Author Archive for David Friedman
David Friedman is a freelance writer specializing in professional basketball. His work has been published in several magazines, including Hoop, Lindy's Pro Basketball, Basketball Times and Basketball Digest. He has also contributed to NBCSports.com, HoopsHype.com and ProBasketballNews.com and his articles are frequently reprinted at Legends of Basketball, the official website of the National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA). Friedman wrote the chapter about the NBA in the 1970s for the anthology Basketball in America (Haworth Press, 2005). Check out his basketball blog: 20 Second Timeout
Cavs’ 2009 Season Provided Reasons for Hope, Reasons for Concern
The Cleveland Cavaliers produced the best regular season in franchise history in 2008-09 but the joy and excitement generated by a league-best 66-16 record were tempered by the 4-2 loss to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. Were the “real” Cavs the team that stormed through the regular season and easily swept through [...]
LeBron James’ Magnificent Playoff Run is One for the Ages
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers fell six wins short of their ultimate goal but that should not obscure the fact that James put together one of the greatest individual performances in playoff history. He became the only player to ever average at least 35 ppg, 7 apg and 7 rpg for an entire playoff [...]
Resilient Magic Rally From 16 Point Deficit to Stun Cavaliers, 107-106
LeBron James authored one of the epochal single game performances in NBA playoff history–49 points on 20-30 field goal shooting, eight assists, six rebounds, three blocked shots, two steals–but the Orlando Magic erased a 16 point lead to steal homecourt advantage with a 107-106 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in game one of the Eastern [...]
Playoff-Tested Cavs Well Equipped to Deal With Magic
Although the Cleveland Cavaliers posted the best regular season record in the NBA and swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs in record-setting fashion, some people believe that the Orlando Magic will pose a very difficult challenge for the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals.
TNT’s Charles Barkley has already gone on record predicting [...]
Road Warrior LeBron Takes Over “Highlight Factory”
Philips Arena in Atlanta has become known as the “Highlight Factory” thanks to the aerial artistry of the young, high-flying Hawks but on Saturday night LeBron James swooped in and made the “Highlight Factory” his personal showcase. James dropped 47 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists as the Cleveland Cavaliers won 97-82 to take a [...]
James Dazzles as Cavs Rout Hawks
On Tuesday night, NBA Commissioner David Stern presented the 2009 MVP trophy to LeBron James in front of a sellout crowd of 20,562 adoring fans at Quicken Loans Arena–and then James spent the rest of the evening showing why he deserved that honor, scoring 34 points on 12-20 field goal shooting, grabbing a game-high 10 [...]
Cavs’ Defense and Depth Will be Too Much for Hawks
Sweeping the Detroit Pistons earned the Cleveland Cavaliers more than a week to rest their bodies and prepare their minds for the second round. The Atlanta Hawks beat the visiting Miami Heat 91-78 in game seven on Sunday and will face the Cavs in the Eastern Conference semifinals, which will start Tuesday night at Quicken [...]
Cavs Begin Championship Quest by Facing Familiar Foe
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ reward for finishing with the NBA’s best record (66-16) while shattering the previous franchise record for wins in a season (57) is a first round matchup with the dysfunctional Detroit Pistons. Cleveland and Detroit squared off in a pair of memorable playoff series in 2006 and 2007 but the two franchises have [...]
Cavs Bounce Back, Rout Spurs
LeBron James set the tone by scoring 18 first quarter points and he finished with 38 points, seven rebounds and six assists as the Cleveland Cavaliers ended their two game losing streak by beating the San Antonio Spurs 101-81. Delonte West and Mo Williams added 22 points each, mainly by draining open looks after the [...]
Numbers Adding Up Quite Nicely for the Cavs
The most important number for the Cavs is their league leading 61-13 record, a mark that all but assures that they will have home court advantage throughout this year’s playoffs (barring an unimaginable collapse in the final eight games). However, there are some other numbers that are also quite impressive and that bode well for [...]
Mike Brown Coaches by Feel, Not Numbers
Near the end of Coach Mike Brown’s pregame standup before Cleveland’s 99-89 win over Miami on Saturday, I asked him several questions relating to game plan preparation and his thoughts about various basketball statistics. Here is that interview in its entirety:
Friedman: “Even though you are not a big stat guy, are there one or two [...]
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