You think I have problems

[KI4MVP]

Five nights after they embarrassed the Knicks in Miami without Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal in uniform, the Heat got a dose of that same medicine last night, getting thumped, 116-96.
The loss dropped Miami to 19-24, but the way O'Neal and Wade talked afterward at their lockers, it seems as if the defending champs are teetering on the edge of a full-blown crisis.

"I'm getting sick and tired of this ---. I've never been five games under .500 in my career. It's embarrassing," said O'Neal, who played in just his second straight game after a 35-game absence while recovering from left knee surgery. "Now that I'm back, I guess I've got to get on some guys' (cases). I guess I've got to be the ugly man to get it done."

The 7-1 big man did not name Heat players he thought were slacking, but said his team was in a "funk" and that it was his "job as a leader to make sure everyone gets back on track."

Wade also was clearly irked about the team's slumping ways.

"I'm not a motivator. I've never been," Wade said. "Everybody's looking for me to come in and make a speech. It's not going to happen, man. I just try to go out there and play and hopefully my play speaks for itself.

"Guys have to look at themselves in the mirror. Everyone's got to come in on both ends of the floor and play hard - have some pride about it. Something's gotta change. I'll leave it up to y'all's imagination."

The score could have been even more lopsided had Wade not scored his team-leading 37 points on 10-of-22 shooting. But the Heat guard's strong night was lost in the shadows of Jamal Crawford's 52-point barrage, an effort Wade and O'Neal each lavished with praise.

"You have to give him an ovation for what he did," Wade said of Crawford.

O'Neal was a last-minute bump into the starting five after his backup, Alonzo Mourning, was declared out with the flu. O'Neal, clearly fatigued from his long hiatus, said he still is getting acclimated to the daily pounding of the NBA. He schooled counterpart Jerome James on a couple of spin moves, rocked the Garden with several ferocious dunks, but ultimately was a nonfactor with 11 points, four rebounds and four blocked shots in just 15 minutes. Only two other Heat players - Antoine Walker (12) and Jason Kapono (11) - scored in double figures besides O'Neal and Wade.

Asked if the Heat was running out of time to turn around its season, Shaq scoffed.

"I don't rely on time. Time is now," he said. "The next 30 games, you never know what can happen. But everybody has to want to be here. Everybody has to want to play, because if we don't get it going, there is no tomorrow."

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/story/492432p-414802c.html

 

[Coyote]

Re: You think we have problems

Nice find. We could use a Shaq-style "ugly man to get it done," IMHO.

 

[Jon]

Re: You think we have problems

Riley spent so much time building up his 15-man "family" last season and then he was talking (before he bailed out) about having to stop being the nice guy.

A good team in a funk is pretty ugly. I don't know if there's any time tested way to pull a team out of it, ... that is, other then time.

 

[PIP]

Re: You think we have problems

At least he said this:

"Guys have to look at themselves in the mirror. Everyone's got to come in on both ends of the floor and play hard - have some pride about it.

Where as our leader says:

" Nah. I'm not worried about this loss or this team, we just have to play better, we're still a little tired from that west coast trip.. We have tired legs"

"Nah I'm not worried about missing those FT's, that doesn't bother me, I'll make up for it."

 

[KI4MVP]

Re: You think we have problems

^^ We're 7 games over .500, tied for first in our division and 1/2 a game out of the conference lead. They are 5 games under .500 and are sitting in a game out of the playoffs. Somehow I don't think LeBron would be saying he wasn't worried if we had the Heat's record.

 

[PIP]

Re: You think we have problems

^^^ We have the Blah Blah record in the Blah Blah conference, with a Blah Blah winning percentage and Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah... OM freaking G, quit playing that damn card already...It's irrelevant

And quit telling me what LeBron might say, I'm telling you what he did say...

Fact is, I don't give two LeBron missed clutch FT's as to what our record is now, and what the Heat's record is now.. They're the champs, they've been to the conference finals two years in a row, Shaq has played in 6 finals in the last 11 years or so... So I'll take my chances with that guy when it's all said and done because that team will be there...

 

[Maximus]

Re: You think we have problems

^^ We're 7 games over .500, tied for first in our division and 1/2 a game out of the conference lead.

Oh please, 2 weeks ago you were saying we were 10 games over with a lead....now we are trending downward and in a virtual tie with 4 teams and 2-1/2 games away from 7th place. We've won 4 of our last 10.
So please stop trying to blow sunshine up our asses. This team has some issues and is not playing good basketball at all. I'm confident we can turn it around too, but please stop acting like all is well.

 

[bob2the2nd]

Re: You think we have problems

^^^ We have the Blah Blah record in the Blah Blah conference, with a Blah Blah winning percentage and Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah... OM freaking G, quit playing that damn card already...It's irrelevant

And quit telling me what LeBron might say, I'm telling you what he did say...

Fact is, I don't give two LeBron missed clutch FT's as to what our record is now, and what the Heat's record is now.. They're the champs, they've been to the conference finals two years in a row, Shaq has played in 6 finals in the last 11 years or so... So I'll take my chances with that guy when it's all said and done because that team will be there...

pip they have to get to the playoffs first and we all know your huge man crush on wade and everything, but he is the leader of that team like lebron is the leader of this team, and right now despite this teams downfalls (and there are a lot of them) i would much rather be in the cavs shoes than the heats shoes.

