Cavs 08-09 Season - Central Div Champs (official thread)

[jlb1705]

Yeah, I'm not getting it on Channel 99 like I'm used to. I hope they didn't change it this year. I got to see pretty much every Cavs game I wanted before.

 

[exhawg]

Is this one not in HD? I hate how fucking TWC doesn't leave FSN on HD all the time. God I hate TWC.

 

[exhawg]

Hickson getting some early minutes vs the Chicago Ben Gordon's

 

[TooTall]

Yeah, I'm not getting it on Channel 99 like I'm used to. I hope they didn't change it this year. I got to see pretty much every Cavs game I wanted before.

I know on the TWC site, it said a couple of the games would be televised on Channel 99, but not this one. The next 10 or so, maybe even more, will be on FSN HD... So I'm not complaining!

 

[gracelhink]

Cavs with a 4th quarter comeback 106-97 victory over the Bulls.

 

[TooTall]

Cavs with a 4th quarter comeback 106-97 victory over the Bulls.

This team is clicking! LeBron is starting to find his range, which is something no one (other than Cavs fans) wanted to hear!

GO CAVS!

 

[osugrad21]

ABJ

Delonte West adjusts Cavaliers' shooting guard feels confident after switching from point guard
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sports writer

Published on Monday, Nov 10, 2008
INDEPENDENCE: The jokes and laughter come more easily these days for Delonte West.
Just this past week, the Cavaliers shooting guard showed up for a game with a cleanly shaven face and tight braids. The next day, a crimson Afro replaced the braids.
''You need to get a day when Andy [Varejao], Ben [Wallace] and I blow it out,'' he said. ''You ain't seen this blown out. It's got a bit of volumez. It's French for volume.''
What hasn't been a joke lately is how West has almost seamlessly fit into his role as the Cavs' starting shooting guard.
Before Saturday's game against the Chicago Bulls, the veteran guard from St. Joseph's had been on a tear offensively, averaging more than 13.5 points per game. He's shooting 53 percent from the floor overall and 50 percent from the 3-point line, and displays an uncanny confidence when he launches a jump shot.
''That's what this game is about ? confidence,'' he said. ''You can shoot a thousand shots a day, but when game time comes and you're not shooting with confidence, you're going to miss it every time. I've been a shooter my entire career, so I have to say my confidence is pretty high.''
Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

Cavs Insider: Team heating up at the line

by Mary Schmitt Boyer Sunday November 09, 2008, 7:24 PM


LeBron James calls them "easy points."
He's talking about free throws. But anyone who follows the Cavaliers knows they aren't always easy. Despite the fact that they practice them every day, the Cavs often struggle from the line.
That's why their recent performances seem like a good sign. After making 24 of 28 free throws in Saturday's 106-97 victory at Chicago, the Cavs have hit 85 percent of their free throws in each of their past three games, all of which were victories.
"As a team, we've been doing great," James said. "Me, as an individual, I've been doing pretty well."
After Saturday's game, the Cavs are shooting 76.7 percent (155-of-202) from the line. James, after starting out making just 12 of his first 20, has made 42 of his last 47, including an 11-of-13 effort on Saturday.
"It's contagious," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "You've got a guy like Mo Williams, who comes in here and is an [85] percent career free-throw shooter. And you've got Wally Szczerbiak [86 percent] playing minutes and Delonte West [82 percent]. The next thing you know, everybody's knocking them down. We have some good free-throw shooters and it's great to see guys stepping up to the free-throw line and knocking them down. But more important than that, it's good to see that we're getting there."
Indeed, the free-throw attempts signal that the Cavs are playing the way they want.

Cont..

 

[osugrad21]

Canton

Cavs 106, Bulls 97: LeBron scores 41 points, pulls off fourth-quarter turnaround
Sunday, November 9, 2008
BY ANDREW SELIGMAN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO LeBron James scored 41 points against Chicago for the second time in four days, and the Cleveland Cavaliers hung on to beat the Bulls 106-97 Saturday night.

James was at it again after a big performance in a 14-point win over Chicago at home Wednesday night. This time, he scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to start a 15-0 run as the Cavaliers turned a three-point deficit into an 89-77 lead. And he hit two key 3-pointers after Chicago cut it to two in the closing minutes.

It was a difficult night for the Bulls, who learned guard Kirk Hinrich will miss up to three months with a thumb injury. Andres Nocioni's 3-pointer made it 96-90 with 3:30 left and two more jumpers by Ben Gordon made it 96-94 with 2:15 remaining, but the Bulls simply could not pull it out.

James answered with a 3-pointer from the wing and, after two free throws by Gordon, struck again from long range, leaping after the shot went in. That made it 102-96 with 1:28 remaining, and the Cavaliers hung on from there.

