Blue Collar Club

Hey, everyone! AC, checking in from Chicago! What’s happening?

It was another tough one for the Cavaliers on the road on Friday night. It hurts even more coming on the heels of Wednesday’s win over New Jersey, when they looked so good in the third and fourth quarters.

That was the best they’ve played since they’ve gotten everyone back. But if they don’t understand what kind of team they are now, then they are really missing the boat. The Cavaliers are a blue collar team; they’re not a fancy-dan team – shooting long jumpers and so forth. They’re a hard-working team and they have to understand that and come out and give that kind of effort every night in order to win.

We cannot play the other way and win.

Sometimes, it looks like they didn’t want to get down and dirty for four quarters. They want to do it for two quarters. And that’s not enough to win at this time of year. You have to get down and dirty for four quarters now because that’s what it’s going to take to win.

To me, it’s about understanding who you are for the Cavaliers. They have to understand they’re not a glamour team. They are a blue collar team. That means when you get in that locker room and put your uniform on, and when you walk out on that floor – you are double-teaming hard, you’re defending hard, you’re not giving up dribble-penetration and you’re playing all-out on the defensive end of the floor.

On offense, you’re setting good picks, you’re not floating through picks, you’re concentrating on making shots and hitting your free throws. And that’s the way you live – you live and die that way. And that’s what they have to understand.

Right now, hopefully, they’ll start to understand that because they need to come out of the funk that they’ve been in – especially on the road. Friday night’s game was big because if they came out – after the first quarter – very lacksadasical. And I’m afraid it shows that they don’t know who they are.

This time of year, you can’t turn it on and off. It has to be part of your makeup. The Cavaliers don’t play a pretty game. When they play an ugly game, they usually win. That’s what it is – scrapping, fighting, getting over the top of picks, getting second-chance points. That’s who they are.

They even seem to play better offensively when they get ugly on the defensive end. They’re a down and dirty team. Simple as that.

The First Round is still shaping up, but it’s looking like it’ll be the Wizards.

I believe if we play the Wizards, we’ll need homecourt advantage. The Wizards have an incentive to beat us. And that means they’re going to play a little above their heads. So we have to have homecourt advantage to take that edge out of the equation. But I think we match up well with them.

I don’t believe that the Wizards can put Arenas into a full-tilt to situation right now. And I think LeBron has something he wants to prove to DeShawn Stevenson. (He really doesn’t need to prove anything to him, because there’s nothing to prove – Stevenson is nowhere near LeBron’s class.)

But the L-Train’s going to want to show something to that young man, and I’ll love watching every minute of it.

Coach Brown is going to have to crunch some numbers when the postseason rolls around. And I think it’s going to come down to playing more than eight guys. Traditional wisdom says that come playoff time, you play your top eight. But if you play eight guys, they’re going to be on a string because you’re going to have at least two more guys who deserve time if they’re able to produce.

It’s a healthy situation because it’s about competition. You go out there and play well – you play. You go out there and play poorly – you sit.

“Good guys” don’t win championships. And by that I don’t mean you want a bunch of “bad guys.” But you have to produce in order to compete for a Championship. That’s just the way it is in life. You don’t deserve anything just because of the name on the back of your jersey.

In playoff time, that means nothing.

I think he can go ten-deep. But those ten will have to realize that minutes are cut down – and you have to produce. That’s the way I see it. And that’s the way I’ve always been taught.

When you get on the floor, you bring it. It’s not time to fool around; it’s time to win a Championship.