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.

Postgame (not so) Quick Hits from tonight’s absolutely fantastic game between the Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic:

The Good:

-  It was a beautiful day here in Cleveland, Ohio, as thousands of people rushed downtown for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and stayed for the typical festivities.  Dark wool coats were abandoned for bright green t-shirts, derbies and striped socks, and smiles replaced the weary, downcast eyes of Winter.  And as the bright Spring-like sun was dipping below the horizon, it was time for a battle royale inside Quicken Loans Arena between the best home team and the best road team in the NBA.  The game inside the Q did not disappoint.  I don’t think I’ve felt this much electricity in downtown Cleveland since Game 5 of the 2007 AL Championship.  Yes, it was that kind of night.

-  LeBron James was otherworldly.  He made impossible pass after impossible pass.  He hit HUGE three-pointers.  And his drive to the hoop at the end of the third quarter was a freight train of unstoppability.  LeBron finished with 43 points, 12 monster rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals and a block.  And the numbers do not do justice to his performance.  This is a very good Orlando Magic team, and LeBron destroyed them in every way imaginable.  

-  The Cavaliers were excellent on the glass tonight, holding a slight rebounding advantage over the taller Magic 43-40.  Howard was a beast as expected with 15 rebounds, including four offensive rebounds, but the Cavaliers secured nearly every rebound in the fourth quarter, and that was the biggest reason they limited the Magic to just 18 fourth quarter points.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas did not have a great game, but his 11 rebounds were very big tonight.

-  This Magic team is really, really good.  Their ability to make shots over the defense is unparalleled; you can defend them perfectly and they will still have a chance to score, especially with long shooters like Hedo Turkoglu.  If they are making jump shots, they will beat you.  I’m just not sure that they wouldn’t be more of a contender if they settled for a few less jump shots and really made Dwight Howard the focus of that offense.  Throughout LeBron’s time in Cleveland, there have been times where he goes into a mode where he won’t move the ball and just pounds it into the ground 30 feet from the hoop before heaving something ridiculous.  People have called this lack of ball movement a problem, and I won’t disagree.  But my counterargument has always been “I want the ball in the hands of the most efficient offensive player in the league.”  I think that Dwight Howard is always the Magic’s best offensive option, and I don’t think he’s being used enough.  

-  Courtney Lee had a fantastic night, scoring 19 points on 9-13 shooting.  That race to be the steal of last year’s draft is on between Lee and the Miami Heat’s Mario Chalmers.  

-  Rafer Alston was great as well, outplaying Mo Williams for most of the night, getting to the rim at will and knocking down the open threes created by the Magic’s impressive ball movement.  Alston looked much better than I expected, and he was able to make up at least 90% of what the Magic were getting from Jameer Nelson.

-  The Magic were running an interesting two-screen offense.  First Howard would pop out to set the first pick, then Alston would come around a second pick set by Rashard Lewis.  The Cavaliers had a tough time dealing with most of the pick-and-rolls tonight, as Alston was regularly able to turn the corner around the pick and head right to the rim.  The Cavs will need to find a better way to defend it should they meet the Magic in the Playoffs.

The Bad:

-  I think that Stan Van Gundy is a fantastic basketball coach.  But there is simply no excuse for Dwight Howard only taking 8 shots tonight.  On the flip side, Rashard Lewis took 15 shots, and I don’t remember a single one of them.  Lewis was 0-for-8 from beyond the arc, and finished with just six points in 36 minutes.

-  I thought that Mo Williams was an absolutely necessary second scorer tonight, but he took too many well-contested shots.  He’s been hitting those shots regularly of late, but he took two very tough shots late in the fourth quarter that just weren’t the looks you want at that point in the game.  And his back-to-back missed free throws were nothing short of shocking.

-  Delonte West missed four WIDE OPEN threes tonight.  It was a problem. 

