Running Thoughts from today’s big game against the San Antonio Spurs:

-  Anderson Varejao is out of today’s game with a wrist contusion.  So Darnell Jackson will get the start against, yeah, Tim Duncan.  I’m sure that will go well.  

-  The Cavs need to win today to keep the best record in the league, as the Lakers face the Clippers tonight.

-  I love NBA basketball on sunny spring Sundays.

First Quarter: 

-  The Cavaliers cannot start this game slow again.  Lately the team has suffered through way too many scoring droughts.  

-  Matt Bonner just tipped in an offensive rebound over Jackson.  I don’t expect Jackson to match up with Duncan (and he’s not to start, Z is defending Duncan), but he has to be at least as productive as Matt Bonner if the Cavs are going to win today.

-  LeBron goes into the “post” four times.  The first time the ball was tipped away by Manu Ginobili and it turned into a Spurs fast break.  The second turned into a 15-foot made jump shot.  The third turned into a sky hook in the lane.  The fourth was another 15-footer over Michael Finley.  LeBron putting the fear in the opponent early is something we haven’t seen lately.  That sky hook could become the scariest weapon in the Playoffs if LeBron and the coaching staff choose to exploit it.

-  Mo WIlliams is in for a tough day today, defending Tony Parker.  Mo has got to give the Cavs more useful offense tonight than he’s been giving over the last two games.  

-  The aggressive LeBron is here for the first quarter.  He looks fantastic.  Think how good the game could be if the rest of the team wasn’t 1-for-6.

-  I was listening to the radio this morning, and WKNR’s Aaron Goldhammer was wondering aloud if the Cavs had the talent on the roster necessary to win the Championship this season.  It is a legitimate question, something I touched on Friday night when I said that the peak performance of the Magic is probably higher than that of the Cavaliers.  It has been my contention all season that the excellence of this Cavalier team has been more the result of LeBron James being uncanny than it has been the other pieces of the roster that much better than past teams.  Sure, there’s been a solid increase in talent, but let’s not forget that this team is still paying Wally Szcerbiak and Ben Wallace a combined $28 Million, and Darnell Jackson is starting today (though that’s mostly Mike Brown’s persona pecadillos, as Joe Smith could and probably should be starting, but Mike doesn’t want to screw up his rotation).  In a straight-up talent comparison, the Cavs are in the conversation, but they’re probably not at the top of the list.

-  I write all of that just to make this point:  When LeBron is playing the way he has played in this first quarter, the Cavs are the best team in basketball.  He makes these slightly-above-average players into a championship-caliber team.   

-  And a final aside on Goldhammer:  I know that he’s trying to get people riled up a bit to get them to call the show and yell at their radio.  But you do not judge a team based on its worst recent loss, just like you don’t judge them on their best recent win.  The Orlando Magic might have beaten the Cavs badly on Friday, but that same Magic team lost at home to the Toronto Raptors earlier last week.  The Lakers got their butts kicked in Atlanta, then lost to a below-.500 Bobcats team on thier recent trip.  This Spurs team got beat by the Oklahoma City Thunder in San Antonio last week.  The Cavs won’t play some mythical perfect team in the Playoffs; they’ll be playing one of these teams, and every one has a disappointing performance or two on their recent schedule.

-  Tony Parker is eating up Mo Williams and Daniel Gibson to start this game, and has 14 points.  LeBron will be guarding Parker at the end of this game.  The Cavs defense hasn’t been especially intense, but give Parker and the Spurs credit for making plays on the offensive end to get good shots and knock them down.

-  But on the offensive end, LeBron has done it by himself, scoring 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting, while his teammates have just 10 points on 3-for-10 shooting.  If it’s any consolation, this has been by far the most entertaining first quarter in a long time.  At the end of one, the Cavs lead 28-27.  

Second Quarter:

-  Tim Duncan looks more earthbound today than I’ve ever seen him.  Those legs do not look lively today.

-  Good run by the Cavs bench to start the second quarter, running off the first six points of the quarter.

