Running and thinking with the Cavs rocking it in Philly:

First Quarter:

-  I think the Sixers have the worst front-jersey wordmark in the league.  And the court design is also pretty bad.  This team needs another logo reinvention.

-  Anderson Varejao having a tough time early, missing three easy shots and keeping the Cavs scoreless through the first two minutes.  The Cavs are getting good looks (LeBron also missed a layup), but so far they can’t finish them.

-  It could just be where Joe Tait is sitting (the crowd sounds from FSN are pretty muted tonight), but Delonte West seems to have more than a few fans here in Philly.  West was a major contributor to the St. Joe’s team than went undefeated in the regular season a few years ago, when he teamed in the backcourt with Jameer Nelson, now with the Orlando Magic.  Nice to see the Philly crowd 

-  Former Cavalier Andre Miller knocks down two jumpers in the first five minutes.  Shooting is not Miller’s specialty (unlike Mo Williams, who answers with his second jumper as I write), but his compact tip-toes jumpers are pretty efficient, and he keeps all his energy going towards the basket on the release.

-  Wham with the right hand!  LeBron with the monster dunk right over Willie Green, about as hard as he has dunked a ball in two months.

-  Finally see Delonte West use his right hand to drive along the baseline.  He missed the layup, but it’s good to see that he will use that option as he’s been finding himself alone in that right corner a lot lately.  So much that he calmly knocks down a three from that same spot to beat the shot-clock on the very next possession.  

-  Andre Iguodala slips free for his second transition dunk of the night, this one a LeBron-esque glide-and-crush with the right hand.  It’s easy to forget just how athletic some of these players are, maybe a little moreso because the Cavaliers only have one elite-level athlete on the team (in NBA terms).  I like Iguodala, but even in this fifth year in the NBA his game still needs significant refinement.

-  Quick list of other hyper-athletic players who have become solid players but still need to find better coaching: Iguodala, Atlanta’s Joe Smith, Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace (though Larry Brown is currently helping him down there).

-  Speaking of Iggy, most times you do not want to see Wally Szczerbiak defending him late in the quarter, but Wally just locked him up and forced a shot-clock violation with some late help from Ben Wallace.

-  Boobie!  Daniel Gibson tosses in a Mo Williams missed heave at the end of the first quarter, a nifty acrobatic move that helps the Cavs end the quarter on a 6-0 run, and pushes the Cavs out to a 4-point lead at the end of the first quarter, 23-19.  

Second Quarter:

-  I realize this is the point of advertising, but I have never heard of Romeo’s Pizza before they started advertising during Cavs games.

-  Iguodala draws a triple-team, and finds Theo Ratliff rolling unmolested to the rim (like LeBron, Iggy is big enough to pass over defenses with relative ease).  But Mo Williams slips from the far side and fouls Ratliff, preventing the layup or dunk.  Ratliff hit the free throws, but I’ve been wanting the Cavaliers to take some of those layup-preventing fouls all season, and Mo (who rarely fouls well) did just that.

-  Mo follows up that with a long three, and the Cavs are suddenly up by nine, 32-23.  

-  Szczerbiak is looking a little more active tonight, that knee might finally be feeling better.

-  Ben Wallace has been doing a better job of cutting to the hoop since his return, and he’s done a great job of making the extra pass to the second big man cutting into the lane after him.  At some point teams will force Ben to take that shot rather than allowing him to pass, but for now Wallace is making himself into a useful offensive weapon.

-  Mareese Speights jumps through the roof to crush home a missed shot.  I know that Cavalier fans love (or used to love) J.J. Hickson, but if you’re watching Speights tonight, you can see that Hickson’s talents are something less than unique when compared to other big men in this draft class.  

-  LeBron to Wally to Z for a pretty little possession ending with a layup.  It’s only worth two points, but ball movement like that is always a major blow to the confidence of the defense, on par with the shot-clock-beating three-pointer.

-  Wow, Iguodala just blew right by LeBron James and dunked all over him, throwing down a two-handed slam with just 3.1 seconds left in the half.  Rewound just to take another look at that, and LeBron was tilting hard towards Iggy’s right hand, forcing him left as opposed to playing straight-up defense.  Unfortunately, Iguodala just took that left-handed lane and drove right to the rack, slamming it home long before the Cavalier help defense was able to react and cut him off.  Still, that’s a dunk reminiscent of LeBron’s dunk on Kevin Garnett last season, an exclamation point of the season regardless of the final outcome of the game/series/season.  

-  But to make my coaching point - Iguodala has 12 points in the first half, but he only took six shots (5-for-6).  Why is the Sixers’ best offensive weapon only taking six shots in the first half?  So that Willie Green can take five (1-for-5)?

-  At the half, LeBron has a pretty quiet 13 points, and Anderson Varejao can’t hit the broad side of a barn despite getting good looks (2-for-9).  But it’s Wally Szczerbiak who is doing the heavy lifting offensively, scoring 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting while adding 2 assists and 2 rebounds.  At the break the Cavs lead by six, 52-46, but the Sixers have been within striking range all night.

Third Quarter:

-  LeBron makes a beautiful one-handed forty-foot bounce pass to find Andy on the break, leading to a two-handed slam and a nine-point Cavalier lead after a slow start to the third quarter.  You wil not see a better display of vision and athleticism tonight.

-  Andre MIller remains effective tonight, as he has 14 points already.

-  ”The game is being played at a much slower pace than the Sixers want to play,” - Austin Carr.  That might be the most useful bit of analysis that AC has dropped in a month.  And it’s very true, the Sixers have not been running well tonight, likely the result of the back-to-back this late in the season.

