This trade was supposed to put us over the top, but will we get it together in time. With just a week until the playoffs start, there are some real question marks with this team.

For starters, there is LeBron's back, Z's back and Ben's back.

Beyond that, Wally has mostly struggled to adapt to playing here, Gibson is still trying to get back from his long layoff, Andy isn't playing like he has in the past.

The team has shown signs of playing like they are expected to.

The 2nd half against the nets
The consecutive wins against the Pistons and Raptors
And to a much lesser extent, the consecutive wins against Philly and Charlotte and the down to the wire loss to the Hornets.

The problem is, in none of those cases were we able to follow through and build on our success. We lost in Milwaukee - a team who only seems to beat us, we've lose 3 games to the Bulls, another team who only seems to beat us. Orlando came in our house and dominated us. The pistons dominated us when we went to their building.

There are 3 games left. We're running out of time. Mike Brown picked a playoff rotation 6 games ago. A rotation that has our best shooter right now nailed to the bench. It's a major gamble that two guys who are struggling will both get it together before the playoffs start. A game ago it looked like they were starting to come around. Tonight they go 1-11.

I can't really fault Mike Brown for going the way he did with that decision because it was the best chance to have these guys playing well together before the playoffs started. However, we are running out of time for things to gel. We're also running out of time to implement any sort of a backup plan.

Sunday we are playing the worst team in the league. If Wally and Boobie don't play well in that one, it may be time to pull the plug on one of them and get Damon back in the rotation. I know he has some defensive liabilities, but we have to have someone on the court who can make teams pay for going all out to stop LeBron, which is going to happen often in the playoffs.

Are we doomed or can we pull it together in time? The good news is we have a good shot of maintaining home court in the first round, which should help us get past washington and give us a couple more weeks to really gel.

Heading into tonight LeBron's PER is 31.98

Just to put that 31.98 in perspective, the best PER Jordan ever had was 31.71 in 87-88 and the best PER in league history was Wilt with 31.84 in 62-63

After tonight's celtics game, in the last 7 games, LeBron is averaging 37.6 ppg, 10.0 assists and 9.3 rebounds, has had 3 triple doubles and 2 double doubles, one of which missed a triple double by 1 assist. His worst game during that stretch was 24/7/7 on .500 shooting.

Round 1

Z, Drew and LeBron: 77 points, 31 rebounds, 18 assists, seven blocks Garnett, Allen, Pierce: 64 points, 18 rebounds, 15 assists, six blocks.

As of November 19th

117.7 combined minutes - 63.7 points, 22.4 rebounds and 12.7 assists
109.3 combined minutes - 59.5 points, 30.0 rebounds and 10.3 assists

The first? KG/Pierce/Allen
The second? LeBron/Z/Drew

To start the discussion, I'll break down the players, cap/draft situation, and needs. And for this thread, lets try to be realistic. So no, we aren't firing the coach who got us into the NBA finals. And we are not going to force major coaching staff changes either. And we aren't giving away guys for nothing just to get rid of them. So lets try to keep stuff like that out of this thread.

After a second round playoff exit last year, we went the continuity route to see where that would take us. After a trip to the finals, I suspect we do something similar this year. We aren't going to have major turnover in our roster and wind up with 4 new starters.

Lets break down the roster.

The starters

LeBron - untouchable

Larry - when a guy takes a needle just to play and guts it out with key defense to get you to the finals, you don't trade him.

Z - not getting traded.

Sasha - a restricted free agent with good potential and underrated defense. We'll bring him back unless there is a compelling sign and trade offer.

Drew - The name most brought up in trade rumors these past two years. I suspect his name comes up in the off season too, as he has our most tradable signed contract, but that we don't pull the trigger.

The bench

Andy - a restricted free agent. Like Sasha, unless a compelling sign and trade offer comes around, we'll keep Andy. Andy is our most tradable player.