-  Delonte West with a steal and a dunk, and he follows it with a nice 17-footer to stretch the Cavs lead to 11.  West’s ability to find his role in the offense will be vital in the Playoffs.  Prior to his wrist injury, Delonte was in the right spot more often than not, and his shot was as pure as anyone on the team.  But when West went down, Mo Williams took an even greater role in the offense, taking quite a few of the shots that used to go to West.  When Delonte returned his role was slightly diminished, and he’s still trying to feel out when he should shoot, when he should create, and when he should just swing the ball around the perimeter.  With LeBron and Mo being the focal point of opposing defenses in the Playoffs, there will be opportunities for Delonte to take advantage and score some points.  There will be games when his performance will be the difference, and the Cavs need him to come through in those situations.

-  West is now guarding Parker.  That’s a good idea.

-  The Spurs are not shooting very well today, despite decent looks at the basket.  With 4:48 left in the second quarter, the Spurs have made just one field goal in the quarter, and that was Drew Gooden’s powerful two-handed dunk, which we’ll call a “high-percentage shot.”

-  Mo Williams is back into the game, and he’s guarding Parker now.  I’m not sure I wouldn’t leave West on Parker and take my chances with Mo guarding shooting guard Michael Finley, who can’t hit the broad side of a barn today.

-  Great first half by the Cavs, with LeBron leading the charge with 26 points going 9-for-12 from the field.  Mo Williams (finally) hit a few open threes, Delonte West was active, and the defense was able to hold the Spurs to just 15 points in the second quarter.  Still a long way to go in this one, but so far it’s a feel-good performance at the Q, with the Cavs ahead 55-42.

Third Quarter:

-  Delonte West with one of his prettiest moves of the season with a little hesitation to slip Manu Ginobili and finishing with a nifty 10-foot runner.  

-  I know that some Cleveland fans are pretty anti-Drew Gooden, but he’s a pretty good fourth option.  He’s been the Spurs’ most consistent offensive weapon today, and has really stepped in with Bonner out with foul trouble.  Gooden is 6-for-8 for 12 points already.

-  LeBron gets his pocket picked for the third time today, and it turns into two more Gooden points, and the lead is down to 5.  The Spurs have ratcheted up the defensive intensity to start the second half, and they’re getting out and running, the biggest defensive weakness of the Cavaliers (and let’s face it, every team) this season.

-  Mo Williams with some much-needed scoring, dropping 5 straight points to get the lead back out to ten and forcing a Spurs timeout.  With 6:29 left in the third, the Cavs lead 67-57.    

-  I love the way that Manu Ginobili always attacks Delonte West’s left hand, especially when West is open in the corner.  Manu has given West the baseline at least twice now, and each time West did not feel comfortable attacking the basket off the right hand.  Great gameplanning by the Spurs’ coaching staff, great execution by Ginobili.  Now West needs to adjust (and just launch those threes instead of dribbling).  

-  LeBron break away - WHAM WITH THE RIGHT HAND!  Those are so much fun.  This game has been a blast.  At another break, the Cavs lead is 11, 71-60, with 2 Zydrunas Ilgauskas free throws coming up.

-  Nice to see that Daniel Gibson is consistent in his terrible shooting.  His wide-open looks have been miserably short, an ailment that has also afflicted Wally Szczerbiak and Sasha Pavlovic this afternoon.  

-  I’m really liking the close-out defense by the Cavaliers here in the third quarter, something that was sorely missing in Orlando on Friday.  The Spurs are moving the ball well today, and they’re getting decent looks at the basket, but the Cavalier defense is closing those gaps quickly and really putting pressure on the Spurs’ shooters.

-  At the end of the third quarter, the Cavs are up by 15, 78-63.  Only 21 points for the Spurs in the third, and they continue to struggle from beyond the arc, just 3-for-14 on the day.  

Fourth Quarter:  

-  It’s more a remnant from the Finals two years ago than anything else, but Manu Ginobili is still the clutch shooter I fear most.  Manu has been hampered by injuries over the last two seasons, and he doesn’t seem as scary, but when he plays this season his numbers are actually above his career averages.  I don’t want to see him with the ball should this game get close.

-  Roger Mason has been a great offseason acquisition for the the Spurs, and he has made more than his share of big shots this season.  But he’s been goose-egged twice in the last four games, and he has just 4 points today.

