Thumbs Down – Record-Breaking Night Benched

This past Saturday night, Zydrunas Ilgauskas had the opportunity to break the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise record of most games played in a Cavaliers uniform (724 games) when the Cavaliers hosted the Dallas Mavericks.  However, Coach Mike Brown “mistakenly” benched Z for the whole game, saying that he used a smaller, quicker lineup to counter the speed and play of the Mavericks.

Really?? Coach Brown, you went with a smaller lineup to match the smaller lineup that the Mavericks put out there?  You couldn’t sub in Z for a play, a single play, an inbounds play, a play with 5 seconds left in the quarter to save another player from committing another foul???  Really?  That’s what Danny Green does every game for the Cavaliers and you should have at least used Z in a similar way…at least.  You should have started him to begin with.

As a result, Ilgauskas received the first “Did Not Play- Coach’s Decision” in his entire 11 year career.

Really?? On the night that a player is supposed to break the franchise record for games played for that franchise, he gets his first ever DNP for a coach’s decision??  Really Coach Brown??  Talk about irony.

It was reported that Ilgauskas was so upset about not playing in the first half that he asked the coach to not play him at all in the second half.  Way to go Coach.  Upset the one man who has been through all of the ups and downs of the team for 11 years, all of the turmoil, all of your recent success, that he requests to not play.  Good work.  Luckily, the Cavaliers host the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday so Ilgauskas will still be able to break the record at home.  Coach Brown should start Z, call the first play for Z to pop out and drop an 18-footer, and then call a timeout so that Z can receive the standing ovation that he rightfully deserves.  And, during this timeout, Coach Brown should deliver an apology video immediately followed by a congratulatory video on the jumbotron.

Shaq to Cleveland? – Thumbs Up

Of course, my first post ever would be about Cleveland sports.  As a Cleveland sports fan, I have witnessed many troubled seasons and disappointments.  Most recently, the Cleveland Cavaliers ended the regular season with the best record in the NBA (66-16), had the league’s MVP (LeBron James), swept both teams in the first two rounds of the playoffs (Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks), and yet they still underachieved and broke numerous Cleveland fans’ hearts by not reaching the NBA Finals.  Immediately, sports writers and Cleveland fans everywhere discussed how a change must be made in order for the Cavaliers to reach their goal of a NBA Championship.  Potential solution: 4-time NBA champion, 3-time NBA Finals MVP, 15-time All-Star, and everyone’s favorite 7 foot genie (“Kazaam”) Shaquille O’Neal.

At last season’s trade deadline, rumors had Shaq being traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Cavaliers for forwards Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic; however, Phoenix decided to drop out and test their luck at a playoff run.  Now that the season has finished for both teams, trade talks have started back up.  Cleveland is searching for the missing piece of the championship puzzle and Phoenix is in dire need of getting rid of one of their large remaining contracts.  O’Neal would definitely bring the dominating presence in the paint that the Cavaliers were lacking against the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals.  Ben Wallace is years removed from his once dominating defensive prowess that helped lead the Detroit Pistons to a NBA Championship in 2004 and Sasha Pavlovic has been inconsistent with his play during his time in Cleveland.  O’Neal has been a key asset to a number of championship teams, winning 3 in Los Angeles with Kobe Bryant and another in Miami with Dwyane Wade.  At 37-years-old, can O’Neal add to his legacy by earning his 5th NBA championship, helping LeBron James win his first, and giving the city of Cleveland the championship that they have been desparately wanting for the past 45 years?  I sure hope so.

Orlando Magic Confetti Person – Thumbs Down

Thumbs Down: Whoever was in charge of releasing confetti for game 3 of the NBA Finals shanked the release. Orlando was inbounding with half a second to go but the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant fouled the Magic before the time should have run off, although the clocks did hit zero. The refs had to check the replay to see how much time should be on the clock. Unfortunately, the person in charge of the confetti released it as soon as he or she saw the clock hit zero, and not taking into account what was happening on the court.

It took several minutes for the crew to clean up the mess before Orlando could shoot their free throws, and even then, there was some confetti floating in the air and a few straggling pieces on the court. Thank goodness this happened in a situation that wasn’t very important – it was nearly impossible for the Lakers to win the game. If this happened during a game that was up for grabs, it could have significantly altered the outcome.

PS The Magic are toast. They shot about 63% from the field, an NBA Finals record, and they still only won by 4. I would be surprised if they won another game in the series.