MVN - Most Valuable Network

Home Court Advantage?

The Cavaliers were only 27-14 at home during the regular season. The Boston Celtics, however, were 31-10 away from the Garden.

Maybe those are nothing but numbers. But for the Cavs’ sake, their luck better change when they return back home to the Q for Saturday night’s Game 3 (8 p.m. Eastern, ABC) down 0-2 to Boston.

It’s LeBron’s stomping grounds. Chants of “overrated,” “crybaby,” and “Queen James” are sacreligious - worthy of physical punishment, even, depending on where you’re sitting (example: next to me). But a more amicable crowd may be the only guarantee other than the change in scenery.

We didn’t think LeBron could play any worse in Game 2 than he did in Game 1, but although the numbers looked better, the result was an abusive 16-point beating as opposed to a close 76-72 opening game that gave the Cavs infinite hope. Cleveland’s offense looked just as anemic while the defense couldn’t help but give up uncontested layups, open jump shots, and fast break opportunities.

The other thing to think about here is whether or not LeBron’s “supporting cast” will show up - at all - for him in this series. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had a good first two games, but the last guy you want as your go-to guy is a 32-year old center who plays at his best beyond 10 feet from the basket. Guys who are supposed to be playing from the perimeter can’t knock down their shots, as Wally Szczerbiak and Daniel Gibson have been nothing short of disappointments in this best-of-seven series.

FoxSports.com’s Jeff Goodman is talking about what we already know by now, but I like the way he put it in print in his Saturday morning article:

I’m still in utter disbelief.

Not that the Boston Celtics have taken the first two games of their playoff series against LeBron James and the Cavaliers, but that this is the same franchise that advanced to the NBA Finals a year ago.

How in the world did that happen? Take away the top player on every playoff team and tell me who has the least amount of talent.

It’s a no-brainer — the Cavs.

Subtract Joe Johnson from the equation in Atlanta and the Hawks still have Al Horford and Josh Smith. Take away Carmelo Anthony from Denver and you’ve still got Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby. In fact, I’m not sure there’s a worse team in the entire NBA than Cleveland when you subtract the top player.

Maybe the putrid Memphis Grizzlies.

Cleveland has the robotic big man Zydrunas Ilgauskas as LeBron’s sidekick. That’s one sad state of affairs…

…[LeBron] looks across the court and sees Garnett with Pierce and Allen. If the roster doesn’t get a significant upgrade in the next two years (when his contract expires), why would he want to remain in Cleveland long term?

My friends, Mr. Goodman here is not telling us something that we don’t already know, but I think he may be the first person representing a national media outlet who has come out and been this blunt about the Cavs’ supporting cast.

Although he is completely and utterly wrong about one thing - just one: I’d much rather have a Memphis Grizzlies team of Rudy Gay, Mike Miller, and a great young point guard prospect like Mike Conley instead of Wally freaking Szczerbiak, a 34-year old allergic Ben Wallace, and the most unorthodox 7-foot-3 center to ever play the game.

I’ve been saying it for a while now: without LeBron, the Cavs don’t win 20 games.

If you live in Cleveland, you have come under the false delusion of thinking that the Cavs are far, far better than they actually are. If these Celtics were around last year, they would have provided the Cavaliers with the same massive road block as they are this year. Last spring, the only thing standing between the Cavs and the Eastern Conference Finals was the New Jersey Nets. All 41-41 of them. Without any sort of interior presence, the Cavs murdered the Nets on the boards. They even laid an egg in a possible closeout game at home in Game 5 before having to go back to Jersey to finish that forgettable series.

Now, the Cavs have to beat a 66-win team to get to what might be a rematch with the Pistons.

Everything fell in place last season: the Charmin-soft posteason schedule, LeBron saving his career game for Game 5 (which the Cavs still needed two overtimes to win), and Daniel Gibson coming out of nowhere to be a playoff hero. The NBA Finals sweep at the hands of the Spurs was far more indicative of where the Cavs stand relative to the league’s heavyweights instead of beating down the injured Wizards, the undersized Nets, and the poorly-coached Pistons.

So now we fall under false pretenses. Now we go as far as blame LeBron for the terrible performances the team has put up in the first two games at Boston. LeBron will snap out of it. But don’t you think that the amount of work the Cavs need him to do just to be a respectable team may shorten his career?

Here’s a guy who has averaged at least 40 minutes a game in each of the last four seasons - that’s every year of his career save his rookie campaign, when he averaged 39.5. The cuts to the basket looked effortless two years ago. Now, teams are sending goons at him to whack him as hard as possible while the rest of his teammates just stand around and watch.

How much would a guy like Carlos Boozer help right now? Or Michael Redd? Or Joe Johnson? Or, hell, Mike Bibby?

The Cavs may be able to make a series out of this. In fact judging by how different the Celtics looked on the road compared to at home in their first round series with Atlanta, they better. But even if they do, it’s quite embarrassing for the entire Cavs organization that they are so overly dependent on one guy.

But that’s something to take care of in the offseason. Assuming it’s addressed. With Danny Ferry at the helm, you probably don’t want him pulling any more trades after seeing how much of a mess that February trade deadline trade turned out to be.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 11:57 am and is filed under Mike Bibby, Ray Allen, Mike Conley, Paul Pierce, Carlos Boozer, Michael Redd, Joe Johnson, Mike Miller, Rudy Gay, Wally Szczerbiak, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Detroit Pistons, New Jersey Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards, San Antonio Spurs, Daniel Gibson, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Atlanta Hawks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.