-  Maybe the Philly court would be better if it wasn’t quite as shiny.  As it is, the reflection of the lights bounce off the slight imperfections in the wood underneath the paint, and the combined whole is just distracting to look at on television.  

-  Both LeBron and Andy have taken hard falls here in the third quarter.  They both appear fine, but hits like that are the reason Mike Brown might rest some guys next week - rather than concerns about the fatigue of the long season.

-  Louis Williams and Daniel Gibson are great comparison players.  Williams is a better all-around scorer who can create his own shot, while Gibson is a three-point shooting specialist.  But both are stuck at that 6′2″ size, too small to play a lot at shooting guard, and neither has the passing ability and court awareness to play the point guard position.  Williams is the better player at this point, but I don’t think he’ll ever be a starting-quality player for a contending team, meaning that his usefulness is tapped at being a sparkplug scorer off the bench.  And in that regard, Gibson might actually be the more useful player to a contender, a guy with a clearly defined role who can execute it consistently, without always needing the ball in his hands to be effective.

-  This analysis of course considers the Daniel Gibson of previous seasons, not the one who has been generally lousy this season.

-  At least for the last two minutes, it’s been advantage Williams, who has drawn two straight fouls on Gibson.  Gibson just does not have the quickness to say with Williams defensively.  

-  Though Boobie gets him back with a nice layup off the give-and-go from Joe Smith.

-  And Williams answers with a jumper of his own on the next possession.  And picks up another foul on the next possession.  Yes Daniel, they are picking on you.  Yes Mike Brown, they’re picking on Boobie.  Might want to consider a different tact.

-  Not a great third quarter, but the Cavs have held the Sixers at bay and still lead by six, 76-70.   The Cavs are 52-2 when leading after 3 quarters.

Fourth Quarter:

-  The Sixers are still in this game despite being 0-for-3 from beyond the arc.  But so far it’s working, as not settling for long shots has allowed the Sixers to shoot 52% from the field through the first three quarters.  The Sixers are the worst three-point shooting team in the league though, so I guess not taking those shots is a good strategy.

-  The Sixers out-work the Cavs to start the fourth quarter, and after a Louis Williams jumper (did I really say that Gibson was in his league?), the Cavs lead is down to two, 76-74. 

-  Wally Szczerbiak answers right back with a three to create some more breathing room, and before you know it the Cavs are on a 9-2 run, with Joe Smith throwing down an exclamation point slam (from another Ben Wallace interior pass) to cap it off.  The Sixers take time out, and the Cavs lead is back out to nine, 85-76.  

-  The Z-Andy starting combination with the Wallace-Smith bench combination is the best setup for the Cavs right now.  Obviously the team will need to adjust to matchups in the Playoffs, but if I was Mike Brown I would plan on just giving 28 minutes to that first pair and 20 minutes to the second pair, and go from there.

-  The Sixers are sticking around, but Wally hits another three, pushing the lead back out to eight (88-80) with his 16th point of the night.  On a night where Z hasn’t had a great night, Wally has been a great source of extra offense tonight.

-  Z for 3 from the corner!  Ilguaskas hasn’t been able to hit anything tonight, but he knocked that one down and that will do it tonight.  Cavs are now up by 11, 98-87, and the buses are warming up.  

-  And at the final buzzer, the Cavs are triumphant, securing the number one seed in the Eastern Conference with a 102-92 victory.  Very solid game all around from the Cavs, and they are all set for the last big game of the regular season on Sunday against the Boston Celtics.

Postgame Thoughts:

-  Wally Szczerbiak was the standout player, giving the Cavaliers quality scoring off the bench with 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting and helping the Cavs keep separation between themselves and the Sixers tonight.

-  LeBron with a solid, if not iconic, performance of 27 points, 10 assists and 2 rebounds.  Mo Williams added 18 points and 4 assists.  Ho-hum quality performances from the top two.

-  I still don’t understand how Andre Iguodala only takes 11 shots tonight.  He made eight of them, and went 9-for-11 from the line to finish with 26 points.  The Cavs were trying to get the ball out of his hands, with some success, but the Sixers gameplan needed to get him more looks.

-  Caught the end of the Lakers-Blazers game, a Blazers victory which put the Cavs ahead of Lakers by two games for the best record in the NBA and homecourt advantage throughout the Playoffs.  Portland’s Brandon Roy out-clutched Kobe Bryant late in the game, with Roy making a couple of tough-tough jumpers and a nifty little hook shot late in the game, while Kobe bricked a couple of deep three-pointers as he went into hero mode.  But I’m sure we’ll hear a lot about Kobe’s failings from the national media today.

-  Speaking of great players not getting enough shots, Pau Gasol did not have a shot in the fourth quarter last night.  Gasol has been a very good late in games, when opposing defenses direct all their attention towards Kobe.  In their best games, Kobe has found Gasol for open looks at the basket.  But last night was all Kobe (and Lamar Odom, 1-for-6 in the 4th) all the time, and the result was a Lakers loss.

Short-form Running Thoughts for tonight’s big game between the Cavs and the Magic:

First Quarter:

-  The Cavs have started this game rebounding very well, holding the Magic to one shot per possession.  The Magic rely on Dwight Howard for most of their offensive rebounds, and so far Z and Varejao have managed to keep Dwight from crashing the basket too much.

-  It helps that Howard has no feel on his hook shot tonight.  It’s much harder for him to get offensive rebounds when he’s already taken 5 shots in the first quarter.

-  For most of the season, the Cavs have been an excellent first quarter team, typically jumping on the opposition right from the get-go.  This week, however, the team has been dead in the first quarter, averaging just 17 points in the first period.  

