Fear The Links - Monday 5/25

by Buckeye Brad on May 25, 2009 10:10 AM CDT in Fear The Links

Mo Williams' face symbolizes the Cavs' play so far this series.

Fear The Links brings you the best Cavs news every day. If you find any good Cavs stories online send them to me at buckeyebrad79@yahoo.com and I'll add them to the links. Hope you enjoy!

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Brian Windhorst recaps Game 3 and gives more thoughts in his blog.
Terry Pluto says the Cavs need a more balanced effort.
Jodie Valade writes about Dwight Howard's success at the foul line and looks at the defensive schemes that Mike Brown is trying against Orlando.

Akron Beacon-Journal

Patrick McManamon says the Cavs can't come back after winning Game 2 in dramatic fashion.
George Thomas writes about the physical play in Game 3.

Around the Internet

Jesse Lamovsky at TheClevelandFan.com and John Krolik at Cavs: The Blog give their recaps of Game 3
ESPN.com's TrueHoop blog has 6 thoughts about Game 3.
Antonio Gonzalez at Yahoo! Sports looks at Mo Williams' disappearing act and Kelly Dwyer wonders why the Cavs look like they're dragging.
Amar Panchmatia at Cavalier Attitude wonders where LeBron's help has been (just like the rest of us).
Mike Freeman at CBSSportsline.com writes about the Magic's "dirty little tricks" that have continued throughout the playoffs.
Rob Peterson of NBA.com talks about the Magic defense.
In the Orlando Sentinel, Mike Bianchi has a very bitter article claiming the LeBron hype is out of control. Just because his teammates can't hit a jump shot doesn't mean LeBron isn't playing really, really well. George Diaz says the Magic are just a better team than the Cavs. Look, I get it -- Magic fans are upset that they weren't getting respect during the season. They have a valid complaint. But the Cavs are just in a shooting funk and they will break out of it some time this series. The Magic are playing the Cavs very well, and they should get credit for that, but let's not pretend that everything that happened in the regular season doesn't matter. It does.

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“The Magic are playing the Cavs very well, and they should get credit for that, but let’s not pretend that everything that happened in the regular season doesn’t matter. It does.”

Okay, and in the regular season, the Magic beat the Cavs 2 out of 3 games, with two double-digit wins at home (one being a blowout). They lost a close game in Cleveland. I think the Magic will take that the rest of the series.

by RKStevens on May 25, 2009 1:31 PM CDT reply actions

How many times do I need to repeat this? Three games don’t matter — the full 82 game season does!! Anything can happen over a small sample. If you had a basic knowledge of statistics you would know that small samples are virtually meaningless; the true measure of a team is how they performed over the full season. And the Cavs were much better

Also, you’re ignoring the fact that Orlando had two home games in the series while Cleveland only had one. If the situation had been reversed the outcome probably would have been different.

by Buckeye Brad on May 25, 2009 5:42 PM CDT up reply actions

Three games do matter when it is the only match ups we have to look at. How the teams did against, say, the Clippers, is irrelevant.

Good luck in the rest of the series, this has been insane to watch. Cheers

"It's difficult to win when you're outscored in every quarter." -Bill Walton

by betterthanburke on May 25, 2009 7:06 PM CDT up reply actions

But you’re ignoring the fact that two of those games were at Orlando and only one at Cleveland. If those games were reversed I’m guessing the Cavs would have won two instead of the Magic. So, no, that one stat doesn’t matter that much.

And, yes, the whole season matters. Players can be hot or cold for a game that would skew the data. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen the next time. The whole season matters because it gives a better idea of the true value of a teams and players.

by Buckeye Brad on May 25, 2009 7:11 PM CDT up reply actions

Ask Dallas Mavs Vs Warriors in 1st Round of West.

If regular season counts

Some people swear they down as can be
Turns out those same Homies Sit down to pee

by I blocked Patrick Chewing on May 26, 2009 12:14 AM CDT up reply actions

Sample size. Sample Size. Sample Size. Learn it and live it please.

by hans on May 26, 2009 1:30 AM CDT up reply actions

Regular Season Cavs 3-6 against Magic Cavs and Lakers

True measure of Elite Teams.

Some people swear they down as can be
Turns out those same Homies Sit down to pee

by I blocked Patrick Chewing on May 26, 2009 12:15 AM CDT up reply actions

Where has this been documented to be an a “True measure of Elite Teams”? Please point me to a link that supports this (or heck any shred of statistically significant evidence) and I’ll gladly agree.

by hans on May 26, 2009 1:27 AM CDT up reply actions

Lack of showing up when faced with elite competiton, Had they been a true 66 win team they would not be 3-6 against the other Elites

3-6 vs Boston Orlando and LA.

Now they are 4-2 against the Cavs THIS YEAR.

We are in your heads.

Deal with it.

Some people swear they down as can be
Turns out those same Homies Sit down to pee

by I blocked Patrick Chewing on May 26, 2009 8:01 AM CDT up reply actions

If the Magic are so much better than the Cavs, how did they win 7 less games? Oh, I forgot, it’s because they lost to a lot of bad teams. Isn’t that an indictment against the Magic? If they’re such a great team, how did they lose to so many bad teams? Isn’t that “lack of showing up against bad competition”?

Your cherry-picking stats to back up your arguments. That’s faulty logic. If you have something intelligent to argue then we’d like to hear that, but if you’re just going to spew this nonsense then don’t bother posting here.

by Buckeye Brad on May 26, 2009 9:18 AM CDT up reply actions

We are in your heads.

Deal with it.

Who’s heads? Do I play for the Cavs? and are you employed by the Magic?

Thanks for not answering my question, I’ll take that as you don’t have any evidence to support your supposition that the Cavs weren’t an elite team this year.

by hans on May 26, 2009 11:47 AM CDT up reply actions

Three games do matter when it is the only match ups we have to look at. How the teams did against, say, the Clippers, is irrelevant.

This is completely wrong. An example would be the Cavs last finals appearance where they were swept by a team that they had swept in the regular season series. Three games is simply not large enough of a sample size to draw any significant consitent conclusions. You can’t ignore the math behind this.

by hans on May 26, 2009 1:26 AM CDT up reply actions

I find it interesting that before the series all anyone heard from the Cavs and their fans was how little the regular season mattered because this is “playoff basketball”. Now you are trying to tell me that the regular season stats are why the Cavs are better? The only regular season stat that matters is 2-1. 2 convincing wins in Orlando and a close game in Cleveland where Rashard had one of his worst shooting nights of his career.

The cavs shooters very well may come out of their “slump”, just like Hedo might start hitting his shots, the refs might start calling the game fairly and we might not play like we’re asleep for the first quarter of road games.

Before anyone jumps on my officiating comment, take a look around the web at the unbiased writers and see what the consensus opinion is.

by Coup000 on May 25, 2009 4:10 PM CDT reply actions

Stop with the stupid whining about the refs. You destroyed any credibiliy with that comment. Also, see my comment above.

Geez, how many Magic fans are going to come here and say the same thing? Don’t you guys have your own blog?

by Buckeye Brad on May 25, 2009 5:45 PM CDT up reply actions

No whining here, just stating a few reasons why the Cavs have been in these games at all. And crappy calls are a pretty big one. You run this blog so I’m sure you read the various articles from all over the place discussing the refs. Just because you don’t agree doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

by Coup000 on May 25, 2009 9:22 PM CDT up reply actions

the numbers just don’t back that up. the calling of fouls has been virtually dead even in this series…excuse us if we go w/ that over your robust viewing analysis.

by DontCallMeJoey on May 25, 2009 9:45 PM CDT up reply actions