Cavaliers looking for consistency as playoffs loom
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
James Walker
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE align=center><TBODY></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
CLEVELAND — Cavaliers guard Damon Jones, usually the first to joke around in the locker room, was particularly heated. The Sacramento Kings had just handed Cleveland its fifth consecutive loss, and Jones endured a verbal beating from the hometown fans as the last player into the tunnel.
One fan held up a sign that read "Don’t boo LeBron. Boo his supporting cast." Another fan said something that made Jones want to charge back out of the tunnel, but assistant general manager Lance Blanks restrained him and sent him into the locker room.
It was a brief moment out of character for Jones, who later shrugged off the incident, but no doubt proof that a 1-5 start after the All-Star break was taking its toll on the Cavaliers. A year ago, Cleveland embarked on an epic collapse, losing 19 of 31 games to miss the playoffs for the seventh straight season.
"I think right now it is ‘here we go again,’ " forward Donyell Marshall said last week. "Obviously with the talk of last year, we are trying not to let that affect us, but I think it’s affecting us right now."
Cleveland and its fans aren’t the only ones that noticed. Jones received a surprise phone call last week from Miami Heat center Shaquille O’Neal, his teammate last season. O’Neal all but threatened Jones not to allow the Cavaliers to implode for the second consecutive year.
"He was very disappointed at the way everything has been going for me personally and the team," Jones said. "He feels like we should be better than what we’ve been showing the past couple of weeks, and I just tried to come back and relay those same things to the team, not by my words, but by my actions."
Whether or not Jones inspired the turnaround, the Cavaliers responded to the five straight losses by winning three in a row. A 106-99 victory over the Toronto Raptors last night put the Cavaliers, holding the fourth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, at 35-26 heading into a fourgame trip that starts tonight with another game against Toronto.
The winning started on the road Thursday, when a lastsecond, 92-91 victory over the Chicago Bulls helped relieve some tension. After an off day Friday, the Cavaliers practiced Saturday for the first time in more than a week.
It was a longer session, but the same uptight group from the Sacramento loss appeared to be having fun again.
At the end of practice, James shot left-handed three pointers, making some, missing some, but hitting the rim each time. He also made a series of threes from just inside the halfcourt circle, approximately 42 feet from the basket. At one point a handful of teammates watched in amazement as he sank three in a row and 4 of 6.
On Sunday night, an ESPN audience and fans at Quicken Loans Arena witnessed a similar offensive display. James had 37 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in a 91-72 blowout of the Bulls.
"The practice did us some justice," James said. "We got up and down some. We did some drills and had the opportunity to go over Chicago’s plays on the court instead of (on film). It was awesome how we practiced and then translated it into the game."
James also displayed a mean streak in the fourth quarter, scoring 16 points after a Bulls defender knocked his headband off.
"That’s like my cape," James said. "If you knock a superhero’s cape off, you know you get very angry. My cape got knocked off, and he kind of looked in my face and saw the anger."
Critics have questioned James’ mental toughness, as well as the Cavaliers’. In a Feb. 26 game at Detroit, Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace intentionally belted Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas over the head, causing a deep gash that required five stitches.
There’s an unspoken rule that when a teammate, particularly a player of Ilgauskas’ caliber, takes a cheap shot, someone else takes action against the opposing player.
None of the Cavaliers responded. The Cavaliers are talented, but that intangible is something to monitor if Cleveland makes the playoffs.
The next four games, at Toronto, Orlando, Miami and Dallas, will go a long way in showing how much this team has grown.
The team dynamic is solid, as opposed to a year ago when a half-dozen players were soonto-be free agents and playing for future contracts. Midseason ownership and coaching changes didn’t help the young team, either. Dan Gilbert became owner, Paul Silas was fired and Mike Brown hired, and general manager Jim Paxson became a lame duck.
This year, stability has arrived, with Brown and general manager Danny Ferry firmly in place.
Cleveland has had winning streaks of six, seven and eight games this season to go with losing streaks of five and six games.
Perhaps more important is the Cavaliers have taken care of teams in their division. Cleveland owns crucial tiebreakers over playoff contenders Chicago, Indiana and Milwaukee.
"Any time you can win a series against anybody, especially in the same conference, that’s a big thing," Brown said. "Especially if you’re in the position that we’re in because we haven’t won anything, we haven’t done anything, and we haven’t proven anything. And you never know what’s going to happen down the stretch."
Sure, last week was just one week in a long NBA season. But they’re important weeks, particularly when it comes to the playoff hopes of the consistently inconsistent Cavaliers.
[email protected]