-  Tim Duncan has been a complete non-factor offensively, scoring just 6 points against a Cavalier front line that is missing Anderson Varejao and has been abused by quality post players lately.  I don’t know what Duncan’s overall health situation is, but he has been interestingly absent today.

-  No, I have no idea why I would poke at the Spurs’ most dangerous scorers before this one is over.  That was stupid.  The Spurs have cut the lead to 9 with 7:00 remaining, 84-75.  The fourth quarter has been all jumpers for the Cavs.

-  But the jumpers start falling again, with LeBron hitting a tough-tough 20 footer, followed by a Delonte West three on a great skip pass from Mo Williams.  That might have done it folks, as the Cavs lead is back out to 14, 89-75.  Have I said how much fun this game has been?

-  The rest of the game goes as planned, highlighted with a couple of nice jumpers by Delonte West, who was an offensive revelation today.  The Cavs held the Spurs to just six points in the last seven minutes of the game, and go on to win 101-81.  

-  LeBron was brilliant, scoring 38 points on 14-for-21 shooting, while adding 7 rebounds and 6 assists.  But as good as LeBron was today, Delonte West was nearly as important, scoring 22 points on 10-for-15 shooting and providing the much-needed third offensive option that has been missing lately.  When West is playing this well, the Cavs are the best team in the league.

-  To borrow a phrase from LeBron’s new website, I really, really, really, really, really, really enjoyed this game.

Go Cavs.

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.

Wrapping up last night’s, well let’s just call it pathetic, performance:

The Good:

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

-  Nobody.  Sure, there were guys who had solid performances offensively, but the team gave up 109 points on 51% shooting to a terrible Wizards team.  So no one deserves any credit for any “successes” they might have had last night.

-  Check that: the Wizards belong up here for their gameplan last night.  They went with a huge starting lineup with Caron Butler at the shooting guard spot, Antawn Jamison at the small forward, and Dominic McGuire at the power forward.  Size has been the Achilles heel of the Cavaliers, and the Wizards knew that and took advantage of it.  Playoff opponents will be watching this game very closely to see how an inferior team was able to exploit the few Cavalier weaknesses to perfection.

-  Oh, one more: At least there’s another game tonight so I don’t have to think about this one too long.

The Bad:

-  LeBron James, having a fantastic night otherwise, turning the ball over SIX times against the less-than-formidable Wizards defense.  It was clear that LeBron was not taking this game seriously (he has been fantastic at not turning the ball over lately), and that trickled down throughout the team.

-  Mo Williams admiring his shot so much that he was burned by Wizards streaking down the floor behind him no less than four times.

-  Delonte West playing matador defense when Nick Young (Nick Young?!?) drove to the lane for the game-sealing layup.

-  Mike Brown deciding to play Joe Smith just 8 minutes.

-  Wally Szcerbiak getting positively worked by Darius Songaila.

-  Zydrunas Ilgauskas resorting to slapping wrists every time a Wizard took the ball to the hoop, earning him five of the weakest fouls I’ve ever seen.

The Questions:

-  Really, what just happened?

-  I know that ESPN can’t help themselves, but does Gilbert Arenas really deserve credit for a big win in a game where he went 3-for-11 (27%) from the field and didn’t hit a single big shot?

Go Cavs.  Gonna be a rough one tonight in Orlando.

Wrapping up another Cavalier victory (that’s 13 in a row now), this one over the once-and-future rival Detroit Pistons.

The Good:

-  The Cavaliers gave a fantastic defensive performance in a game with near-Playoff-level physicality.  The Cavs held the Pistons to just 73 points on just 35% (29-82) shooting, exhanging blows with the once-mighty Pistons.   While the Cavaliers had their own problems offensively (just 79 points on 39% shooting), the team’s ability to completely shut down the Pistons in the second half, holding Detroit to just 29 points after the break, was the reason for this win.  The Cavs also forced 14 Detroit turnovers and held the Pistons to just 9 assists on the night.  While there were a few easy second-chance baskets for the Pistons, everything else was well-contested, and this was the fifth straight game in which the Cavaliers have held their opponent to at least ten points below their season average.  This game was a great example of why the Cavaliers will be an incredibly dangerous Playoff team.