-  I’m liking how slow LeBron is at the free throw line tonight.

-  At the end of one, the Cavs trail by 5, 27-22.  It could be worse, but again the Cavalier defense is giving up way too many points.

Second Quarter:

-  I know the Cavs are a jump-shooting team, but there’s no need for Z or Joe Smith to be shooting fadeaway 18-footers like this.  If you’re going to go isolation without LeBron out there, do it with Wally.  Or just don’t do it.  Yeah, that’s a better idea.

-   The Magic want to shoot, they don’t want to pull it down and drive around you.  So there’s no excuse for Mo and Z not to put a hand up in earnest running at Tony Battie on the two 15-footers he’s hit this quarter.

-  The Cavs currently trail by 11, 37-26.  Expect the Magic to shoot a lot of threes right now to try to stretch that lead out big.

-  And you thought the first quarter was bad: the Cavs are shooting just 3-for-14 in the second quarter so far.  Guess the Magic won’t need the threes to stretch this lead.

-  Can someone send Mo Williams a copy of the book on him that says that he won’t make any effort at all to get back on transition defense?

-  We’ve seen this before with the Cavs, most recently when they lost to the Rockets in Houston: once things start to deteriorate for the Cavs, they are very suseptible to falling into big deficits.  The Cavalier defense relies on a lot of rotations, and when the players start getting frustrated, they don’t make those rotations as quickly and they don’t clog the lanes as well.  It doesn’t help when the Magic have made the tough ones, while missing more than a few wide-open shots in the first half.

-  On the flip side, I don’t think the Cavs had more than two open shots all half.  And now they trail by 17, 55-38.

Third Quarter:

- Um, wow.  Glad to see the Cavs were working out a solution in the locker room over halftime.  The Magic run out of the half on a 16-2 run, and suddenly that 17 point lead is a 31 point lead.  The Magic are an excellent shooting team that is shooting extremely well, but the Cavs are making no effort to defend.

-  Not sure what Mike Brown is doing leaving those starters in anymore.  You’re telling me that Tarence Kinsey and J.J. Hickson could do a worse job right now?  How about a little accountability for your team tonight Coach?

-  Not to cop out right now, but it’s never been a question that the Magic can beat anyone when they play their perfect game.  Their peak performance, in my opinion, is actually higher than the Cavs’ peak performance.  The problem is that they are still young and inconsistent.

-  Isn’t it fun to watch every Cavalier abandon the team concept and just go one-on-one now that the game is out of hand?  That’s probably all that team chemistry shining through.

-  Yes, I’m frustrated.  No, there’s really nothing more to say about this game.  Yes, it’s brutal, but no, the Cavs are not 40 points worse than the Magic, even in Orlando.

-  Well, the Cavs did end the third quarter on a 7-0 run.  Unfortunately they gave up 37!!! points in the quarter, and the game is over.  At the end of three, the Cavs trail by 32, 92-60.

Fourth Quarter:

-  Marcin Gortat made his first three of the season.  And the Cavs lost by 29, 116-87.  

Miserable night, but not a complete surprise all things considered.  I’d much rather have this happen a) on the road, and b) before the Playoffs, but I’ll feel much better about that thought if the Cavs manage to beat the Spurs on Sunday.

Go Cavs.  And go Rockets, because that grip on the best overall record got real tenuous real fast over the last two nights.

Running Thoughts….

First Quarter:

-  I don’t want to say that LeBron isn’t taking the Timberwolves seriously, but the King went so far as to do the Damon Jones “Three on a Platter” move after draining a particularly long three-pointer late in the shot clock.  And this was after a lot of dancing when he picked up an And One a few plays earlier.  The Cavs feel good tonight at the start.

-  We’ve seen some very good stretches from Anderson Varejao as the starter, and we’ve seen periods where the extra minutes seemed to sap some of his energy.  He’s thriving right now, and if this continues through the Playoffs, the Cavs might be unstoppable. 

-  And it’s not unreasonable to wonder if Andy would be at his best if the Cavs moved Ben Wallace in the offseason and made Andy the starting power forward.

-  Raise your hand if you knew that Kevin Ollie was starting at the point guard spot for Minnesota.  Hard to believe at one point this team had the best record in the NBA in 2009…at least through most of January.  

-  I know that LeBron just hit an underhand 50-footer for 60 minutes, but that one-legged heave from 30 feet with 20 seconds on the shot clock was probably unnecessary.  But he drives for the layup on the next play, and he finishes the quarter with 18 points, matching the Timberwolves as the Cavs lead by nine, 27-18.  

Second Quarter:

-  When Delonte West was on the Jim Rome show today, he said something about being confident in the whole team one through twelve, and that he felt they could put anyone in the game and still be competitive.  I believe that the Cavs bench has fewer useless players on it than ever in the LeBron James era (yes, we’re talking about you Damon Jones), but tonight is the first time in a while that the reserves have been able to extend the lead with LeBron on the bench.  

-  LeBron follows his 18 point first quarter with a 0 point second quarter.  I’m just sayin’.

-  But even without more James heroics, the Cavs will head back into the locker room 56-39.  It’s a good night for an easy win.

Third Quarter:

-  LeBron took a hit that will remind him why he’s much better off playing in the NBA than the NFL.  That collision looked brutal, even for a behemoth the size of LeBron.

-  Fortunately, it appears that the young man is no worse for wear, as on the very next play he drives home a two-handed alley-oop slam.  LeBron takes so much abuse (and gives out his fair share as well), but to this point he has always gotten right back up and gone back to work.  In the end, his durability could be the thing that really elevates him to “greatest ever” status.

