Quite Trite
May 12, 2008Any Interest?
May 12, 2008As the Cavaliers get set to play their biggest game of the season to date, we take a look at what’s at stake when Cleveland hosts the Boston Celtics tonight.
The picture to the left is eerily symbolic of what happened in Games One and Two of this Eastern Conference Semifinal series with the Boston Celtics. Some might say the Cavaliers laid down in Game 2. Some might say they choked in Game 1. In the picture, LeBron James is summing up those 2 games by doing both, choking and laying down. Regardless of why Games 1 and 2 worked out the way they did, the fact of the matter is there’s no way of erasing it. There’s no way of digging out of the hole the Cavs put themselves in…..except for one: Win. And win. And win again.
The entire season is at a crossroads tonight. One direction and the Cavaliers are well on their way down the road to a wasted season. The other direction, and the Cavaliers can live to fight another day….until they get to the next crossroad in Boston on Wednesday night. So what’s it going to be? I realize I’m not the coach of this team and the players don’t read this site (although it would be cooler if they did), but I challenged the team in my Game 3 Preview, and I think the point is still relevant to this game,
“The bottom line in all of this is that the ball is in the Cavaliers court. They are going to get the boost from the home crowd’s energy. It’s now up to the coaching staff to make adjustments and the players to execute those adjustments. It’s time for LeBron James to stop taking bad shots. It’s up to Wally Szczerbiak to get over this slump. It’s been long enough, Wally. Time for you to step up consistently. It’s up to Daniel Gibson to start TAKING some shots. It’s up to Andy to stop putting the offense in bad scenarios. It’s up to Delonte West to keep hustling. It’s up to Big Z to keep hitting his shots. It’s up to this team to decide right now…..are they just another mediocre team standing in the wake of champions, or are they the ones who are going to show what they’re made of and find the heart of champions that they displayed last season?”
The team responded in a big way in Game 3. Don’t expect another blowout tonight. Boston will be ready to play. It’s easy to compare this series to the Cavaliers first round series against Washington, only this time the Cavs are the team without home court advantage. In the last series, the Cavaliers pulled out a close Game 1 and then annihilated their opponent in Game 2 before going on the road and getting blown out themselves in Game 3. Sound familiar? Yeah, the same thing has happened in this series, only this time Boston is playing the role of Cleveland. In Game 4 of the first round, the Cavaliers rebounded from their embarrassing loss and found a way to pull out a tight road win to take control of the series at 3-1. From that point on, Washington had no chance in the series. If history continues to repeat itself tonight, the Cavaliers will be in trouble.
Lets face it, this team will not come back from a 3-1 deficit. No chance. None. If the Cavaliers are to extend their season into late May and possibly even June, it starts tonight. We’ve been on this ride before. If the Cavaliers win tonight, it will setup the Game 5-on-the-road scenario in which LeBron has simply excelled in the past (32 points in Detroit in 2006 and 48 points in Detroit last year). A good portion of this roster is different from the teams who came back from 0-2 deficits in the past, but LeBron’s still here. And where there’s a LeBron, there’s a way.
After Game 2, I said my spirit was broken, and that was true. I still stand by my feelings that this team is too inconsistent to win a Championship this year. But if you’ve been reading this site for any period of time now, you’ll know that my predictions and proclamations have a funny way of coming out….well….wrong. If Game 3 showed us anything, it showed us that this team still believes. My spirit may be down, but the Cleveland players’ spirit is still resolute. And that’s all that matters. Tonight matters. As far as season changing games go, they don’t get any bigger than this one.
So what’s it going to be, Cleveland? Will the dream stay alive, or will the nightmare come true? Will this be a team that we look back on with pride, or a team we look back on with frustration? Will I get to keep writing hyperbole into the late Spring days, or will it come crashing to halt in mid-May? If you’re not excited for this game, then either you’re not a fan of either of these teams or you just don’t get playoff basketball in the NBA. This is what it’s all about. That one game….that one moment….when everything can change on a dime. A season seemingly headed for ruin can be redeemed for instant joy and instant satisfaction. Thoughts of championships are both created and destroyed in games like these. I’m not proclaiming that the Cavaliers will win this series just by winning this one game tonight….but I will proclaim without hesitation that this season is over for Cleveland with a loss tonight. And that simple realization makes this the biggest game of the season to this point. Brace yourself, my friends, because tonight we’re about to go on an emotional roller coaster ride for the ages.
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12 Comments
The dream stays alive, don’t you fear.
Damn Rock. What a pre game speech. This got me pumped up, breathing hard and stepping outside for an afternoon smoke break .. and its only 3:00.
Loved it and agree. We cannot win the series tonight, but can certainly lose it. I believe the Cavs will “Rise UP” and take this one tonight.
Great read.
Do we see Aggressive Lebron or Team PLayer Lebron early on?
I say team Lebron
I hear ya Jeremy. I’ve spent the past half hour or so just thinking about scenarios and gameplans and what the coaches might be focusing on tonight….and I’m just a fan. Can’t imagine what it’s like to actually play in a game like this. As a basketball fan, I’m excited for this game. As a Cavaliers fan, I’m beside myself with anticipation. I don’t want this season to end yet.
Agreed MacNip. I think the Cavaliers play their best when LeBron is setting up his teammates early on. It allows everyone to get involved in the game and it helps keep the defensive intensity up as well. There’s a blueprint for this team to be successful….the problem is that they don’t always follow it. I’m PRAYING that they follow it tonight.
Tonigh can go bad tonight for a variety of reasons. Most notably:
1. Cavs go down 3-1
2. The rain doesn’t stop. That would suck considering I pulled out and have some strip steaks ready to go.
I predict both scenarios will work out for the best. Go Cavs!
Emotional roller coaster. Exactly what I was thinking while reading. Isn’t that what being a cleveland sports fan is all about?
Here’s hoping Andy has finally made it in the doghouse and joins Sasha, Brown and DJ riding the bench (not that I think those 3 should be there).
What’s that? Steaks at Mike’s house? I’m in!
Maybe AV will be in the doghouse and Brown will let DJ out to make room in it. Yes, I’m serious about wanting to see DJ on the court. I promise you the Celtics would have a tough decision….do you leave DJ open or do you keep committing the extra defender on LeBron? DJ is the only shooter on the team other than Gibson (who won’t shoot in this series) who might scare Boston enough to force them to keep an extra guy on him. We’ve seen the damage DJ can inflict in a very short period of time when he comes in and starts drilling 3’s.
Not to mention Rock, he is one of the few people that can put the ball on the floor and slash.
What do you mean? That’s Varejao’s job!
[…] back to the context of this series, I can also still relate to something I wrote before Game 4 of the Celtics series 2 years ago, and in many ways, it can still apply: So what’s it going to be, Cleveland? Will the dream […]