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Do IT this week: Layering
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 07:48 p.m. EDT, May 23, 2009
CLEVELAND: It wasn't the shot heard 'round the world, but it certainly rang with resonance in Northeast Ohio.
LeBron James called his game-winning 3-point shot at the buzzer in Friday night's win over the Orlando Magic the biggest shot of his career. It also might be the one that vanquishes the demons of Cleveland's sports past if the Cavaliers go on to win the NBA championship.
Call out the tortured Cleveland sports memories. ''The Drive.'' ''The Fumble.'' And, yes, ''The Shot.'' The final one sent what many thought was an invincible Cavs team, featuring Brad Daugherty, Mark Price and Larry Nance, to an unceremonious early exit from the NBA playoffs 20 years ago at the hands of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
The Cavs were the better team, the Bulls had the better player in Jordan, when for a brief moment that's all that was needed. The parallel was not lost on James, whose shot lifted the Cavs to an improbable 96-95 win over the Magic after the Cavs had blown a 23-point lead.
''Well, that guy is not in the league anymore,'' James said with a playful grin. ''The other 2-3 is on the good side now. That other 2-3 is gone, so we don't have to worry about that no more.''
Indeed, but what is becoming increasingly evident when it comes to the current 2-3 and the other 2-3 is that they share many of the same traits, including instincts for the game. Initially, James wasn't supposed to take a 3-pointer.
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy had a good idea of what his counterpart, Mike Brown, wanted to do. He recalled lobs in games earlier this season that resulted in fouls. He fully expected Brown to go that route.
''You know that's what they were looking for and Hedo [Turkoglu] took that away,'' Van Gundy said. ''[James] popped out and made a great shot.
''We should have defended it; I should have defended it differently.''
Brown confessed that the plan was for a lob, but James' instincts sent him to a different option.
''That momentum [Turkoglu] had to use to take that back door away and LeBron's quickness to create separation going up the floor gave him enough space to get a nice look at the 3. We didn't have to tell him to do that. He did that on his own.''
For James, qualifying that moment in time proved difficult. Even when looking back to two seasons ago, when he propelled the Cavs into the NBA Finals almost single-handedly against the Detroit Pistons in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals by scoring the last 25 points in a mesmerizing display of hoops brilliance, it was difficult for him to say.
''That's a shot you will see for a long time, you know?'' he said.
He spoke about the big baskets that Jordan, Jerry West and Magic Johnson made in their careers.
''You see all these type of shots always played even when the game has left you as an individual,'' he said. ''Hopefully I can stick my foot in that category with Magic and Jerry West and Jordan and all these other guys that made spectacular plays on the biggest stage in the world.''
What's easier to qualify, however, is what that shot means in the here and now for James and his teammates, who came within one clock tick of being behind 0-2 and having to face the Magic on their home court, a place where they lost decisively twice during the regular season.
''It's big. It's big,'' Cavs point guard Mo Williams said for emphasis on going to Orlando with the series even. ''It is different going on the road down two or 1-1, especially when you are playing a good team.''
James agreed.
''To go on the road, one second from being down 0-2, going to Orlando and from zero seconds the shot goes in to being 1-1 going on the road, it is a good feeling for us. We can carry this momentum.''
Brown preferred to put things in perspective.
''You can't go through the playoffs without having some lucky bounces here and there,'' he said. ''They got one in Game 1 if you want to say that about Rashard's [game-winning] shot. We got one in Game 2. Let's get ready for Game 3 now.''
Sasha's big night
Prior to Friday's game, Cavs guard Sasha Pavlovic had played approximately 39 minutes in eight playoff games. Friday night, he played 22.
Brown went to Pavlovic and played him opposite Turkoglu for much of that time, helping to frustrate the Magic forward until he got hot in the fourth quarter to score nine of his 19 points. Brown said he debated himself when thinking of playing Pavlovic. He called a confidante within the organization whom he's used to debating moves with, and that person, whose identity he would not reveal, had no arguments against playing Pavlovic.
''He was our starting two guard,'' Brown said. ''He has played some big games, played some big minutes and he has done some nice things on both ends of the floor. And we wanted to try to give them a different look by going with a little bit more length and athleticism in Sasha.''
Pavlovic responded with nine points and two assists.
''I just stayed ready because Coach told me before the game to stay ready,'' Pavlovic said. ''I came out and played as hard as I could on the defensive end to help my team get stops.''
Quick shots
Since the 2006 playoffs, the Cavs are 22-2 when scoring at least 94 points. . . . The Cavs continued their trend of rebounding after losses. In the regular and postseason, they are 15-2 in games following a loss. . . . By holding Dwight Howard in check offensively, allowing him just 10 points, the Cavs outscored the Magic 44-28 in the paint on Friday night.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read the Cavs blog at http://www.ohio.com/thomas. Follow Cavs coverage on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cavsabj
CLEVELAND: It wasn't the shot heard 'round the world, but it certainly rang with resonance in Northeast Ohio.
LeBron James called his game-winning 3-point shot at the buzzer in Friday night's win over the Orlando Magic the biggest shot of his career. It also might be the one that vanquishes the demons of Cleveland's sports past if the Cavaliers go on to win the NBA championship.
Call out the tortured Cleveland sports memories. ''The Drive.'' ''The Fumble.'' And, yes, ''The Shot.'' The final one sent what many thought was an invincible Cavs team, featuring Brad Daugherty, Mark Price and Larry Nance, to an unceremonious early exit from the NBA playoffs 20 years ago at the hands of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
The Cavs were the better team, the Bulls had the better player in Jordan, when for a brief moment that's all that was needed. The parallel was not lost on James, whose shot lifted the Cavs to an improbable 96-95 win over the Magic after the Cavs had blown a 23-point lead.
