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Cavs-Wizards 1st round playoff series

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bucknut4life said:
did anyone else notice the absolutely terrible camerwork by TNT last night??

my goodness, i have never seen camerwork worse than last night..it was making me dizzy at some points..

and for half the game, i didnt see who had the ball until they were under the hoop
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It looked good on the widescreen HD I was watching it on. They normally make sure to center the action so that it shows up good on both types of TV's, I guess they weren't doing that last night.
 
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BB73 said:
The refs are doing their best to call the game according to the current rules. I believe it's the rules that need to change, and I've been saying it for 20 years. The NBA fails to grasp the concept that a person or a team violating the rules should not benefit from their own infractions.

All clearly intentional fouls should be 2 free throws and the basketball. This includes 'clear path' fouls on breakaways, fouls currently classified as flagrant, and blatant fouls like bear-hugging a guy going up for a layup.

If a team wants to play 'Hack-a-Shaq', they'd have to be attempting to make a play on the ball in order to get a normal foul called. Any bear-hugging, or fouling him intentionally when he doesn't have the ball should result in 2 shots and the ball. And I'm not a fan of Shaq at all.

Just because the NBA has gone decades without realizing that 'good fouls' should be oxymorons doesn't make them right. If the league wants to improve the flow of the game, which would increase fan interest, they need to minimize the hard fouls by changing the rules.

It's really a simple concept - the team committing the foul should be more likely to have the negative outcome than the team being fouled. Two shots and the ball on all intentional fouls would accomplish this in most cases, and coaches would quickly tell their players to not do it. There would be less rough play, less fights, and more scoring.
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i agree. to me you are reiterating what i was saying. to me anyway. but everyone here knows im an idiot. :wink2:
 
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ABJ

4/27/06

Impressive rebound already secured

Wizards' Butler turned life of trouble into NBA stardom

By Tom Reed

<!-- begin body-content -->WASHINGTON - Caron Butler plays the game with an edge -- one shaped and honed by a youth filled with poverty, crime and a life-changing decision made in the throes of solitary confinement.
At NBA playoff time, coaches often talk about a need to play with desperation, a greater sense of urgency.
Butler, a Washington Wizards swing man, lived his teenage years in just such a perpetual state.
Maybe it's why the idea of guarding Cavs superstar LeBron James doesn't seem troubling. Butler's solid defense and early offense helped the Wizards even the best-of-seven series with a 89-84 win Tuesday night.
Game 3 is Friday at the Verizon Center.
``Playing basketball is not pressure,'' Butler said.
Pressure is seeing the disappointment in a single-parent mother, who raised you and your brother while working two jobs in Racine, Wis.
Pressure is facing 14 months of jail time at age 14 after being arrested for possessing cocaine and a gun on school property.
Pressure is having to make good on a pledge to renounce a criminal past.
And making something better of yourself after spending 15 days in solitary confinement.
``When you screw up so bad that they have to put you in a little room like that and confine you from the general population, you really have to evaluate what you are doing,'' Butler said in an April 17 interview.
``I had to decide whether to shape up or spend my life in the prison system.''
Cavaliers fans might dislike Butler for his aggressive approach to defending James. (He shares the assignment with Jared Jeffries.) They might loathe Butler for the menace and swagger he supplies the Wizards.
His story, however, is one of inspiration: a kid overcoming his environment and the felonious mistakes of childhood. Butler messed up, then he fessed up.
The fourth-year pro uses his celebrity to make a positive impact on the lives of kids confronting similar obstacles and temptations. He shares his experiences in youth centers and schools. He helped to organize a violence-free community outreach program in his hometown.
Butler and James, competitors on the court, have a common bond: Oprah has interviewed each. Butler, appeared with his mother, Mattie, in September and told how his time in prison helped to alter his life.
``Caron didn't turn it around overnight,'' said Jameel Ghuari, who runs Racine's Bray Center for at-risk kids. ``He came to understand a legitimate path is one of patience. In the streets you can do things that allow you to shine immediately, and out there they can take you down just as quick.''
Butler's saga is a painfully familiar one. So many talk about freeing themselves from the cycle of violence and peer pressure, but too few possess the resolve.
``I'm not a bad person and I wasn't a bad kid,'' said Butler, who is married with three children. ``I just made some very, very bad decisions.''
Through the help of his mother, grandmother and such strong male influences as Ghuari and University of Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun, Butler never returned to the lifestyle that led to his incarceration.
Mattie demanded that her son get an education. She placed him in a technical school and later helped him to gain entrance into a prep school in rural Maine. He was not too proud to work summers in a fast-food restaurant to earn money for his family.
Ghuari refined Butler's basketball skills that took root in prison games, where the definition of a hard foul differs slightly from the NBA's interpretation.
``You can't back down from any challenge,'' Butler said. ``I have been told so many times in my life what I can't do, and I have proven doubters wrong.''
Butler competed on the same AAU team as former Kent State player and Racine native Bryan Bedford. Ghuari recalls how on road trips, Butler remained in his room and read the Bible while some teammates pursued girls and mischief.
He attracted national attention after earning MVP honors at an AAU event that featured future NBA players Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson.
Many colleges passed on Butler because of his criminal record, but Calhoun and UConn gave him a chance. Butler flourished under Calhoun's tough love, and he reached the NBA two years later in 2002.
Think Butler and his muscle would look good in Cavs wine and gold? Former General Manager Jim Paxson wanted to draft him, but was persuaded to take Dajuan Wagner instead.
Butler played two seasons with the Miami Heat and one for the Los Angeles Lakers before being sent to the Wizards in a deal for Kwame Brown.
He became the team's third scoring threat that it had lost when Larry Hughes signed with the Cavs. Butler has averaged 17.6 points and 6.2 rebounds, but his physical presence and leadership can't be measured on a stat sheet.
Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison are the Wizards' established stars. Butler gives them bravado and toughness they had lacked.
The Wizards are 34-22 with Butler in the starting lineup. They lost five in a row with Butler sidelined due to a thumb injury until his return enabled them to win their final three games to secure the fifth seed.
In an April 16 win against the Cavs, Butler served noticed by confronting Zydrunas Ilgauskas after a hard foul on Arenas. His teammates applauded the show of support -- something Ilgauskas did not receive after being bloodied by Rasheed Wallace on Feb. 26 versus the Detroit Pistons.
``Those things have to be said on the court; they have to be done,'' Butler said.
Cavs General Manager Danny Ferry calls Butler ``one tough dude'' and sees him as something of a throwback player.
You don't have to like Butler to respect his game and the sacrifices he has made to reinvent himself. He is an example of why kids deserve a second chance if they're willing to work at it.
Butler plans to tell his own three children about their father's misdeeds and his atonement. It's a story worthy of retelling.
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ABJ

