Tag Archives: David Blatt

CAN THE CAVS BECOME THE OSU FOOTBALL TEAM?

The Ohio State football team got off to a horrible start after they lost their second game of the season at home to Virginia Tech 35-21. A lot of people, myself included, wrote them off, didn’t think they had any chance of winning the National Championship after a performance like that. Thank goodness Urban Meyer didn’t think like that. Instead “Honest Urb” and his players stared adversity in face and overcame it time and time again and as we all know by now went on to win College Football’s National Title. David Blatt and the Cavaliers are in a similar situation. Is it possible that Blatt, LeBron James and the rest of the Cavs have learned something like I did from OSU and follow in the Buckeyes footsteps?

Listen here –

Urban Meyer at Cavs game 1-19-15

THREE OF A NEGATIVE KIND FOR THE CAVS

The Cavaliers have some serious issues right now. Even though they’re six games above .500 at (18-12), a disturbing trend has surfaced for a team with championship aspirations. Three times this season, all at home, the Cavs have taken a commanding lead on an opponent into the second quarter only to see that lead evaporate and the team disintegrate during an embarrassing loss.

Humungotron 10-30-14

The first time it happened at Quicken Loans Arena was on November 22, 2014 against Toronto. The Cavs led the Raptors 37-21 in the second quarter and then were outscored 89-56 the rest of the way in the 110-93 loss to Toronto. That’s a 33 point turn around.

The second time it happened at The Q was on December 17, 2014 versus Atlanta. The Cavaliers led the Hawks 41-29 in the second quarter and then they were outscored 98-57 the rest of the way in the 127-98 loss to Atlanta. That’s a 41 point turn around.

Then the third time occurred yesterday in Cleveland as the Pistons were in town. The Cavs led Detroit 32-17 in the second quarter and then they were outscored 86-48 the rest of the way in the 103-80 loss to the former “Bad Boys” who are just bad this season. That’s a 38 point turn around.

Its 30 games into the season and these problems should’ve been corrected by now. You’re supposed to learn from your mistakes and not repeat them. However, nobody from head coach David Blatt to superstar LeBron James to anyone of the Cavs dancers have a clue as to why it’s happened and continues to happen.

The only thing we do know, regardless of what a few individuals might think is, that all three losses were embarrassing and if something doesn’t change soon, there will be more embarrassing nights like these at The Q and a short run in the playoffs this season.

DAVISD BLATT POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE VS HAWKS 12-17-14

Cavs head coach David Blatt calls his team’s performance embarrassing and apologizes to the fans. Listen to it in its entirety right here –

David Blatt Post Game

DAVID BLATT POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE AFTER BEATING ORLANDO

The Cavs head coach talked about LeBron backing up his words, what he liked most about the 106-74 win and more.

Listen here –

David Blatt Post Game

DAVID BLATT POSTGAME PRESSER AFTER 110-93 LOSS TO RAPTORS

Cavs head coach David Blatt didn’t have many answers after his team’s 4th consecutive loss on Saturday night, but did hint at possible line up changes before Monday’s game with Orlando.

Listen to the entire press conference here –

David Blatt Post Game

DAVID BLATT ON ISSUING A DEFENSIVE CHALLENGE TO HIS TEAM BEFORE HAWKS GAME

Following the Cavs 127-94 win over the Hawks I asked head coach David Blatt if he had to challenge his team defensively before the game to get their attention on the defensive side of the ball – Listen Here –

David Blatt Post Game

CAVS ROOKIE SG JOE HARRIS 1 ON 1 WITH KENNY RODA

Check out what Cavs 2nd round pick Joe Harris had to say about playing with LeBron, how well this team gets along and what David Blatt is like as a head coach.

 

Joe Harris 2

 

LEBRON re est. 2014

LeBron 10-30-14

 

The day, the night and the event was so special and far bigger and more important than the outcome of the game itself. Yes it sucked the Cavs lost 95-90 to the Knicks, but after standing near LeBron in pregame warmups and seeing him soak in everything just like you the fans did, and then interviewing him in the locker room postgame, you could tell how much being back home and the night meant to him.