Random Notes:

-  A few weeks back, Henry Abbott of TrueHoop asked a question about the likelihood that you would high-five the person next to you at today’s supposedly “buttoned down” NBA games.  Well, I can attest that I participated in what might have been the perfect high-five tonight.  After LeBron hit his last three-pointer of the night, a long-distance bomb that blew up the arena, this behemoth of a man sitting next to me raised his arm high, and I raised mine in reponse.  The resulting hand-on-hand collision was high, it was loud, and for a while there I thought it broke my hand.  We’re talking perfect contact, the kind you feel when you lace a 300-yard drive down the middle of the fairway.  We turned back to the game, my hand screaming, and two or three plays later this green-clad monster turns back to me, and almost reverently, he says, “That was an amazing high five.”  That’s right, he knew just as well as I did that he had been part of something rare.  We’ve all been a part of bad high-fives, from glancing blows to that weird guy who grabs your hand for some reason, to the flat-out whiff.  But when you hit that perfect high-five, I’m here to tell you, it’s something.  It’s the kind of thing that makes you turn to the guy next to you two minutes later and say, “that was an amazing high five.”

-  The “M-V-P” chant at the end of the game was the loudest I have ever heard at the Q, with the deafening roar of the letters rocking the building, while the space in-between the letters was nearly as deafening in its silence.  The fans were in a great mood tonight, and they might have been a bit more “lively” than usual, but the Q is going to be absolutely rocking come Playoff time.

-  The Cavaliers gameday crew didn’t go on vacaction while the Cavs were on the road, but instead were tightening up the presentation as the team heads towards the Playoffs.  The Cavalier Girls had excellent, well-coordinated performances tonight, despite the tragedy of their first-round elimination in the NBA’s Dance Team bracket.  The scoreboard crew threw in a couple of St. Patrick’s Day twists to the standard fare of break entertainments, including a “Kiss Me I’m Irish Cam,” which, as it always should, ended on a pair Magic players sitting on the bench.  The Q is going to be non-stop entertainment over the next three months, and only the most uptight, mirthless sportswriter would want it any other way.  

-  After the Akron Zips made the NCAA tournament, LeBron made a crack about it being the NIke LeBron-brand shoes that propelled the Zips to the Big Dance.  Tonight LeBron was in his St. Vincent-St Mary’s green-and-gold colorway shoes.  Does that mean that LeBron’s iconic performance tonight was also because of the shoes?

All in all, a great win tonight.  Go Cavs.

What to watch for tonight as the Cavs deal with the Orlando Magic at the Q:

The Magic are playing very well, winning their last eight games against teams that aren’t the Detroit Pistons (who have beaten the Magic twice over that stretch).  The Magic also possess the best road record in the NBA at 23-10, and have beaten the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, and Portland Trailblazers on the road, three teams that have only lost a combined 16 homes games all season.  Orlando is not afraid to play on the road, which should make tonight’s match up with the Cavaliers, the best home team in the league (29-1), all the more interesting.

The Cavs had a really tough time defending Dwight Howard (21.0 ppg, 14.0 rpg, 2.9 bpg) the last time these two teams met.  Don’t expect that to change tonight.

Like the Lakers and the Rockets, the Magic are filled with long defenders who can funnel LeBron James right into Howard when he attacks the rim.  Mike Brown and the Cavs coaching staff must use the mid-range shooting of Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Joe Smith to get Howard out of the lane as much as possible.  Don’t be too surprised if we see them together on the court at times tonight, something that hasn’t happened much if at all since Smith’s arrival.

The Cavalier shooters absolutely must make shots when the defense collapses around LeBron.  Delonte West may very well be the key tonight - if he has a good game, I expect the Cavs to win.  Sasha Pavlovic may also need to knock down another late three-pointer, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt if Daniel Gibson got off the schneid.  The Magic are (almost) a championship-caliber team, and the Cavalier role players will have to submit a championship-caliber performance if they want to win tonight.

The Magic are without Jameer Nelson, who hit a couple of backbreaking shots when the Magic beat the Cavaliers last month.  The Magic replaced Nelson with Rafer Alston (11.7 ppg, 5.8 apg), who has been better than expected in Orlando.  Still, Alston will be hard-pressed to provide the clutch shot-making and the toughness that Nelson gave the Magic throughout the first half of the season.  Alston is also not quite as adept at dribble penetration as Nelson, which is good because the Cavaliers have been getting killed on the pick-and-roll over the last week.

