Mission: Failure

Well folks, not a fun night. The Cavs dream season came to a slamming end against the Orlando Magic tonight with a 103-90 loss. I thought we had a very good chance to beat this team, but in the end, the combination of a dominant bigman, and consistent three point shooting became our achillies heal, which led to our demise this season.

-Losing Game 1 killed us. I have said all along that winning Game 1 is huge in any series, and we did not do it. We lost our homecourt invincibility, and we lost our confidence. Once the Cavs saw that they could be beat, especially in the playoffs, we seemed tentative and afraid. We took Orlando too lightly in the second half of Game 1, blowing a 16 point half time lead. After that, we never really quite looked the same for 48 minutes....
-Its sad that LeBron had such a dominating series (41 ppg 8 assists 8 rebounds), and it all basically goes to waste. Add the fact that he hit the biggest shot in Cavs history in Game 2, you get an uneasy feeling inside. He didn't even speak to the media after the loss tonight, and he went straight to the team bus......
-I am disappointed in LeBron's game tonight somewhat because he just seemed too tentative tonight. He didn't not come out aggressive, and he seemed to shy away from the basket when he didn't get foul calls early on. Also, Delonte and Mo each stepped up scoring 22 and 17 respectfully. He seemed tired in the end of the game, and it was probably from carrying the team on his back for so long.
-I give a lot of credit to Delonte West in this game and series. He was the only one fighting this entire game and he seemed fearless. He had a few step back jumpshots, a three pointer, and he attacked the basket. With 1 minute left in the 4th quarter, off of a missed shot, he went and stripped the ball out of Hedo Turkgolu's hands, even though the game was long over. He had to guard Hedo the entire series and he was giving up about 7 inches too. For those of you who play basketball, giving up that much size on defense isn't fun.
-Mo Williams was truly a disappointment in the first four games. He seemed very nervous, and he couldn't get any consistency out of his 3 point shot. He came alive when it was too late, he scored 25 points in game 5 and 17 tonight. The Cavs needed production out of him earlier in the series and they didn't get it. In the series as a whole, he only shot 35%....
-The bench was also very bad. Joe Smith, and Wally gave nothing, Daniel did hit a couple of 3 pointers, Sasha didn't get enough playing time, Ben Wallace tried his best on Dwight, but its obvious his best days are way behind him. This is an area in which the Cavs will need to get a Mickael Pietrus/JR Smith type of guy off the bench who can just score as a 6th man.
-Everyone is making an issue of LeBron not talking to the media after the game. Big deal. Have you ever played a sport where you wanted to win very badly, worked a very long time to get to where you were and you lost? Did you want to talk to anyone afterwards? LeBron was so focused on winning a championship, and he came up short. I don't think he needs to explain himself to everyone. The national media will make this out to be something big, and that he is going to NYC in 2010. You really think that while LeBron was walking out of the locker room, he said to himself "NYC, here I come!". I think not. Some of the members of the media should consider playing team sports, it could help in situations like this.
-Mike Brown got outcoached in this series. He should have played Sasha more instead of Wally because of his athleticism, and ability to drive. He could have better guarded Hedo or Rashard. Z played too many minutes in the first 4 games, as he played over 28 minutes a game in each. Z cannot guard the Magic pick and roll because he is too slow. He cannot score in the paint anymore, and if he can't shoot his jumper, there isn't much use for him aside from rebounding. Darnell Jackson should have gotten more playing time because he is a big body who can absorb contact and eat fouls. Joe Smith should have played more as well, because of his ability to shoot jumpers and guard the 3 point shot. Also, Mike Brown really didn't try doing anything radical or different. How about putting Tarence Kinsey in to guard Courtney Lee or Mickael Pietrus, so LeBron could guard Rashard or Hedo? Kinsey is definitely athletic enough to do so, and he has the height to matchup with them (6'6). Throw something at the Magic that they haven't seen, force them to adjust to you. Go with a smaller, quicker lineup, run the ball up the court faster or maybe post up LeBron. Brown seemed to go with his same rotations, and when your in an elimination game, you need to try to do EVERYTHING to win.
-All in all, I don't know what to think about this offseason. Andy and Z can opt out of there contracts (Andy probably will, Z probably won't), Wally's contract expires (he won't be back), Sasha has a partially guaranteed contract (trade bait), Joe Smith is a free agent (might be back), we have 2 draft picks in the upcoming draft, Ben Wallace has a $14 million expiring deal, the mid-level exception at hand, and Chinese Investors bought a 15% stake in the Cavs (more cash to use). I am not sure what all this adds up to, but Danny Ferry and company are definitely going to have to get creative this offseason. I will write a more detailed review of our season, and preview of our offseason later.

I am proud of the way the Cavs played this year and they played great. I am thankful that we got to see this team achieve the best record in the NBA, go 39-2 at home in the regular season, develop great team chemistry, pull off last second heroics (@ Clippers, @ Atlanta, @ Golden State), blowout wins, hilarious pre-game rituals, the awards won by LeBron James and Mike Brown, but in the end our one goal of a championship was a failure in itself.......

-Raz