Some of the most pressure packed points of any sports season doesn’t come in a stretch of games, in a moment of a game, or anticipation.
Some of the biggest pressure moments in sports come at the trading deadline. Credit Cleveland Cavaliers GM Danny Ferry for not succumbing to pressure. The Cavaliers, as you might recall, were the Eastern Conference Champions last season, but were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals.
The Cavaliers made one addition over the off season, signing G/F Devin Brown to come off the bench. For a team that had all the problems exploited on a national level, it was a very minimal move to make.
Fast forward to December. The Cavaliers were floating along the path, losing and winning, losing and winning. There was no consistent play and the Cavaliers best asset of defense had seemed to disappear.
Fast forward to late February. The Cavaliers had just begun to go on a tear. Led by star LeBron James and the further emergence of young point guard Daniel ‘Boobie’ Gibson, the Cavaliers started to get hot. Cleveland went 11-3 in January and made their move back into the top five in the Eastern Conference.
All of the sudden it went wrong. Sasha Pavlovich, who missed all of training camp in a contract dispute, had played well below his level when he made the starting lineup for Mike Brown last season. He hit his stride and found his game once again in January but then was the first Cavalier to go down.
In a 121-85 win over Washington on January 23, Pavlovich was injured with a left mid-foot sprain. He is just now participating in full contact practice for the first time since being injured. He wasn’t the only Cavalier to get hurt.
Earlier in the season James missed a handful of games, all losses by the Cavaliers while he sat and healed. The Sunday after Pavlovich’s injury another key cog was hurt. Anderson Varejao, the “Wild Thing’ went down with an ankle sprain against the Lakers in a win.
He missed a couple of weeks, just as he started to develop a good offensive game to go with his dominant rebounding and defensive skills. Varejao has since returned but had been off his game. Saturday March 8, Varejao came back to his game that he had before the ankle injury. He had 15 points and 16 rebounds and six assists to go with it. He was starting for another injured Cavalier, Zyrdrunus Illgauskus, who is still currently out with a back strain and will be out for at least a week or so more.
Another Cavalier currently in street clothes instead of the Wine and Gold is the rookie/sophomore All Star game MVP, Gibson. After the All-Star weekend had been good to him and teammate James, Gibson suffered and ankle injury of his own. Gibson has sat the last two weeks and is expected to miss two more. Gibson had been improving his game up to past 11 ppg up from four last season and has been the most improved scorer among second year players in the NBA this season.
The day after his injury, is when everything changed for the Cavaliers. All the injuries and rumors of James being adamant about getting some help, Ferry finally found a trade for the Cavaliers to help themselves.
14 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Steve Yodz about 1 year ago
Good article. It looks like if nothing else, the trade definitely motivated James. While it may be a little overly optimistic to say they are the strong favorites in the East, they match up better against the Pistons and Celtics now.
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Yama Hazheer about 1 year ago
Good read. The Cavs have played well this year with Lebron leading the way. He is playing fantastic. I know even the Celtics and Pistons wouldn't want to face him in the first round.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
Kobe fears LeBron.
LeBron owns Kobe.
Kobe won't surpass MJ but LeBron has now surpassed Kobe.
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BigReg about 1 year ago
As a Pistons fan I fully hope that we stay in second and Boston and Cleveland stay where they are. We are more then happy to go against Orlando in the second round.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
this is absolutely completely untrue. the cavaliers are mediocre at best, and ben wallace is barely a shadow of what he once was. that trade did nothing for them. wally can't help because whatever he does for you on offense, he's still twice as bad a liability on defense. delonte has heart but not much else. the cavs had their chance last year and nothing came of it. lebron will never win anything. done.
