Cavs Face Flurry Of Questions
Sean Deveney - SportingNews.com
May 14, 2010
There were missed shots, missed opportunities, missed defensive assignments and misfired passes. There was, perhaps, an elbow injury that was more bothersome than expected. There was a stat line that was impressive on the surface (27 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists) but which belied just how rough a game it was for the Cavaliers' LeBron James, who was just 8-for-21 from the field and committed nine turnovers. Worse, his team's championship chances were dashed thanks to a 94-85 Celtics Game 6 win in Boston on Thursday.
But the details of the Celtics' steady dismantling of Cleveland in the final three games of this conference semifinal series are easily shrugged off in the face of the big-picture impact that the Cavs' loss could have on their star player, the franchise and the league as a whole. It's been a long time since an NBA second-round series packed as much drama as this, and the reasons stemmed from psychoanalysis rather than Xs and Os.
Did James give his all? Was he playing hurt? Why did he appear to be sulking? Is he not the kind of player who can lift a team to a championship? Why not?
All valid questions. But, immediately after Game 6, the biggest questions were these:
Where to, LeBron? The drum roll to July 1 begins, and the Cavs' stunning loss certainly shifts the thinking in terms of how James approaches free agency. The smart money is still on a return to Cleveland, his hometown team and the franchise that bent over backwards (and paid a luxury tax) to add talent. But the players around James have shown a tendency, over the last two seasons, to cave at crucial moments. It's long been assumed that, if James were to leave Cleveland, he would be drawn to New York's bright lights. But recently a new theory has made the rounds-a long-shot conspiracy tale with very little hard evidence to back it-that has James eyeing Chicago, possibly with Kentucky coach John Calipari in the mix. James will have some long weeks ahead before he begins making his decision, but this series did not help the case for staying in Cleveland.
Can this supporting cast be saved? The Boston series looked all too much like last year's Orlando series in the conference finals, in which the Cavaliers had the better lineup on paper, but could not get consistent performances out of their role players. Mo Williams was very good in Game 6, but he had disappeared in the first five games (39.6 percent shooting, 20.0 percent 3-point shooting). Shaquille O'Neal was supposed to be a championship mentor and wise man throughout the playoffs, but he could not keep the Cavs from going off the rails when things turned sour. And what happened to floor-stretching forward Antawn Jamison? His Game 6 numbers were awful (five points, 2-for-10 shooting), and he made just 3-for-16 on 3-pointers in the series.
Will Mike Brown be sacrificed? Reports about internal strife and dissatisfaction with Brown were prevalent in Cleveland, and he did not seem to inspire much confidence in his players-in fact, he did not seem to inspire them, period. Brown tinkered with his substitutions throughout the Celtics series, especially in the frontcourt, where he tried to figure out how to balance minutes among O'Neal, Jamison, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao and J.J. Hickson. He never really got comfortable with a big-man rotation, to the chagrin of his team. Brown has improved dramatically as a coach in his five years in Cleveland-but he is likely to pay the price for the Cavs playoff flop. UPDATE: The Cavaliers' owner denies reports Brown has been fired.
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