4/28/06

JAMES FIRED UP

Cavaliers star promises different performance in tonight's Game 3

By Brian Windhorst

Beacon Journal sportswriter

<!-- begin body-content -->CLEVELAND - When LeBron James watches film and sees No. 23 make a mistake he usually loudly and profanely criticizes himself.
Stands to reason his living room wasn't a friendly place to be the past several days as he's repeatedly watched a DVD of the Cavaliers' Game 2 loss to the Washington Wizards. His study of perhaps his worst performance of the season -- 7-of-25 shooting with 10 turnovers -- left him defiant before heading to Washington for Game 3, which is tonight at the Verizon Center.
``I've watched the game over and over,'' James said after the Cavs' workout Thursday. ``You'll see a different performance out of me. I'll be ready, I promise you.''
The last time James had such a bad night, in January at Golden State when he went 5-for-22 shooting for just 14 points, he came back with 51 points in the next game at the Utah Jazz. That type of result isn't expected, but if the Cavs are to realize the obvious goal of re-taking homecourt advantage by winning one of the next two games in Washington, he's got to be closer to the James of Game 1 when he had a triple double that included 32 points.
``It's how you react after a loss,'' James said. ``I've had bad games before. I can't let it affect me being the leader of the team.''
James thought he kept making two general mistakes in the 89-84 loss: he didn't take what the Wizards were giving him and he didn't react to their defensive rotations. As a result, he was constantly bulling into bodies and throwing passes ripe to be plucked. He was hit with two offensive fouls, missed seven shots in the paint and became frustrated.
Nothing was more shocking than his missed dunk in transition, something never before seen since he entered the NBA.
``I had to rewind it four or five times and chuckle a little bit,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said. ``You may never see that again. It was just one of those games. Hopefully it doesn't carry over.''
Buoyed by their ability to limit James the last time out, it lends itself to reason that the Wizards will continue to be physical with him around the basket. With the Cavs ahead by 15 points in the first quarter Tuesday, Wizards center Brendan Haywood clotheslined James on a drive to the basket. A few moments later, the Wizards started an 18-0 run that changed the course of the game and they jostled James the rest of the way.
It has been suggested that Haywood's hit changed the course of the series, but James begs to differ.
``Roughhousing never has an affect on my game,'' he said. ``I can play finesse, I can play physical. Whatever type of game it is, I'm up for it. It was a hard foul and it was a message they weren't going to let me get to the hole without contact. As far as how it was taken, I don't think it mattered.''
James wasn't the only one making promises Thursday. The Cavs swore to make Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who has scored a combined 19 points in the first two games, more of a factor in Game 3.
``It has been a struggle,'' Ilgauskas said. ``They've been doubling me or sinking to the middle. I was never able to get any rhythm.''
Brown seemed more concerned with his team's mental focus heading into Game 3. Especially involving turnovers -- the Cavs allowed 26 points off 17 turnovers in the loss -- and composure in enemy territory.
But, as his is nature, he's staying upbeat.
``This is great for LeBron to go through, it is great for our team, it is good for me to go through this,'' Brown said. ``So we can see how we respond to these challenges as we go through this run.''
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