2007 Eastern Conference Champions!

How Sweet It Is!

Historical Significance

LeBron’s big day helped the 2006-2007 squad reserve a special place in Cavaliers History.

By scoring 48 points, grabbing 9 rebounds and dishing out 7 dimes AND getting us the win, the Cavs now have 3 wins in the Eastern Conference Finals…

This gives them more finals wins then Bingo and Austin’s Miracle club of 1976 or Price and Brad’s 1992 club…

In other words: We are looking at the best Cavaliers team in the history of its existence.

Congrats

TrueHoop Thinks Z is Elite!

The awesome blog of TrueHoop (now part of ESPN.com) gave Z some props (and a dig) today.

“Despite his hairline, Zydrunas Ilgauskas is an elite NBA player, and has also been one of Cleveland’s most reliable crunch time scorers for a long time. It killed me to see him left on the bench for the final play. (By the way, remember that crazy play in the first half where a referee, trying to be helpful, let Larry Hughes re-shoot a free throw he had made? Then he missed? You can’t get tangled in these kinds of hypotheticals, they’re a big waste of time, but in theory if that hadn’t happened then Cleveland would have only been down one on that last play, and I bet you Ilgauskas would have ended up with a look at a 17-footer to win instead of Marshall’s three from the corner.)”

Cavs in Eastern Conference Finals

Not since 1992 have the Cavs gotten this far. Just four years and one superstar seperate the Cavs from the basement of the NBA and being an elite, top-four team in the league.

Its hard to remember how bad it was… but it was.

Ricky Davis was our #1 and Z was hurt. We had the Zoo Crew (Gatling and Tractor). But we didn’t win

Now, this group can be held up against the Miracle Team of 1976

And with the GREAT, well rounded team of Nance, Price, Daugherty, Ehlo and Hotrod (Ferry was there too!)

Your kids will talk about this team 15 years from now like I am talking about those special teams. It feels good to be a Cavs fan!

Now Detroit awaits… lets go get ’em guys!

LeBron 2nd Team All-NBA (My Comments)

I very rarely have an opinion on this site (that is Crunch’s department). I view this site as a historical repository of Cavs stuff. There are lots of Cavs sites (blogs, forums, etc…) where people let off steam and state their theories about Cavaliers junk in general. So, I try and keep out of it.
1. because my command of the written word is bad
2. because… who cares what I think?

But, for the first time, I’m going to comment.

LeBron not being on the All-NBA 1st team is bullsh*t (sorry kids).

First off, he has the same amount of total votes as Amare (who isn’t a center) at 494. BUT, he has almost DOUBLE the amount of first team votes (64 to 36) of Amare (who, again, is NOT a center).

Basketball is not Baseball. Its not like position players make a whole hell of a difference. i.e. it wouldn’t make sense to vote a pitcher into a catchers position. But having designated positions based on your listed position from the previous year (yes, that’s how they do it) to be elligible for a slot is just stupid. So, with that in mind… shoehorning Amare (THE FORWARD) in at center is stupid, too. Hell, Duncan is a center. The only one that won’t admit it is the position listing.

LeBron again put up numbers that only Oscar could muster. His team hit 50 wins for the second straight year. Second best record in the East, on and on.

Flat out, he has different standards imposed on him than other players do (Like Jordan for example. Remember when he was dominant EVERY year but they gave the MVP to the Mailman twice seemingly just to break up the monotony? That was bull, too). LBJ puts up 27-7-6 AGAIN, but because before the season everyone EXPECTED 30-8-8 he “fell short”. Well he didn’t. He was the man when it counted. But, once again, the hype and the hate hurt him.

I know James mailed it in during some games in the middle of the season. Everyone admits that. But he never got the chance to catch eight ‘oops a game from Nash either. Dragging a team through the defence intensive east for 80 games AND scoring and passing against triple teams every night can wear a dude out. So “dogging it” he has the best statistical season in the NBA… again. Where’s the props votes? Oh… that’s right. They are out West.

I get so uptight about this because it hits me where it hurts… STATS. That’s what this site is about. Making stats (points, rebounds, VOTES!) available to the common Cavs fan. And by slighting him of his earned historical significance of being a life 1st teamer is crap.

Regardless, its in the books and its part of CavsHistory now. I’ll update the site in a day or two when I get the formatting right.

Austin Carr Inducted Into Inaugural NCAA Basketball Hall of Fame

Austin Carr has been announced to be part of the inaugrual class of inductees to the NCAA Basketball hall of fame (with other greats such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

Its a very, very high honor and AC is very deserving. Here are some notes on his HOF Notre Dame Career:
“The consensus player of the year for Notre Dame in 1971 and a unanimous first team All-America player, Carr holds the NCAA tournament career record for scoring average at 41.3 points per game. He also holds the tournament game records for points with 61, field goals with 25 and field goals attempted with 44. Carr was named to the ESPN Top 50 college players of all-time in 2005.”

Way to go AC. “Mr. Cavalier” is a 100% class act and a Cav through and through. I also think he is cool as hell because he gave me (just a random crazed fan) a hug with tears still in his eyes at the draft party just after we won the lottery. THAT is a guy who loves the wine and gold.

LeBron is Eastern Conference PotM for March 2007

LBJ was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for March 2007.
He posted stats of 30.3 ppg on .484 shooting, 6.7 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game in 15 games (Cavs went 11-4 in these games).

This is LeBron’s 5th PotM award and he is still the only Cav to have ever won the honor.
Its all on the Awards Page.

All things considered, LBJ finished the season strong. He will most likely (in my estimation) finish 4th in MVP voting (Dirk, Nash, Kobe).
Remember he finished 8th his first year, 6th his second year and 2nd his third.
Also, looks like he has first team All-NBA locked up again as well (he was 2nd team his 2nd year and 1st team last season).
I keep track of that kind of crap on his NBA Page

James (almost) sets All-Star Voting Record

Hard to believe but an Ohioan, playing in Cleveland has set the record for most votes ever for the NBA All-Star Game. James received a ridiculous 2,558,278 votes.

All this after all we hear is “he’s gotta go to LA or Chicago or NY to be popular. Seems like he’s doing just fine to me.

(UPDATE: I have updated this post because, James’ total is actually second all time to Yao’s total from last year)

Congrats to Big Z

Last week Zydrunas Ilgauskas became the the Cleveland Cavaliers all-time leader in offensive rebounds. Being the leader in any cumulative category for a team that’s been around for 37 years is a big deal.

Z has been on the Cavs longer than any other player in history with 11 years in tow. By the time he is done he should be the all-time leader in several categories.

To keep perspective, look how much he’s changed. I try and use the earliest available picture I can find of the player when they begin their Cavaliers tenure. Just looking at the difference of what he looked like when he first suited up at 20 (before he went off for his first surgery) and what he looks like now lets you now how long he’s been here.

On a personal note, Z is one of my all-time favs. A guy who has really embraced Cleveland as his second home. His quote of “…I couldn’t sign with another team because I’d be checking the box scores to see how the Cavs did…” let me know that he plans on retiring here as well.

If LBJ and crew can secure a Championship before Z hangs it up, I can easily see number 11 hanging up in the rafters.

James Player of the Week (again)

9th time

check out the awards page