Wine and Gold, Under the Weather

The Cavaliers got a rude awakening in their first game back from their longest road trip of the season on Wednesday night. The Magic hung 117 points on the Wine and Gold, and LeBron’s second triple-double of the season was, once again, obscured by a heartbreaking loss.

LeBron put up numbers on Wednesday – as he did last week in Utah – that have stood for 40 years and were last accomplished by players named Baylor and Chamberlain. And people can say what they want about the foul that wasn’t called on the last play, but the Cavaliers had their chances to win it before that jump ball.

“I never get into referee battles,” said a subdued James following the OT loss. “I think we had opportunities to win the ballgame and they made more plays than us. It is as simple as that. I’ve always been a no excuse guy and I voice my opinion throughout the course of the game, but after the game I don’t need to go after them.”

Right now, the Cavaliers are a beat up team. Fans can say what they want about chartered flights and luxury hotels, but the travel numbers add up no matter how you slice it. In the past month, the Cavaliers have traveled 23,500 miles, taken 13 flights, played 12 games in 11 cities, and stayed in 10 hotels while visiting four different time zones.

They’ve been without Eric Snow all season and Donyell Marshall for most of it. LeBron, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and and Damon Jones were all nicked-up on Wednesday. Larry Hughes will miss at least a month. Sasha Pavlovic’s NBA body-clock is still in preseason and Anderson Varejao is still M.I.A.

The result is a 4-5 record.

The Cavaliers have been kept afloat by their starting frontline. Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are the only pair of teammates in the league each averaging a double-double. Gooden’s averaging 14.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per contest and Z is going at a clip of 15.9 and 12.1. And LeBron has been off the charts all year and would easily be the early favorite for MVP if not for Kevin Garnett’s performance paired with Boston’s record.

The backcourt, on the other hand, has been erratic, at best. Between injuries and an ejection, Hughes simply has not found his rhythm, shooting 29 percent from the floor and averaging 6.8 ppg – over eight points below his career average. Pavlovic is right at his career average of 5.8 ppg, but he’s shooting 28 percent from the floor and has broken double-figures once – a 17-point effort in Utah, with all 17 coming in the first half.

Mike Brown’s defensive mettle has been tested lately, too. The Cavaliers gave up 122 points in Denver and 117 more to the Magic. For their troubles, they get a matchup with the league’s highest scoring team (Utah – 109.6 ppg) on Friday night.

Let’s see what LeBron can pull out of his hat when C-Booz and Co. roll into The Q. The two squads passed like ships in the night at the Cleveland Clinic Courts on Thursday afternoon, but it’ll be up-close-and-personal when the popcorn starts popping on Friday.

Pick Up the Pieces

The ink was flying around Independence on Thursday in what’s already been a pretty dramatic fall in Cavaliers’ camp. Sasha Pavlovic ended his hold-out, signing a multi-year deal to remain with the team that he’s started 56 games since coming over from Utah before the 2004-05 season.

The Wine and Gold also extended a player from the 2006 Draft – but not their pick – when they exercised the third-year contract option on forward Cedric Simmons. Cleveland did not make the same deal with guard Shannon Brown, who the Cavaliers chose with the 25th overall pick two summers ago, declining his third-year option.

Brown – who’s averaged 3.0 ppg in 24 contests in Cleveland – will be become unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

“We really like Shannon,” said GM Danny Ferry following Cavs practice on Thursday. “At this point, we haven’t used him a whole lot. This is the right decision for now and something we can re-address at the end of the year.”

Ferry has been put in some tough contract issues this off-season. “None of these decisions are simple,” he added. “And this is definitely one of these.”

When asked about Shannon’s contract issues, LeBron James said, “I don’t want to get involved in that (stuff). I just went through that with Andy and Sasha. When I become a GM later in life, then I can answer all those questions. But now I’m good.”

Pavlovic’s signing comes just in time for a team that is in desperate need of a spark – not to mention some firepower off the bench. He may or may not be in uniform when the Cavaliers welcome the Knicks to town on Friday in the final home game before hitting the West Coast for six games in eight nights. In fact, Ferry saw him as “Doubtful” – with a twist.

“I would list him as ‘Doubtful’ – not due to injury. Due to immigration.”

Sasha is not above the international red tape that’s required, even to play professional basketball in this country. Pavlovic had to go to Toronto on Friday after Buffalo on Thursday. It’s all “planes, trains and automobiles” and “VISA stuff” before Sasha can suit up with the Cavaliers.

He’ll be a big lift for a team that needs it. The Cavaliers were 20-8 in games he started late last season. he averaged 12.7 points and three boards per game in that stretch and netted double figures in eight of the Cavs’ 20 Playoff games. His defense in the postseason was markedly improved.

Unfortunately, the other half of the holdout imbroglio is still on hold.

“On the Varejao issue, nothing has changed,” said Ferry. “He’s a guy we respect and like and would like to have back with our team. We’ve made – I think – fair proposals, several times. And we have to make decisions not just for the short term, but for the long term of this franchise. And that’s the process we’re going with in this situation with Anderson.”

Now that at least one of the contract situations is settled, the Cavaliers can continue to work through their on-court problems. They know that Friday night’s game against a new-and-improved New York team is critical. And LeBron knows that he can’t have a scoreless first half like he did on Wednesday if the Cavaliers are going to have a chance to get into the win column.

“I’m going to definitely put a little more emphasis on offensive end tomorrow,” LeBron asserted. “Try to get it going for us, early. And see how my teammates react.”

Stay tuned …