Cavs 07-08 Season Thread

[osugrad21]

Canton

Cavs' Brown on Butler: He's a 'tough, tough, guy'
Friday, May 2, 2008
BY Chris Beaven
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

Everyone knew LeBron James could win a playoff series virtually by himself. He proved as much several times before in the postseason.

But he might have company in this series, in the form of Wizards All-Star forward Caron Butler.

"We really believe he can win this series for them, that's how dangerous he is," Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said.

Butler's game-winning layup in traffic in Wednesday's Game 5 completed his finest playoff performance. The former UConn star went for 32 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals.

"He can do pretty much anything out there on the floor," Cavs guard Daniel Gibson said.

Cavs Head Coach Mike Brown later listed the ways Butler can take over as a scorer by driving, shooting 3-pointers, posting up, or using the pick and roll.

"He's a tough, tough guy," Brown said.
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[osugrad21]

Canton

Cavaliers notebook
Friday, May 2, 2008
BY Chris Beaven
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

Choices, choices

With the Cavs protecting a late lead Wednesday, guard Daniel Gibson said they had to juggle working the clock with getting a good shot.

"You don't want to take quick shots, you want to run some clock off and get the best shot you can get with running out the most time as possible," he said. "So that's kind of hard because in those situations, you want to get it late into the clock but you do understand with doing that, you got to make sure you're not forcing up an ill-advised shot."

With the Cavs coming up empty on three straight possessions late, it looks as if they might have waited too long before working for a shot. Each time they waited until the shot clock was under 10 seconds.

"You'd probably like to go around maybe 11 or 12, after you've got down the floor, everybody's gotten set," Gibson said. "And then you give it one good effort to the basket."

On the mend

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[osugrad21]

ABJ

Swipe at LeBron gets fans 23-cent pizzas Published on Monday, May 05, 2008


Papa John's is sorry that it called LeBron James a crybaby.
The pizza company handed out T-shirts to Washington Wizards fans on Friday that carried the Papa John's logo, the word ''Crybaby'' and the number 23.
James wears No. 23 and the shirts stemmed from James complaining about hard fouls during the series. Wizards center Brendan Haywood called him a crybaby.
Faced with a backlash from fervent Cavs fans who started talking about a boycott for dissing their star, Papa John's offered up an apology Sunday.
''The decision to do this was made by a local Washington, D.C., Papa John's operator without approval of Papa John's corporate,'' the company said in a statement. ''Nonetheless, we believe this was in poor taste and sincerely apologize to Cavalier fans and LeBron James.''
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[osugrad21]

ABJ

Veteran LeBron expects more His goals for himself and his team are higher
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter

Published on Sunday, May 04, 2008

WASHINGTON: When the Cavaliers won their first playoff series in 13 years in the final seconds of Game 6 against the Wizards in 2006, there was a pileup of players at center court.
Ostensibly it was on top of Damon Jones, who had made the winning shot, but it was LeBron James who started everything by tackling him in celebration and inviting others to follow. Then in his third season, James had never experienced anything like winning a playoff round and he celebrated the newness of it.
Just two years later, after another Game 6 and series win over the Wizards on Friday night, James calmly walked to the center of the court, shook hands with Caron Butler, did a television interview, and stopped to slap hands with his friends and agent courtside. As he left the floor, a Wizards fans hurled a curled up T-shirt at him, he looked and smiled ? as if that was going to hurt him ? tossed his towel to a Cavs fan and left the court.
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[osugrad21]

ABJ

Potent Celtics will test Cavaliers East's top seed brings physical defense, plenty of star power to series
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter

Published on Monday, May 05, 2008
INDEPENDENCE: When LeBron James first walked into the Boston Celtics' arena, then called the FleetCenter, five years ago, he had to listen to a bunch of stories about the famous Celtic mystique and the genius of legendary coach Red Auerbach.
The teller was Paul Silas, James' first head coach, who loved to point to the rafters and the two banners he helped win as a member of the Celtics in the 1970s.
James has a sense and a respect for the history of the game, but that's not what he's focused on as the Cavaliers gear up for their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Celtics, who finally dispatched the Atlanta Hawks 99-65 Sunday to advance to meet the Cavs. The series begins Tuesday in Boston at 8 p.m.
They have renamed the arena the ''Garden'' again but t
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[osugrad21]

CPD

Cleveland Cavaliers won't let history of Boston Celtics get in their heads



Monday, May 05, 2008 Jodie Valade

Plain Dealer Reporter
They have a rich history filled with 16 championships and rafters cluttered with banners proclaiming their success. They had the league's best regular-season record, a dominant home-court advantage and an overpowering "Big Three" that led them there.
The Cavaliers are just thankful to finally have an opponent for LeBron James and Co. With Boston's 99-65 Game 7 victory over Atlanta on Sunday, the Cavs got what they expected all along, the Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals beginning Tuesday at Boston's TD Banknorth Garden.
Despite the Celtics' place in NBA history as a hallowed franchise, which last included a title in 1986, the Cavaliers are trying their hardest to focus on the here-and-now instead of the legendary Celtics mystique.