-  Once again, the Cavs did a great job of taking care of the ball, committing only 5 turnovers of their own for the second straight game.

-  Last star goes to, who else, LeBron James.  While this wasn’t an iconic LeBron performance, LeBron was responsible for 15 of the 17 Cavalier points in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 points while finding Anderson Varejao for four more.  The only points not directly caused by LeBron were Mo Williams’ two game-sealing free throws, and let’s be honest, if LeBron doesn’t do what he does, Mo doesn’t get those points either.  Just a great game-sealing performance from the best player in the league, especially considering that besides LeBron and Andy, the rest of the team went 0-for-10 in the quarter.  LeBron finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and a block, while committing only one turnover.

-  And the bonus star goes to the home crowd.  As the season has gone on, the fans at the Q have gotten steadily louder, to the point that they are now near deafening, even for a Tuesday night game against a below-.500 team.  I can’t imagine just how insane those fans will be come Playoff time.  I’m telling you, this Spring is going to be something special.

The Bad:

-  The Cavs held their own, but they gave up way too many rebounds on both ends.  The Pistons outrebounded the Cavaliers by ten, 53-43, and gobbled up 15 offensive rebounds and converting them into 14 second-change points.  The Pistons couldn’t score from the perimeter all night, but they were able to muscle their way into the lane too easily, which led to the offensive rebounds and 32 points in the paints.  While the Cavs are getting better about it, interior strength is still a weakness.

-  Mo Williams had one of his worst performances in a long time, going just 4-for-14.  Mo had help on the poor shooting front though, with Zydrunas Ilgauskas shooting only 2-for-11.  No, the poor shooting percentages for the team were not a surprise.

-  Rasheed Wallace continues to make a spectacle of himself in Cleveland, picking up yet another technical foul, his sixteenth of the season (but only his second in March!).  That T will cost Wallace a game as a penalty, a major problem for a team that is just two games ahead of the Charlotte Bobcats for the last Playoff spot.  In my opinion, Wallace’s lack of self-control has been the biggest reason that the team has not had more success since its Championship run in 2005, and that’s not going to change.  Sheed will have to find a different place to wreck havoc next season, as he is a free agent and I would be very surprised if the Pistons re-signed their cantakerous big man.

The Questions:

-  Was anyone else a little concerned when Delonte West tossed Rip Hamilton to the ground?  My friend Sarah can’t stand Rip, and is incredibly bothered by the fact that he continues to wear that protective mask.  So I’m sure she didn’t mind seeing Brother Red spin Hamilton around and toss him like a dwarf.  Me, I was a little concerned that Delonte might follow up the toss with a elbow drop, before climbing the turnbuckle and holding his hand to his ear in pure Hulkamania fashion.

-  Did you see the Lakers lost to the Bobcats tonight?  That puts the Cavs up three games in the race for the best record in the NBA, and puts the Bobcats that much closer to meeting the Cavaliers in the first round of the Playoffs.  The Bobcats don’t currently have a roster that can compete for a championship now or in the near future, but head coach Larry Brown has done a fantastic job of getting a bunch of really average players to buy in and make a run at the Playoffs.

-  Finally, did you see that Z’s 10,000th point ball was found?  Turns out a young kid picked it up after the game was over.  Z told the kid to keep it.  Total class act.  But he did say that he will keep the ball if/when he breaks the Cavs all-time games played record of 723.  Z played his 700th game as a Cavalier tonight, and with 8 games left in the season, Z will need 16 Playoff games to break the record this season.

Go Cavs.

What to watch for tonight when the Cavs take on the Pistons at the Q.

-  During ESPN’s NBA Coast to Coast last night, analysts Tim Legler and Jamal Mashburn said that the one team that the top teams in the East don’t want to face in the first round is the Detroit Pistons.  While I think the Cavs would crush the Pistons in a series - something likely to be proven tonight - I’d still rather see the Cavs face an inexperienced team like the Bulls or the Bobcats if I had a choice.   Unfortunately, a Cavalier win tonight actually makes a first round matchup with the Pistons more likely, as the Pistons currently sit at 36-37, a game ahead of the Chicago Bulls for seventh place in the East.  The Bulls have a favorable schedule down the stretch, with five of their last six games at home, while the Pistons play six of their last nine games on the road, including tonight’s contest.  The Pistons certainly don’t scare anyone anymore, but they have enough wily veterans and formerly big-time players to make a strong push for a couple of games, which could be a problem in a short series. 