-  This should definitely be a “three quarter” home win for the Cavaliers - one of those games they finish off wiith a quarter to go, letting the starters rest and the reserves get some burn.

-  The push-pass LeBron made between two defenders ahead to Delonte West on the fast break might have been his prettiest play of the night.  

-  Dan Gilbert is sitting with Fred McLeod and Austin Carr tonight.   He has not challenged AC to a fight.  Yet.

-  We’re going to call that last play one of the worst 12.8 seconds of the season.  Call a timeout, draw up a play.  LeBron overdribbles and loses the ball, Minnesota gets a fast break layup and two extra points they never should have gotten.  At the end of three, what should be a 20 point lead is just 15, 79-64.  

Fourth Quarter:

-  If the reserves can’t hold a 15 point lead against the Timberwolves, Mike Brown should consider taking the loss as a teaching tool.  The bench has stunk lately, but the starters and the wins have been covering it up.  I’m getting a little tired of watching some of these guys celebrating the wins, despite failing to execute throughout their actual court time.

-  Mo Williams with some sort of hand problem, might have jammed a finger, might have dislocated one.  He’s headed for the locker room for a good look at it.  It’s the right hand, which would be a major problem if the injury is anything serious.  UPDATE: Mild sprain on the little finger on Mo’s right hand.

-  Daniel Gibson gives Sebastian Telfair two straight And One plays that should get his butt nailed to the bench for a week.  Then Darnell Jackson does the same to Brian Cardinal.

-  And that means, yes, LeBron and Andy are coming back into the game.  What a joke.  I don’t know what Mike Brown has to do to get these bench players to straighten up, but he should have done it a month ago.  

-  Z back into the game, and he hits a three-pointer that was a long time coming.  Z has not had the range on that corner three of late, but he hit that one.

-  Cha-loooooo-pa!  Daniel Gibson redeems himself a little bit, knocking down three three-pointers in about three minutes, and the rest of the starters have restored order.  With 3:33 left in this one, the lead is again back out to 22, as the Cavs lead 101-79.  And LeBron can head back to the bench.  

-  ESPN.com NBA writer and Cal State Fullerton grad Marc Stein’s favorite player Bobby Brown (not that one) has entered the game.

-  Are we sure that Darnell Jackson won’t be a better player than Ben Wallace as early as next season?

-  Are we sure that J.J. Hickson will still be a Cavalier next season?

-  And that’s the game.  Cavs win 107-85.  Still too early to talk about 40-1…but not by much.

Go Cavs.

The Cavs are defending the home court against the 41-28 Atlanta Hawks this afternoon, and if things hold true, the Cavs and Hawks could face each other in the second round of the Playoffs.  Here’s hoping the team is ready to play early today, because the Hawks are a tough team, and they can beat you if you let them hang around.

First Quarter:

-  Don’t expect a quick start by either team given the start time.  The Cavs are moving so slow that they actually didn’t get a shot off in their first possession.

-  Just like LeBron James, Joe Smith would be a much more effective if he worked out of the low post more.  As he proved with that nice little jump hook he just hit.  

-  Well at least Zydrunas Ilgauskas is an early-riser, as his two jump shots account for the first four Cavalier points of the ballgame.  Unfortunately, as they did throughout the first half on Thursday, the Cavs are playing at a dreadful 1-point-per-minute pace.

-  Z with a free throw (he still has all the Cavalier points) for his 10000th point of his career.  Kudos to the big fella.  And with that out of the way, he makes his push for 1000 assists (he has 870 in his career) with a pretty give-and-go with LeBron that ends with a James two-handed dunk.  At the first break of the game, the Cavs lead by five, 14-9.

-  Z continues his assault with another lay-up.  He seems to be moving much better over the last week or so, the home cooking and sleeping in his own bed are paying dividends.

-  Delonte West with a steal and going coast to coast before finishing with a contested lay-in.  West has not been shooting well from the perimeter, but he is finishing well around the rim.  Having a second penetration threat who can finish is vital for the Cavalier offense, especially in the Playoffs.  Teams know that Mo Williams can’t finish at the rim, but Delonte West keeps teams honest with his ability to go strong to the basket and score.  At another break, the Cavs lead has stretched out to 21-9.

-  LeBron cuts through three defenders and lays it in, the second time he has looked like a running back breaking tackles on his way to the end zone.  Good to see LeBron flexing his muscles early, letting his teammates know that he is giving high effort and he expects the same from them.

-  The inconsistent Sasha Pavlovic is back.  I was really getting to like the tough, consistent, dare-I-say clutch Sasha Pavlovic.

-  Joe Smith with two pretty veteran moves, the first a high-arcing 15-footer that dropped straight through, and a pretty spin move around former Cavalier Flip Murray, who had to pick himself up off the floor as Smith layed it in.  Then he negates a basket by Joe Johnson by drawing a charge.  Maybe after the game Z and Joe can hit the early-bird special, because it’s definitely old-folks appreciation day here at the Q.  At the end of the first quarter, the Cavaliers lead by fourteen, 27-13.

Second Quarter:

-  Darnell Jackson is once again getting second quarter minutes, while fellow rookie J.J. Hickson is nailed to the bench.  I’m not saying that I agree with Mike Brown’s refusal to use Hickson, but that’s his coaching philosophy, and he does have a team that is 55-13.

-  Daniel Gibson - possibly off the schneid?  He’s got five quick points after a nice 8-point effort on Thursday.  And he does have a nose for loose balls and rebounds.  He just couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn for about a month.

