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**remy23** · 02-27-2006, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by P33r~

Give it a rest man. Now I'm one who NEVER complains about the calls, but in light of your statement I have to say the first half officiating against the Pistons was horrible. As usual all officiating evens out in the end but those calls against the Pistons took away a lot of their momentum. No way the Cavs were robbed by officiating tonight. The Cavs were thoroughly outplayed and outcoached.

I don't believe in even officiating. As a Cavs fan, I can clearly tell you nights when my team robbed the other team blind (calls in our favor). And on other nights, the opposite happens. It's rare for things to be perfectly in the middle. Usually, calls are not to an extreme (a team getting robbed), but most nights it seems to slightly help one team more than the other. I wouldn't call what happened tonight a big event or a major travesty. I'd just say the calls showed slight favorism (nothing huge, no conspiracy, nothing terrible)... nothing out of this world but a little noticeable.

xPAGANx · 02-27-2006, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by remy23

I don't believe in even officiating. As a Cavs fan, I can clearly tell you nights when my team robbed the other team blind (calls in our favor). And on other nights, the opposite happens. It's rare for things to be perfectly in the middle. Usually, calls are not to an extreme (a team getting robbed), but most nights it seems to slightly help one team more than the other. I wouldn't call what happened tonight a big event or a major travesty. I'd just say the calls showed slight favorism (nothing huge, no conspiracy, nothing terrible)... nothing out of this world but a little noticeable.

I thought they were straight out ridiculous in the first half. All those techs flying Detroits way over nothing. That was STUUUUPIDD... lol. I do think they did even out a lot after half-time though. Those refs just seem so biased sometimes. Then it's like they get a call at half-time and its the big man on the other end telling them to be a little more fair OR ELSE!!.

**Pioneer10** · 02-27-2006, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LBJ to LJ for 3

For once in my Life i am going to stick up for Damon Jones. Not because i think he is good, just because he is performing at his Career level.

Everyone right now needs to go to www.nba.com and look at his career stats. Never once did he make over 100 3-pointers in his career until last year, when he blew his # away and hit 225. Also last year was the first time he shot over .400 percent from beyone the arc (assuming he shoots over 50 attempts on the season).

So basically Damon is shooting at his career average around .355 percent. He has career stats in about every category last year, while this year he is once again near his career average (besides assist)

Now as for Marshall. I know my whole house here will agree with me if they read this post. He drives me nutz, i really hate this guy. If you watch a month full of Cavs games you would think he averaged 3 pts 4 boards in 25minutes and shot 10% from the field. At times it looks like he has never had to put the ball on the floor and actually driblle, it looks childish at times.

He is shooting his lowest from beyond the arc since 1997. And that is all he does. Ive seen him post up maybe a handful of times. And you can argue that he rebounds, but any 6'10 Power Forward will have the ball come in their hands if they play enough. He just drives me nutz, atleast it looks like Damon is trying other things because his shot isnt falling. As for Marshall its the 3pointer or nothing.

Damon has taken about 12 shots in the last 4 games, you cant hate on him for that. He is trying to creat and penetrate and play some defense, Marshall i cannot speak for.

Please someone agree/disagree on the almost Marshall hatered, and i thought i would stick up for Damon for once. Not because he is playing well, he is just playing up to "Damon" status.

Like I said when Marshall is on he looks great. The problem he is only "on" like one every 5 games. The rest of the time he looks really old out there and has terrible shot selection.

Even with Hughes hurt, I think Ferry made the right move by signing him. Anybody who watched the Cavs before afer Hughes went down can see how much better we were with him. Marshall and Jones just suck IMO however: limited players whose minutes need to be cut down. Note I'm not saying they should be benched but I don't they have earned the minute they are getting

**Pioneer10** · 02-27-2006, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtomGreen

Yet Detroit averaged just one more three point attempt per quarter than Cleveland.

I'll give you Bron, but Flip was a jump shooter tonight...and a poor one at that.

The calls were fair tonight, both teams got away with some obvious fouls. Selection perception and a biased broadcast encourage you to watch and retain the facts of the game in a certain 'pro-your-team' light. It's human nature.

What I am actually saying is after watching tons of game through the years is that home teams usually get the edge in calls. Always has been and always will be.

I didn't say that Detroit won because of FT's or officiating: I simply said that there is no referee favoritism for the Cavs at home. This is something that is odd because I've watched tons of game Cavs and non Cavs and home teams naturally get a slight edge in calls

Dez24 · 02-28-2006, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xPAGANx

I thought they were straight out ridiculous in the first half. All those techs flying Detroits way over nothing. That was STUUUUPIDD... lol. I do think they did even out a lot after half-time though. Those refs just seem so biased sometimes. Then it's like they get a call at half-time and its the big man on the other end telling them to be a little more fair OR ELSE!!.

