If you’re still checking this blog…

Check out the new one and see the interview I did with Brian from MGoBlog…it’s a good read.

 http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/?p=372

New Site

The new site is ready to go! I hope that you bookmark and link us over at

WaitingForNextYear.com!

Thanks again for your support! See you at the new site!

rick

ps- Check out these great articles by Rock and Sarge over there-

It’s that easy huh?

Morning Minute- New Deals For Everyone!

Cavaliers Game #44 Preview

Johan Santana Sweepstakes Winners

(Ok, that last one is mine!)

The end is near…

No, this not a post about how Larry Hughes has found his shooting touch lately. (By the way, two games does not a trend make. Hey, I just sounded a little like Yoda there!)

This is a post to announce that I will not be writing Halftime Adjustments beyond this week. I appreciate the support for this site, and I am thrilled with its moderate success, particularly for a first effort.

After several weeks and conversations, RockKing, Sarge and I will be starting a new joint effort. I will provide a link in a few days when the site is complete. (We’ve been working on it for about two weeks, which is why the activity on our sites has been so low.) We are committed to bringing you the best Cleveland sports blog we can. And I believe our sifferent strengths will make one outstanding site.

I’m excited about the new effort and I hope that you will support it as well as you have Halftime Adjustments. John and Patrick have been invited to contribute as they desire, and all of the articles from Halftime Adjustments will be transferred over to the new site. Look for the link Thursday or Friday.

Thanks again!

rick

Announcement coming soon…

Times are a changing here at Halftime Adjustments. Expect an announcement about the blog within a week or so. Thanks for your continued support!

Cavs down Spurs 90-88

The Cavs may have gained some confidence by winning in San Antonio.

The Cavs beat San Antonio at their own game Thursday night. They shot better from the perimeter, created turnovers, didn’t allow easy baskets, and played physical basketball. In keeping with Cavalier basketball, they out-rebounded the Spurs, built a decent lead, then nearly blew it.

LeBron was merely ‘average’ on Thursday, actually slightly below his average. He finished with 27 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. He also had 2 great blocked shots, and a 3rd that was called goal tending. It probably was, but it was another great hustle play as LeBron swatted a lay-up from behind. That is becoming LeBron’s signature defensive move.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas was a force, scoring 17 on only 11 shots. He took over for the Cavs offensively when LeBron went to the bench in the 2nd. That group of Z, Daniel Gibson, Devin Brown, Andy Varejao and Damon Jones actually turned a 7 point deficit into an 8 point lead. They did it with great defense and team offense. Devin Brown had an outstanding behind the back pass to Damon Jones on a 2 on 1 fast break. That was set up by a steal from Andy Varejao. It was as if the Cavs knew they had to do more with LeBron on the bench, only this time instead of jacking up jump shots, they played as a team. They made the extra pass and fed Z on the low post. It was the best effort I’ve seen from the bench this year.

Radical new college football plan

Georgia’s President Michael Adams has a beef with the NCAA and Ohio State. Ok, Mr. Adams here’s a new plan…

This story has been ongoing since before the BCS title game to be honest with you. Here’s a snippet from the Columbus Dispatch about Adams’ position-

University of Georgia president Michael Adams accused the Big Ten and Pacific-10 conferences, along with the Rose Bowl, of being “the largest impediment” to a major college football playoff system.

The plan promoted by Adams would have an NCAA committee select eight teams and seed them for a three-round playoff. He has called for the quarterfinal games to be played as the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta bowls, with the semifinals taking place on the second Saturday in January and the national championship game on the third Saturday.

Adams, who just last year voted against a playoff plan proposed by University of Florida president Bernard Machen, defended his apparent flip-flop. Adams said the BCS has produced “bad matchups” most of the time, and “this year was the tipping point.

See LeBron Score

Memphis forward Mike Miller was not even a speed bump for LeBron James.