-  Good Sasha Pavlovic is much better than good Tarence Kinsey.  But today (and over the last three games or so) we’ve had Bad Sasha Pavlovic.  I know Mike Brown doesn’t want to hurt the guy’s confidence, but right now all his extra opportunites have just been more chances for him to make mistakes.  I’d say good job, Joe Johnson’s a tough cover today, we love the two rebounds and two assists, but we’re gonna try something else for a bit.

-  The Cavalier scoring onslaught has slowed, and that as allowed the Hawks to climb all the way back to within… 17 points.  We’re halfway through the second quarter, and the Cavs lead is 43-26.  The Hawks are already over the foul limit for the second quarter, and Anderson Varejao is the beneficiary.  

-  Atlanta coach Mike Woodson picks up a technical foul.  I know that he is frustrated with this game, but I’m not sure that the officials are really the problem.

-  After a bad pass turnover by Mo Williams, the Hawks were running.  LeBron sprinted down to steal a pass, ran out of room, jumped in the air, then threw the ball hard against Maurice Evans’ legs and out of bounds.  The whole thing was almost in slow motion, and as LeBron hovered out of bounds, Evans actually rolled himself up into a ball, knowing that he was about to lose a very mean game of dodge ball.  

-  You have to like what the Cavs are doing this afternoon.  The entire rotation has contributed, with Mo Williams and Zydrunas Ilgauskas dropping in 12 points apiece, while Joe Smith and Daniel Gibson each have 6 points.  The defense has forced the Hawks into outside shots, and when Atlanta players have gotten into the lane, the Cavaliers are drawing offensive fouls.  On the offensive side, they have been moving the ball very well, and have 12 assists on their 19 first half field goals.  Just a very good all-around performance by the good guys, and it would be very nice if they could keep rolling into the second half so they are as fresh as possible for tomorrow night’s game in New Jersey.  At the end of the first half, the lead is eighteen, 53-35.

Third Quarter:

-  The Cavs started slowly in the third, letting the Hakws get back to within 13.  The Cavs got away with allowing a lot of offensive rebounds in the first half (7), and second-chance points will be one of the few ways the Hawks can get back into this game. 

-  Though it would help if they stopped picking up technical fouls.  Mike Bibby and Josh Smith each have one in the third quarter, matching Mike Woodson’s T in the first half.

-  And speak of the devil, Woodson can’t settle for just one technical, and he gets his second and is headed to the locker room.  After a Mo Williams free throw, the Cavalier lead is back out to 20, 67-47.

-  The Cavs and Hawks exchange jumpers for the last few minutes of the third quarter, with the Cavs able to make enough to keep the lead at 17 points, 79-62.  I’d like to see Mike Brown lean on the reserves to start the fourth and if LeBron doesn’t need to come back into the game, keep him on the bench. 

-  Happy Birthday Tarence Kinsey.  You’ll get to celebrate a bit in New York tonight, but maybe Mike Brown will even let you play this afternoon.  

-  At the end of the third quarter, the Cavaliers lead 79-63.  12 Minutes away from a very nice home win.

Fourth Quarter:

-  The Cavs are screwing around here, and all of a sudden the Hawks have cut the lead to eleven because of poor defensive effort.  LeBron is coming back into the game with nine minutes left to restore some order, but the Cavs lead is just 85-74.  I was getting ready to write really nice things about Mo Williams, how this was one of his best “Robin” performances because he was able to give the Cavs enough offense to keep LeBron on the bench despite the run by the Hawks.  Unfortuantely, Mo had no help out there (and his defense wasn’t exactly stifling either), so I can’t say that.

-  With LeBron James back in the game some order is restored, and while the Cavs have been unable to put the game completely away, they have keep the Hawks at bay as the clock starts to favor the good guys.  LeBron is still in an energy conservation mode, settling for jump shots, but he and the rest of the team is doing just enough to finish this game off.

-  J.J. Hickson is in the ballgame for the first time in a while.  And he’ll end with an empty box score, except for 1 steal and a -7 +/- ratio.  So much for the bench bunch letting the starters rest in the fourth quarter.

-  Delonte West for three (been a long time coming), and the Cavs have 100 points and the fans go home with a chalupa.  That’s just about going to do it.

-  TK is in to celebrate his birthday with the last 1:43 of the game.  Picked up two fouls and a seat back on the bench in less than a minute.  Well, happy birthday anyway Tarence.

-  And finally, mercifully this one is over.  Cavs win 102-96, and they’ll head to New Jersey for tomorrow night.  I don’t think there was too much stress and consternation despite the late surge by the Hawks, and hopefully the Cavs won’t stay out too late tonight before tomorrow night’s game.  All in all, a nice NBA break on a weekend full of college basketball.  Now we’re all set for a very cool Cleveland State-Cleveland Cavaliers double header tomorrow afternoon.

Go Cavs.  And Go Vikings!

What to watch for tonight as the Cavaliers welcome the Portland Trailblazers to the Q on a day when a lot of basketball will be played.  A lot of basketball.

Former Buckeye Greg Oden played in his first game since the All-Star Break last night, grabbing 7 rebounds in just 12 minutes.  Oden has no luck when it comes to injuries, and the last three years of his basketball life have been nothing but fits and starts as he goes from playing to injured to rehabbing.  The injuries are taking their toll on Oden, who by all accounts is a terrific guy.  From a strictly basketball perspective, expect Oden to be a force on the glass during his minutes, but also expect those minutes to be limited by foul trouble.

