Damn.
Well, when you can't make a basket, you're gonna lose. The stat line on this one is unreal. We shot 31% - wtf. Other thoughts:
1) Mike Brown's lack of offense game plan really hurt. We kept doing the same thing, ending up with a few open looks, but mainly taking bad shots, which is why we missed them.
2) Lebron has to get smarter. He's got incredible skills, incredible instincts (court vision, etc.), but he takes bad shots at key moments. To his credit, it would help if we had a system that would get him to stop doing the same thing. He had 2 assts this game, largely because no one could make a damn basket, but he was also looking in the 2nd half to do everything himself, ignoring guys that were open, etc.
3) We got outrebounded by 12 this game, a stat that was usually in our favor. Too often it was one and done. Mainly poor playing by our bigs today (Lebron and Hughes had more rebounds than Z, Marshall, AV and Gooden combined) but also, when you don't know what the play is, you don't know how to set up for the rebound.
All that said, I'm proud of this team. I'm pissed that ABC kept showing all the Cleveland sports tragedies; this was not the same kind of game - it wasn't the World Series, wasn't the ECF. No one expected us to be here and while I'm pissed we lost, it was a hell of a ride and - more importantly - a learning experience for the team. I really buy into the whole "Jordan had to learn how to beat the Pistons" thing, and to be this close this soon is encouraging. The Pistons are the team to beat in this conference and will be for the next 2-3 years. So the Cavs know what they have to do in terms of the roster and in terms of game plan.
I'm now going to go soak my head and walk the dog. You all make me happy to be a Cavs fan.