Cavs Admit Embarrassment, Try Damage Control

By: T.J. Zuppe

Back in July, during “The Decision”, former Cavalier Lebron James took to national television and embarrassed his former city by announcing to the world he was turning his back on Cleveland, heading to Miami.

In his return Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena, the Cavaliers embarrassed themselves.

Cavs Foward Antawn Jamison Admitted Being Embarrassed on Thursday Night

Now in the aftermath of being destroyed, dismantled and emasculated at the hands of the Heat, the Cavaliers have begun some form of damage control, starting with practice on Friday, at the Cleveland Clinic Courts.

“Its been a while since I got beat that bad,” forward Antawn Jamison said. “As a team we’re embarrassed because we knew the severity of the game, how important it was for the fans and the people of Ohio. Being embarrassed by Boston the game before and coming doing the same thing is unacceptable.”

Jamison is absolutely right. The team should feel extremely embarrassed in their play against the Heat, not because of the loss but because the team went down without any form of a fight or pulse.

There is no question the talent disparity between the two teams was a large divide, however the fans deserved a better showing from their team, on a night the city has been anticipating since that fateful day, over the summer. The loss does not sting nearly as much as the lack of effort and complete destruction of the team.

“It was disappointing, the way that we played yesterday,” guard Daniel Gibson said. “We came to work today with the right mindset and get better from that. We don’t want to ever have that feeling again.”

They had better start, for it may be too late in the eyes of many of the faithful that were put off by the performance of the team.

And if that was not enough, the icing on the cake took place before and after the contest, when James made nice with many of the Cavalier players, slapping hands and hugging his former teammates. Smiles were abundant, as James seemed to toy with his former team throughout the evening.

However, Gibson had a different take on how the pre-game exchanges took place with his long-time friend.

“You might say I was laughing and that we we’re joking with him,” Gibson said. “That kind of rubs me the wrong way. We all know Lebron and know he enjoys being in front of the camera. But to say we were fraternizing and being friendly, no one knows what was said. Those things that were said probably couldn’t be repeated.

There was nothing friendly about the conversations that we had yesterday.”

That may be the truth, it may not. Unfortunately, we will probably never know.

Cavs Coach Byron Scott and Guard Daniel Gibson

However, as the old saying says, actions speak louder than words. The Cavs’ players could speak all day about how disgusted they were with the actions and antics of their former teammate, but the fact remains, no one did a single thing about it during the game.

James was never put to the floor with a good hard foul, pressured or made to work on either end of the floor. He was never made to feel uncomfortable, starting with the pre-game semantics, to the final buzzer, making a mockery of the court he used to call home.

For that, it all falls back on the team wearing wine and gold, no matter what any amount of words say. The perception of playing the friend card has totally and completely trumped what may, or may not have happened. That may be unfair but quite frankly, that is just the way it is.

And even though Gibson may have tried to push past the talk of his former teammate, the questions continued his way. What had not been addressed was where he stood with James.

Had his relationship with his friend soured?

“Yea,” Gibson simply stated.

Later Gibson was asked if his relationship with James had changed following the game. He remained quiet, forcing a half-smile, as if to insinuate that it had, for the worst. However, he would not give a definitive answer, forcing others to make up their own mind on what he truly meant.

The truth is honestly, none of that would even matter had the Cavaliers continued the same effort, intensity and fire they showed in the first five minutes of the ball game.

Instead, they let James walk all over them and played entirely into his hands, turning off the fans who let their passion flow out towards number six and were rewarded with a team that did not seem to echo their ‘want-to-win’. That is truly what was disgusting.

It is not about the hugs and kisses exchanged.

Would that still drive us crazy following a Cavalier potential victory? Probably, but it would not even be close to the huge story it has become over the last 24 hours.

It has to be more about what took place between the sidelines, on the court at the Q. The landscape of professional sports has changed, players will be friends and the days of viewing them as the enemy is probably gone.

Unfortunate, yet the world we now live in.

So removing that from the picture, we are still left with a team that seemed to mail it in, in the second half, getting used and abused by the Miami Heat. Losing by 12, with great effort would be forgivable.

Losing by 28, getting embarrassed and handing over your manhood on national television? That is truly what is unacceptable and will stick with Cavs fans for years to come.

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