''Well, that guy is not in the league anymore,'' James said with a playful grin. ''The other 2-3 is on the good side now. That other 2-3 is gone, so we don't have to worry about that no more.''
Indeed, but what is becoming increasingly evident when it comes to the current 2-3 and the other 2-3 is that they share many of the same traits, including instincts for the game. Initially, James wasn't supposed to take a 3-pointer.
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy had a good idea of what his counterpart, Mike Brown, wanted to do. He recalled lobs in games earlier this season that resulted in fouls. He fully expected Brown to go that route.
''You know that's what they were looking for and Hedo [Turkoglu] took that away,'' Van Gundy said. ''[James] popped out and made a great shot.
''We should have defended it; I should have defended it differently.''
Brown confessed that the plan was for a lob, but James' instincts sent him to a different option.
''That momentum [Turkoglu] had to use to take that back door away and LeBron's quickness to create separation going up the floor gave him enough space to get a nice look at the 3. We didn't have to tell him to do that. He did that on his own.''
For James, qualifying that moment in time proved difficult. Even when looking back to two seasons ago, when he propelled the Cavs into the NBA Finals almost single-handedly against the Detroit Pistons in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals by scoring the last 25 points in a mesmerizing display of hoops brilliance, it was difficult for him to say.
''That's a shot you will see for a long time, you know?'' he said.
He spoke about the big baskets that Jordan, Jerry West and Magic Johnson made in their careers.
''You see all these type of shots always played even when the game has left you as an individual,'' he said. ''Hopefully I can stick my foot in that category with Magic and Jerry West and Jordan and all these other guys that made spectacular plays on the biggest stage in the world.''
What's easier to qualify, however, is what that shot means in the here and now for James and his teammates, who came within one clock tick of being behind 0-2 and having to face the Magic on their home court, a place where they lost decisively twice during the regular season.
''It's big. It's big,'' Cavs point guard Mo Williams said for emphasis on going to Orlando with the series even. ''It is different going on the road down two or 1-1, especially when you are playing a good team.''
James agreed.
''To go on the road, one second from being down 0-2, going to Orlando and from zero seconds the shot goes in to being 1-1 going on the road, it is a good feeling for us. We can carry this momentum.''
Brown preferred to put things in perspective.
''You can't go through the playoffs without having some lucky bounces here and there,'' he said. ''They got one in Game 1 if you want to say that about Rashard's [game-winning] shot. We got one in Game 2. Let's get ready for Game 3 now.''
Sasha's big night
Prior to Friday's game, Cavs guard Sasha Pavlovic had played approximately 39 minutes in eight playoff games. Friday night, he played 22.
Brown went to Pavlovic and played him opposite Turkoglu for much of that time, helping to frustrate the Magic forward until he got hot in the fourth quarter to score nine of his 19 points. Brown said he debated himself when thinking of playing Pavlovic. He called a confidante within the organization whom he's used to debating moves with, and that person, whose identity he would not reveal, had no arguments against playing Pavlovic.
''He was our starting two guard,'' Brown said. ''He has played some big games, played some big minutes and he has done some nice things on both ends of the floor. And we wanted to try to give them a different look by going with a little bit more length and athleticism in Sasha.''
Pavlovic responded with nine points and two assists.
''I just stayed ready because Coach told me before the game to stay ready,'' Pavlovic said. ''I came out and played as hard as I could on the defensive end to help my team get stops.''
Quick shots
Since the 2006 playoffs, the Cavs are 22-2 when scoring at least 94 points. . . . The Cavs continued their trend of rebounding after losses. In the regular and postseason, they are 15-2 in games following a loss. . . . By holding Dwight Howard in check offensively, allowing him just 10 points, the Cavs outscored the Magic 44-28 in the paint on Friday night.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read the Cavs blog at http://www.ohio.com/thomas. Follow Cavs coverage on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cavsabj
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Stow, OH
Posted 09:01 PM, 05/23/2009
If you want to be a little creative with your posts on such forums as Ohio.com
or Craiglist.com with: Hyperlinks,
BOLD, Italic and the underlined text which, is not to
be confused with the horizontal rule then click here for the cheat
sheet
These are just a few common modifications that may interest you and the forum must be
HTML friendly as these are HTML codes/tags.
Please overlook duplicates of this entry as it is in other posts as well.
Anti-Politically Correct & Anti-GOP, OH
Posted 11:51 AM, 05/24/2009
Well, let's just concentrate on winning this series and on to the NBA Championship or else that shot won't mean a thing.
Posted 12:18 PM, 05/24/2009
One Goal. One Goal, baby!
As for HTMLCode, thanks! I already am aware of all of those, but it's nice to see the little primer presented here.
My advice to anyone visiting his pages linked-to above is to copy/paste the hints into a file on your computer and reference those as needed.
My strong advice is to NOT click on any of the ads on those pages. By doing so, HTMLCode receives a kickback from the advertisers.
Let's not turn forums into links intended to make a few bucks off of forum vistors' actions!
Stow, oh
Posted 10:58 AM, 05/29/2009
@Carbunkle
Yes you can copy and saved the information. However, the information there is good and I have used it just like you although, you say you already knew how to do that stuff even though until now I have never seen it in ANY of your post.
Some of the ads which is randomly generated by Googl Ads can be very useful and the intent is indeed to drive traffic to the site in hopes that some may see an ad that will prompt a sale.
I know this, because my sister is in the affiliates program and the sales are few and far between for her (in other words she is not getting rich off of it or you.
HTMLCode offered some valuable information for FREE which you claimed to possess and yet you sat on it and refused to share it.
Although HTMLCode is hopeful of making a small percentage of any sales the page might generate, the information is free and useful!