While both teams really want to win tonight, the game means far more for the Magic than it does for the Cavaliers.  The Cavs are in a solid position for the best record in the East, while the Magic are just one win behind the Boston Celtics for the second-best record on the conference.  A win tonight would put the Magic in second place thanks to a tiebreaker, at least for 90 minutes or so while the Celtics battle with the Chicago Bulls.

Go Cavs.

Running thoughts from the Cavs-Knicks tilt at the Q:

-  Before we get started, I don’t like much about the Lakers, but I do like their “Sunday whites” motif.  As the Cavs have a number of Sunday games this year thanks to their popularity, I’d love to see the Cavs make Sundays special with a specific uniform, even if it’s just the throwbacks or the blues.  The Cavs will play every Sunday in February, March and April except for All-Star Weekend and last week.  That’s nine games in eleven Sundays.  No reason not to do something special.  Then again, this is a team that somehow didn’t give away beads during their Mardi Gras game.

-  The Celtics are scuffling without Kevin Garnett, losing to the Milwaukee Bucks this afternoon to fall to three full games behind the Cavaliers for the best record in the East, and the Celtics are now just one game ahead of the Magic for the second-place spot.  The Celtics have been saying that they’re more worried about getting healthy than they are their playoff seeding, but I don’t think they want anything to do with having to beat the Magic in the second round without home court advantage.

-  Delonte West is back in the starting lineup after missing the last game with a sore back.

First Quarter:  

-  The Cavs actually raised a Central Division Champions banner before the game.  That was fast.

-  Are the “Austin Carr Facts” a desperate attempt for a CarFax endorsement deal?

-  Is it just me, or are the saturation levels for the HD broadcast tonight awful?   Everything is completely bleached out.

-  David Lee is a very solid player, very much in the Anderson Varejao mode.  Lee is slightly better offensively, be he also gets a more opportunities than Andy.  Neither player is someone that you’d want to pay $8-10 Million a year, but for $4-6 Million they both go a long way towards helping you win ballgames.

-  At the first break, the Cavs are up 15-9.

-  LeBron comes up with two steals on two defensive possessions, and he has been a force defensively so far.  He already has a block and two steals, and he is harassing the Knicks inside and out.  Then on the other side he finds Mo Williams for an open three, which he sticks to put the Cavs up 9.

-  Delonte’s rhythm is quite bad to start the game.  He’s had a 20-foot airball, and he just missed a wide-open three well short.  And just as I’m typing that, he rolls to the hoop and flips home a very tough left-handed layup.  At the second break, the Cavs lead is down to five, 24-19, with Nate Robinson free throws coming up after the break.

-  Robinson hit both free throws, knocks down a three-pointer, then slams home an offensive rebound, and all of a sudden the Knicks are on an 8-0 run and they’ve taken the lead 25-24 at the end of the first quarter.  It is still hard to recognize these D’Antoni Knicks as a team that can score in bunches very quickly, but they are the fourth-highest scoring team in the league at 106.3 ppg, and if you don’t put the ball in the basket they will run at you all night.  Expect a game of runs throughout the night.

Second Quarter:

-  Sasha Pavlovic is getting the Wally Szczerbiak isolation possessions tonight.  That says something about the faith that the coaching staff has in Sasha’s ability to create offense.

-  Darnell Jackson is getting first half minutes tonight while J.J. HIckson rides the bench.  Something tells me Mike Brown is sending a message about dedication to defense being the key to minutes.  And as I’m typing that, Sasha Pavlovic makes a nice little dump pass to Jackson who slams it home with two hands.  

-  You are seeing the evolution of Sasha Pavlovic this season.  He looks like a completely different player, playing with confidence, making plays on both ends of the court.  He’s always going to worry long-time Cavs fans who cannot forget his years of inconsistency, but he has looked very good all season.  The clutch three pointers he hit in Sacramento might have been a turning point.

-  The Cavs managed to be +5 while LeBron was on the bench to start the second quarter.  That’s a nice bonus.

-  Zydrunas Ilgauskas got whacked on his sore left hand with a no-call, and he’s frustrated.  Z has a few fingers on that left hand bandaged, and another bandage across his broken nose.  He’s headed back to the locker room to make sure that hand is okay.

-  LeBron with a pretty spin move inside to put the Cavs ahead by seven at the end of the half, 50-43.