Last night the FedEx Forum reminded me of the James A. Rhodes Arena in Akron. Just like in high school, LeBron James was driving to the basket at will, defenses helpless to stop him. It was a good thing too, because the Grizzles were shooting the lights out of the place.

First the numbers, the Cavs won 132-124 in OT. His highness scored 51 points, (a season high and the 4th 50+ point game in his career) had 9 assists and 8 boards. Once again LeBron came up huge down the stretch, scoring 25 in the 4th and OT. He finished 18 for 28 including 6 of 12 from triple territory. His help came from Gibson who had 18, Varejao (11), Gooden (12), and Z (14).

So now we just wait on Pryor…

James Laurinaitis is coming back for his senior year. Sorry about your luck Michigan.

So let’s get this straight- The Buckeyes will return 9 starters on defense. That’s 9 starters on a unit that ranked first in the nation in most categories, and held Michigan to 91 yards of total offense. On offense, they lose Kirk Barton and Dionte Johnson, who was splitting time with 2 other players anyway. Coming back are Hartline and Robiskie who combined for over 1600 yards and 17 TD’s, and Chris Wells who had 1609 yards himself and 15 TD’s.

That same Michigan team has lost QB’s Chad Henne and Ryan Mallet, RB Mike Hart, WR’s Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington, plus OL’s Jake Long and Adam Kraus. Defensively they lose 4 starters, including Sean Crable. On top of that Michigan will have to travel to Columbus this year. All of that with a new coach and system to learn. Yep. Good luck with that ground hogs.

Monday Rumblings

The Cavs are off until Tuesday, but there may be something to report on as rumors circulate about a potential Sam Cassell trade. Not sure these aren’t more than the ‘that would make sense’ variety of rumor. Personally I would welcome Cassell, especially if Hughes was the target. No, huh? Alright.

Buckeye land awaits the decision of James Laurinaitis today.

(Was that too obvious?)

With Alex Boone in the fold for another season the O-Line will be in good shape again next season. Especially with the recruiting class we have coming in. The battle for right tackle is going to be fierce! With regard to Laurinaitis, I hope he does come back, but not because I think he would be the difference between a championship or not. The Buckeyes have 2 outstanding LB recruits coming to Columbus next year in Etienne Sabino and Andrew Sweat. I would love for Laurinaitis to show these two what it takes to be the next great linebacker at OSU. A.J. Hawk was there for James. Matt Wilhelm was there for A.J. Wilhelm never won any of the major awards, but he certainly had the work ethic.

Jenkins to stay, Gholston to leave

Malcolm Jenkins surprised many by deciding to stay for his senior season at Ohio State.

Malcolm Jenkins decided he hadn’t accomplished all he could in college, and so he is returning for another year. The Buckeye corner back was projected by many to go in the first round of this year’s draft had he decided to declare. Consider Halftime Adjustments pleasantly surprised by the decision. Jenkins will surely be named a defensive captain next season, and should be a pre-season All-American.

Pictured with Jenkins above is of course junior linebacker James Laurinaitis. The Buckeye All-American has until Tuesday to decided whether of not to pursue the NFL, or continue playing for the Scarlett and Gray. Laurinaitis has said all season that he intends to return for his senior year, but nobody could blame the guy for moving on. He has won the major line-backer awards, twice been an All-American, and was even named a captain of this year’s team, which is quite rare for a junior under Tressel. Perhaps Malcolm’s decision to stay might motivate the Buckeye’s leading tackler to stay for one more year.

Unlike Jenkins, Vernon Gholston will be declaring for the NFL draft. This comes as no surprise, and certainly Gholston has a chance to be a first round pick as well. Gholston was one of the few Buckeyes to have a decent BCS game this year. His incredible strength and speed should serve him well at the next level. The Browns could sure use Vernon Gholston, but without trading into the first round there is no chance of that happening.

James leads Cavs over Bobcats

LeBron James waited…almost too long…to take over this one.

