Cavaliers vs Pacers

The Cavs just arent' there yet. They just aren't.

The Cavs were never in the game yesterday vs Indiana. The Pacers have more depth, have more experience and have more talent.

It looked like the Cavs were shocked at how hard the Pacers played yesterday. The Cavs half court offense (while better than last year) still needs a ton of work. Everytime LeBron or Hughes would drive the lane, someone on the Pacers rotated and contested their shot. Every. Time.

On the flip side, the Cavs played terrible defense. Guards got to the lane easily, big men made easy passes to cutters, and the Cavs couldn't guard a 3 point shooter to save their life.

The whole team played poorly, though one particular guy stood out to me.

Damon Jones.

Now this isn't to say that Jones was the worst guy out there, or that if he played better, the Cavs would have won. No, the whole team sucked yesterday, one guy won't make a difference. But Jones stood out to me.

First of all, Jones hasn' been talking to the media since Eric Snow got named the starter. Even though the Cavs are winning. And Jones is playing big minutes. But he's pouting. When he did speak to the media, he defended T.O. He's saying if the Eagle won't play him, they should cut him, so he can play somewhere else. Um... no. That's not how it works, you can't be a pain in the ass, piss off your bosses and just go somewhere else and play. You get punished. T.O. is getting punished.

But Jones did more yesterday. Jones has a little dance he does whenever he makes a 3 pointer. When the Cavs are at home and they are winning, its cute. However, when they are on national TV getting their asses handed to them, it looks retarded. But that didn't occur to Damon. He hit a three, then celebrated with his little dance/handmotion thing. Then on defense he let his man shoot 3s. A lot of 3s. Jones was guarding Jaskivioafdhjahfs the guy who almost came to the Cavs. The Euro pg who can shoot. Well, there was at least 3 times when the Pacers sent him off a pick, and Jones went under the pick (instead of fighting through it) leaving the dirty Euro open to shoot 3s. Which he made. The Pacers kept running the same play, cause Jones kept doing the wrong defensive move.

Now, it sounds like I'm ripping on Jones, and I kind of am. But if he wants to start, he has to play better defense. Not terrible defense. And showboating when down by 20 points doesn't exactly help either.

As for the rest of the Cavs, they just aren't there yet. LeBron isn't there. Hughes isn't there. Z isn't there. Offense. Defense. Nothing. Can they get there? I think so, but they needed to play a better team game in the half court, and they didn't. The Cavs should make the playoffs and hopefully get to the second round. I think they are number 4 in the East after Detroit, Indiana and Miami.

But this game might be different come April.