Cavaliers lose to Nets

A couple of interesting observations from the Q Friday night; Jay-Z and Beyonce were sitting in the front row enjoying the game and I might add were not very crowd friendly, ignoring everyone around them, much to the displeasure of the many fans hoping for at least an acknowledgement. At one point during one of the timeouts, the Scream Team handed Beyonce one of the fan favorite “orange balls”. I think they were hoping she would have thrown it out to the crowd, but instead she kept it.

*Damon Jones, the self-professed greatest shooter in the world, was throwing the ball inbounds in front of the two. He put his hand out to shake Jay-Z’s but Jay-Z ignored him. Not to be undone, Jones then put his hand out for Beyonce who obliged.

*Later in the game, Lebron’s mother almost gave the Q’s security detail a heart attack by rushing over to Jay-Z (part owner in the Nets) when the Cavaliers tied the game. She appeared to be screaming at him (in a friendly rival kind of way), caught up in the moment of the game excitement. Not sure what to do, the security detail watched carefully. Then Gloria and Jay-Z hugged each other. A few minutes later another Q security guard went over to Lebron’s mother, presumably reminding her to please not do that again.

Anyways Vince Carter scored a season-high 38 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out six assists to lead the New Jersey Nets over the Cleveland Cavaliers, 109-100, at Quicken Loans Arena.
Carter shot 15-of-21 from the field for the Nets, who blew a 17-point lead but rallied in the final minutes to come away with their fourth straight road win. Richard Jefferson added 18 points and Nenad Krstic had 16 points for New Jersey, which has won two straight and moved back to the .500 mark at 9-9. Jason Kidd tallied 16 points, dished out eight assists and grabbed five rebounds as the Nets shot 57.1 percent from the floor for the game to win their fourth straight versus Cleveland.
For a complete game recap CLICK HERE.

Cavs Have Hired a Statistical Consultant

The Cavs have hired a statistical consultant to help them compile complex breakdowns of various aspects of the game according to the Akron Beacon Journal.

The stats will just be a part of how the Cavs evaluate opponents, their own players and potential acquisitions.

For example, one of the things the Cavs and most NBA teams follow closely is plus/minus stats.

It gauges how the score changes when a certain player or players are in the game. The Cavs’ leader in plus/minus is Damon Jones, with whom the Cavs score an average of 10.2 points more than their opponents per 48 minutes. Donyell Marshall is second at plus-8.6.

Some other stats of note: 60 percent of the Cavs’ shots are jump shots and 40 percent of the time, they shoot within the first 10 seconds of the 24-second clock.

Cavs to offer college students discounted

Starting next Tuesday, the Cavs will offer college students discounted tickets. Students with a valid college I.D. can purchase any $35 or $25 seat for only $15. The special discount (one per student) is good after 5 p.m. on game days at Quicken Loans Arena. There are five such nights planned: Dec. 13th vs. Atlanta, Dec. 15th vs. Denver, Dec. 20 vs. Utah, Jan. 5 vs. Houston and Jan. 10 vs. New York.

NBA Attendance

Inside Hoops.COM reports 2005-06 NBA Attendance
Includes games of November 27, 2005
Ranked in order of average home attendance:

1 Detroit 22,076
2 Chicago 20,768
3 Dallas 20,263
4 Miami 19,805
5 LA Lakers 18,797
6 San Antonio 18,797
7 NO/Oklahoma City 18,665
8 Cleveland 18,665
9 New York 18,201
10 Golden State 17,779
11 Washington 17,515
12 Milwaukee 17,513
13 Sacramento 17,317
14 Utah 17,259
15 New Jersey 17,163
16 Charlotte 17,108
17 Toronto 17,101
18 Phoenix 16,990
19 Indiana 16,881
20 Houston 16,866
21 Boston 16,812
22 Denver 16,598
23 Memphis 16,525
24 Seattle 16,222
25 LA Clippers 15,958
26 Philadelphia 15,520
27 Portland 15,116
28 Minnesota 14,981
29 Atlanta 14,806
30 Orlando 14,586

Jordan over Ehlo Misses?

While some Chicago Bulls fans might cringe at Gatorade’s recent commercial where Michael Jordan’s famous buzzer-beater against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1989 NBA playoffs misses, Craig Ehlo doesn’t seem to mind. In reality, Jordan hit the shot over Ehlo and celebrated while Ehlo fell to the floor in defeat. In the commercial, Jordan misses the shot and Ehlo celebrates. “I have TiVO and I had to TiVO it back and said ‘Wait a minute, he missed it,’ ” Ehlo told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “I knew something was up when [Gatorade] called and asked me my permission. They just said it would be different, but they didn’t tell me how. I fell out of my bed when I saw it the first time.”

Pacers’ Jasikevicius is no average rookie

Greg Boeck from USA TODAY has an interesting article on Pacers’ Jasikevicius. “Great shooter, but too slow and unpolished with the basketball to make it in the NBA as a point guard.” That was the rap against Sarunas Jasikevicius (Shuh-RU-ness yah-sa-KEV-uh-chiss) coming out of Maryland in 1998. Even he bought into it. “I always said when I came out of college I was not good enough. I knew it. Everybody else knew it.”
Check again. In a return to the States that even he had just about given up on, the oldest (29) and most experienced rookie in the NBA is rewriting his basketball rap sheet with the Indiana Pacers. Armed with a three-year, $12 million deal and Larry Bird’s anointment as a “basketball player,” Jasikevicius has arrived with his feared jumper and big-game mentality as not only a rookie of the year candidate but as one of the NBA’s most dangerous sixth men.
The Pacers beat out the Utah Jazz and Cleveland Cavaliers, who offered a chance for Jasikevicius to play with his childhood friend and Lithuanian teammate, Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

“I felt Indy was more a chance of winning,” Jasikevicius says.

That’s what All-Star Jermaine O’Neal sold in recruiting Jasikevicius last summer: “I told him we have a team ready to contend right now and we feel the things he brings to the table fit in great.”
For a complete review of this story CLICK HERE.

Pavlovic out for 2-3 weeks

Cleveland Cavaliers guard/forward Sasha Pavlovic suffered a sprained left ankle at practice on Monday.

X-rays were negative but he is expected to miss two to three weeks of action.

Pavlovic has played sparingly for the Cavs in 12 games this season, averaging 1.9 points and 0.7 rebounds per game.