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Cavs-Pistons Second Round Playoff Series

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ABJ

5/18/06

James, Cavaliers coming of age

TOM WITHERS

Associated Press

<!-- begin body-content -->AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - While dissecting Cleveland's latest playoff upset, LeBron James paused in mid-sentence during his postgame news conference to say "Bless You" to a sneezing reporter.
He hasn't shown the Detroit Pistons any such courtesy.
James, controlling the game at the both ends of the floor, scored 32 points and moved the Cavaliers within one win of a trip to the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night with an 86-84 victory over the Pistons.
Playing all but 1:10, James added five rebounds and five assists for the Cavs, who have won three straight over Detroit and can wrap up the series with a win on Friday night in Cleveland.
He's taking the Cavs to places they've rarely seen before.
"LeBron is playing unbelievable," Pistons coach Flip Saunders.
He's making big shots, getting his teammates involved and leading a Cleveland team dealing with the loss of guard Larry Hughes, who has missed three straight games following the death of his younger brother.
That's a lot for a 21-year-old playoff newcomer to handle. This one is different, though.
Even in victory, he refused to gloat.
"It don't mean nothing if we lost the last two games," he said. "It means nothing at all. We don't feel privileged. We don't feel comfortable beating Detroit. That's not what it's about. It's about winning the series. If we go home and lose (on Friday) and lose on Sunday, it means nothing."
After beating Washington in the first round, the Cavaliers were given little chance against the Pistons, the two-time defending Eastern Conference champions who were the league's best team all season. Predictions of a Detroit sweep looked accurate after the Pistons roughed up Cleveland in Games 1 and 2.
But a funny thing happened to the Pistons on the way to the NBA Finals.
Since the fourth quarter of the second game, they have been outplayed and outhustled by the Cavaliers, who are threatening to send Detroit on its summer vacation weeks earlier than anyone ever expected.
With James leading the way, the Cavaliers are on a roll. They've won three straight playoff games for the first time in franchise history, and a fourth consecutive win would place them in the conference finals for the first time since 1992, when they lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
"After every game, somebody says, 'The Cavs don't have a chance in this game,'" said Donyell Marshall, who had 14 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks, including a crucial one on Tayshaun Prince in the final seconds. "They say, 'The Cavs this, the Cavs that.' Well, we're just going to keep playing."
Cleveland's locker room was subdued and businesslike following one of the biggest wins in franchise history. The Cavaliers are relative newcomers to the playoffs, making their first appearance since 1998.
But Marshall, Drew Gooden, Eric Snow and Damon Jones have postseason experience, and they all contributed to another unexpected win.
"Everybody wrote us off," said Jones, who broke a tie in the fourth quarter with a big 3-pointer. "But we've fought our way back since Game 2 and now we're going home with a chance to move on."
James is one victory away from toppling the Pistons, the same team that once stood between Jordan and NBA titles.
Jordan needed four whacks in the postseason to drop the Pistons.
James may only need one.
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Canton

5/18/06

LeBron poised to join the great ones

Thursday, May 18, 2006

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]SPORTS SPOTLIGHT TODD PORTER[/FONT]


AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Maybe now the Detroit Pistons will realize they’re in the playoffs.
Against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
They’ve arrived. They have their star and a handful of players willing — more importantly capable — of stepping up and helping in big games.
LeBron James and rest of this team had their coming-of-age moment Wednesday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Bulls had one with Michael. The Celtics had one with Bird. The Sixers had one with Dr. J.
Yes, James is climbing that ladder reserved for the greats of the games.
Words of disrespect from Detroit turned to looks of disbelief after Cleveland did what just about no one outside the Cavaliers’ locker room thought possible. The Cavs beat the Pistons on their own floor, at their own game and then walked and talked like they expected it the entire time.
Because they did.
No one else, just the team.
That’s all that really counts.
Wednesday’s 86-84 win over the Pistons — the same Pistons who went to the NBA Finals the last two years — silenced the players and their 22,076 fans all at once. Cleveland did it without being intimidated, without losing focus and without its second-best player. Rasheed Wallace’s “guaran-sheed” sounds, now, like a lot of ’Sheed.
“We’re all grown men,” James said. “Think about it: It’s just basketball. It’s not life or death. They’re not the Big Bad Wolf, and we’re not the Three Little Pigs. ... We all lace our shoes up the same way, we all put our pants and jerseys on the same way. And when the ball is tipped, you’ve got to go win the game.”
Cleveland took it to the Pistons, again. After being thoroughly whipped in Game 1 and most of Game 2, the Cavs beat Detroit three straight times. No combination of any three teams this year managed to do that to what some consider the NBA’s best team.
Before Game 5, Wallace said, “There ain’t no look of concern on my face. None of that.”
After?
He looked concerned.
And it was Wallace, the more veteran player, who led the Pistons’ meltdown. His technical foul at the start of the fourth quarter didn’t hurt on the scoreboard. It set a tone, though. Detroit Head Coach Flip Saunders was hit with one about three minutes later.
Detroit is playing this series to prove a year-old point.
The Cavs are playing this series for themselves. They are playing for the players in that locker room, minus one who is still grieving the loss of his younger brother.
The team flew to St. Louis on Tuesday to attend the funeral services of Larry Hughes’ brother, Justin. They arrived in Detroit with heavy hearts and one goal.
Win this for the Hughes family.
“It’s all about Larry right now,” said LeBron, who scored a game-high 32 points and found stone-cold Drew Gooden in the paint for the game-winning shot. “Larry’s spirit and strength is helping us right now. Everything we’re doing on and off the court is for Larry right now. But we’re coming together.”
A team, a great one, doesn’t just grow together on the court. It doesn’t just grow together during tough playoff games.
Playoff basketball isn’t life and death. Mike Brown has a young team, but it’s a young team with perspective. While some worried that traveling to the Hughes funeral might put strain on the team, Brown figured it would be a life lesson.
It was.
The Cavs grew tighter.
“We’ve had a bunker mentality most of the season,” Brown said, a rookie head coach proving to be wiser than most people give him credit. “I struggled with rotations. ... Our guys bunkered down. They have a mentality of it’s about the guys in the locker room. We love our families, we love our fans, but we also know if we want to get it done, the only people we can rely on are the guys in the locker room.”
That is why Brown had a team meeting earlier this month. He told the players to check their egos at the end of the regular-season door.
“We’ll all figure it out if we pull for one another,” Brown said.
When Anderson Varejao fouled out with 1:56 left in the game and a sleepy Detroit crowd woke up as the Pistons cut the score to 84-82, Brown looked for veteran players. He found Damon Jones and Eric Snow.
“We talked through it,” Jones said. “I’ve got some experience playing these guys. I had some insight. (Brown) took it ... and made the decision.”
It’s the bunker mentality that kept Varejao in the game, despite being hit in the mouth three times during the game.
It’s the bunker mentality that had Snow playing defense against Chauncey Billups like they were conjoined twins.
It was the bunker mentality that had Zydrunas Ilgauskas block four shots in the first quarter, finish with 14 points and six blocks.
It was the bunker mentality that had Donyell Marshall score 14 points and grab 13 rebounds off the bench. Damon Jones drilled two key 3-pointers. It was a continuation of the past three games. The Cavs bench has outscored the Pistons’ bench, 101-35, since Game 2.
“All throughout the playoffs, I’ve felt Detroit is the best team in the NBA at home by far,” LeBron said. “Us winning on their homecourt doesn’t take that away from them.”
This series, which continues in Cleveland on Friday, isn’t over. The Cavs growth is.
Now they know they belong.
So do the Pistons. Reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail: [email protected]


