Motown Resound

Same game, and well, the same story…

Our nail-biting hero can’t come up with key plays in a pair of nailbiters.

Now, because you guys need something to read, I’ll expound on this further, but the truth is, LeBron James has the ability to be the Alpha and Omega of this series (no sacrilege intended, we are NOT all witnesses, ha ha), yet is allowing the Pistons to take him out of his game.

I’ve heard a few reasons why it’s not all LeBron’s fault the Cavs are in an 0-2 hole, and well, I’ll just take one from a colleague verbatim, who blames…

“His lack of a hall of fame sidekick. Who are you supposed to pass to when the Pistons hold you to ten points and your best 3-point shooter misses wide open shots from the corner?”

This was after a Game One loss, in which LBJ had a layup to tie the game and send it to overtime, only to pass up the shot to a, granted, open teammate for the three and the presumed win, which his teammate promptly missed … prompting this response from yours truly:

Explain to me how you pass up a game-tying layup … that has nothing to do with having a Hall of Fame sidekick ... and LBJ's willingness to play within what the Pistons are giving him (the LeBron Rules? no, the LeBron Laws or something ... for the sake of alliteration) will cost the Cavs the series.

I understand the premise of what you're saying ... it would be nice to say 'ok, let's go for the win on the road with a 3' ... but not when you have a layup/dunk that pretty much guarantees overtime. I understand that LBJ is young and is still learning the game ... but he has to learn to not take what the defense gives him, and he has to learn not to take games off (like he did in the NJ series).

Of course, LeBron got railed by the media, but in LBJ’s and my colleague’s defense, if Donyell Marshall makes that three-point basket + the Cavs win, the subsequent triple-double it would have given LeBron would’ve gotten the Cavs a win in most-dramatic fashion, but still wouldn’t have addressed the problem at hand, which is LBJ’s not knowing when to pass or when to shoot.

As far as not having help from a teammate...
LBJ’s Game One numbers: 10 points on 5-of-15 shooting, 10 rebounds, 9 assists
Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ numbers: 22 points on 9-17 shooting, 13 rebounds (7 offensive)
Andy Varejao’s numbers (off the pine!): 13 points, 8 rebounds (5 offensive)

Hmmmmmmmm…Let’s move to Thursday’s game.

Naturally, all of America knew that LBJ would be exceedingly aggressive in Game Two, not because he made a mistake in Game One of course ;-) but just because he took Game One off it was imperative that the Cavs steal home court advantage from the Pistons heading into Cleveland for Game 3.

The Cavs play an excellent first half in taking a sweet 50-38 lead into halftime … in the midst of:

1. LeBron scoring 14 first-half points … and keeping it aggressive.
2. Overcoming Jason Maxiell’s first-half highlight reel (he banged on everybody but Uncle Ruckus) with a good combination of bench scoring and solid starter play from Pavlovic.
3. Playing solid defense on Detroit’s stars, as well as getting Roscoe (Rasheed Wallace for you commoners) in foul trouble.

All that said, America knew coming out of halftime that:

1. Detroit was going to make a run, especially at home.
2. Roscoe was going to show his arse on the court, either by getting buckets or … really showing his arse on national TV.
3. If the Cavs were going to win this game, LBJ needed to take care of business and close these ninjas out early.

So what did the Cavs do? Try to establish Ilgauskas (mission failed) while DET made one of their patented runs.

Even as Donyell “Where I Wanna Be” Marshall made a trey-ball to give CLE a three-point lead heading into the fourth, you already knew what the business was.

Or did we?

Under two minutes, LeBron up one with the ball after Roscoe makes a bad pass to Big Shot (or vice versa, anywho) … dribbles down the floor and the defense backs up, basically leaving him a 25-footer to put the Cavs up four.

I’m curious to why he doesn’t take that shot. I know, I know, still a lot of time on the shot clock, but it is an open shot, and you have teammates available to rebound.

From there … Roscoe FT, LBJ FT … Roscoe’s heartbreaker of a basket (that’s what Guarini gets for flopping, Pistons up 1 …) setting up the stage for the ‘Drama’ King.

And now, this Public Service Announcement brought to you by the makers of Clutch!

Hi, I’m Magic Johnson. If you’ve ever seen any of my game-winning shots, you’ll notice one very important thing … they’re either jumpers or hook-shots I take after I gain separation from my opponent … what, you think I’d be crazy enough to drive in the late 80’s with these refs?

Hi, I’m Michael Jordan. You might remember me from shots such as “the Shot” against Georgetown, “the Shot” twice against Cleveland, and “the Shot” against Utah. Best believe those were all jumpers … sure, I probably would’ve gotten the call if I’d driven to the basket, but I only drive to make the defense collapse, then I find one of those one-dimensional shooters like Paxson or Kerr. Real talk, though, I’d rather have it in my hands, a cool 15-footer for the win … church.