While Brandon Roy is the heart and soul of this Blazers team, I’m picking LaMarcus Aldridge as the biggest factor in this game.  The Cavs do not have a good matchup for Aldridge, a long, athletic power forward who can knock down the 18-footer and get to the rack off the dribble.  Aldridge had 21 points when these two teams met earlier this season, and he has gotten better every month, capping out in March with 19.2 ppg and 8.4 rpg.

On the home side, the Cavs must get more production from Delonte West tonight.  West will have his hands full defensively with Roy, but the Cavs also need him to step up offensively, with Wally Szczerbiak down for 2-3 weeks with a sprained leg knee.  West has not shot the ball well of late, missing four wide-open threes on Tuesday, and the Cavs need West to punish teams for leaving him open behind the arc.  Besides, the crowd loves him, so big shots from Red always get the Q in a tizzy.

The Blazers are on a back-to-back, after winning handily in Indiana last night.  Cavs + crowd + fatigue should be enough to extinguish the Blazers.

Go Cavs.  And Go Zips.

Quick Postgame Quickhits for the quick turnaround between last night’s solid win over the Suns and tonight’s “game” against the Kings:

The Good:

-  LeBron James with another Hall-of-Fame caliber performance, notching 33 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds, the last one coming in the last four seconds of the game to give LeBron his third triple-double in a row (shouldn’t there be a name for this, like a “turkey” in bowling?).  But the highlight might have been LeBron telling TNT courtside reporter Craig Sager that he didn’t know that last rebound gave him 10 and the triple-double.  Anderson Varejao certainly knew, playing hot potato with the ball to make sure LeBron could secure it for the necessary stat.  His rundown block of a Jason Richardson 360 dunk, while obviously a foul that wasn’t called, was also pretty spectacular.

-  Sasha Pavlovic has looked great this year when he’s been healthy, and he played well last night after West went down with a bruised tailbone (or, as the Cavs call it, back spasms?).  Sasha finished the night with 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting while adding two rebounds and two assists.  With every good game Pavlovic plays himself closer to a trip out of town this Summer, but the Cavs will take what they can get for now.

-  Mo Williams probably deserves the third star with his 30 points, but they were almost exclusively on the perimeter, and the “point guard” finished with just three assists in 40 minutes of action.  He is a virtuoso on the perimeter, but he has been pretty one-dimensional of late, basically a poor man’s Ray Allen.  That’s still good, but the Cavs will probably need more from him down the stretch.

The Bad:

-  Delonte West took another hard fall, this time landing hard on his back and leaving the game in the third quarter.  West may have been thrown off by the wind resistance of his Ben Wallace-like hairstyle last night, but the end result was pretty rough.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Sasha gets the starting nod tonight, as the overnight flight from Phoenix to Sacramento was probably pretty rough on any kind of back problems.  There were some rumblings about West’s psychological condition after Tuesday’s game against the Clippers, and another physical setback could be hard for West emotionally.  All reports are that the team and the entire organization have been supportive of Delonte and his pursuit of normalcy and stability, but anyone would get frustrated at missing time due to injury at this point in the season.  Just ask Greg Oden.

-  The Cavs were outscored 64-20 on points in the paint.  That’s…remarkably bad.  The team is tired, and they’re playing against non-contenders of late, but the trends are getting troubling.  This is like a team whose starting pitchers all of a sudden start giving up a run an inning, but the offense carries them to wins anyway.  You like the wins, but you know that starting pitching (and interior defense) wins playoff games.  The only silver lining is that the Cavs again dominated the fourth quarter, outscoring the Suns 30-18.

-  LeBron missed two more dunks tonight, which is becoming a regularity.  I don’t remember this happening at all prior to the Celtics game last week, but now it’s happened at least four times in the last week.  It appears that LeBron’s legs just aren’t giving him the lift that he is expecting, and his rhythm is off.  Not a major concern, but to me it means that the Cavaliers coaching staff had better find a way to get the kid some more rest soon.  He’s been killing it on the road lately (and the Cavs have been on the road all practically non-stop since the All-Star Game), but the long season and last Summer’s Olympic run are starting to take their toll.  I can’t wait for the Cavs to start this end of March home stretch to get the team back in gear. 

The Questions:

-  The Cavs game and the Akron-Bowling Green game are on at the same time tonight.  Which one are you watching?

-  Anyone else getting a little scared every time LeBron hits the deck with a leg “stinger” or a sprained ankle?  The Cavs have suffered a number of (relatively small) injuries this season, and done well because of solid depth.  But I would argue that “depth” is more the result of LeBron’s flexibility and ability to play multiple positions than it is the quality of the bench players stepping into the starting lineup.

-  Anyone else really excited that after tonight the Cavs are done with the West Coast, at least until the NBA Finals?

Go Cavs.

What to watch for as the Cavs head into Boston with a chance to put some real ground between themselves and the Celtics for the #1 spot in the East:

-  Kevin Garnett is expected to miss tonight’s game, and if he does it will be the eighth straight game he has missed with a knee injury.  Garnett is the only true intimidator in the Celtics’ interior defense, and his absence should make it easier for LeBron James and Delonte West to finish at the hoop.  With Garnett sidelined and James Posey fleeing for New Orleans in free agency last Summer, the interior defense of the Celtics is not nearly as suffocating as it was last season.  Without Garnett’s defense, the Celtics have given up an average of 96 points per game over their last seven, 3.6 ppg higher than their season average. 

-  Boston is only 4-3 without Garnett, and two of the wins have been very tight victories over the Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets.  They have also lost to the hapless Los Angeles Clippers over this stretch.