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[osugrad21]

Canton

Cavs to face beast of the East
[FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Celtics bring star power to matchup vs. Cavs[/FONT]
Monday, May 5, 2008
BY Chris Beaven
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

Anyone thinking Round 1 was intense for the Cavaliers might reconsider after Round 2.

The Cavs get the Celtics in an Eastern Conference semifinal with plenty of promise and loaded with star power. Expect the talking to be kept on the floor and the play to be at a high level in the best-of-seven series.

"It's going to be a really good matchup," Cavs All-Star forward LeBron James said. "... I think we all know the history of the Boston Celtics ... and this year it was good to see them back at the top. ... It's going to be exciting. I haven't played there in the postseason yet, so it's going to be fun."

Game 1 is at 8 Tuesday night in Boston.

The Cavs are looking to continue their quest to get back to the NBA Finals. The Celtics are looking to complete their remarkable turnaround from worst to first by getting to their first finals in 19 years.

"We know it's going to be a tough road ... to go through the Eastern Conference champs ... a team that knows what it takes," Celtics All-Star forward Paul Pierce told Boston media Sunday after their win over Atlanta. "We're still learning as group. This is going to be the ultimate test."

The Celtics set up the matchup Sunday by routing Atlanta, 99-65, in Game 7 of their surprising first-round series. After winning 66 games in the regular season to secure the league's best record, the Celtics were pushed to the limit by the eighth-seeded Hawks.
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[osugrad21]

Canton

Comparing the Cavs and Celtics
Monday, May 5, 2008


Cavs offensive numbers in the regular season

96.4 points, 43.9 FG percentage, 35.8 3-pt percentage, 71.7 FT percentage, 20.0 assists, 14.0 turnovers

Cavs offensive numbers in the postseason

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[osugrad21]

ABJ

Cavs rate top billing in playoffs NBC analyst boldly predicts Triple Crown
Published on Tuesday, May 06, 2008



With the opening round of the playoffs concluded, the Cleveland Cavaliers can be thankful for a couple of things.
Numero uno: escaping a series with the Washington Wizards for a third consecutive year, which is not something you'd expect, given how well these two teams know one another. Yes, there were moments of drama, but realistically speaking, the minute the Wizards poked LeBron James with taunts of being overrated, this series was over. TNT's Charles Barkley knew it and said it more than once on the air.
Secondly, the folks at Cavs Central downtown have to be grinning from ear to ear at the ratings from the series that featured manufactured drama courtesy of DeShawn Stevenson and his cohorts, dueling rappers (yeah, like Soulja Boy is really in the same class as Jay-Z) and six meetings that threatened to break out into boxing matches on more than one occasion.
That's entertainment.
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[osugrad21]

ABJ

Winning without whining Brown tells Cavs players to avoid making excuses
Published on Tuesday, May 06, 2008





INDEPENDENCE: A key component of the Cleveland Cavaliers' approach sprang from one of the ugliest moments in NBA history.
It took a winding path, but that moment helped the Cavs to adopt a mantra that has carried them through the first round of the NBA playoffs this year and to the Finals a year ago.
''No excuses'' became public last year, but it has been a major team tenet from the day Mike Brown was hired as coach.


''No excuses'' carried the team through bad no-calls a year ago and trash-talking and bad fouls of Round 1 this year.
''No excuses'' came from a fight involving the Indianapolis Pacers, a fight that spilled into the stands in Detroit, a fight that Brown tried to stop when he was assistant coach with the Pacers.
It was a nasty, ugly moment, and it led to Ron Artest being suspended for the rest of the season (73 games), and three of his teammates receiving suspensions of one to 30 games.
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[osugrad21]

ABJ

Cavs search for Celtics' weaknesses Players review series with Hawks for pointers on exploiting flaws
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sportswriter