James hit 13 of 29 shots in his seventh straight game against Chicago with 30 or more points and had 13 rebounds. Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 16 points for Cleveland, which was coming off a 111-107 victory over Indiana on Friday night.

Gordon scored 29 points for Chicago. Luol Deng added 20, and Derrick Rose had 16.

The Bulls took a 77-74 lead into the fourth, but went cold at the start.

Cont...

 

[crazybuckfan40]

On the road in a back to back game and we got the job done...Can't say we have done well at all in those situations over the past couple years...

Love the way this team plays ball, defense leads to offense, and the offense is looking very good...

 

[TooTall]

On the road in a back to back game and we got the job done...Can't say we have done well at all in those situations over the past couple years...

Love the way this team plays ball, defense leads to offense, and the offense is looking very good...

Absolutely agree.

 

[osugrad21]

ABJ

Cavs' Williams bears no ill will Point guard says game against former team will be like any other
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sports writer

Published on Tuesday, Nov 11, 2008
INDEPENDENCE: Cavaliers guard Mo Williams views the world through a pragmatic lens.
The 25-year-old point guard, who came to the team from the Milwaukee Bucks, said rather bluntly that he holds no ill feelings toward his former team.
''All of my memories there are great. The organization's been nothing but great to me,'' he said Monday after the Cavs' practice. ''I have nothing but respect for the organization. They gave me my contract, and you never bite the hand that feeds [you].''
The Bucks did make him a wealthy man, but just a year later, they dealt him to the Cavs.
''I think I'm good. I'm a pretty good player. For business reasons, they traded me,'' he said. ''I'm a young player who is only going to get better. I don't think it's because I'm diminishing in my game or something.''
There will be a certain amount of fun going up tonight against former teammates and burning them, just as he did in practice, Williams joked.
Coach Mike Brown isn't worried about Williams strolling too far from the team concept.
Cont..

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

Williams looks forward to a 'beautiful day' against his former team

by Mary Schmitt Boyer Monday November 10, 2008, 9:02 PM




John Kuntz, The Plain DealerCavaliers point guard Mo Williams says he holds no animosity toward his former team, the Milwaukee Bucks, but he's still looking forward to Tuesday night's game.
Mo Williams outlasted every other Cavalier at practice on Monday -- and it wasn't even close. For more than 30 minutes after his teammates departed, Williams continued to shoot from multiple spots on the floor -- and the free-throw line.
"Sorry," he said, approaching waiting reporters. "I've got to get ready for tomorrow."
By tomorrow, he means tonight's game against the visiting Milwaukee Bucks, the team that traded him to the Cavaliers on Aug. 13. It's the first time he'll face his former teammates.

Of course, he tried to downplay the reunion.
"Just another day," he said with a smile. "A beautiful day."
So there's no special significance facing the Bucks?
"It's just another game for us," he said. "We take it one game at a time. I don't have any bitter feelings against Milwaukee. All my memories there are great. The organization has been nothing but great to me. I have a lot of friends still there. I have a lot of respect for the organization. They gave me my contract. Never bite the hand that feeds you."
Asked why he thought the Bucks signed him to a six-year, $51 million deal before last season and then traded him last summer, Williams cracked up reporters by saying, "I think I'm good."

Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

Canton

Cavs' Williams ready to face ex-teammates tonight
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
BY CHRIS BEAVEN
[email protected]

INDEPENDENCE If Mo Williams lights up the Bucks tonight, it won't be anything personal.

The Cavaliers point guard made that clear Monday on the eve of his first game against his former team.

"A lot of players get traded and they're bitter with the (former) team ... but I'm in a great situation having the best time in my life," said Williams, whom the Bucks traded to the Cavs in August.

The Cavs and Bucks meet tonight at 7 in Quicken Loans Arena. Cleveland takes a four-game winning streak into the game with Williams playing a key role. He's averaging 14.1 points and 4.9 assists.

"Every night I'm having fun," Williams said. With the Cavs, Williams is part of a team that believes it can win an NBA title.

With the Bucks, Williams emerged as one of the league's better point guards but did it in the obscurity of a team headed nowhere the previous four seasons. Things bottomed out last year when Milwaukee went 26-56 despite Williams averaging 17.2 points and 6.3 assists.

Still, Williams appreciated his time with the Bucks, who last year signed him to a six-year contract worth $51 million.

"All my memories there are great," he said. "The organization there was definitely great to me. I have a lot of friends still there. I have a lot of respect for the organization. They gave me my contract. I never bite the hand that feeds me."

Reporters asked Williams several times if tonight's game had any extra special meaning to him. The answer? "It's just another game."
Cont...

 

[Brutus1]

It's great having Williams here. It's a nice luxury of having Mo, Delonte and Boobie as your main guards. It wasn't that long ago that the guards were Eric Snow, Hughes and Damon Jones. That team made the finals and I'll say that the current team is vastly better than that team.