A rose is a rose is a rose. But a fan is "a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something", while a sports fan is an "enthusiast ... for a particular athlete, team, sport, or all of organized sports as a whole." Fan loyalty varies by sport; unconditional love in the NBA is second only to Major League Baseball, according to a 2000 survey conducted by psychologist Robert Passikoff, which ranked the National Football League and the National Hockey League 3rd and 4th (Wikipedia).

For everyone out there who nearly took a swing at a well meaning neighbor/relative/person-who-does-not-live-in-Ohio who stood by saying "it's a business" while you were frantically shredding your 23 jersey before your tears put out the bonfire, it is small comfort to know that Matthew D. Shank believes "fan loyalty in the U.S. is perhaps higher towards sports teams than any other form of consumer loyalty to goods and services." Any self-respecting, Q-shaped pretzel-chomping, Wild Thing wig-wearing Clevelander could have told Shank to save his survey money; the Cavs reside on sacred ground where goods and services bow to Jumbotron replays, broken hearts and Throwing the Hammer Down.

Mr. Shank, who clearly never stood among the 20,562 waving white towels never never never giving up hope for a miracle, believes loyalty can be threatened. In fact, Wikipedia reports Shank saying:

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To all those fine folks who were convinced that JJ Hickson was finally freed from the shackles of playing in LeBron James’s shadow and was ready to burst into his own All-Star form? Well, Salud!! Things are going great in that regard. 

In fact, the only thing going worse than Hickson’s breakout season is this current Cavalier road trip. It seems Byron Scott and his assistant coaches forgot to pack the Cavaliers shot-discipline and defense. At least that’s the way it looked again Saturday night as the Spurs scored pretty much whenever the hell they felt like it and beat the Cavaliers 116-92. 

Unfortunately they did remember to bring Hickson because right about now that young man could use a week off to check himself and settle down before getting back out on the floor again. 

Hickson was 3-10 from the floor for 6 points Saturday against San Antonio. Combine that with the 2-8 from Friday night and it’s plain to see JJ is struggling offensively. That’ll happen to young players occasionally but what’s more disheartening is that Hickson’s struggles from the field appear to be affecting his defensive intensity and his overall mental state. Hickson has seen his minutes reduced rather consistently in the past couple weeks as Scott seems to be looking for ways to reach Hickson before he loses him altogether. 

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When the Cavs have lost in this still-unfolding season, the third quarter has quite often been their downfall.

Friday, the second quarter did its best third-quarter impersonation.

The Hornets outscored the Cavs 36-15 in a second quarter that included a four-minute Cleveland scoring drought, and New Orleans snapped a four-game road winning streak for the Cavs (5-6), sending them to a 108-101 defeat.

Of course, these aren't the same old Hornets nestled somewhere in the back in the Western Conference playoff chase. Entering play Friday, the Hornets (10-1) were tied with the Spurs for the best record in the NBA.

(Incidentally, the Cavs play at San Antonio on Saturday. That qualifies this as a rather challenging road trip.)

The Hornets got production from their usual suspects -- 34 points and 11 rebounds from David West, and 15 points plus 10 assist from Chris Paul -- along with 20 points from Marco Belinelli, who might be starting to emerge as a team mainstay after bouncing from Golden State to Toronto in his first three NBA seasons.  Belinelli racked up 20 points, including a trio of three-balls and a 7 of 7 from the free-throw line.

On the other side, it's a shame the second quarter was so bad, because it overshadowed the other 36 minutes, which contained some pretty solid basketball from the wine-and-golders.

In fact, the Cavs won the three remaining quarters, outscoring New Orleans 28-26 in the first, 25-19 in the third and 33-27 in the fourth.

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Anderson Varejao returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers' lineup on Tuesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers . . . and not coincidentally, the Cavs returned to the win column, with a 101-93 victory at home.  It snapped a two-game losing streak.  (Both the previous two games were also held at The Q.)

For starters, Andy was solid.  He had nine points (on 4-of-5 shooting) with five rebounds, two assists, a steal and a sweet block.  He was also instrumental in what I would consider to be the play of the game.

Here's the set-up:  After going into halftime knotted at 54, the Cavs came out and actually played well in the third quarter . . . thanks in part to some hot shooting by Jamario Moon.  Midway through the quarter the Cavs held the 76ers without a field goal for nearly four minutes of play.

With 4:45 left in the third - after Antawn Jamison nailed a 3 to extend the lead to 69-61 - Anthony Parker slapped away a pass on the defensive end, and dove headfirst into the sideline to save it.  Just before going out of bounds, Parker was somehow able to whip the ball, blindly, behind his back, up the court.

Antawn and Andy were running the floor.  Antawn picked it up on the run, and lifted it up for Andy, who squeezed a lay-up in as he was being fouled, and as he was falling under the basket.  Andy converted the and-one . . . putting the Cavs up 72-61.  And they were able to sustain that lead for the rest of the game.  (The Cavs never led by less than seven points from there on out.)

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