-  The loss of Garnett doesn’t mean that the Cavs will have an easy rebounding night, as the Celtics maintain a league-best rebounding differential of +5.6 rpg.  Kendrick Perkins (2.7 offensive rebounds per game) and Leon Powe (2.0 orpg) are the Celtics that do the most damage on the offensive glass, and the Cavs have to box out and secure as many defensive rebounds as possible if they want to win tonight.  You cannot give the Celtics extra possessions at home.

-  When the Cavs beat the Celtics in January, they made excellent defensive rotations that successfully took away any easy ball-movement baskets, forcing the Celtics to beat them in one-on-one matchups.  Paul Pierce is typically charged with scoring isolation buckets for the Celtics, but LeBron James was able to harass Pierce all night, limiting him to just 4-for-15 shooting, five turnovers and just one assist.  Don’t expect Pierce to struggle quite as badly at home, but Boston needs Pierce to have a big night if they want to have a chance in this game.

-  Leon Powe remains my favorite Celtic, and is the type of player who gets rally-creating and extending buckets around the basket, often adding an and-one opportunity thanks to a foul.  Even in the Cavs beatdown of Boston in January, he still managed to score 8 points on 4-for-5 shooting, and at home his buckets can easily become backbreakers.

-  No Ben Wallace in the lineup tonight means no classless Hack-a-Ben strategy from Doc Rivers should the Cavs have a late lead.  Well, at least Doc can’t embarrass himself on national TV again tonight.

Go Cavs.

What to watch for tonight as the Cavs take on the Memphis Grizzlies in a warmup for their rough four-game road trip:

What does Delonte West have in store for an encore?  West’s 25 points on Sunday were fantastic, but that was an adrenaline game.  Tonight he’ll probably fall back to Earth a little bit, and he faces an interesting challenge in rookie shooting guard (and LeBron crony) O.J. Mayo.  The last time West and Mayo squared off, Mayo found himself in early foul trouble which limited him to just 6 points, while West dropped 19/4/6 on the flavor of the month while shooting 78%.  And the 3ShadesofBlue guy is still giving the edge to Mayo?  I think Mayo will have a better game tonight, but West will be a matchup problem for him, and the home crowd is falling in love with Red.

Remember when Rudy Gay was a poor man’s LeBron James, tearing up the Rookie-Sophomore game and looking like he might take that Brandon Roy leap to second-tier star status?  No?  Gay has regressed at bit this season, and while his numbers are solid (18.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg), he seems to be stuck as the third ballhandler on a team that is more interested in seeing what they have in Mayo and point guard Mike Conley than trying to let Gay be the man.  Gay might get a few more opportunities with the ball his hands now that the Grizzlies have shipped out backup point guards Kyle Lowry and Javaris Crittendon, but his unwillingness to pass (1.6 apg) is a major problem.  He’s filling the role of the ball-hogging gunner, rather than the overall talent that he was on his way to becoming last season.

Speaking of Gay and Mayo, ESPN.com’s Streak for the Cash has an interesting one today: Who scores more points, LeBron James by himself, or Mayo and Gay combined?  I’m going with LeBron because Mayo and Gay are matched up against the Cavs’ two best defenders, but I don’t feel great about it.

It appears that Grizzlies benchwarmer Marko Jaric finally made it official, marrying long-time girlfriend and Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima over the All-Star Break.  I’m sure that the ABJ’s own Patrick McManamon will be crushed, along with the rest of the red-blooded male population of the world.  The only explanation is that Adriana just can’t get enough of guys whose eyes are waaay too close together, and wear their clothes backwards.  But I guess it’s okay, we can’t have Lima’s offspring conquering the world with genetic perfection.

Go Cavs.

Postgame Quick Hits from last night’s 111-103 win over the Bucks in Milwaukee:

The Good:

AP Photo/Darren Hauck

1.  LeBron James.  Really, words can’t describe it.  More “No-no-no-no-YEAH!” shots in two minutes and fifty seconds than you’ll ever see.  Not an iconic performance from LeBron by any means, but it was a performance that had everyone saying “I didn’t think LeBron could do that.”  Apparently he can.  The question remains whether you want him to or not.

2.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas (11 points) once again proved he is the toughest Cavalier, standing up to Charlie Villanueva when he tossed Anderson Varejao down by the face.  While the team is good about coming to the aid of an injured teammate, they aren’t especially tough when it comes to getting the back of a teammate taking a cheap shot.  Z was right there to tell Villanueva that his antics were not appreciated.  I’m not an advocate of the “enforcer” role in basketball - this isn’t hockey -  but it’s nice to see a little meanness from the big fella.

3.  Mo Williams was at times very good (23 points), at times very bad (4 turnovers), but he provided a much-needed second offensive weapon with Tarence Kinsey, Wally Szczerbiak and Daniel Gibson combining for just 13 points on 5-for-15 shooting.

The Bad:

1.  I was worried about the Cavs and their commitment to excellence after the trade deadline.  The defense has been inconsistent of late, and we aren’t seeing the intensity and the attention to detail that the Cavs were demonstrating in November and December.  If the opposing team is committed to getting to the rim, the Cavs haven’t done much to stop them.  That continued last night, as the Bucks had 44 points in the paint and 24 second-chance points.  Those are easy points, and they allowed the Bucks to hang around despite LeBron’s prolific scoring.  We know that the Cavaliers have consistently raised their defensive performance in the Playoffs, I’m just not as confident that they have the players to do that.

