You guess what's coming.

The Cavs came from 25 points behind to lose by a deuce to New Jersey, 91-89. They took a snoozer of a game and brought most of the 11,394 fans out of their seats, screaming until the final seconds, dreaming of an upset over the surprise team of the NBA.

After a game like this, a coach usually praises his team's effort. He talks about how the players could have quit, but didn't. How they ``gave themselves a chance to win.''

Blah, blah, blah.

You've heard it a million times.

``That's garbage,'' John Lucas said.

Really?

``We played like bad teams play,'' the Cavs coach said.

How so?

``We get down by 20 points, then we come back, lose a close game, and play hard enough just to keep people off our butt,'' said Lucas. ``That's what bad teams do.''

Which was why Lucas' raspy voice echoed off the walls and ceiling of the Cavs dressing room after the game. In his own words, ``I read 'em the riot act.''

That's because the Cavs coach senses his team is not far away from being playoff caliber. He sees talented kids such as Andre Miller, Jumaine Jones, Chris Mihm and Ricky Davis -- and he wants them to get better.

He senses the losing culture that has hung over this franchise for years. He desperately wants to change it, to make the Cavs relevant again. He also knows how easy it is for a team to sell out to selfishness, to go through the motions and play just hard enough to pad their individual statistics.

It's hard to con Lucas, because he spent part of his career lying to himself during his battle with drugs. He knows how players think because, in many ways, he still thinks like them.

And he's determined not to let them get away with it.


Cavs are interesting


Lucas is right -- this is not a good team.

But it's an interesting team. It can be very exciting. After the dismal 2-9 start, the team has been competitive in most games.

Lucas is demanding more than that, convinced the Cavs should be more than their 11-17 record.

He knows Miller still leads the league in assists but expects even more from his gifted but sometimes passive point guard. In the Cavs' key possession with 30 seconds left and the score 89-87, Lucas wanted the ball in Miller's hands.

But Miller wandered into the corner, and Ricky Davis ended up missing a 15-footer. There would be four more shots in that possession, none of them going in, and there was a sense of desperation rather than organization during that critical juncture of the game.

Lucas would say over and over, ``We played hard, but we gotta play smarter.''

Miller has to demand the basketball. He has to make sure the right people go to the right spots on the floor so they can take the right shots. He has to lead.

New Jersey's Jason Kidd did just that.

He scored the Nets' last five points of the game -- an outrageous, clutch, high-arching 3-pointer over Miller, followed a little later by two crucial free throws.

Kidd put 27 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists next to his name. Since joining the Nets from Phoenix, he has revived New Jersey, taking an intriguing collection of individual players and transforming them into a team, in which the hole is even better than the parts.

As Kidd said after the game, ``I want to have (the ball) in my hands to decide if we're going down or if we're going to win. Hopefully, I'll make the shots. I just want to be part of the play.''

That's what Lucas wants from Miller, and it's a goal worth chasing.

``I'm telling you, we are not that far away from being pretty good,'' he said. ``Andre Miller has potential. He's two or three years behind where he needs to be.''


Time to get physical


General Manager Jim Paxson has imported some promising players.

The Matt Harpring/Jumaine Jones trade looks better by the game, even if Tyrone Hill (back) never plays a game for the Cavs. Jones gives the Cavs tremendous hustle every night. At 6-foot-8, he's the team's leading rebounder at eight per game.

He continually gets his hands on loose balls. He's not afraid to defend taller and heavier players. And he can jump to the heavens. For two of his 11 points, he leaped over New Jersey's 6-foot-7 Richard Jefferson and the Cavs' 7-foot Chris Mihm to ram home a missed shot with a rim-bending dunk.

Ricky Davis has yet to meet a shot he doesn't like, but he also plays with zest. And like Jones, he has lively legs and a passion for the game. He scored eight points in the final six minutes. When he sets his mind to it, Davis goes to the rim like a man, aiming for a dunk, not some whimpy, lazy layup.

Lucas wants more of that.

``We need to become more physical,'' he said. ``I told my players and coaches to quit whining and begging for calls. If you don't play physical, you won't get those calls.''

That's refreshing, too. A team that falls in love with long jumpers -- as the Cavs are prone to do -- will not draw many fouls. And they also will be pushed around.

Lucas plans to challenge his players to not settle for mediocrity, to be more of an elbows-out, hold-your-ground team under the basket.

He will tell Zydrunas Ilgauskas to quit forcing shots. Z heaved up 18 shots in 25 minutes last night. There is no excuse for the gifted 7-3 center to be 7-for-18 from the field unless he's taking shots into the teeth of a double-teaming defense, or shots on which he is off-balance.

Lucas wants Miller to lead. He wants Davis to be more consistent. He wants Wesley Person to keep playing hard as he did last night, even when he's not shooting well.

He has a vision for the team bigger than they have for themselves. And if they buy into it, this can make for a very fascinating winter.