LeBron James led the Cavs in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, and blocked shots. Yet, without a few of his teammates, the Cavs wouldn’t have pulled this one out. Andy Varejao came up big tonight, despite playing with a bruised knee and an Achilles sprain. Varejao grabbed 18 boards and scored 16 points in his 41 minutes. It was Andy that willed the Cavs back into the game in the second quarter when LeBron took a seat.

The Bobcats, and specifically Jason Richardson opened the game scorching hot. The Cavs managed to hang with Charlotte, and eventually opened up an 8 point lead in the second, as Richardson went cold. The Cavs finished the first half up 58-51. But, as has been the trend for the Cavs, they started the third quarter cold, and relinquished the lead. James, who had 13 points at the half, didn’t score at all in the 3rd frame.

Browns Sack Grantham

Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham was let go today. Guess you had to see that coming…or did you?

 

Since arriving in 2005 the Browns defense has gotten statically worse each year. They were the 16th ranked unit in ’05, before falling to 27th in ’06 and finishing 30th this season. With numbers like that it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Browns decided to go in a different direction. But does it?

I honestly thought they were going to give Grantham another year. They did give him an extension in June. Rumors were that if Crennel was fired during this season that Grantham would be the interim head coach, and have an inside shot at the job outright. It could be argued that Grantham has never had a ‘full deck’ of players to work with. Certainly the woes of the defensive line are not entirely his fault. But remember that most of the blame for the ‘off’ year’ in ’06 was given to injuries in the secondary. Grantham was given a pass for that season. This year the defense stayed relatively healthy.

Making Headlines…at least small ones

 

Let me be pretty clear about this, the only circumstances under which Halftime Adjustments will refer to the ballpark in which the Indians play as ‘Progressive Field’, would be in some sort of sarcastic harsh tone. Since 1994 the Indians have, and until it is knocked down, will always play at the Jake.

Cavalier Shannon Brown requested to be sent to the developmental league. The Cavs granted his wish yesterday. My guess is that barring injury or trade that will be the last we see of Shannon Brown in Cleveland. It is obvious that the Cavs have no interest in Shannon past this season, and he wasn’t getting playing time lately. Shannon had an opportunity to play when LeBron was injured, but really wasn’t ready to shoulder that much of the load. Perhaps a couple weeks of solid games for the Vipers will increase Shannon’s trade value. I’m sure that was his intention, plus the opportunity to play every day.

New Links in Blogroll

A couple of new sites in the blogroll, the first is one written by regular commenter Scott Sargent. Cleveland Sports Minute is the blog, and the premise there are posts that can easily be read in a minute. I enjoy the site and the format.

The second is Hey Larry Hughes, Please Stop Taking So Many Bad Shots. Yeah, it is what it sounds like. They track the progress of Larry Hughes each game. (Is progress the right word?) Funny stuff. Especially today’s post.

Cavs Run Past Sonics

For maybe the first time this season, the Cavs dominated an opponent from start to finish.

 

The Cavs turned up the defensive intensity and the result was an easy win against Seattle 95-79. The Cavs outscored the Sonics in each of the first 3 quarters and built a 20 point lead in the early part of the 4th quarter. This allowed LeBron and the starting group to get a little more rest than usual, as they have to play in Atlanta tonight.

Daniel Gibson shot the lights out, connecting on 5 of 8 three pointers, and all the Cavs seemed to get in on the defensive lock down. Larry Hughes made a nice steal leading to a thunderous LeBron dunk late in the third quarter. Andy was his usual hustling self, and even made a few baskets just outside the paint (if I hadn’t seen it myself I might not believe it.) Z never really got going, but with the pace was quicker with the steals and defensive pressure. The Cavs finished with 15 steals. Now honestly, the Sonics are to blame for a good portion of those. They did not handle the ball well. (There’s an understatement.)

Kevin Durant started slow, but showed promise, scoring 24 before leaving the game with a ankle sprain. He came down on Sasha’s foot I believe and that ended his night. He didn’t do anything extraordinary to impress me during the game, just played solid and knocked down some shots.