The Mavs and the Cav-Nots

Bron Bron has a problem. Well, let me take a step back. LeBron is OK, but the Cleveland Cavaliers are not.

The Cavs opened their season Wednesday night at home against the Dallas Mavericks, probably wishing they could close it back up again, losing 92-74 to the Mavs.

Man, NBA fans are really getting the hang of this booing your home team thing. First the Laker fans last night, and now the Cavs fans - twice. Once at half time and again at the end of the game.

I think the booing was as much for the players as it was for the whole organization that failed to make any real power moves over the summer after being unceremoniously swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals last season. Their only acquisitions were guard Devin Brown, and forward Cedric Simmons from a trade with the New Orleans Hornets . . .

In addition, the Cavs are missing some "key" players from their "run" to the Finals -- Sideshow BobAnderson Varejao, Sasha Pavlovic, due to contract issues. Pavlovic will be back soon, now that he just signed a 3-year deal whose terms have not been disclosed. He revealed during the Cavs game earlier in the night (more on that later) that he was having some documentation issues and he missed two flights, but he should be back soon. I'm going to need him to get it together a little better than this.

Varejao is still overseas while he holds out for a better deal. Well, if their first game is any indication, the Cavs may want to give the man what he wants or look for someone else to help them out. I believe the Cavs WAY overachieved in making it to the Finals last season, but without some changes this year, they may just barely make the playoffs if at all.

Granted, the Cavs opened the season tonight against ehe Western Conference powerhouse Mavs, a team that many thought would make a run at a ring last year but ended up making history by losing to the 8th seeded Golden State in the first round (and with Nowitzki as their leader, I see this being the rule rather than the exception).

But the Mavs made the Cavs look like a D-III team. LeBron had 10 points on 2-11 shooting, and no points in the first half after he sat for a while with foul trouble. Said LeBron about his team, prior to tonight's game:

"We didn't do any reshaping," James said candidly. "We didn't do any regrouping. You start to think a little bit, 'How are we going to continue to get better?'"

"We're worse," James said. "We're not as good as we were if we have those guys. We all know that. Those two guys are a big part of our team. There's no reason to sit here and say we're better without them. Hopefully something happens."

Hopefully. Well, Bron Bron, you have to at least do your part, too. Kobe did his part, scored 45 points in the loss. No sense making it worse for the fans with your own terrible play, even if you are trying to make a point to the powers that be. At least Kobe's "fans" only booed him at the beginning of the game.