Published on Tuesday, May 06, 2008
INDEPENDENCE: The Cavaliers could end up sending the Atlanta Hawks thank-you cards and presents should the Cleveland team win its playoff series that begins tonight against the Boston Celtics in the TD Banknorth Garden.
The would-be upstart Hawks stretched the boys from Boston to seven games in their opening-round series and might very well have left a blueprint for the Cavaliers to follow.
''We were able to watch and see how Atlanta defended some of their sets and some of their players, and we were able to use some of Atlanta's ideas and watch and say that's probably not the way we should do it,'' Cavs
coach Mike Brown said. ''Atlanta and our team, we defend differently. We have different personnel so it's hard to take a whole bunch.''
Guard Devin Brown said watching the Hawks extend the Celtics provided the Cavs an indirect mental lift.
''They played well; they just didn't get it done in Boston. That's all you can say about that series. We definitely saw some things. And now, [the Celtics] kind of had that arrogance about them all season, winning all those games all season, that you didn't want to face them.
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[osugrad21]

CPD

ROUND TWO: CAVALIERS VS. CELTICS %%head%%Game 1, Eastern Conference semifinals, 8 tonight, TD Banknorth Garden, TNT, WTAM AM/1100

More passion, more stars as Cleveland Cavaliers take on Boston Celtics in NBA's Eastern Conference semifinals

Round two with Boston promises to be intense

Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Branson Wright

Plain Dealer Reporter
When the Cavaliers and Celtics take the floor tonight in Boston, you can expect the same passionate play that fueled Cleveland past Washington in the first round of the playoffs.
The major difference, though, will be the increased star power when the defending Eastern Conference champions visit the team with the NBA's best regular-season record.
It starts with the highly competitive nature of Cavs veterans LeBron James, Ben Wallace and Joe Smith, and Celtics vets Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Players from both sides were a little chippy during their four-game split in the regular season.

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[osugrad21]

CPD

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson takes inspiration from LeBron James' faith in him



Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Daniel Gibson was all smiles at practice Sunday. He talked about how LeBron James gives him tremendous confidence in his shot. "The only time he yells at me is when I'm open and don't shoot," said the guard, who made 15-of-30 (50 percent) from 3-point range in the Washington series. Gibson had 22 points in the big 105-88 victory in Game 6. He said James told him before the game to be ready to shoot, because he would be open and James planned to look for him. James has liked Gibson from the first few days of the 2006 training camp when Gibson was a rookie. James has never said so, but he seems to have a relationship with Gibson like he did at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School with Dru Joyce III, another little guard who could make big, long shots.
Boston had the best
defensive team in the league by shutting down the inside and doing a decent job of covering the 3-point line. The Celtics ranked No. 1 in defensive field-goal percentage and defensive 3-point percentage. They will swarm James as he drives into the middle, and that will create open outside shots. Here's a key indicator: Two of the three shooters must be on to win, especially on the road. The three are guards Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak and Gibson. West was 9-of-18 (50 percent) from 3-point range against Washington, while Szczerbiak was 10-of-29 (34 percent). He's hoping his breakout in Game 6 (26 points, 9-of-18 shooting) will carry over.

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[osugrad21]

CPD

Boston Celtics' mystique still carries weight, says The Plain Dealer's Bill Livingston


Tuesday, May 06, 2008Bill Livingston
Plain Dealer Columnist
It's not like it used to be, I tell myself.
You went through an unmarked door on Causeway Street, climbed some steps, and turned left into the dark at the top of the stairs. But Boston Garden, a ramshackle tenement that squatted atop North Station in downtown Boston, is no more. Its vile aroma -- one part stale urine, one part sweat, one part smoke from Red Auerbach's infernal victory cigar, with a drop of leprechaun bile thrown in -- is gone.
The old, cramped black hole of Calcutta locker rooms are gone. They were too cold when it was wintry, too hot (the place was not air-conditioned) when it was steamy. But now the Boston Celtics play in a nice, modern NBA arena with a corporate name.

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[osugrad21]

CPD

Even against heavily favored Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James shows confidence, says The Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto


Tuesday, May 06, 2008
When LeBron James steps on the court in Boston tonight, the Cavaliers star doesn't want to just chase history -- he's out to make it.
He'll see the 16 championship banners hanging in TD Banknorth Garden. He'll look at the retired numbers for Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Kevin McHale, Bob Cousy and the rest of the Celtics greats with appreciation, having watched them play in highlights films. Unlike many of his NBA peers, he understands the accomplishments of those men -- as well as K.C. Jones, Sam Jones and some Celtics Hall of Famers who are not as well-known.
Yes, James knows his hoops history, but he also has a sense of destiny.

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