A Question of Heart?

 

The Cleveland Cavaliers enter the last four games of the regular season with something to play for.  I think.  I say that because I believe in their mind they can relax for the rest of the season and get ready for the playoffs in two weeks.  This is a team who had a 1-1/2 game lead in the race for the second seed in the Eastern Conference, yet they played like they had a five game lead with six to play.

 

They do not show a lot of heart or concentration to the task at hand, and that would seem to be trouble as the playoffs begin.

 

This is not an indictment of the Cavs’ superstar, LeBron James.  James wants to win.  The trouble is the front office and coaching staff has not surrounded the King with enough players with the same sense of urgency.  This team has recently lost games to the Bobcats, Celtics, and Knicks, and also dropped home games to Denver and a Dwayne Wade-less Miami Heat team.  All of these losses occurred since an eight game winning streak put the wine and gold within a game and a half of the Pistons for the top record in the East.

 

Either the players relaxed just a bit, which is crazy since they were so close to the top, or they don’t have the heart nor the basketball IQ to recognize how they got to that position.  The team still jacks up three pointers as if they were perpetually down two points with five seconds left in the game.  They don’t (or won’t) realize the offense functions better when they aggressively attack the basket.  Players like Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall constantly settle for long jumpers.

 

Mike Brown doesn’t help the situation by continuing to give Marshall playing time when he cannot defend, and it seems as if he hasn’t made a three pointer since the end of February.  Ira Newble (I never thought I would be writing this!) played very well against the Wizards on Friday, and is the type of gritty player needed at this point in the year, but he doens’t get off the bench in a huge game against the Pistons.  Newble is known as a defensive first guy, but he doesn’t play against Detroit?

 

Scot Pollard provided some nice minutes against Boston and Miami, but he fail to play against Detroit either.  He should have been put in to wipe that stupid smile off of Rasheed Wallace’s face every time he makes a shot.  Brown seems to be uncertain as to what type of team he is coaching.  He’s a defensive coach, so Newble and Pollard should be getting time.  And he only has four games to figure this stuff out.

 

The Cavaliers have a fifth seed and a first round matchup against the Heat in the offing.  They haven’t demonstrated they could beat the Heat without Wade, so it seems unlikely they could win the series with Wade playing.  That would mean a one and done scenario after getting to the second round last year.  That’s a step backward.  That’s the wrong direction to be heading for Danny Ferry and Mike Brown.  This team needs a heart transplant and it has to be done soon.

 

JK