-  Allen Iverson has returned from his recent injury, and he has historically played very well here in Cleveland.  Iverson is coming off the bench now, the third change in the backcourt rotation since his arrival in Detroit in exchange for Chauncey Billups very early in the season.  Iverson was first paired with Rip Hamilton in the backcourt, with second year guard Rodney Stuckey coming off the bench.  Then in mid-January, Hamilton moved to the bench, with Stuckey starting at the point guard spot with Iverson at the shooting guard.  When Iverson went down with a back injury in late February, the Stuckey-Hamilton backcourt was able to rip off four straight wins, before the Pistons began sliding again, falling to 8-8 without Iverson before his return on Sunday.  Now Iverson will come off the bench, though it appears that none of the current starting guard combinations are having much success.  Iverson remains a very dangerous scorer - he’s still averaging 19.7 points against the Cavs this season - but he has been a bad fit in Detroit, and should be expected to change addresses yet again when he becomes a free agent this Summer.

-  Even though the trade hasn’t worked out from a basketball perspective, I just want to again give kudos to Pistons GM Joe Dumars.  He was able to move Chauncey Billups unwieldy contract (sure, he looks good today, but how is his productivity going to suffer in years in two years when he’s 35 years old and making $13.5M?) in exchange for Allen Iverson’s $20M expiring contract.  This created serious amounts of cap room this Summer in what will definitely be a buyer’s market, while boosting ticket sales by bringing in a Superstar talent and ticket-seller like Iverson.  More importantly, it is now clear that the Pistons weren’t going to be a championship contender this season even with Billups, what with the Cavaliers, Celtics, Magic and Lakers all streaking out to gaudy win totals with younger and more talented teams.  Instead of trying to beat a dead horse, Dumars made a great move that created future options while still maintaining an interesting, if not that good, team on the court.  At some point, all great teams have to accept that their run is over, and that it’s time to rebuild.  Most GMs wait a season or two too long to do that, and as a result end up with a bunch of overpriced, over-the-hill players who have no trade value, which makes the rebuilding take longer.  Dumars moved at exactly the right time, made exactly the right move, and he will have the Pistons back in the Eastern Conference Finals (and getting beat by the Cavs) again very soon. 

-  While the Iverson trade didn’t work out as hoped for Detroit, the decision to move Billups and let Stuckey take over the point guard duties has been moderately successful.  Stuckey is averaging 13.4 points and 4.9 assists per game, and he played a little bit better during Iverson’s time away, putting up 14.8 ppg, and 5.5 apg in the month of March.  While he’s not exactly making fans forget about Billups and his 18.3 ppg and 6.3 apg, Stuckey is younger, cheaper, and more likely to be around the next time the Pistons are ready to make a serious run at another championship.  Stuckey has great size, speed and strength for a point guard, and reminds me of a young Andre Miller in the way he attacks the basket.  While his game still requires quite a bit of refinement, and his passing needs to improve, I think the Pistons made a solid choice in banking on Stuckey, at least at this point.  It will be interesting to see if the Pistons have Stuckey post up on the smaller Mo Williams tonight.

-  As for the Cavs, well, Z’s still waiting for the return of the ball he scored his 10,000^th point with, and Ben Wallace is getting close to returning from his broken leg.

Go Cavs.

Wrapping up an exciting win over the Dallas Mavericks today at the Q:

The Good:

AP Photo/Tony Dejak

-  First star goes to Joe Smith today.  The Cavaliers started this game with zero energy, missing shots and letting the Mavericks get anything they wanted inside.  Then Smith came into the game, and brought the rebounding, energy and offensive efficiency the team was lacking.  We’ve seen the starters in this kind of funk from a couple of times this season, and usually it has been Anderson Varejao who has come off the bench and kept the team close while the starters find their legs.  With Andy now in the starting lineup, that role fell to Smith today, and he came through with 12 points and 13 rebounds.  Smith’s performance was highlighted by a three-pointer at the end of the first quarter that was so good, the scoreboard operator gave the Cavaliers six points for it.  (The error was remedied before the start of the second quarter.)

