P.M. Cleveland Cavaliers links: Are Cavs phoning it in ... and nobody's picking up?

The Cavs have given up on winning without LeBron James, says blogger.

Somebody's gotta give the Cavs a pep talk. Seriously, if they're gonna go after the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, they're going to need to step it up.

Sacramento is leading in the losing percentage category, having picked up 23 losses against five wins. The Cavs have more losses, with 24, but with eight victories are winning at a .250 clip.

Come on, fellas! Put your backs into it!

Or not. Check out what Cory Felegy of Cleveland Sports Examiner had to say:

We all know about the quit-job the King of Quit pulled on Cleveland in the playoffs and during the offseason.  It’s been discussed, digested, regurgitated and smeared all over your computer monitor for the past five months.

Instead, maybe we should focus on the quit-job we’re seeing from the current Cavs roster.  It all started on December 2nd.  Facing the Miami Heat and with the eyes of the nation upon them, the Cavs laid an ostrich-sized egg.  Their record prior to the Heat game... 7-10.  Since then it’s been an ugly 1-12.

Why are players like J.J. Hickson, Jamario Moon, Mo Williams, and Daniel Gibson now mailing it in (especially on defense) after a respectable start?  My guess is that after the Heat game, these players realized no matter how much effort they put forth, they can’t win without their former leader.

This is why the roster needs a complete overhaul.  Anyone who reminisces about the good old days of playing with LeBron James has to go.  Anyone who remembers 60-win seasons but doesn’t believe it can ever happen again should be shown the door.  There’s an attitude growing within the team that without LeBron, winning is impossible.  It’s a cancer that needs to be cut out before it spreads.

Paging Dr. Give A. Darn! You're wanted at The Q. Stat!

When all else fails
Charlotte, the latest to celebrate a victory over the Cavs - courtesy of Wednesday night's 101-92 spanking - fired one of the more celebrated coaches in Larry Brown a little over a week ago and replaced him with another celebrated coach, Paul Silas.

Silas has brought a whole new system to the Bobcats. Though this isn't its formal name you might as well call it "the Simpleton Offense," as opposed to the Cavs' Princeton offense. Basically, get the ball, get open, jack it up. Oh, and have a little fun.

Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer put it this way in his post-mortem of Wednesday's win:

It would be unfair to suggest Brown told his players to ignore open shots. But it's clear they feel more latitude to read what the defense is doing and deviate from the script.

Actually, there's not much of a script. Silas hasn't installed a lot of offense beyond Brown's pre-existing sets and hasn't called a lot of plays.

That allowed the Bobcats (11-19) to build a 17-point first-quarter lead and they needed just about all of it to hold on against a short-handed Cleveland team.

Charlottean Antawn Jamison (18 points) cut Cleveland's deficit to four with two minutes left, off a layup and a foul by Gerald Wallace (his first game back from a five-game absence due to an ankle injury).

Jackson responded with one of his three 3-pointers and the game was effectively over. Now they get a home game against the Golden State Warriors Friday afternoon, and a three-game win streak is a reasonable goal.

"Every time I shoot it, it's going in,'' said a euphoric Augustin.

"It's free-style -- just playing basketball. And we know how to do that.''

"Free-style," eh? Is that like H-O-R-S-E, as opposed to the game the Cavs play,  D-O-N-E?

From The Plain Dealer
Sportswriter Jodie Valade is traveling with the Cavs right now and witnessed the Charlotte victory. And although the result was the same -- a loss -- she also saw some bright spots for the Cavs: the play of Manny Harris and Alonzo Gee.

In her Cavs Insider column, Jodie talked about the hip flexor injury suffered by Mo Williams -- the reason Harris saw so much playing time -- and a thigh bruise that limited Daniel Gibson.