 

All of the emotions LeBron felt last night, even for a superstar of his magnitude, it had to affect his focusness and ability to play his normal game, and by his standards, he was terrible last night in the contest (5-15fg for 17 points with 8 turnovers). Add on top of that he and his wife Savanah had a baby girl about week ago, it’s been a crazy week even for “King James”.

Lebron Returns - Praying 10-30-14

Being part of his postgame press conference and asking a lot of the question because it seemed like some reporters were afraid to ask questions because the Cavs lost and LeBron played so poorly, I sensed that LeBron knew how special the night was, he enjoyed it, was disappointed in his play, but realized the game wasn’t the most important thing on this night. Coming home was! He was mentally and physically drained after last night’s game. With that out of the way, he and his teammates can fix what they did wrong on the court and now just play basketball.

LeBron Returns - Crowd Lights Out - 10-30-14

 

The atmosphere inside Quicken Loans Arena before the game was unlike any other regular season game and very NBA Finals like. It really was truly amazing.

The Cavaliers issued over 300 media credentials, the most ever in either LeBron era for a regular season game, including even when LeBron came back for the first time with the Miami Heat in 2010.

 

Usher did a nice job with the National Anthem, but what made it so memorable was the entire crowd singing it for about the last thirty seconds. It was a goosebumps moment.

The new scoreboard, the “Humungotron” , even though it had a few malfunctions last night, is awesome! It’s high def, crystal clear video from all angles. Sources tell me that the “Humungotron” and all the LED lights that were put up around the arena cost over $9 million dollars. Humungotron 10-30-14

 

The player introductions were great and when LeBron James was announced it blew the lid off of Quicken Loans Arean. No matter who you were, it was hard not to get caught up in the emotion of the LeBron intro and just everything the entire night was about and that was before the game even started.

 

Lost in LeBron’s return was how well Kevin Love played in his first game as a Cavalier. He was the team’s best player on the floor versus Knicks, scoring 19 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. He’s a double/double machine and is going to be great playing alongside LeBron and Kyrie when they get this thing figured out.

Kyrie Pregame LeBron Returns - 10-30-14

 

Kyrie Irving was pretty good too. He led the team in scoring with 22 points, while also dishing out 7 assists and grabbing 5 rebounds. However even he admitted last night that at times the offense became stagnant and lacked ball movement because of him and that affected his teammates.

 

 

David Blatt did not have a good first game and he admitted that in his postgame press conference. Blatt knew after the fact that playing basically only 7 guys the majority of the time in game #1 was not a good coaching move. He needed to go to his bench more and not play LeBron and Kyrie 43 minutes each.  He is a rookie coach and learned a valuable lesson in his first game.

Lebron Returns - Lost in the Crowd - 10-30-14

 

It was phenomenal to be a part of that spectacle at The Q last night, but like LeBron and his teammates, we can all just move on and watch this group of new players play and grow into a team that has a chance to be very special come April, May and June.

CAVS G.M. DAVID GRIFFIN 1 ON 1 WITH KENNY RODA ON WHBC

Check out my 1 on 1 interview from 1480 WHBC with Cavs G.M. David Griffin on signing LeBron James as a free agent, trading for Kevin Love, hiring David Blatt as his head coach and more – listen here –     

David Griffin Smiling at Podium Media Day 2014

DAVID BLATT ON ANDY STARTING AT CENTER, HIS BIGGEST CONCERN, AND IF THE TEAM IS PICKING UP BLATTSKETBALL

CDavid Blatt Post Game vs Maccabi Tel Avivavs head coach David Blatt in a round about way announced today that Anderson Varejao will be his starting center, how the team is picking up his principles of “Blattsketball” and more.

Listen to the post practice press conference with David Blatt below.