I’ll be the first to admit that I was wrong about Joe Smith.  As was pointed out to me in the last post, a month ago I wasn’t sure that Smith would be able to contribute any more to the Playoff rotation than J.J. Hickson.  Now Smith has proven to be a vital component to this team, especially with Ben Wallace still recovering from his broken leg.  Mea culpa Mr. Smith.

-  While Smith was the sparkplug, the way the entire team defended in the last three quarters was nothing short of astonishing.  After surrendering 30 points in the first quarter, the Cavs held Dallas to 19, 11, and 14 points in each of the following three quarters, allowing only 44 points in that 36 mintues of play.  The Cavaliers held the Mavericks to just 74 points, 27 below their season average of 101.1.  

-  LeBron James had 12 assists and 0 turnovers today.  That is the ninth time this season that a player has managed at least 12 assists without committing a turnover, and the second time it has happened to the Mavericks (Steve Nash did it to them earlier this season).  The Cavaliers committed only 4 turnovers on the day, which was vital given the hole they dug for themselves in the first.  The team just did so much right in those last three quarters, it’s hard to believe just how bad they looked at the start.

-  I thought the crowd did a great job of getting the team back in the game.  The fans desperately wanted to explode, and when the Cavs finally got rolling, the crowd let them hear it.  By the end the fans and the team were having a great time, clowning around as the team coasted to the first 60-win season in team history.  Even the chalupa lovers got their wish.

The Bad:

-  The first quarter was miserable.  Jason Kidd-to-Eric Dampier was looking like Stockton-to-Malone.  The Cavaliers got down by fifteen points, which was their largest deficit at home this season (thankfully, The Diff was able to handle that unexpected situation).  Be honest, you were shaking your head and screaming obscenities in that first quarter.

AP Photo/Tony Dejak

-  LeBron was on the floor for a while after colliding with referee Derek Richardson, getting the wind knocked out of him.  That was by far the biggest drama of the second half, and, well, what the heck is Derek Richardson made of, concrete?

-  Brian Windhorst has a note today about Tarence Kinsey being agitated, maybe because he couldn’t get into the game until the very end despite the big Cavalier lead in the fourth.  While there has been a lot of chatter lately about the wisdom of the Cavs resting some players down the stretch, if anything Mike Brown has been even more restricted in his rotations of late.  While they have kept quiet, guys like Kinsey and J.J. Hickson probably feel that they have proven enough this season to earn minutes, but they’re still seeing more DNP-CDs.

The Questions:

-  Were you surprised at how ineffective LeBron was in the post to start the game?  LeBron got the ball on the low block repeatedly in the first quarter, but the Cavs ended the first in a 10-point hole.  LeBron will eventually be a beast in the post, but like his jump shot, there’s still a lot of room for refinement at this point.

AP Photo/Tony Dejak

-  Did you know Jason Kidd can shoot now?  Kidd is a career 40.2% shooting on all shots, but he is shooting 40.4% from three-point range this season, including 2-for-3 today against the Cavaliers.  That flexibility will help him stay in the league as he gets up in years - Kidd turned 36 last week - but I think his days of contributing to Championship-caliber teams are done.  So don’t count me on the list of people wondering if Kidd could be a Cavalier next season. 

-  Did you see that the Lakers got crushed by the Atlanta Hawks (86-76) today?  That means that the Cavaliers have a two game lead for the best record in the NBA with nine games remaining.  Obviously anything can happen, but I’m not sure I see the Cavs losing two more games this season.

Go Cavs.  Seriously, how great was that third quarter?

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.

I wasn’t going to do Running Thoughts tonight, but then the Cavs allowed the Nets to come back from ten down to tie the ballgame at 72-72, and it appears that the last few minutes of this one might be interesting/disgusting.