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What a game. Honestly, I'm embarrased that I didn't see this coming before the playoffs. Expectations for the cavs and lebron were to advance past the first round and give the pistons a little bit of a challange.

But when has lebron ever met the expectations placed on him???? Ever? Never. LeBron has exceeded the expectations placed on him EVERY TIME. At this stage of the playoffs though, there's no way for him to do it alone, and in that light, the specific context in which he has exceeded my expectations is in the way he has inspired his teammates to play their asses of on the defensive side of the floor.

It all started with him bringing it on D at the end of game 2 and game 3. Now everybody on the team is flying around the court contesting EVERY single shot that the pistons shooters put up. It's great to watch. The energy flip murray is expending on D these last few games is unbelievable.

Right now, the pistons are done. They are playing tight and tentative. Chauncy Billups is getting OWNED by eric snow. Last nights key stats:

Eric Snow: 7 assists, 1 TO
Chauncy Billups: 5 assists, 6 TO, 6 Fouls, 1-6 from 3.

I'm telling you, these vets are getting it DONE. Donyell is my man. Who would have ever thought he'd have the kind of inside presence he's had. That rejection at the end of the game was HUGE!!!!!

Oh yeah, and Flip Saunders is getting outcoached by Mike Brown. Brown is doing a GREAT job managing his rotations. Saunders totally lost his composure and cost his team bigtime with that T in the 4th. He's got no offensive solution to the cavs simple defensive strategy of contesting shots and playing with tons of defensive energy.

Cavs in 6. The biggest party cleveland has seen since he world series is about to go down friday night. It's gonna be fun.
 
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I'll wait for the results before I can appreciate that win. It's still going to be hard to beat the Pistons in 1 of the next 2 games. Getting Hughes back would be a great addition, defensively, if, in fact, he makes it back.

When Donyell was signed, it was strictly because of his 3 point shooting. He killed the Cavs last season from the three. His rebounding and shot blocking all season has been great. Even games when he was cold, he was still getting alot of rebounds.

Even though, he hit the game winner last night, I agree with Hawg that the end is near for Gooden.
 
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scarletngrey77 said:
I promised myself that if we win todays game that I would get tickets for Game 6...
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You better get tickets. I was there for Game 3 and it was a blast!!! Tons of energy and a loud crowd. I cannot even picture what the crowd will be like if we are winning in the 2nd half...

The best part though is when they crack out Jim Tressel on the Videoboard... classic!
 
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im def not cocky enough to guarantee a win (rasheed)... but when your puttin a team from ohio up against a team from that hole up north.. u gotta like the ohio teams odds, esp if tressel is around lol... its gonna be a huge challange to put away the nba's best team, esp when your a young team like the cavs.. and i agree that they def need to do it at home cause a game 7 in detroit would not be fun... if hughes comes back it'll be an emotional game for him, so lets hope the team can step it up around him which by the way they are playing now wont be hard... WITNESS
 
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Cleveland is still the underdog right now, and I hope they understand that. I don't think anyone here actually believes they are a better team than the Pistons - just that they are playing better the last 3 games. So I think it's important that this team not take anything for granted and play game 6 like they played game 3 - or vacation will start on Sunday.
 
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scarletngrey77 said:
LMAO...

Skip Bayless just took Lebron off of the NBA 1st team because he "didnt deserve it in the regular season."

He then replaced Lebron with Dwyane Wade, and replaced Shaq with Ben Wallace.
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I think Skip needs an ice-cool bottle of....

haterade-logo.jpg
 
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