Cavalier _ _ fense

The "De" was left out in the title because when the Cavs are playing, there simply is NO "De". But there is a fense, or fence, and that fence is old and rusty and not keeping anything out of the yard, or in this case the paint.

Yes, LeBron is loaded with offensive skills. Yes Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall can get hot and drain some 3's. And yes, Larry Hughes takes some of the heat off LeBron. But the sad truth is, until this team either learns or decides to play some semblance of defense, they just won't be a dominant basketball team.

Any old-school NBA fans may remember when the Golden State Warriors had "Run TMC"in the mid to late 80's; Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. Those Warrior teams could light up the scoreboard and pretty much run all the lower-tier NBA teams out of the arena. Not unlike these Cavs, however, the Warriors weren't much interested in rolling up the sleaves to actually stop the opposition from scoring. The result, you could expect 46-52 wins out of them every year, and an anticlimactic first or second round exit from the playoffs.

Until something changes in Cleveland, don't expect any more than that out of LeBron's Cavs anytime soon.