Gibson - untouchable

Shannon Brown - unlikely to be traded unless part of a bigger deal

Jones/Marshall/Snow - all contribute yet we'd listen to trade offers, but their contracts makes each hard to trade. A year and a half from now, their contracts turn into valuable assets in a trade situation. Rather than take a bad trade now I suspect we stay patient and get something of real value for them later.

Ira - an expiring contract that likely gets traded at some point. Perhaps in the off season, perhaps towards the trading deadline.

Wesley - he's retiring. We may be able to trade him for something to give a team some small cap relief in a trade and retire situation. Either a team under the cap trying to clear a little more space or a team over the luxury tax.

Pollard - An expendable free agent.

Dwayne Jones. An expendable free agent.

I believe we also have rights to that guy we drafted last year but haven't signed.

We can bring in 3 guys without a trade. We have the MLE to spend as well as the smaller bi-annual exception We don't have a draft pick, but may buy ourselves a pick, likely late first round. We have a few guys we could trade, but not a lot. We have some money we can spend or free agents, but not a lot.

Our needs are PG or a backup 2/3, a backup big who is physical and/or a backup center to groom to take over for Z in a couple of years (perhaps this is Andy). Bring in a starting PG and Larry can move back to the 2 with Sasha backing up the 2/3. Bring in a legitimate backup 2/3 and Larry stays at point with Gibson backing him up and Snow/Damon getting spot minutes.

Again, try to be realistic. And if you're going to stray to far from the parameters I laid out, give a compelling reason.

btw: I'll try to get game photos from games 3 and 4 posted in the next few days.

We got swept. Even in defeat, though, you had to like some things

- the team absolutely never quits. Weather they are are down 29 going into the 4th quarter, or down 7 with 30 seconds left, they give it everything they have to get back in the game.

- the team doesn't make excuses. Their certainly were some questionable calls at times. But once the game is over, they don't dwell on that stuff. They simply accept responsibility for the loss and work on getting better.

- unlike the pistons when we beat them, our players are man enough to admit they just faced a better team. And they admit they have areas to improve on to get better.

- Instead of hanging our heads after the first two games, we made the necessary adjustments to defend the spurs. And we did so quite well the final two games. Well enough to have a chance to win, we just couldn't pull it off.

"This is the ultimate challenge. People say it's an impossible task but you have to feel and believe it can be done. I think we'll have a better mindset if we just win one game and take it from there." - LeBron James

We Believe

Make a sign that simply says

"We Believe"

Lets see how many of those we can have at the game. Don't let anyone give up on this team.

This team has shown in the past that we play our best when down. How many improbable comebacks and near comebacks have we seen? We took 4 in a row against the Pistons. Just 2 games ago we rallied from down 29 to down 8 with the ball with nearly 5 minutes left. We came closer to pulling it off than the final score indicates - a bounce here and a bounce there and we perhaps get it done..

Last game we rallied from down 10 to down 2 with the ball with 29 seconds left. Perhaps just 1 poor decision from tying it.

I know the odds are against us in winning the series - a comeback from 0-3 has never been done in basketball before. Yet just 3 years ago it had never been done in baseball history either. Then the Red Sox did it to the Yankees.

One day at a time, one game at a time. Get a win in game 4 and then line up to try it again on Sunday. I'm not giving up until the buzzer sounds at the end of another Spurs victory. Maybe that happens Thursday, maybe on Sunday, maybe back in San Antonio. Or just maybe, we pull off the miracle comeback that nobody thinks we can do.

I'm not predicting it, but I am putting every bit of energy I can into cheering our team on in their attempt to make history.

The home crowd should certainly help. We have to take all 3 at home.

The home crowd should certainly help. We have to take all 3 at home. No photos from games 1 and 2, they wouldn't let my camera in.

Well after 2 games at San Antonio, it is not looking too good. We are down 0-2.. Many people in general our counting us out.. We haven't even played a home game yet.. Today is going to be the first time ever. Can't wait to see the championship trophy on the middle of the floor. Let's go Cavs.