-  LeBron took his usual rest at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and his teammates decided to try their luck just launching jump shots.  Not a great plan by Mike Brown and the good guys.

-  On LeBron’s first possession back in the game, he goes straight to the hoop and draws the foul.  That’s exactly the type of aggressive trip to the hoop the Cavs were missing.

-  Then on the very next play, after a Nets miss, he takes an off-balance 20-footer that clangs away.  So much for not settling for bad shots.  The Cavs have been at their best tonight when LeBron is creating for his teammates.

-  LeBron proves my point on the next possession, when he finds Delonte West open in the corner for three to push the lead back out to five, 77-72.

-  Vince Carter reminds the Cavaliers that he is still dangerous by using Z as a screen and heading to the basket for a layup, cutting the lead back to one point.  Then LeBron can’t stop whining, and picks up a technical foul for his trouble, and we’re again tied at 77-77.  Not the right time to be chirping about the officials.  You are at home, let the crowd do the chirping for you.

-  Keyon Dooling for three (where did that come from?), and the Nets have a lead (82-81) for the first time since the score was 5-4.  This is exactly why the Cavs couldn’t afford to let the Nets hang around.  You never know when a Keyon Dooling is going to knock down a prayer and hurt you.

-  Delonte West coming right back with a three of his own!  That’s West’s third three of the ballgame, a welcome change from the miserable long-range shooting he’s been demonstrating lately.

-  LeBron finds Anderson Varejao on another baseline cut, and the Cavs are back up 86-82.  Andy does such a great job of making himself a target as he moves to the hoop.  You would think that most players playing next to LeBron would learn how to fill the lane, but Andy has been the best of that group so far.

-  Kudos to Lawrence Frank for choosing to defend the Cavaliers straight up down six points with 90 seconds remaining.  Unfortuantely Mo Williams knocked down a very tough three to end the possession, and essentially the game, 93-84.  Clutch, clutch jumpshots by Mo and LeBron on the last two possessions, exactly the kinds of shots the Cavs will need in the Playoffs, which grow closer every day.

Postgame Quick Hits:

-  Not a pretty game, but it might have been a game that demonstrated the greatness of the Cavaliers, especially at home.  In what could only be called a mediocre night, the Cavs still had LeBron James notching 22 points, 11 assists and 8 rebounds, Andy Varejao with 14 points and 9 rebounds, and Delonte West with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.  Great performances all around from the starters, all of whom finished with double digit points.

-  And it’s really hard to complain on a night where the team sets a new team record for victories in a season.  Though I imagine that record will be broken quite a few more times before this season is over.  At the beginning of the season, I made a preposterous prediction that the Cavs would win 58 games this year.  Barring a disaster, it appears I short-changed them. 

-  Not such a great night for the bench, as the reserves managed only 15 points, 12 coming from reserve bigs Joe Smith and Darnell Jackson.  And even Smith (-12) and Jackson (-9) had pretty bad +/- ratios.  I know people believe that LeBron has a much better supporting cast this season than in years past, and that’s mostly true.  But the Cavalier reserves are regularly outplayed by opposing bench players, something that just shouldn’t happen this often.

-  But think of how much better this team will be in the Playoffs, when we’re seeing 44 minutes a night of LeBron James, and almost none of guys like Darnell Jackson.  The Cavs starters have played so well that getting them more minutes in the Playoffs should make the team even more dangerous.

More if I think of anything.  Go Cavs.

The Cavs hit the floor against the New Jersey Nets tonight at the Q.  You know how I know?  Cuz it’s Wednesday.

-  You saw that game on Sunday night?  This will be pretty much the same thing, only you’ll be rooting for the guys in white.

-  Devin Harris has been nursing a shoulder injury, and won’t play tonight for the Nets.  Harris has long been considered the most improved player in the league this season, averaging 22.6 points per game, but he has missed the last four games.  Surprisingly, the Nets have gone 2-2 without their leading scorer, and are averaging a nearly-identical number of points per game (98.75 to 98.9) in Harris’ absence.