We all know this team needs a new PG we have all known that for the last 1.5 seasons+ however this team is still, despite what some folks think, a contender. Every one of us can talk about things till we are blue in the face but this team right now has the 3rd best record in the east, and on any given night (though they havent shown it recently) are capable of beating any other team in the league. Are they playing well right now, of course not, however they are still in great position with a little less than half the season left. Had anyone of you been told before this season started that 43 games into this season the cavs would be 1/2 a game back from leading the eastern confrence each and everyone of you would have taken it.

Does this team have probelms, of course it does we all know that. But that doesnt mean that after every loss everyone needs to hit the panic button.

 

[PIP]

Re: You think we have problems

Albeit true, Bob.. But this team is playing horrible.. Look, I can live with losses as long as the team looks as if they are giving a consistent effort, and playing their asses off... There's only two guys on this team that does that nightly.. AV and Snow, and both of those guys are limited in what they do.. But, they play hard and try every night..

You read and/or hear the post game comments and thoughts from the players themselves, and they're very lackadaisical, and that is shown on the court..

For example, a team like the Bobcats.. They're young, inexperienced, and lose alot of games, but that team plays their ass off every night... You can watch the effort that they give, and as fan, you can just tell they're giving their best effort that particular night.. Most nights it's not enough, but they do try... (Although, they do come up with some big wins against top teams, because of that effort)

The Cavs on the other hand are very lazy... They march to their own beat, they act as if they've done something, and that bites them on the ass most nights... This organization has been significant for 1 season in the last 10 years.. They haven't earned anything, and they don't deserve anything.. Their track record is winning all but two of their playoffs game by 5 points or less in the 2006 playoffs... Nothing more, nothing less, that's all they have on that resume... They're entitled to nothing, yet they act as if they're right where they should be....

They throw out excuse after excuse, the best player acts as if it's "all good" because they're bunched up with the rest of them... (wrong mindset).. I've never heard him once take a true accountability for this team's play, or his play when he struggles (wrong mindset).. And our coach refuses to recognize his offense looks like a 5pm rush hour slow moving 10 car pile up on 480....

This team is flawed like no other... And I'm not saying it can't be turned around, but I certainly don't think it can be with the same attitude this team portrays.. Chicago plays hard, Detroit plays hard, Washington plays hard, Miami (when healthy) plays hard... The Cavs do not..

As far as Miami goes, this team has played their normal starting lineup twice this season.. And both times their coach was not even on the sidelines..

They've missed O'neal for virtually the entire season.. They've missed Wade for several games, Posey, Williams, Mourning, and Walker have all missed time as well.. And their coach won't be back for awhile..

They have a dominant low post presence, they have the defending finals MVP, they have been through several game 7's, they've been too the conference finals twice, and they are the defending champs...

Comparing them to the Cavs is like comparing a Watermelon to a seedless grape...

 

[Jon]

Re: You think we have problems

Err, no... if the Cavs were giving full effort and kept losing games, that'd be much more depressing - because you'd know what you're seeing is what you've got. The Cavs can and will play better, one way or another. Either the guys they have step it up, or Brown and Ferry will eventually start making some changes.

 

[PIP]

Re: You think we have problems

What does err mean ?

Shows just what type of characters we have on this team in that case... Poor

 

[Jon]

Re: You think we have problems

What does err mean ?

It's kind of like "Uhhhhh..." but with more Urrrr....

 

[KI4MVP]

Re: You think we have problems

Oh please, 2 weeks ago you were saying we were 10 games over with a lead....now we are trending downward and in a virtual tie with 4 teams and 2-1/2 games away from 7th place. We've won 4 of our last 10.
So please stop trying to blow sunshine up our asses. This team has some issues and is not playing good basketball at all. I'm confident we can turn it around too, but please stop acting like all is well.

Who said all is well, I said that despite our recent problems, we're still in pretty good shape. I even started the thread with a title that admits we've had problems. Had we played better, we'd be running away with the east.

My point with LePip is our problems right now are mild compared to what the Heat are going through. He's comparing LeBron's comments after 2 weeks of struggles to Shaq's comments after a half season worth of struggles, while completely ignoring Wade's weak comments about the same half season worth of struggles.

 

[PIP]

Re: You think we have problems

My point with LePip is our problems right now are mild compared to what the Heat are going through. He's comparing LeBron's comments after 2 weeks of struggles to Shaq's comments after a half season worth of struggles, while completely ignoring Wade's weak comments about the same half season worth of struggles.

Oh that's rich, buddy... I didn't ignore anything, if anyone ignored comments it was you.. And you're notorious for doing it all the time.. You continually ignore certain parts of one's posts...

He also said:

"Guys have to look at themselves in the mirror. Everyone's got to come in on both ends of the floor and play hard - have some pride about it.

You breezed right on by that, in your typical fashion... You also seem to forget him getting in Gary Payton's face last year during the playoffs...

LeBron just says (all the time) "It was just one of those games"

 

[The George]

Re: You think we have problems

Pip if you were half as hard on Wade as you are on LeBron I think you would be singing a different tune

I get what your whole point is but lets not pretend that Wade is leading his team to greatness....LeBron won 50 last year without his 2nd best player

what is Wade doing this year????

which makes my point that Shaq makes DWade alot better....if LeBron had Shaq we would already have a title

Shaq is the leader of that team PERIOD...Sure DWade is a baller no doubt...I am only saying why cant you give LeBron the type of credit you give to Wade


again I am not really disagreeing with your overall point that LeBron needs to step it up because ya he does....I am just saying if he had Shaq in his ear 82 games out of the year I thnk he might be a little more developed as a leader....Wade has been given alot of credit for alot of things where somehow Shaq gets overlooked....Diesel may not be putting up the huge numbers anymore but he is sooo much more than that these days