2.  Speaking of personnel, today Brian Windhorst has a story saying that Zydrunas Ilgauskas is still dealing with an ankle injury that might not be completely healed until after the season.  WHAT?  You’re telling me that the Cavs didn’t add another big man at the trade deadline, not just knowing that Z was aging and could suffer an injury, but rather knowing that he currently had a semi-chronic ankle injury?  Z has looked okay lately, but he definitely looks slower than he did early in the season.  I am really bothered by the idea that a Championship run could be hobbled by an injury that the Cavs knew about before the deadline and failed to support.  It looks like whoever the Cavaliers sign off waivers in the next few weeks will is not just going to get emergency work, but will also be asked to help rest Z later in the season.  I’m not happy about this.

3.  I was disappointed by Charlie Villanueva’s classless attacks above the shoulders of both Anderson Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.  Shots to the face happen through the course of the game, but Villanueva put his hand on Varejao’s face and kept it there after Varejao grabbed the rebound.  It was intentional and unnecessary, and therefore classless.  Then he put his hand around Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ neck when Z stood up for his teammates.  I like Villanueva as a player, and he had a fantastic game last night (23 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists).  But there is no place for his behavior last night, and I think a one-game suspension is in order.  Then again, when Zach Randolph is sucker-punching guys and only getting a two game suspension, I would say a suspension is unlikely.

The Questions:

1.  Will we start seeing some more focus from the Cavaliers?  I’m still concerned that the lack of moves at the trade deadline will have the Cavs a little too comfortable and complacent, especially against the lesser teams.

2.  What’s wrong with Daniel Gibson?  Gibson has been awful of late.  I don’t know if it is injuries or what, but it might be time to put him on the shelf when Delonte West returns, because his 20 minutes a night are a waste.  

3.  Why is tomorrow’s game at night?  It’s Sunday.  It’s Oscar Night.  This doesn’t make any sense to me.

Go Cavs.

What to watch for when the Lakers invade the Q on Sunday:

-  What is at stake in Sunday’s game?  At the end of the day, this Cavaliers-Lakers game is just a regular-season matchup against two teams that will have a lot more to prove once the season ends and the Playoffs begin.  Plenty of conclusions, most of which will ultimately be meaningless, will be drawn from this game, regardless of its outcome.  

But for Cavaliers fans who have felt a little unappreciated this week, what with Mo Williams’ second All-Star snubbing and LeBron’s lost triple-double thanks to a league review, a win Sunday would be some vidication.  If the Cavs come away with the win,  they will have done what the Celtics couldn’t do this season: Beat L.A.  That promises to lead to a wealth of praise from the national media, and a chance for the Cavs and their fans to beat their chest a little bit before next week’s All-Star Game.

A loss, however, does the opposite.  An end to the team’s home winning streak would be seen as evidence that the Cavs still aren’t expected to beat the elite teams in the league come playoff time, and proof that LeBron James still sits below Kobe Bryant in the league’s hierarchy.  While it’s absurd, to some a loss would justify some of the annoyances of the last week, and we’d be subject to a bunch of arrogant Lakers fans this week.  

-  Will we get a better LeBron-Kobe matchup than we got last month in Los Angeles?  I certainly hope so.  While the Lakers dominated that contest, neither LeBron nor Kobe played especially well.  James finished with 23 points on just 9-for-25 (36%) shooting, while Bryant finished with just 22 while going 9-for-22 (41%) from the floor.  Not quite a performance for the ages.

Both LeBron and Kobe had remarkable performances this week against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden, with LeBron clearly using Kobe’s performance to motivate him into a historical performance.  Expectations will be through the roof for Sunday’s performance.  

We’re going to have stories about how this is a great one-on-one matchup, and we’re going to have stories about how the supporting casts will make the difference.  And both will be right.  Both LeBron and Kobe had remarkable individual performances this week, carrying their teams against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden, with LeBron clearly using Kobe’s performance to motivate him into a historical performance.  These guys can do it all by themselves.  At the same time, these two teams are the only two that have yet to lose their tenth game of the season because they have other players who can step up and make plays.  Only time will tell if Sunday’s game will be won by the superstars, or the boys in the chorus.

-  How will the Cavs deal with Pau Gasol?  Gasol remains underappreciated for the things he does for the Lakers.  There are few players in the league that possess the combination of size, speed and skill that Gasol has, and the Cavs will have a tough time defending him in the post.  Gasol has been thriving since Andrew Bynum went out with a knee injury, averaging 28.6 points and 14.3 rebounds in the last three games, 10 points and 5 rebounds per game over his season average.  

On the flip side, the Cavaliers’ best big man is struggling defensively.  While Zydrunas Ilgauskas has been solid offensively since his return ( 13.5 ppg), he looks very slow on defense, and has been in regular foul trouble over the last four games.  While Z has been a huge benefit to the team’s offensive spacing since his return, the Cavs will have to find a way to help the Large Lithuanian should the Lakers decide to let Gasol work against Z in the post.

A few extra notes:

-  Wally Szczerbiak will be playing with a facemask on Sunday to protect a broken nose.

-  The difference between nine and ten of a particular statistic means almost nothing to me.  Which is why I don’t think that the questionable ruling on LeBron’s ninth rebound makes a bit of difference in how great his performance was against the Knicks.  Then again, if you’re one of those people who was using “LeBron had a triple-double” as a reason that James’ performance trumped Kobe Bryant’s 61 points at the Garden on Tuesday, well, you might want to drop that bullet point.  UPDATE: The NBA took away the triple double Friday afternoon.

-  The NBA will be adding HORSE to its All-Star Saturday festivities.  Except that the event is sponsored, so they’ll be playing GEICO.  And no, you can’t make this stuff up. 

-  For some reason I found this sendup of the Minnesota Timberwolves Ryan Gomes hilarious in its subtlety.

Go Cavs.