Just to clarify (and didn't see the game) - the officials in any level meet at half time and will go over calls. I'm sure they realized some of the calls were bad and that they missed some. So they got together and went over it and made adjustments. Very similar to what the players/coaches for the Cavs/Pistons were doing. All in the evaluation process. That is in addition to the game review once the final buzzer goes off.

**remy23** · 02-28-2006, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Cavaliers notebook
Ilgauskas brings justice
Wallace not suspended for hit, so center responds with own flagrant foul

By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter

CLEVELAND - Zydrunas Ilgauskas couldn't get satisfaction from the league office or his teammates, so he took it himself.

Detroit Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace's rough foul on Ilgauskas on Sunday, which opened two gashes on his head, was upgraded to a flagrant-2 penalty from a flagrant-1 penalty by NBA vice president Stu Jackson on Monday. Wallace was fined $5,000 dollars but was not suspended, as sometimes happens in upgrade situations.

There was some outcry that no fellow Cav tried to exact revenge on Ilgauskas' behalf on any Piston after the hard foul early in Sunday's game. That act took until Monday night and from the injury party himself.

With 5:47 left in the second quarter, Ilgauskas came across the lane and slammed Wallace to the floor as he attempted a jumper. Ilgauskas then stood over him and glared and said a few words, earning a technical foul.

Wallace, who was booed by the crowd Monday when he was introduced and all throughout the game, just looked up and laughed. He also was hit with a technical foul.

Ilgauskas was probably pleased he got the chance to send a return message, but privately many Cavs thought a suspension was warranted. Earlier this season, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant was suspended for two games for a similar blow on the Memphis Grizzlies' Mike Miller.

“It is what it is. I'm not one to cry over spilled milk. We have to be men and move on,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said.
By the calculation used by the NBA, Wallace earns a little more than $93,000 per game. That makes the fine as insignificant as the $5,000 he will be charged for the technical he was hit with Monday. Which is why there was some expectation the Cavs would seek to find another way to get back at him Sunday, which never happened.

“Nowadays, if you can't do it within the flow of the game you can't do it,'' team captain Eric Snow said. “It was a one-on-one incident, we're not out there to hurt someone.''
By his actions after getting angry Ilgauskas hit him with an elbow Sunday, Wallace doesn't feel the same way and likely neither do his Pistons teammates.

“Their mind-set is this is like a playoff series,'' Brown said. “Our mind-set isn't the same as theirs because we haven't done what they've accomplished.''

Flip switch

Brown altered his starting lineup Monday for the first time in 19 games, replacing shooting guard Sasha Pavlovic with new pickup Flip Murray. Pavlovic had been struggling after scoring a career-high 21 points last week in a victory over the Orlando Magic, going just 2-of-14 over the next three games. He was also benched just four minutes into last Friday's loss to the Washington Wizards and did not return.

Murray was a spot starter in his time with the Seattle SuperSonics and had been playing starter's minutes since the Cavs traded for him last week.

“We're on a losing streak, and it is time for a change,'' Brown said.

Quote:

Cavs push, but Pistons shove back
Detroit displays its mettle by taking game away in rough fourth quarter

By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter

In an effort to incite the home crowd, and maybe the home team, the theme from Rocky was blared from the speakers at Quicken Loans Arena just before the opening tip Monday.

Considering the Cavaliers were hosting the quintessential blue-collar basketball team that lives for scrappy slugfests, not to mention it has two starters from Rocky Balboa's Philadelphia, perhaps it wasn't the best motivational tool.

The Detroit Pistons openly stated that they were going to treat their home-and-home with the Cavs as a mini-playoff series. It was a sweep, the latest result being an 84-72 triumph.

The Pistons (47-9) were masterfully gritty in dispatching the Cavs (32-25), again. Their defense was stiff and fiery, again. The Cavs were left searching for complex answers to easy questions, again.

Make it four losses in a row for the Cavaliers, their second such streak since Jan. 1. They went meekly after trying for 36 minutes to answer Sunday's loss in Auburn Hills, Mich. But the stretch run was all, as they like to say, Dee-troit basketball.

The Pistons smothered the Cavs in the fourth quarter, outscoring them 20-9 to stretch it into an easy win. It was the fewest total points the Cavs have scored in a game this season, and it tied their lowest output for a quarter. The Cavs went just 3-of-12 from the field and turned it over five times down the stretch as they saw a 67-64 lead vanish.

Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace, two of Philly's finest, carried the load at the other end.

Wallace, seemingly feeding off the negative energy willed his way by the crowd after a hard foul on Zydrunas Ilgauskas on Sunday, scored 24 points. Hamilton tossed in 22, including three jumpers in a span of 63 seconds that broke the Cavs' already teetering will in the fourth.

Until Hamilton's hoops, the Pistons had been just 3-of-15 in the final quarter themselves. On the night, they shot just 39 percent. On the road in the NBA, that usually means curtains, but not when you own the sort of mettle Detroit does.

“We played three-fourths of a game, and that team did what they do best,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said. “We didn't get good looks at the rim in the fourth quarter.''

Nor the entire second half, in which they scored just 30 points, also tying a season low. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 18 points and a season-high 15 rebounds, but during a seven-minute stretch in the second half, he couldn't get a shot off. And it wasn't the defensive player of the year, Ben Wallace, pinning him down, rather cagey old vet Dale Davis, who has played 76 minutes all season.

In the same span, Pistons sub Maurice Evans, who averages five points a game, actually got four shots.

LeBron James had 26 points, failing to meet his average for the third consecutive game. He got off just four shots in the fourth quarter, making one.

His role-playing teammates were off duty, a usual symptom in loses and losing streaks. Flip Murray was 2-of-12 from the floor in his first start with the Cavs, and reserves Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones combined to go 1-of-11 for two points in 49 minutes.

In the two losses to the Pistons, Jones and Marshall combined to go 3-of-20 for seven points. Jones now has six points in his past five games on 2-of-14 shooting.

“They did a great job of executing in the fourth quarter, and we didn't, and they closed us out,'' James said. “We competed all night. They were able to put the ball in the basket at the end.''

**remy23** · 02-28-2006, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Payback? Wallace gets his way

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Jodie Valade
Plain Dealer Reporter

In his personal ranking system, Rasheed Wallace bumped it all the way up to No. 2. No question.

The technical foul that came in the second quarter of the Pistons' 84-72 triumph over the Cavaliers on Monday found its way near the top of Wallace's list of all-time strangest technicals he's ever received - and he's received a lot - just for the un-technical-like behavior he exhibited to earn it.

There was the one he earned in his days in Portland, when he was the undisputed king of technical fouls, just for merely looking at a referee. And then there's this one.

The reason Wallace earned his league-leading 15th T of the season? He laughed.

He laughed at the way Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas took a half-hearted swipe at Wallace to earn his own technical foul, and laughed at the way Ilgauskas mumbled something in Lithuanian afterward in disgust.

And most of all, Wallace laughed at what he presumed was Ilgauskas' attempt at retaliation for the elbow and five stitches to the head that he dished out to the Cavaliers center in Sunday's game between the two squads.

"I guess it was [retaliation]," Wallace laughed.

Wallace was still laughing in the locker room after the game, doubling over when teammate Richard Hamilton bellowed the words scrawled on a sign at The Q, " 'Sheed must bleed!"

"My adoring fans," Wallace said, smiling afterward.

They were the same fans that booed whenever Wallace touched the ball Monday, and booed every time he entered the game. They provided, in essence, the kind of challenge that the forward thrives on to prove his worth.

Sparked by that motivation, Wallace poured in a team-high 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting, including 4-of-8 3-pointers. He knocked in a 3-pointer in the third quarter with the score tied and Drew Gooden in his face, and he swiped a bad LeBron James pass midway through the fourth quarter that helped deflate the Cavaliers' comeback attempt.

He set out to prove that the only true retaliation comes in the win-loss column and that technical fouls don't rattle him one bit.

"That's the ultimate spit in the face," Wallace said.

So he was still laughing after the Pistons improved to 47-9 and padded their lead over their Central Division rival. Pistons coach Flip Saunders admitted he was slightly puzzled by the whole exchange that landed Wallace another technical - even if it was the kind of spark that helps Wallace perform at a higher level.

"I thought that's what this game was about - having fun," Saunders said.

Quote:

Nine just won’t do it
Fourth-quarter fade stretches skid to four

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Branson Wright
Plain Dealer Reporter

he Cavaliers had the Detroit Pistons right where they wanted them a day after Zydrunas Ilgauskas received a blow from Rasheed Wallace's elbow that left Ilgauskas dripping with blood from a gash on top of his head.