-  Vince Carter has picked up some of the scoring slack, averaging 27.5 ppg over the last four games, while shooting 50% from the field and 44% from three-point range.  While the common perception is that Carter has lost a step or two at age 32, he continues to fill the stat sheet, and his PER of 19.68 has him as the fifth-most efficient shooting guard in the league.  The Cavaliers were able to keep him from knocking down threes on Sunday (0-for-4), but expect Carter to have a little more success from beyond the arc in tonight’s game.

The Cavs are shooting for win number 58 tonight, which would set a franchise mark for most wins in a season.

Go Cavs.

Catching you up on Cavaliers news over the last few days:

-  Lots of LeBron coverage on ESPN.com today.  CavsHQ personal hero John Hollinger has a deep statistical analysis of LeBron’s season, indicating that he is having a truly historic year from a statistical perspective.  While LeBron’s averages of 28.6 points, 7.3 assists and 7.6 rebounds per game are actually very similar to last seasons numbers of 30.0 points, 7.2 assists and 7.9 rebounds, he is accomplishing those feats in 2.3 fewer minutes per game.  At the same time, LeBron’s turnovers are down from 3.4 turnovers per game last year to 3.0 turnovers per game this season.

-  Then TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott has an interesting take on the greatness that is LeBron James, essentially explaining that, while LeBron’s game is not as “fundamental” as that of Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade, his greatness actually transcends what we’ve come to expect as great.  

Personally, I think it’s the difference between an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar.  For hundreds of years, the acoustic guitar was the standard, and the evolution of great acoustic guitar players eventually gravatated towards the same general standard, a feeling that great acoustic guitar playing “sounds like this.”  

Then someone invents the electric guitar.  It’s the same six strings, the same setup, but the instrument is so fundamentally different that it actually creates its own image of what greatness sounds like.  We get Clapton and Hendrix, and they’re creating sounds that were not possible in the world of the acoustic guitar.  And it’s completely different than what we had with acoustic guitars, but it’s still fantastic.

LeBron James is the electric guitar.  He is doing things that just were not physically possible before, and as a result he has to cut a new path towards greatness.  He is finding new sounds, best exemplified in his chase-down blocks, something that was considered ground-breaking when Tayshaun Prince did it to Reggie Miller in the Playoffs, but is now commonplace for LeBron.

Now there are always going to be people that prefer the classics, just as there are plenty of people that refuse to acknowledge anything created by an electric guitar as music.  And there will be growing pains, as LeBron doesn’t have a similarly-talented player to model his game upon.  But I think this young man is the first step in the next evolution of the game.  If you expect him to fit into the classic notion of the NBA superstar, you might find that he doesn’t quite fit.  But if you are a true fan of the genre of basketball, you owe it to yourself to learn to appreciate what he’s doing, because it’s pretty amazing.

-  More evidence of Lebron’s groundbreaking specialness: He won his seventh Player of the Week award this week, the first time a player has won the award seven times in one season.  

-  LeBron + yoga = health.  With some really great pictures.  One wonders if these kinds of exercises could have extended the careers of bad-backed players such as Larry Bird or former Cav Brad Daugherty.  But can you really picture Larry Legend doing the King Pigeon Pose?

-  I just want to say how happy I am that Cleveland market has Bill Livingston to suck the fun out of sports.  Seriously Bill, we know that you’ve created a career out of pretending sports is bigger than just a great way to kill an evening, but that article was practically a stick-in-the-mud-sportwriter cliche.

-  I can’t endorse worrying about “power rankings” during the regular season, as we’ll find out who the best team is at the end of the season.  But that being said, I completely disagree with Marc Stein putting the Lakers ahead of the Cavaliers after last week.  John Hollinger has it right, as does John Schuhmann of  NBA.com.  Hollinger’s Playoff Odds also have the Cavs with the highest likelihood of winning the title.

-  Gilbert Arenas is coming back, and plans on making the game in Cleveland on April 8th his sole road game of the season.  According to Ivan Carter of the Washington Post, Arenas texted the following:  ”Ur the first to get the truth. I’m playing Saturday against Detroit. And I’m only playin home games but I will play in Cleveland. Me and Cleveland fans have this love, hate relation.”  So true, Agent Zero.  So true.

More tomorrow on the Nets.  Stay Thirsty Cavs fans.