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Justin Lada about 1 year ago
why is this untrue? Wallace is still able to rebound and play defense like usual. Im not sure how often you watch the Cavaliers, but Wally plays solid defense. No, he will never win defensive player of the year, but your telling me he cannot guard a Tayshaun Prince in the playoffs? I do worry if the Cavaliers make him play the 2 guard and guard the other teams 2, because he is not fast enough to guard that position. However he is serviceable when it comes to guarding other SF. West has really found his shot since coming here (notice the spike in his FG% since the trade) he also averages two more assists per game, coincidence? No. James will be the reason the Cavaliers win anything. you talk about heart? james has the biggest drive and heart out of anyoe in the game today. The Cavaliers have a shot at a title thanks to him and him alone. There is no one else in the game today who is as unstoppable
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Justin Lada about 1 year ago
thank you all for the comments, I apprciate the feedback. Regan, Im glad you agree. I do still think the Pistons are the best team in the East no matter what the records say. They have playoff expirenece and a young bench to help the starters not be as winded and lose their legs in June. I do believe firmly the Cavaliers and Pistons will meet in the playoffs, in the 2nd or Finals again. From there its a toss up, but I do think James' demorilzation of the Pistons in Game 5 last season will be in their heads all series long.
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shra lebron about 1 year ago
i love mai dad lebron james
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
i you dad
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asjfdf lkjadsfdjsf about 1 year ago
Lebron James is the most dominant player in the NBA. All the Kobe fans can keep writing about their selfish hero, who will never emerge from the Shaq shadow, and deservingly so.
Lebron, with a healthy cavs team, are set to do some damage.
And even if they don't win the championship, Lebron has certainly made it clear that he is the best player in the NBA.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
All Kobe fans fear the greatness of LeBron. We are all witnesses.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
I'm not convinced that Lebron and company will get past their first round match-up in the playoffs, so all this talk about how 'dangerous' they are to quality opposition like the Celtics is rather ridiculous. Lebron scores 39 against the pathetic Bulls last week and his team loses by a double-digit score. Tonight, Lebron drops 42 points, grabs 11 boards, and dishes out 7 assists against a Nets team now 11 games below .500 (and lacking Jason Kidd) and his team still loses.
Lebron can score 50+ points against a 'quality' opponent in the playoffs and I bet his team still loses. Face it, Cleveland made some bad short-term trades. The players they picked up (including some Celtics rejects in Szczerbiak & West) may be better individually than those they gave up (questionable), but as a whole they are worse as a team. This team, unlike the Pistons (or even Celtics now), has not had enough time playing together to perform well. Imagine what will happen when you add the pressure of a playoff series to a team that will have played together for such a relatively short time. The Lebron fans can keep believing that one man will carry his team to the finals (last season was a fluke, so get over it), but these recent loses do not bode well.
Yes, Lebron is one of the greatest offensive players in the NBA today. He is at best an average (yes, average) defender and rebounder for his position (power forward). Unfortunately, he cannot carry this team as deep as he did last year into the playoffs.
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Justin Lada about 1 year ago
Have you ever seen any given sunday? Any team can get beat on a given night but what James does is really bring that into focus because with one good performance he can do that. Who can match him in the NBA when he goes on a scoring binge? Maybe Kobe and thats all, and James has beaten Kobe now quite a bit. And get your facts straight James plays small foward and not power foward. I guess he is average considereding he averages close to a triple double every single night, what the hell is your idea of good? Wilt? Sorry but James doesnt play with 6-1 while he is 6-8. get your facts straight!
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
"James must unquestionably be the MVP, or it is highway robbery."
Please remove that statement from your article...
If Kobe didn't win MVP last two years while taking his mediocre team to a record similar to the Cavs this season, why the hell is Lebron the MVP? Don't get swayed by triple doubles because it means nothing (I'll leave to that a later post to support that ... had my share of Lebron fans for one day).
You can certainly make your case for Lebron as MVP but no way in hell is it even close to "highway robbery" if he doesn't win MVP this year. Lebron is playing great, Kobe is right there and Kobe's team has a better record.
Don't give me the "weak supporting cast" argument. Remember Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, Brian Cook? I think they made the All-star team ... NOT.
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