Halftime:

-  We now know that the Cleveland State Viking and Akron Zips are both 13 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.  CSU will face Wake Forest in the first round, and it looks like Wake Forest has size that is going to be a big problem for the Vikings.  Akron will face Gonzaga, who will also have a significant size advantage.  While the Vikings and the Zips were always going to face an uphill battle by drawing the 13 seeds, they didn’t get any help by being matched up against big teams.

-  The Cavs only shot four free throws in the first half.  Typically that would be a sign that the team has not been aggressive in attacking the rim tonight.  But the Knicks haven’t offered much resistance inside, and the Cavs have a lot of points in the paint tonight.

Third Quarter:

-  I would really love to see a big third quarter to get the fellas some extra rest tonight, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.

-  Like Ben Wallace, David Lee does a great job of getting his hands on the ball to keep offensive rebounds alive.  He has 12 rebounds so far tonight.

-  Nate Robinson just got a rebound four feet from the basket, in the middle of a possession where the Knicks got three offensive rebounds before Al Harrington knocks down a three to cut the Cavalier lead to three, 57-54.  All of a sudden the Knicks are exploiting the Cavs’ unwillingness to really bang inside.

-  Al Harrington hits another three, and he has the last eight Knick points.

-  Harrington continues to roll, he has 20 points after another three and two free throws.  LeBron is supposedly guarding Harrington, though evidence of that has not yet been discovered.

-  Fortunately, Mo Williams is currently in one of those zones where even his bad shots are snapping the net.  Mo has 19 points and is 4-for-4 from beyond the arc.

-  Delonte West posting up Nate Robinson is evidence of a mid-game adjustment on offense.  I’m not sure we’ve seen many of those this season.  

-  The Knicks are fighting and the Cavs look tired.

-  LeBron goes to the hoop for the first time in the second half, gets the layup and the foul, and proves that the reason he has been held quiet tonight (15 points) is because he hasn’t been especially aggressive.

-  At the end of the third quarter, the Cavs lead is down to two points, 74-72.  

Fourth Quarter:

-  The Knicks have just seven turnovers so far tonight.

-  LeBron and the Cavs have settled for jump shots in the second half.  Want evidence of that?  David Lee, the only interior defender the Knicks have, just picked up his first foul of the night.

-  There is no excuse for Mo Williams refusing to give the ball to LeBron James on the break.  He’s done that three times in the last week.  Worst case scenario, put it off the glass and let LeBron go get it.  Settling for (missed) three pointers in that circumstance is unacceptable.

-  Sasha Pavlovic hits a much-needed three (when did they add the ice water?), and the Cavs are finally up by two possessions, 86-81, with just over five minutes remaining.  One good push and the Cavs can finally put this team away.

-  Are you watching LeBron pass from the high post?  Is there any doubt that he will be able to do that when he’s 40?  That, more than anything else, is why I’m sure he will go down in history as one of the top 5 players of all time, possibly the greatest ever.  The flexibility of his game is unparalleled in NBA history.  For now, two quick passes to Andy Varejao lead to a five-point Cavalier lead, 92-87, and LeBron has another 10-assist night.

-  LeBron knocks down a long-jumper, and it’s all over but the shouting.  It never should have taken quite this much effort to put the Knicks away, but the Cavs ultimately come out ahead, and it’s a decent start on this long home stretch.  More thoughts later/tomorrow, but for now, the Cavs are victorious 98-93.  

Go Cavs.

What to keep an eye on tonight when the Cavs finally get back to the Q to take on the New York Knicks, who come in having won three straight games on the road:

-  Tonight’s game marks Larry Hughes’ first game in Cleveland as a New York Knick, about a year after his first game in Cleveland as a Chicago Bull.  The Bulls were somehow able to ship Hughes and his contract (expiring next season) to the Knicks for Tim Thomas and change at the trade deadline.  Hughes is “thriving” in New York, averaging 15.8 points per game while shooting a much-improved (for him) 42.7% from the field, and he had 39 points last week against Milwaukee.  It is also important to remember that Hughes helped the Bulls beat the Cavs twice last season after the trade, averaging 20 points a game against his former teammates.  

