Adding Shaq needs patience | The Columbus Dispatch

While traveling the world this past summer to promote basketball, LeBron James listed London as his favorite destination.

[ProPlayer]

Shaq was awesome and Cavs were rocking until the coach put him on the bench. He can't score from there.

[Chad]

The issue with last years Cavs in the Magic series was not Dwight Howard and the inability to guard him. It was the perimter matchups and the inability to guard high ball screens and the 3pt line...weren't the Celtics 7/9 from 3 pt line at one point?. This Cavs team has the same problems. Shaq does not fix those...he's just a bigger "Z". Last nights game was a carbon copy of the Magic series. Fast start, big lead...slow 2nd quarter allowing opponents back in...Celtics/Magic dominate the second half. The Cavs were never really in the game after the first 1.5 quarters.

[John in Worthington]

Chad wrote:

The issue with last years Cavs in the Magic series was not Dwight Howard and the inability to guard him. It was the perimter matchups and the inability to guard high ball screens and the 3pt line...weren't the Celtics 7/9 from 3 pt line at one point?. This Cavs team has the same problems. Shaq does not fix those...he's just a bigger "Z". Last nights game was a carbon copy of the Magic series. Fast start, big lead...slow 2nd quarter allowing opponents back in...Celtics/Magic dominate the second half. The Cavs were never really in the game after the first 1.5 quarters.

"Never really in the game after the first 1.5 quarters"? Uhhh, the game I watched had the Cavs within 4 with two minutes to play. Anthony Parker gives the Cavs a far more athletic perimeter player than Wally Szerbiac or Sasha Pavlovic could ever dream of being. Shaq's presence in the Orlando series would've been huge (pun intended) because he is much stronger than Z in low post, and the Cavs wouldn't have needed to sag so much to the inside - thus leaving Rafer Alston and Terkaglu wide open to knock down 3's.

The Cavs will be just fine people, relax.

[Deficits]

Chad wrote:

The issue with last years Cavs in the Magic series was not Dwight Howard and the inability to guard him. It was the perimter matchups and the inability to guard high ball screens and the 3pt line...weren't the Celtics 7/9 from 3 pt line at one point?. This Cavs team has the same problems. Shaq does not fix those...he's just a bigger "Z". Last nights game was a carbon copy of the Magic series. Fast start, big lead...slow 2nd quarter allowing opponents back in...Celtics/Magic dominate the second half. The Cavs were never really in the game after the first 1.5 quarters.

Yes, the Celtics stepped up the D and the Cavs took some bad shots to lose the lead and momentum. The offense definitely looked sluggish most of the time so it's hard to compare with the playoffs v. Orlando because that was supposed to be the pinnacle point of the year with that team and offensive plan.

That team couldn't handle the combination of Howard, Lewis, Turkoglu so if the Magic still had those guys, this Cavs team would be much better suited for the matchup.

If West comes back, he will give them much better 1 and 2 spot defense which was missing last night. Rondo and Ray Allen exploited the matchup and Mike Brown didn't have a viable answer... LeBron can't play every position and guys like Gibson and Williams are never going to be defensive stars. I don't know if Antonio Daniels will help much but he's a better option right now than Boobie.

They really need the 2nd unit to develop some offensive flow to avoid the drop-off we saw last night. Hickson is important and looked lost so he was yanked - maybe he'll get more time tonight.

[Bewitched]

Chad wrote:

The issue with last years Cavs in the Magic series was not Dwight Howard and the inability to guard him. It was the perimter matchups and the inability to guard high ball screens and the 3pt line...weren't the Celtics 7/9 from 3 pt line at one point?. This Cavs team has the same problems. Shaq does not fix those...he's just a bigger "Z". Last nights game was a carbon copy of the Magic series. Fast start, big lead...slow 2nd quarter allowing opponents back in...Celtics/Magic dominate the second half. The Cavs were never really in the game after the first 1.5 quarters.

I think you're right on some remarks, but I disagree on some also.
It was a COMBO of Howard on the inside and Pietrus, Lewis, Turkey and Johnson scoring. Pietrus on the 3's was an animal.
And I thought that in the 4th qtr when there was 5 min left and Cavs were within 4 pts, that they still had a chance to win it.

[ODaized]

In that picture it looks like Kevin Garnet had to use the lower lip pout move to stop Shaq. Go Cavs!!

[SoCal Guy]

Take a deep breath and repeat this over and over Cav's fans. "We still have 81 games to go."

[claw71]

ProPlayer wrote:

Shaq was awesome and Cavs were rocking until the coach put him on the bench. He can't score from there.

Shaq is old and can't play 40 minutes a night. Do you want Shaq to dominate now, or would you like him to contribute when it matters most?