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Cavs lose big; fans just boo

Woeful performance leaves LeBron speechless, but what could he say?

By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter

Published on Monday, Dec 24, 2007

CLEVELAND: In a cheesy but often effective effort to incite fans to boo, the Cavaliers often will put the logos of the University of Michigan or the Pittsburgh Steelers on the Quicken Loans Arena scoreboard when the opposing team is shooting free throws.

The fans who came Sunday didn't need any instruction. They had no problem booing liberally.

And not at the opposing team, either.

The fans watched the Cavs take another whipping, this one a 105-96 battering at the hands of the Golden State Warriors.

All the booing sent one message; some silence sent another. After the game, for the first time in his career, LeBron James did not address the media. He took his clothes out of the locker room, dressed in the training room and left through a back door.

There was nothing for him to say that hasn't been said already.

All of the common symptoms of the Cavs' monthlong malaise were prevalent: the shoddy defense, the glazed looks, the slumping shoulders.

The Warriors (16-12) were playing on the second night of back-to-back games at the end of a five-game road trip right before Christmas — a classic letdown-game scenario. The Cavs (12-16) had two days off and time to do their secret Santa exchange, but they played like the team without much sleep 2,000 miles from home.

The crowd sensed it and heartily disapproved, not seeing much that resembled last year's NBA Finals team or even the gritty squad that battled through injuries and a tough schedule to start this season 9-6.

''It's tough to say you have your home town behind you and at the same time when you're struggling it seems like they are almost against you,'' said Drew Gooden, who scored only five points. ''Fans are fans and they're going to do what they need to do.''

The patrons had a case.

Once again the Cavs
were slow-footed and slow-witted on defense, which will never do against the Warriors. Golden State loves to run and gun, and the Warriors got plenty of open shots to play with as long as they threw a few passes to catch the Cavs falling asleep.

The Warriors hit 17 of their first 21 shots. Some of them came with Cavs hands in their faces and there were a few lucky bounces on the rim, but for the most part, the Warriors' offensive-based team feasted on a defense overmatched. Their lead swelled to 28 points in the third quarter before the Cavs trimmed it during garbage time.

Baron Davis got to the basket whenever he wanted. He scored 27 points and handed out 10 assists. Stephen Jackson simply waited for open shots to come his way and took advantage of them on his way to 29 points. Seemingly no Cavs defender could stay in front of Monta Ellis; he tossed in 19 for the happy-go-lucky Warriors.

The Warriors ended up shooting 52 percent, the ninth time in the past 13 games the Cavs have allowed their opponent to shoot better than 45 percent. They are fourth worst in the NBA in field-goal percentage defense.

James had a good offensive game with 25 points and eight assists, but he always has a good offensive game. He was a full-fledged member of the defensive machine that failed again, however.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 20 points, but the Cavs managed to shoot only 41 percent as a team. It's the 10th time in 12 games they have shot 43 percent or worse.

Larry Hughes went 1-of-8 from the floor and is now 12-of-53 over his past six games. He heard it the most from the fans, some pockets of whom booed even when he touched the ball on the outside. ''I wouldn't think they would come here to boo, but I'm just one guy,'' Hughes said. ''If that's how they want to channel their energy, you can't really stop that. If you look at the big picture, I don't think one guy can affect what's going on out there.''

 

Brian Windhorst can be reached at bwindhor@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/.

 

CLEVELAND: In a cheesy but often effective effort to incite fans to boo, the Cavaliers often will put the logos of the University of Michigan or the Pittsburgh Steelers on the Quicken Loans Arena scoreboard when the opposing team is shooting free throws.

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