The Spread

By: Logan Bednarczuk

Welcome to the inaugural edition of The Spread on The Bottom Up. Each week and maybe even several times a week I will pick a day’s winners based off the points spread (spreads determined by SportsBetting.ag). And since it’s a slow basketball night with only three games on the schedule, I decided that this would be the perfect day to start. [Editor's Note: Logan's honesty about his laziness is impressive here.]

L.A Clippers at Indiana- Pacers -1

What looks to be the best game of the night is sadly not on TNT, but those with NBA League Pass should be in for a treat. Both teams have been hot of late with the Clippers winning seven of their last ten and the Pacers eight of their last ten. The Pacers have found their rhythm and have ramped up their offense to match their league-leading defense. Indiana, however, will be without their paint-protecting center, Roy Hibbert, due to his suspension after his on court altercation with the Warriors' David Lee. His defensive presence will be sorely missed considering the Clippers are 5^th in the league in points in the paint. With home court and rest on their side I expect the Pacers to keep it a tight game and hopefully see Granger get back in scoring form. But without Hibbert’s defense in the paint, I see the clippers bringing Lob City to Indiana and walking out with a big win tonight.

My pick- L.A Clippers

Setting the Break: Luke and the Walton Legacy

“Things turn out the best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.” 

–John Wooden

It’s late November 2007, and Bill Walton’s trademark upbeat mood has turned decidedly melancholy.

“That’s the one I can’t read. It’s too close,” he sighs. “It’s too close.”

As those sentences linger in the air, Walton is finishing up an hour-long interview on Bill Simmons’ “B.S. Report” podcast.

Simmons had brought up David Halberstam’s The Breaks of the Game, a legendary book that chronicled the late ‘70’s Portland Trail Blazers as their dominance was curtailed only by a string of terrible luck. Really, though, the book is about Bill Walton. Halberstam describes an athlete in tune with the essence of the game. A player who learned how to pass, cut, and play team basketball from John Wooden. An NBA champion and league MVP who carried coach Jack Ramsey’s Portland teams on his back until his body completely betrayed him at 25.

When Walton injured his foot during the ’77-’78 season , Portland was 50 and 10. The foot injury was serious, and Walton was done for the regular season. In hindsight, Portland also should have shut him down for the playoffs. Perhaps in 2013, with star players making tens of millions, they would have. But, this was 1978 and the Blazers were trying to repeat as champions. By Halberstam’s account, Walton agreed to take some painkilling shots, and give it a go as the playoffs began. He made it two games before his foot shattered. Walton would never put on a Trail Blazers uniform again.

Episode 2...

Weekend Report: The one where Kyrie is the young blood and CJ Miles warrants mention...


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Topics Covered: Kyrie vs. LBJ...Could LBJ's game have matured to this level had he stayed in Cleveland?...Are Kyrie and Dion the long term back court duo in Cleveland?...CJ Miles?!

Barclays Center: Paint it black...

Scott here...

This past weekend, I had the chance to shoot down from Boston to NYC. In between MegaBus rides and hipster bros feeling the live bar music a little too much, I was able to catch Friday night's Rockets-Nets game at Brooklyn's brand new Barclays Center. If you're an arena nerd like me, after the jump are the random thoughts I jotted in my mental notebook...

Episode 1, Part II

The one where Kyrie Irving makes Jon Barry's heart grow three sizes and everyone googles Ricky Sanchez...


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ProTip: If you found this year's trade deadline as dreadfully boring as we did, feel free to skip ahead to the 12:45 mark where we move on to the Cavs ESPN game. We won't be offended, I promise.

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However, the iTunes feed may take up to 24 hours to refresh. Always check the blog or @TheBottomUpShow for links to immediate online streaming.

Witness this...

Last night Kyrie went Kyrie vs. the Horents. Standard operating procedure at this point, except this time it was on ESPN. Even Jon Barry's too-cool-for-school smugness was overcome by a case of the Kyrie swoons.

Logan and I will wax poetic about last night's game and also give our immediate reactions to today's 3pm trade deadline on this evening's The Bottom Up podcast.

2/19 Game night around the league...

Logan here...

The All Star break is over and the last leg of the season began last night. There were 9 games and I gorged myself on as many as I could. This is a list of four things I came away with from these games.

