'Elbow Gate'

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Before the NBA season, Cavaliers General Man ager Danny Ferry said a major goal was to build a sense of selflessness and sacrifice on the team -- one in which Cavs players would happily play for "something bigger than themselves."

But hasn't that goal taken a huge, major hit following last month's on-court mugging of Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas by Detroit's Rasheed Wallace? The incident not only had Ilgauskas bleeding, but made the other Cavs look weak for being totally unwilling to make Wallace pay for injuring a star teammate.

Ferry insists it's not a problem and suggests it's unfair to judge the team's internal chemistry by the Wallace incident.

"ometimes you can learn by experience from going through a situation like that," Ferry wrote in an e-mail reply. "As the year has unfolded, I believe that our guys have developed a team-oriented attitude."

Maybe. But since the Ilgauskas beat-down on Feb. 26, the Cavs have a 4-5 record (and no wins against winning teams). And they've shown inconsistent mental toughness late in games, especially against good teams.

In his last three games,

The Cavs' Eric Snow has averaged 32 minutes, 2.6 points and 4.6 assists. So much for all that talk in recent weeks about the rebirth of Snow as an NBA guard.

Mark Jackson,

longtime NBA point guard and current TV analyst, says the Cavs remain a "dangerous playoff opponent for anyone" despite their recent shaky play. "The Cavs have finally established a commitment to defense," Jackson says. ABC added Jackson to its revamped Sunday pregame studio show, "NBA Nation."</div>

Source

Interesting observation and I think the writer has a point. I remember a similar incident happened to the Spurs when Karl Malone knocked out David Robinson. No one stepped in to help Robinson and stick up for him while was on the ground from a Malone elbow.

Greg Popovich was disappointed his team didn't retaliate against Malone, so in the offseason he made sure the Spurs added some toughness. They brought in Mario Elie and Jerome Kersey as enforcers. The following season they brought in Antonio Daniels and Terry Porter for even more toughness on the roster.

In post season play, the game gets a lot more physical and matching up against the same person in a 7 game series usually leads to short tempers. I think the Cavs need to start rounding out their roster with some toughness.