[Pioneer10]

Hopefully Brown won't play AV/Wallace together too much in the future. Smith/AV looks like a nice combo going into the future along with Z/BW

[Pioneer10]

Bucks 105, Cavs 102
–First off, just a tremendous shot by Michael Redd. He hits as 28-footer — the box scored said 27 but I walked it off on the court on my way back from the Cavs locker room and I say 28, maybe 29 — and leaves no time. Nothing you can do there but shake his hand. Big-time play.
–Second off, the Cavs didn’t lose the game on that play. Two issues. As was discussed at halftime, they got all out of sorts in the first half and let Milwaukee have 10 free baskets on fastbreaks. In the second half they close the floodgate, but insead of having a cushion they were behind. Second, you could see how uncomfortable everyone was in the fourth. It started out with promise, with LeBron sitting they extended the lead from three points to seven points and I was writing it like it was going to be a win. Then LeBron comes in and the Cavs get steamrolled. The old Cavs had their flaws, but they did know how to finish. This team has a learning curve to deal with now. There was miscommunication and tentative play. Anderson Varejao and Ben Wallace were throwing it out of the post, LeBron was committing unforced turnovers and Wally Szczerbiak couldn’t buy a shot.
–Third off, the officiating was uneven. The Cavs were openly complaining about getting just 14 free throws to the Bucks’ 37. Not only were there bad calls, which happens because everyone is human, in my opinion there were guess calls which is just no good for anyone. This has been a bad week for these three officials: Brian Forte, Pat Fraher and Mike Callahan. The other night in Seattle, Kobe Bryant got hot at Forte and was tossed and then Phil Jackson ripped Forte, saying he had a “red ***” and suggested that the only reason the rookie was in the league was because his father, Joe Forte, is a veteran ref. You can read about it here. So my guess is these guys will have a tough review session coming up. But the worst move of the night, in my opinion, was in the third quarter after LeBron threw down a dunk. The net got stuck up in the rim and Fraher, a diminutive guy, attempted to leap up and free it. He whiffed. Ouch.
–I’m just doing my job reporting about the officiating crew and their troubles. However, it was not why the Cavs lost the game. The fouls kept Milwaukee close but the Cavs fumbled it away in the end. No excuses. No, this was not one of my 5 percent games where the officials played a role in the outcome, sorry to disappoint you.
–It may never be remembered, but LeBron’s driving layup to tie the game with five seconds left was pretty impressive. Over two Bucks, just soaring and with his left hand. In fact, the Cavs were pretty strong in the last 30 seconds just to get to a tie. But they didn’t deserve the win, honestly.
–Karma is a funny thing. This is the second time this season the Cavs have been beated at the buzzer (in Utah by Deron Williams in November) but they’ve survived last-second shots too. How about DeShawn Stevenson Friday night, he missed. Last night he made a game-winner in New Orleans.
–Damon Jones was 4-of-4 on 3-pointers tonight. He’s currently having his best shooting streak as a Cav.

http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/

Bw's take. A bit strange on the reasoning. He rags on the officials for a whole paragraph and then gets conciliatory the next line: listen we lost on a last second shot - those phantom calls came back and bit us in the ***.

One other point, I really didn't like the AV/Wallace lineup. I realize Z wasn't playing but you cannot end games with Wallace. Remember a few years back against the Pistons - the Cavs completely ignored him becuase they knew he couldn't hit a jumper and also if he did get the ball you could always hack him and survive at the line. Wallace is going to be a good add but I'd really prefer finishing with either Smith or Z teamed with AV