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It was too difficult to write an instant response about the Cavs-Celtics series. Game 5 and Game 6 seem like a fractured nightmare, unrelated to the season we’d been enjoying.  The fact that the Cavaliers gave up with a minute and a half to go, down by 9, makes me wonder why I cared for so many months about a team, who, when things got intense, decided to lay down and die. The shocking lack of effort from the Cavaliers in Game 5 and 6 border on conspiratorial. That needs to be said. If a poll question were to occur with this sentence: “Was there a suspicious lack of effort from the Cavaliers in Games 5 and 6?” I’m sure there would be a greater majority answering yes. When Delonte West threw a pass against the backboard in Game 6 after jumping and finding only lazy cutters to the lane, I knew then we were toast. The team had given up on each other, on the coach, on the season, on being winners.

Cavaliers fans need answers from the players and coaches. Full answers. Complete answers. Otherwise, how can we ever believe in this kind of team again? It’s as if we were led up Everest by a group of professional guides, only, near the top, they said to us: “This is a good enough view, we’re going back down.”

Was it Mike Brown? Was it Lebron not wanting the ‘Cleveland Experience’ anymore? Was it player A hating player B? Was it the pressure? Was it ‘outside’ pressure? The Celtics are a team who don’t make mistakes in the playoffs, and they are indeed discplined, tough, and quite talented, but to lay an egg after dismantling a team 124-95, reeks of internal conflict.

I’m tired of people also saying that Lebron did not get enough help. Lebron, you dominate the ball. The only way you’re able to get into a rhythm is if you have the ball in your hands for a long period of time. Perhaps 10 seconds on the shot clock. Yes, you pass off to teammates, you get your assists, but you control the entire possession. Please, pick a position (preferably point guard) and BECOME that position. You need a ROLE. Your teammates need to see you have a role, so they know how to play off of you. You’re not Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins, playing many instruments at once, you are one person of five. And each part must harmonize with the other. Maybe you realized this in game 5, and chose to be a small forward and nothing but a small forward. But, sadly, that is not what that particular team was used to. That kind of change can only occur in the offseason. No matter where you go, please, choose a position and dominate it. If you don’t, you will forever be a regular season god who gets double-teamed in the playoffs. Oh, and find a coach who refuses to believe you are great. Find a coach who takes you for granted and treats you like shit. Find a coach who believes you are nothing but a failure. Find a coach who doesn’t want to have fun. Only then will you win, and only then will people start to understand you…if that’s what you want.

You can find this in Cleveland, by the way.

Where is Our Team?

I’ve been a Cleveland Cavaliers fan ever since moving to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio in 1987. I grew up watching those Daugherty, Price, Nance, Ehlo, and Hot Rod years. Every year they were a solid, all-around team coached by Lenny Wilkens, a man who put complete faith in his team and brought a calmness and wisdom to his actions. Yes, every year it seemed like we lost to the Bulls, or Michael Jordan, but I always admired how hard they worked to keep those games close. If there’s one thing Michael Jordan would say about those Cavs teams, it would be this: They tried as hard as they could.

In my years of sports watching and playing, I’ve bore witness to athletes whose minds were out the door before the season even ended. It happened to me my senior year of college, playing my final week of tennis matches. The fire had gone out of me. Forgive me for comparing myself to world-class athletes, but each of us knows that feeling when our heart is not into doing something. That can happen to anyone, and it’s currently happening to Lebron James.

Game Five was a massacre on so many levels, an event us Cleveland fans did not deserve. When Charles Barkley compared the Cavaliers to the Atlanta Hawks during halftime, I had a feeling we were toast. There are so many reasons being floated around as to why Game 5 happened the way it did. Here’s the list below. I added a few…

1)       The Cavaliers have stopped believing in Mike Brown.

2)       Lebron is hiding an intense elbow injury

3)       The elbow injury is not severe, but the mental damage it has caused a once invincible Lebron is.

4)       Players are upset about rotations, especially since there is no  set ‘bench’. This might support reason number 1.

5)       A scandal of some kind…

Personally, I lean toward number 1, because nothing destroys the soul of a team more than losing faith in their leader. Watching Al Gentry fuse the Suns into a well-oiled machine of rhythm and beauty, one can see first-hand the benefits of a respected coach. The Hawks gave up on Mike Woodson this year. The Orlando Magic are excellent, but the Atlanta Hawks played like shadows. The Denver Nuggets care very much for George Karl, but winning without him perhaps felt strange and almost blasphemous. They couldn’t respect Adrian Dantley, because their most innate respect was reserved for the man who created their chemistry.

In retrospect, perhaps that is what has happened to Mike Brown. The chemistry changed too much. Did we need to make changes after losing to Orlando? Yes. Did we make too many and, as a result, break apart the chemistry we once had? Possibly. Watching how hard the Cavaliers played against Orlando last year, I actually get a little nostalgic. They fought the way Larry Nance, Mark Price, and so on fought. Overmatched, but never outworked.

With the acquisition of Mr. O’Neal, Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker, and later Mr. Jamison, the Cavaliers were perhaps (God let Game 6 prove me wrong)  given too many parts for one machine. Bill Simmons mentions in his book ‘The Disease of More’, that happens to championship teams who try to get even better the next year through trades, signings, larger contracts, et cetera. Again, in retrospect, think about the massive changes we made to a 66-16 fun-loving team. True, we didn’t win the championship, but we had chemistry.

I’ll watch game 6, and I’ll be looking for one thing: Effort. I want to see us frantically trying to cover their shooters. I want to see us rough up Rajon Rondo. I want to see group huddles, head nodding and attentive players listening to their coach, no matter what they feel. I want to believe in my team again. I want to believe that they tried their absolute best. And if it wasn’t enough, then that’s fine. I can live with that. Put aside the issues, the complaints, the doubts, the injuries, the egos, and play the game you have loved, and I have loved, since you were kids. Step onto the court for game 6 and love the game all over again.