1. Al Jefferson is one of the most talented big men in the game. This was evident last night as he got into an offensive flow early in the third quarter against the Warriors and scored at will against any and all defenders. The Jazz as a team had a very efficient offensive game shooting 50% from the field and 47.6% from behind the arc but Jefferson served as the bailout whenever points were getting hard to come by. If the shot clock was expiring or the offense was becoming stagnant the ball would go to Big Al and he delivered all night. Jefferson unleashed a flurry of post moves to score a team high 24 points on 11 of 18 shooting and helped the Jazz cruise to a 115-101 victory. If he could just become better committed on the defensive end he would easily catapult to one of the most devastating centers in the league.

2. Golden State is not the same team they were earlier this season and I sorely miss the pre-Bogut Golden State. The team that played a blistering frenetic pace and scored at a league high clip is fading fast. They have lost 6 straight games and Bogut has actually hurt rather than helped the defense while simultaneously slowing the offense down by making them operate more in the half court. He was ineffective against Jefferson and was hurting the offensive flow so much that he was benched allowing Jefferson and the other Utah bigs to continue to abuse Bogut’s undersized brethren. Bogut is clearly not at 100 percent and he has hurt the dynamic warriors with his plodding feet. If he can’t serve as an effective defensive anchor then the warriors need to focus on their offense and continue their small ball attack. The season is quickly coming to a close and I would love to see the dynamic warriors of the first few months in the playoffs not the dysfunctional group of today.

Scouting Alex Len: Why getting your rebounding fundamentals from Daria is a bad idea...

One of the many things I've enjoyed about Boston since moving here last June is the absurd amount of college sports at my fingertips. With BU, BC, and Harvard all within a 5 mile radius of my apartment, it'd be a crime for me to not take in as much basketball as possible all winter. Tonight, I rode the Green Line over to Boston College to watch the Eagles take on the Maryland Terrapins.

Of particular interest to me on this journey was Maryland center Alex Len. Listed at 7'1" and surprisingly athletic, Len has caught the eye of NBA scouts and projects to be a top 10 pick in June.

I'll discuss my Len impressions--especially with regards to the Cavs' need for a rim protector--with Logan on Thursday's The Bottom Up.

In the meantime, after the jump is what I scribbled in my notebook as I watched Len flash elite potential, yet also unquestionably fail to live up to his current hype level...

Episode 1, Part I...

The one where Tristan Thompson gets to sit at the cool table and Chris Grant sneaks onto the honor roll...



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Programming Notes: Part II will be recorded Thursday after the NBA trade deadline.

Kyri3 Swerving...

So, last night Kyrie Irving put on for his geographical half of the country by winning the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest. Logan and I will certainly touch on what this means for Kyrie, the Cavs, and his reputation league-wide in our upcoming first podcast. In the meantime, suffice it to say that nights like this aren't for Cavs fans--we already know what Kyrie can do on a basketball court. No, these nights are for the children in New York clinging to the idea that JR Smith got snubbed and Kyrie is garbage. You can't judge what you can't see. So, when Kyrie breaks Brandon Knight's ankles then drops 23 in the three-point contest the next night--all on national TV--it helps the rest of the country catch up to what Cavs fans already know: Kyrie is a cold-blooded killer.

In the beginning...

Welcome to The Bottom Up!

Over the next few days, we'll be releasing the first episode of our new Cavs centered NBA podcast. As avid Cleveland Cavaliers fans and die-hard NBA fans in general, Logan and I are thrilled to create what we hope will become standard weekly listening for Cavs fans and NBA fans across the country.

So, why are we calling this new podcast "The Bottom Up"?

First, "the bottom!" has become the go-to catch phrase for Cavaliers play-by-play man Fred McCleod when Kyrie Irving or another Cavalier hits a crunch time dagger. As Cavs fans we live for these moments, and when they happen Fred's call adds amazing energy. Chills, bro. Chills.

Second, "bottom up" captures a defining trait of Cleveland sports. Our teams are rarely the favorites and are rebuilding more often than not. The moments of success are bookended by season after season of disappointment. Yet, this underdog perspective makes being a Cleveland fan so rewarding. The challenge of the constant chase, and the hope that each new season brings is addicting. We've all said at one point or another that we'd never watch another game, that we were done with this team forever. But we're still here. We're still watching. We never left. We endure because we know that next moment of success will erase years of disappointment.

Be sure to bookmark this page and follow us on Twitter @TheBottomUpShow!

-Scott Barkett and Logan Bednarczuk


Until next time: