Posts Tagged ‘LeBron James’
01/18 Morning Minute: A Good Night For Cleveland Hoops
I admit that when I entered in the URL for Pounding the Rock this morning, I was expecting to see some one-sided whining about the officiating in last night’s game between the Cavs and Spurs. Instead, they were understandably unhappy with the way that the Spurs left timeouts on the table while Manu Ginobili took a last second shot to tie the game – but missed front iron.
The Cavaliers have been bitten by this before, think Utah Jazz earlier this season thanks to Deron Williams. Greg Popovich likely took this into consideration before letting Ginobili take the shot – after all, he did have a game high 31 points. Credit this team for not assuming anything and getting back on defense after LeBron James missed a shot to seal the game with about five seconds left on the clock.
The game ended in a 90-88 win for the team from Cleveland, and while it will not make up for getting swept by this same team a few months back in the NBA Finals, the win shows that this team is playing excellent ball right now – just as James said in the post-game interview.
01/17 Afternoon Minute: Kicks to the Junk
While I’m on the side of the argument that the whole “LeBron James-Yankees Hat” ordeal was a bit overblown, I’m sure that this won’t make matters much better.
Via TheSportingBlog’s relatively new piece called Fresh Cuts, we see that the new version of LeBron James’ Zoom V will have a “Yankees Edition.” The pictures were apparently posted at X-Kicks.com, but it is a Chinese site, and I’m not about to install various languages on my work computer. Have at it.
And while I typically do not post pictures on the site, here’s a peak at what the likely limited edition shoes will look like…
01/17 Morning Minute: Which Team Show Up?
The month of January has already welcomed the Cleveland Cavaliers with six wins on the season. The one loss was the second game of a back-to-back, on the road. A combination that never seems to bode well for the Cavs.
Excuses aside, tonight’s game against the San Antonio Spurs will be very telling. Will we see the Cavs team that is a defensive unit that has held the Atlanta Hawks (twice), Sacramento Kings, Toronto Raptors, and Seattle Supersonics under 95 points each? Or will we see the Cavaliers team that has given up over 100 to the Charlotte Bobcats and Memphis Grizzlies?
Granted, these were overtime games, but these are also opponents that should have been finished off handedly in regulation.
01/16 Morning Minute: 51 > 101
In yesterday’s Basketball Jones podcast, it was mentioned that a Kobe Bryant 50-point game should be on the horizon now that their center Andrew Bynum is out for the next eight weeks with a knee injury. Not that he’s overlooked, but the fact that LeBron James does not have an Andrew Bynum makes last night’s game of little surprise.
James dropped 51 points in a 132-124 overtime win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night. The fact that this output tied Allen Iverson for the top night year-to-date in the NBA is one thing. The fact that James put up 50+ and the Cavaliers still won the game is another. Don’t forget that the Cavs have twice dropped games where #23 has put up at least 50 points, so it is not far-fetched by any means.
01/04 Afternoon Minute: Party Over Here…
No word on if LeBron James was rocking a scarf when he was pulled over doing triple-digits, but with these pictures that have been dug up from his 23rd birthday party, he definitely was in New York City. Note that these were taken on December 18th, a few days before the speeding incident.
Some names that were on the guest list included hip-hop artists Jadakiss, DJ Clue, and Fabolous. Teammates Drew Gooden and Donyell Marshall were also in attendance.
Here are some thumbnails from the evening: Read the rest of this entry »
01/14 Afternoon Minute: What Can Brown Do For You?
It looks like we’ll have some time to find the answer.
Amidst rumors of Mike Brown being on the “hot seat” in terms of NBA coaches, owner Dan Gilbert quenched all rumors today as the Plain Dealer is reporting that he has extended the contract of his head coach – with terms not available as of this post.
Yes, he is the winningest coach (in terms of percentage) in team history, but even Brown has to be surprised by this news.
01/14 Morning Minute: Slow Down, Birthday Boy
In a day where a lot of the news will focus on the two upsets that occurred in the NFL yesterday, as well as the Terrell Owens breakdown, I’m awaiting the LeBron James news to make big time headlines. James was caught doing 101 mph in a 65 zone, about 15 miles south of Cleveland on December 30th – which happened to be his 23rd birthday.
The only thing that I’m a bit confused about is the fact that if this happened two weeks ago, how are we just finding out about it now? The night that James’ mother was arrested for driving under the influence, it was front page news immediately following the arrest.
01/11 Second Minute: More On Shannon Brown
Just a heads up as this one may take more than a minute to digest.
As I mentioned below, the Cavaliers’ Shannon Brown being sent to the Developmental League will likely be overlooked by many. To a lot of the casual fans, he is just some guy who looks a bit like Ira Newble, but he can finish on offense. To others, he is just that – offense.
Many of times, Brown looks for the highlight dunk instead of the smart basketball play. But you’ll have this with a player who has failed to crack the 17 minutes per game mark in this, his second season with the team. You are looking at a kid who just turned 22 years of age that was once thought to have the upside of Gilbert Arenas.
Obviously, this will never be the case as Arenas has produced more thus far in his career than any pundit – aside from Gilbert, himself – had ever expected. But what he is is a very athletic swingman with good speed and a physical presence on defense. But what he also is is a guy that plays the same position as Larry Hughes, a guy who makes considerably more money, but also a guy that was added to the team a year earlier.
Which poses the question: Why was he drafted? Just add it to the list called “Danny Ferry’s First Rounders.”
01/10 Morning Minute: Checkbooks and Flatlines
While there were rumors of all sorts heading into yesterday, it is starting to look more and more like Derek Anderson will be the Browns starting quarterback during the 2008 season, and possibly more. GM Phil Savage acknowledges the fact that lacking quarterback depth can really hurt a team, so having two quality quarterbacks isn’t out of the question.
What is great about the Savage interview from yesterday is the fact that Cleveland is now considered a safe haven of sorts for quarterbacks. The GM actually used the words “perks of the job,” discussing the great offensive line, solid skill players and a great coordinator (recently signed to an extension) that was able to prove to the NFL that Anderson was in fact a good quarterback. Not many other franchises can offer that right now, regardless of money.
The wrinkle may come around next season when Brady Quinn’s incentive-laden contract will come into effect. If Quinn does not play at least 70 percent of the plays in 2009, he will in fact leave $10 million of bonus money on the table – making that hold out even more expensive.
01/09 Morning Minute: Six of Seven and Blocking in Hawaii
While LeBron James’ fourth quarter average went up a bit against Toronto, last night may have brought it back down – but this is a good thing. James was able to watch the fourth quarter from the bench as the Cavaliers rolled over the Seattle Supersonics 95-79.
James finished with 22 points, but it was his teammates that deserve the credit in this one. Sasha Pavlovic finally woke up during his 22 minutes of play, finishing with 13 points – his first double-digit game since December 11th. And he’s the starting shooting guard, people. Boobie Gibson knocked down five three-balls (Got it! – Tait), Larry Hughes actually wasn’t that bad (4-11, nine points, three steals) and Andy Varejao finished off the solid night with 14 points and nine rebounds of his own. Well done, boys.
This is six wins in the last seven games, placing Cleveland above .500 for the first time in quite a while. The next three contests (at Atlanta, home against Charlotte, at Memphis) are very winnable. I would love to have nine of ten games in the “W” column before heading to San Antonio to face the Spurs.
And the final Cavs note, this piece from the Globe and Mail is worth a look as it discusses LBJ’s hecklers from this past weekend. Best line of the article:
“She’s free to do what she wants,” [Raptors forward Chris] Bosh said of his No. 1 fan. “But I said, ‘Don’t talk to LeBron any more.’
