans get too indignant over Mo’s should-be T, they should realize that–at best–that should’ve been a double-tech the way that Howard hammered Mo’s head a solid 2-3 seconds after the whistle.
I don’t think either team has much to grouse about in terms of refs missing calls this series.
Hello new ringtone.
Thank you Seaward. I was making the same case to my son. That’s a swipe at his head on a dead ball. He had a reason for throwing that ball at Howard.
I loved Z crashing to the floor for the loose ball last night. At the same time, I’d like a stat guru to add up the points (usually on 3s) made before and after clumsy Z misses in the games one and two.
I hope Mo and Z find their shot. I know Defense is the ultimate key to the series… but if we can start to get more from those guys, it will lessen the burden. Both seem to feel like they “have” to get it going, so take some pretty bad shots, especially Mo. Just calm down and take the same shot u practice. We don’t need rushed jumpers, that doesn’t help at all.
Look at SVG in the background of the photo above. I HATE that miserable slouch.
Here’s the Orlando Sentinel recap – they have the video of Hedu and LBJ’s shots:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/basketball/magic/orl-sportsmagic-cavaliers-main-23052309may23,0,6991423.story
Mo Williams after LBJ’s shot = Thomas Hill after the Laettner UK-Duke Shot
Here’s the Orlando Sentinel recap – they have the video of Hedu and LBJ’s shots:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/basketball/magic/orl-sportsmagic-cavaliers-main-23052309may23,0,6991423.story
Mo Williams after LBJ’s shot = Thomas Hill after the Laettner UK-Duke Shot
Seaward,
Hah, I posted that too over there, before I read what you said. Sorry to be repeating you. Also, I’m not sure that Matt Moore/Hardwood Paroxysm is particularly pro-Magic, although he did pick them in the series.
I have been following HPbasketball on Twitter and I do not know who updates exactly but I am assuming it is Matt Moore. Based on his “liveblog” twitter updates throughout the playoffs, he is a hardcore and knowledgeable Magic supporter. This is not to take away from his basketball knowledge but someone over there, I am assuming it is he, definitely approaches things from an Orlando perspective.
Brendan: Thanks for the note. I don’t visit that blog very often.
Matt Moore is not a Magic fan. In general, he’s just an NBA fan. He’s one of the best basketball writers out there, and his passion for the game is practically unrivaled.
He may feel that technical non-call changed the outcome of the game, I disagree with him. But I’ll vouche for Hardwood Paroxysm and Matt’s writing. There are precious few bloggers I enjoy reading more than him.
Based on his (again I am assuming it is he that is updating the HP twitter feed) “tweets” he is clearly rooting for the Magic – this was the case in the 76ers and Celts series too. But as I said previous, I still love to follow HP and appreciate his work. I suppose maybe using the word “fan” was too strong. You can obviously be very knowledgeable about the NBA and be partial to one team in the playoffs. His updated post game notes illustrate his talent. I just thought he made some sweeping conclusions about the entire game based on one missed call. But that is in the “heat of the twitter”.
@ bridgecrosser:
Perfect analogy. I hadn’t thought of that, but it’s spot on. I just got a picture of Hill saying “Oh my God, Oh my God” over and over – and that’s just what Mo was doing.
I agree with Windy and #4. As I wrote in our preview/predictions column, I said let Howard get his and don’t let them beat you from 3. That’s what they did in the first half of game 1, and basically what they tried to do last night.
And you know what? It freaking worked!
And then they stopped doing it. They look like they’ve never SEEN a pick and roll before.