The Pistons were in The Q on Monday, a place where they suffered an embarrassing New Year's Eve loss. Revenge was on the minds of fans and the Cavs.

But none of the extra hype and incentive could overcome a bankrupt Cavaliers offense in the fourth quarter as the Pistons cashed in a 84-72 victory. The home team managed just nine points in the quarter, tying the Cavaliers' worst effort of the season.

It was the Cavs' (32-25) fourth straight loss. They are 1-4 since the All-Star break and are tied with Indiana in the loss column for the fourth spot in the postseason, although they are two games ahead of both the Pacers and Washington Wizards.

"We're going to have to keep an eye [on the standings] because last year we didn't make the playoffs," said Cavs forward Drew Gooden.

Monday's game was about how the Cavs would retaliate against Wallace and the Pistons. Ilgauskas got his chance on a semi-hard foul on Wallace late in the second quarter. Wallace, who was knocked to the floor, laughed as he got to his feet. Each player received a technical. There were six technicals called in the game.

"He gave me a little push and I guess it was his retaliation," said Wallace, who had 24 points. "He mumbled something and I said I wish Darko [Milicic] was still here because he could've told me what he was saying."

Memo to Wallace: Ilgauskas is Lithuanian. Milicic is Serbian.

The back-to-back 12-point losses to the Pistons (47-9) are a reminder on how far the Cavs are from the elite team in the league.

"Forget what we've seen from them in the last two games, look at what we've seen from them in the last three years," Gooden said. "They play together defensively and offensively. They're a tough team to beat."

Especially when they turn up the intensity during the fourth quarter. The Pistons' suffocating defense held the Cavs to 3-of-12 shooting in the final period. The Cavs led by three with 10:30 left, only to be outscored, 16-3, over the next 7? minutes. Rip Hamilton's jumper delivered a nine-point lead -- and sealed the game -- with 1:58 left.

Hamilton was huge during the final two minutes with three straight short-range jumpers. Not only did the Cavs miss shots during the crucial fourth, but they also were sloppy with the ball.

"Our five turnovers in the fourth quarter did not help us at all, so I'm going to mark this one up as a total team effort by the Pistons, especially in the fourth quarter when they took it to us," said Cavs coach Mike Brown. "We didn't get good looks at the rim and that was evident in us shooting 25 percent from the field."

The Pistons' fourth-quarter scoring surge and their superior defense were examples of their dominance.

"During the last two minutes of ball games, they play the best possible basketball you can play and they did that tonight against us," Gooden said. "They got stops and Rip Hamilton was at his best hitting those mid-range jumpers, which are back breakers. That sealed the game for them."

LeBron James led the Cavs with 26 points. Ilgauskas had 18 points and 15 rebounds.

Quote:

Was fine enough? Z doesn’t complain

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Branson Wright
Plain Dealer Reporter

Rasheed Wallace was fined $5,000 on Monday for elbowing Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the head during the Pistons' win on Sunday.

Wallace was called for a Flagrant 1 foul during the game, but the league upgraded it to a Flagrant 2 and issued the fine. It was Wallace's first flagrant foul of the season. A player is suspended for one game if he reaches a total of five flagrants.

Ilgauskas, who received five stitches following Wallace's blow, took the news in stride.

"The decision is up to the league," Ilgauskas said. "Nobody cares what I think or what anyone in this locker room thinks. The league did what they had to do."

When asked whether the fine might have been lenient, Ilgauskas remained diplomatic.

"I'm not surprised by anything anymore," said Ilgauskas with a smile. Wallace was not available for comment.

The Cavs were criticized for not retaliating with a hard foul on Sunday. That was unheard of when former "Bad Boy" Bill Laimbeer was playing for the Pistons.

"You protect yourself and your teammates," said Laimbeer, now a television analyst for the Pistons. "That's part of the job. Every player had his role and I had mine."

Prior to Monday's game, Cavs coach Mike Brown said he did not anticipate any physical retaliation by his team. Playing the game was his team's focus.

"I'm not necessarily into 'he hit me and I need to hit him back,' " Brown said. "I'm into 'he hit us and they're ready to play and we need to get after it ourselves and whatever happens on the floor happens.' We need to make sure we get a win as opposed to hitting this guy back or pushing this guy back."

Boo birds:

LeBron James and the rest of the Cavaliers were booed by some fans at The Q during last Friday's loss to the Washington Wizards. James heard boos when he missed four free throws during the final two minutes.

"[The boos] are not something I've thought about, I'm just going to go out and compete and do what I've been doing for the past two-and-a-half years," James said.

"Fans are fans. Booing comes with the territory."

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