To be the best, you have to beat the best … I told ya’ll that on NBA Street … now buy my expensive apparel.

LeBron has the ball, heavily draped by Rip Hamilton, who plays EXCELLENT DEFENSE on this play. Rip keeps him in front, Bron spins, he’s there, Bron pushes off with the forearm (no call), Rip is steady with the handcheck (no call), Bron misses, a pair of teammates miss, Rip gets the rebound and pirouettes out of bounds (ball game).

Alright, so we knew LBJ was taking the shot. Dude, against the Detroit Pistons (as Jig said), or any other team for that matter, if you’re taking the shot, DO NOT DRIVE INTO THE HEART OF THE DEFENSE and expect a call.

If you want to be Liberace, do that, but you gotta do it with a 15-footer or a sweet pass to someone (you trust) open for three or streaking to the basket like Halley’s.

But again, we knew LBJ was taking the shot, so why take a shot where you go iso, but you’re trying to back the defender down instead of facing him up the whole way, only to turn around and get a face full of defender while trying to get up a shot.

Not sexy. Also not clutch. Game, blouses. (Speaking of, has anyone seen Tayshaun PRINCE?)

Again with the TEAMMATES!
LeBron’s numbers: 19 points (five in the second half, dang homey) on 7-of-19 shooting, six rebounds, seven assists, six turnovers (as opposed to two in Game One)
Justin Guarini’s numbers (off the pine!): 14 points on 5-11 shooting, 14 rebounds (real talk, Varejao is doing his thing)
Sasha Pavlov (where my dogs kings at, I couldn’t resist) ic’s numbers: 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting, three steals
Daniel Gibson – Donyell ‘Scapegoat’ Marshall’s numbers: 15 points on a combined 5-11 from the blimey deep

Alright, so I don’t want to hear anything else about teammates not helping out, OK (censored)? Here are Kenton’s keys (so muffalovin’ alliterative) for the Cavs (aside from the fact that there are two halves to a basketball game) the rest of the series (and for the rest of LeBron’s natural life):

LBJ’s nightly Magic should win him an Oscar
Again, LBJ has the capability of being the global icon best player in this series, and need look no further than Earvin’s Game 6 tape in the 1980 Finals and Oscar Robertson’s 1961-62 NBA season.

That 10-10-9 jalopy of a performance Bron put up in Game One? Ok, that was just awful. But do you see the potential there? LBJ could realistically be giving the Pistons Oscar Robertson numbers (30-10-10) for the entire series. I don’t think that’s impossible, considering that not even Prince, the Human Octopus, can stop him, and DET won’t dare risk running Rip around on him the whole series (not if they want to have something of an offense).

So go hard for five games, Bron, just five, is all we ask … and just have a Magic moment. Not saying 42 points (well, if you can, do that) … we’re just saying give us 25-9-9 minimum, and stay aggressive, fella, because the Pistons can’t stop you.

You’re stopping yourself. No excuses, as you and Cleveland head coach Stephen Tarver Mike Brown said so eloquently in Thursday’s post-game interview. You got the vision, the talent, now all you need is just to give a Flip Murray.

Keep it high scoring … but play good team defense
Alright, 79-76 … that’s DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-TROIT BASKETBALL right there. 100-90, 95-89, that’s CLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVE-LAND BASKETBALL. That 50-38 halftime score Thursday was not an anomaly, that’s what the Cavs need to be doing on the regular. Getting buckets, and keeping the Pistons off the board.

It’s not hard, LBJ just has to be aggressive, get a little help (which he’s been getting, if you’ve paid attention), and let a jump-shooting team (like the Pistons can be sometimes) get cold.

Larry Hughes actually has a purpose
Yes, Larry Hughes, or Diet Lamar Odom, actually has a purpose, aside from missing game-winning 10-footers.

We see that the Pistons are fully enforcing LeBron’s laws, basically daring the other Cavs to beat them. When LBJ has the ball, there’s a primary defender, followed by a host of Pistons (one behind the primary defender, with defenders flanking) making sure that LeBron either passes the ball or gets knocked down.

Larry Hughes can be the solution. If the Pistons aren’t denying the ball (which really doesn’t matter if LBJ really wants the ball), let Larry bring it up, and set up LeBron in other ways. That conserves his energy and opens up the floor.

On defense, Larry Hughes is an average/slightly-better than average defender … let him guard the hottest guy in the backcourt on a given night … just to give you an adjustment … and then just let him do what he does as far as picking up lazy man steals and picking off passes into the lane (his specialty).

That’s all, I mean, isn’t that enough?

Oh wait, one more thing from Grandpa LeBron (pushing back my hairline…)

I’ll tell you the problem! That boy doin’ too many commercials...