Rough Start

Let’s get it out of the way right now. Tuesday night’s exhibition opener was ugly. As far as exhibitions go, the 81-62 loss wasn’t much of one.

Good thing the Cavs play two more this week and the Tribe is hot.

Daniel Gibson was the only player in double-figures with 13 points and the Cavaliers allowed 29 points in the second quarter. Aside from Boobie, the rest of the Cavaliers starting five shot a combined 6-for-27. Cleveland had 26 turnovers.

“We’re still learning some new things,” said LeBron James, who went 1-for-5 in just 15 minutes. “We know each other, but we’re still learning some new things and we want to play better, of course. We just don’t want to play as bad as we did, especially in the first and second quarter.”

Yes, it was rough, but it was only one game – and the first preseason game, at that. And the Cavaliers are still missing some key components from last year’s run and learning the new offense.

“I expect our offense to struggle like our defense did the first couple of months in my first season here,” said Mike Brown. “Hopefully, over time of being on the practice floor and being on the game floor and watching tape, we’ll be on the right way.”

I’m pretty sure that that’s something Cavalier fans don’t want to hear right now. But for many of those same fans – who were calling for Brown to bring in an “offensive coordinator” to jumpstart the Wine and Gold’s attack – it’s the reality. Brown’s defensive tutelage took the Cavs from one of the worst defensive clubs in the league to one of the best in two years.

Brown has always preached defense, and specifically, his three defensive staples: 1. Contest all shots, 2. Shrink the floor, and 3. Give up the middle on close outs.

But this year – with the Cavaliers comfortable with Brown’s defense – he intends to focus on installing the bulk of his new offense.

“For the first time since I’ve been here, we’ve given the guys three offensive staples, and these are things we’re going to harp on, harp on, harp on,” Brown explained at an impromptu film session with a couple local media members on Monday. (You might have read about it in Fred McLeod’s blog on cavs.com.)

In a Cliff’s Notes version, the three tenets of Brown’s new offense are: 1. Throw ahead/ball reversal – pushing the ball quickly from the backcourt to the frontcourt and moving the ball from one side of the floor. 2. The “hockey assist” – the first penetration moves the defense, the second penetration kills the defense. 3. Floor spacing – cutting and screening ‘with a purpose’ to open the middle for the bigs to attack.

A checklist indicates that the Cavaliers did almost none of these on Tuesday night, but it’s (very) early and – with LeBron James at the helm – one might expect the offense to begin warming up incrementally as October 31 approaches.

The Cavaliers open at home for the third straight season, matching up with the Mavericks on Halloween.

That’s as easy – logistics-wise, not opponent-wise – as the Cavaliers’ schedule is for from this point until midway through November. The Wine and Gold go back-to-back starting Thursday night against Detroit, get directly on a plane after the Seattle game on Friday for a 15-hour plane ride to China – (with a re-fueling stop in Alaska).

The Cavaliers will be in Asia for a week to participate in the NBA China Games 2007, where they’ll take on the Orlando Magic for two exhibition games – the first in Shanghai on Oct. 17, the second in Macao on Oct. 20.

Cleveland plays another road back-to-back later that week against Toronto and Boston before getting ready for the home opener.

“I think that six games is enough,” quipped Drew Gooden, looking ahead at the Cavs’ challenging preseason. “Sometimes it’s just too long and there is a high risk of injuries.”

After the Wine and Gold take on Dirk and the Mavs, it’s the Knicks at The Q on Friday, Nov. 2, followed by a six-game West Coast trip starting with Suns on Sunday.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown …

Second-year guard, Daniel Gibson, was easily the best player on the floor for Cleveland on Tuesday night – notching a game-high 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting. He was 2-for-3 from beyond the arc, grabbed four boards and had an assist and a blocked shot.

Barring some kind of move, it’s hard to imagine Gibson relinquishing his starting role between now and the start of the season.

He’s not the pure point guard that some would like, but neither was Chauncey Billups when he was Gibson’s age. Boobie looked great in the Wine and Gold Scrimmage and, frankly, has been the Cavs’ second-best player since mid-way through the Eastern Conference Finals.