-  Chris Duhon, the Knicks’ leader in assists at 7.6 per game, will be out tonight thanks to a sore back.  That means that dimunitive Slam Dunk champion Nate Robinson will be starting tonight, and he can certainly be a handful in Mike D’Antoni’s rapid-fire offensive system.  As a starter, Krypto-Nate is averaging 21.3 points, 5.1 assists and 6.4 rebounds per game, but the Cavs did hold him to just 4 points in the one game Robinson has played against the Cavaliers this season.    

-  The Cavs will need to contain Al Harrington, another player who has thrived under D’Antoni’s system, improving his points per game average from 12.4 ppg at Golden State to 20.8 ppg in New York.  Harrington is a creative scorer, and given the opportunity he can score lots of points very quickly.  On the flip side, he never passes (1.3 assists per game compared to 17 shot attempts per game), and he is a very questionable defender.

-  There isn’t a lot of “LeBron-to-New York” news out there this weekend - in fact, Alan Hahn of Newsday’s story is more about the Knicks pursuing options other than LeBron.  There are two reasons for that.  First, this has always been a New York Media-driven story, and with the game in Cleveland that factor is lessened.  Second, the realities of the NBA salary cap in 2010 have made it much less likely that the Knicks will have the financial flexibility to make New York an ideal landing place for LeBron.  The point is that Cavs fans should enjoy the relative lull in “LeBron is gone” stories and appreciate that the NBA season has finally gotten to the point where speculation can take a back seat to what is actually happening on the court.

Go Cavs.

Postgame Quick Hits from tonight’s crazy game against the Kings:

The Good:

-  With the win tonight, the Cavs secured the Central Division Championship for only the second time in team history.  Obviously the Cavs have bigger fish to fry, but this is a very nice first step on the road to what could very well be an NBA Championship in June.  Winning the Central Division is the silver lining on what might have been the most unsettling win of the season.  And you can already get your t-shirt here. 

-  Just like in Los Angeles against the Clippers, LeBron was brilliant enough in the first three quarters to keep the team close while the rest of the team stunk out loud.  LeBron had 51(!) points, 4 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals, and the defensive play of the game when he locked down Kevin Martin at the end of regulation, sending the game to overtime.  Another fantastic performance by LeBron.  He is the difference between this team being a 40 win team and being a 65 win team.

-  Anderson Varejao was not quite as luminous as LeBron, but he was close, scoring 18 points on 8-for-8 shooting while grabbing 12 rebounds and coming up with a huge steal that allowed the Cavs to make the final push back into the game.  Great performance by Andy tonight, he was all over the place on a night where most of the team looked spent and uninterested.

The Bad:

-  If you watched, do I need to go into it?  I know the Cavs played last night.  I know that the Kings have some decent players.  But the Cavs spent most of this game down double digits to the worst team in basketball.  

-  The Cavs have stopped defending except for the short stretches in the fourth quarter that they need to win these close games.  The Cavs allowed 123 points to the worst team in basketball tonight, and allowed the Kings to shoot 48% on the night.  This has to stop, but Mike Brown is having a tough time keeping his guys focused defensively during this very rough stretch of games.  The guys are tired, and they’re winning despite their faults.  Mike Brown had to get himself ejected tonight just to get any attention, and even that didn’t last into the second half.

-  As Mike Brown said right after the game (first thing actually), LeBron is playing too many minutes.  Over the last four games, LeBron is averaging 44.3 minutes per game, because the team needs him out there scoring and defending to win these games.  He has been a one-man show of late, despite signs that he is tiring, and it’s time for the rest of the team to man up and start giving LeBron some help.

The Questions:

-  How can you tell LeBron’s really tired?  Sure, the missed dunks are a good indicator, but his rhetoric after the game was dog tired.  LeBron is great at reciting standard sports platitudes, but he seemed too tired to even come up with a nice little quote for the beat guys.  The man is beat.

-  Did you notice that the Knicks, whom the Cavs play on Sunday, have climbed into the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference?  That would mean a Cavs-Knicks first round playoff matchup if the Playoffs began today.  

-  With no Cavs game tonight, are you headed to the MAC Championship tonight, where Akron takes on Buffalo for a ticket to the NCAA Tournament?  It’s the best deal in basketball, with 10 boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese getting you into the game.  Help Harvest for Hunger and go watch the Zips punch their ticket for the NCAA Tournament.

Go Cavs.

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.

I said goodnight L.A., cuz I’m awake in my room.  I’ve been up for about 18 hours, and it don’t look like sleep’s coming soon.

What a game.  The Cavs trailed by 19 points in the fourth quarter, but crawled their way out of the grave to wrap their hands around the neck of the Clippers and crush them.  As the main event on a night full of fantastic undercards, the Cavs spent the first three quarters being nothing short of a major disappointment, before rallying and coming away with a (huge?) win.

The Good:

AP Photo/Hector Mata

-  LeBron James with a triple-double, with 33 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, leading the Cavaliers in all three categories.  For a while there, LeBron was the only Cavalier who actually felt like playing, but alone he wasn’t enough to keep the Cavs from falling into a huge hole.  Still, he continued to attack and create shots for his teammates, and finally, at long last, his teammates made those shots in the fourth quarter.  Despite his statistical excellence, LeBron’s unwillingness to let this game slip away when things were bleak was the most impressive part of his performance.

-  Mo Williams, Daniel Gibson and Joe Smith get credit for finally knocking down those open jump shots, giving the Cavaliers the points they desperately needed in the fourth quarter.  Both Williams and Gibson deserve major criticism for their performances for most of the game, but big shots are big shots, so they get a pass tonight.

-  Z gets the last star, being the only other Cavalier of note in the first three quarters, finishing with 16 points and 8 rebounds while keeping Chris Kaman relatively quiet.  At least he seemed to care, which can’t be said of everyone in a Cavalier uniform.

The Bad:

-  Lots tonight, but I don’t really feel like getting into it after such a stunning win.  The worst: only 3 Cavaliers were aggressive enough to actually earn free throws, and I don’t count Mo’s five freebies, as three came when he was fouled on a three-pointer, and two more came to seal the game, meaning neither were the result of aggressively going to the basket.  That leaves just LeBron and Z.   If that doesn’t tell you how passive the Cavs were tonight, nothing will.

-  Delonte West has looked frustratingly passive over the last few games, and had just two points on 1-for-6 shooting.  Are we sure his wrist is okay, and he’s not playing through pain?

The Questions:

AP Photo/Hector Mata

-  Did you actually stay up for this one?  I wanted to turn it off a dozen times, but stupidly held out hope for a wild comeback.   But if you gave up, you made the right choice.  The Cavs did nothing to earn your hope for the first three quarters, and deserve no credit for beating an absolutely terrible Clippers team.  

-  Did anyone else start giggling uncontrollably when Zach Randolph tossed up a 35-foot airball during the Clippers’ last real possession, effectively ending the game?  The look on Mike Dunleavy’s face was also priceless.  If there are worse shots on the floor, I don’t know what they could be.

Other Notes:

-  Congratulations to the Cleveland State Vikings and head coach Gary Waters for winning the Horizon League Championship and punching their ticket for the NCAA Tournament.  Waters is a terrific college coach, and if he stays in Cleveland, this won’t be the only tournament bid for the Vikings over the next few years.  

Phil Masturzo/ABJ

-  I went to the MAC tournament game tonight between Akron and Toledo, an overtime tilt that Akron managed to pull off, 93-92.  Don’t let the final score fool you, this was not a pretty game.  The two teams combined to shoot 88 free throws.  Akron scored 43 points over the last five minutes of the game and the five minute overtime, after stagnating at 50 points for what felt like an hour in the second half.  It was certainly an entertaining finish, but I’m afraid that the basketball gods will even the scales at some point during this tournament.  Hats off to the Toledo Rockets, who put up a heck of a fight, and might have gotten jobbed on a couple of foul calls (and no calls, and possession decisions) late in the game.  

Go Cavs, Vikes and Zips.

A Monday grab bag of thoughts about the Cavaliers:

LeBron James looks tired to me.  The wear and tear of a lot of games in just a few nights, several long seasons and last Summers Olympics finally seem to be catching up with him a bit.  The fact that the Cavaliers will continue to fight for the best record isn’t going to help James’ fatigue level, and one has to wonder if it could lead to a bad performance or two in the Playoffs.  I’m not doubting James, just recognizing that fatigue is limiting his ability to penetrate off the dribble over the last few games.  Hopefully the Cavs will be able to rest him for extended stretches during the long home stand at the end of this month, when the team plays eight out of nine games at the Q from March 15th to March 31st.

George Thomas agrees that LeBron looks gassed, but gives credit to Mo Williams for stepping up when the team needs scoring from someone other than #23.

I’ve been hard on Mo Williams all season, and I feel justified in that evaluation.  But over the last few games, Mo is really finding his spots in the offense and making open shots.  I still have major reservations about his ability to finish at the rim (almost nonexistent) and his unwillingness to pass when LeBron is on the bench (too many no-pass possessions), but I love the way he’s moving to the open spots right now.  It’s fluid and organic, and it show’s Mo’s basketball IQ.  It’s also something that separates him from Daniel Gibson, who seems to nail his feet down at certain spots on the floor, uncomfortable with adjusting to the open space. 

If the Cavs do end up facing Boston or Orlando in the Playoffs (a near certainty), Mo and the rest of the perimeter defenders must do a better job of harassing the entry pass.  Yes, the Cavalier interior defenders got muscled out of the way far too often against the Celtics on Friday, but Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen were able to make passes into the post practically unmolested.  Preventing easy shots starts well before the ball actually gets into the hands of the post player, and the Cavs were not taking those preventive measures on Friday night.

It’s not exactly breaking news, but don’t look past the Orlando Magic, who are now just two games behind the Celtics and three games behind the Cavaliers for the best record in the East.  The Magic went into Boston and beat the Celtics on Sunday, knocking the Celtics down a peg while climbing themselves that much closer to the top of the Conference. 

Brian Windhorst of the Plain Dealer had a decent article on the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference that took place over the weekend in Boston.  I’m a stats junkie, and while I will be the very first to admit that individual statistics are a poor measure in a team game like basketball (which is one of the reasons that basketball statistics have been so weak in the past), I admire the efforts in pursuit of informative statistics that better explain what is happening on the court. 

I like Danny Ferry as much as anyone I guess, but did the Plain Dealer really need two genuflecting articles today?  While I am optimistic that the Cavaliers can win a title this season, I don’t feel nearly as comfortable going forward, as Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Ilgauskas will be one year older and in the last year of their contracts next season, while super-sub Anderson Varejao will be an unrestricted free agent.  As far as I’m concerned, Ferry isn’t nearly out of the woods yet when it comes to navigating this delicate LeBron James era.  The only thing he has going for him at this moment is an owner (apparently) willing to spend despite cloudy economic times, and those same economic times making it less likely that LeBron James will leave Cleveland in 2010.  I am happy for Ferry and his current run of success, but less than a year from now the feeling around the team could be very, very different.

That being said, Ferry’s (and his underappreciated staff’s) ability to find quality players that other teams don’t want and turning them into useful rotation players is commendable.  It’s what good organizations (San Antonio, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles Lakers) do, and what bad organizations (Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves) struggle to do.  

More as the week progresses.  Go Cavs.

Update:

How do you feel about the NBA selling green Cavaliers gear for the team’s game on St. Patrick’s Day?  When the NBA started this annual effort to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with green jerseys (the Cavs won’t be doing that) and other green accessories, part of me always felt left out when the league ignored the Cavs in favor of green entries for the Knicks and Bulls.  But that was also at a time where the Celtics were generally awful, and so the green and the shamrocks were not an instant association with a hated rival.  Now that the Celtics have returned to prominence, it feels like a green Cavalier shirt is almost waving the flag of the enemy.  And the shamrock on the shirt sleeve is probably a bit too much.

Still, it’s not as bad as this abomination.  At least the green shirt says “I’m a Cavs fan and I’m celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.”  That orange and brown hat says “I’m not a Cavs fan but I couldn’t find anywhere else that would charge me $7 for a half-filled plastic cup of Miller Lite.”  Unless of course it’s worn as Cavs fan camouflage to a Browns game.

Update 2:

Looking closer at the orange and brown hat referenced above, it appears that it is not selectable from the drop-down box.  Meaning that, apparently, the thing is sold out.  Board up your windows, I would expect the next sign of the apocolypse to arrive shortly.