DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum *** Cavs/Suns Thread ***

Cleveland (22-12) at Phoenix (26-8)
Game Info: 10:30 pm EST Thu Jan 11, 2007
TV: TNT
By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN, STATS Senior Writer

Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash is turning in possibly his best season. It's bad news for players like the Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James, who are trying to unseat the two-time league MVP.

The two superstars will meet for the first time this season Thursday night as the Suns look to stretch their winning streak to eight games when they host the Cavaliers in a matchup of division leaders.

Nash is averaging career highs in points (20.1 ppg), field-goal percentage (53.1) and 3-point percentage (51.1) this season for the Pacific Division-leading Suns (26-8). He's also averaging a league-leading 11.0 assists, just shy of his career-high 11.5 average from two seasons ago.

James is one of the NBA's most dynamic players -- one that many people believe will eventually have multiple MVPs of his own. This season, his scoring average has actually dipped to 26.6 points from 31.4 a year ago.

The star forward, however, may be playing on his best team since being drafted by Cleveland (22-12) in 2003. The Cavaliers, who won 50 games last season, are on top of the Central Division and enter Thursday's game as winners of five straight and eight of nine.

Phoenix, meanwhile, owns the league's second-best record, in part because of its 14-1 mark against Eastern Conference opponents.

The Suns have won seven straight home games against Cleveland, dating to March 10, 1999.

James flourished last season against the Suns' uptempo style. He averaged 45.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists as Cleveland split two meetings.

Of course, the Suns' primary concern isn't to stop James. That's because Phoenix is averaging a league-leading 110.9 points per game to offset a defense that ranks near the bottom of the NBA by yielding an average of 102.8 points.

Guided by Nash, the Suns have five players scoring at least 14.7 points per game, with none averaging more than 15 shots. Phoenix is shooting an NBA-best 49.4 percent from the field.

That balance was on display in a 113-102 victory over Seattle on Tuesday as Phoenix had six players score in double figures. Shawn Marion had 29 points and 15 rebounds while Nash added 27 points and 11 assists.

The Suns also played better defensively, limiting the SuperSonics to 14 points in the third quarter to take control of the game.

"I think we were just talking a lot better on defense," Marion said. "We were limiting them to one shot, then getting out and playing Suns basketball."

James helped Cleveland rally for a 108-98 victory at Sacramento on Wednesday in the opener of a seven-game western road trip. He scored 24 of his 34 points in the second half as the Cavaliers came back from a 15-point halftime deficit.

"We know that what we've got to take care of is the defensive end," James said. "We got stops that helped us on the offensive end. That's the formula that's been working for us."

Drew Gooden notched his fourth straight double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Gooden is averaging 21.5 points on 62.3 percent shooting and 12.8 rebounds in that span.

"I thought that Drew Gooden was really big and instrumental for us," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "He was phenomenal. His energy got me and the bench extremely excited."

Cleveland is 7-2 against the West, the best mark among Eastern clubs.

Should be a good game

Huge game here. Beating the suns would be a major accomplishment.

i'm interested to see how mike brown handles this...

do we run with phoenix? or do we try and slow them down and play our halfcourt, slow tempo game?

the biggest thing is, the cavs cannot panic if they get down 10-15 points... with the suns, that's not the end of the world, if you get down double digits, you can't just start hoisting up 3's... this team cannot play defense, so you take the ball inside...

it should be a fun game though, and i think if lebron wants to win the mvp, he's gotta make a statement against nash...

i love nash, but i think people give him too much credit... the national media/espn love scoring, but how about defense? where's the defense with this team?

i don't believe that style of basketball will win a championship, not with teams like san antonio and detroit around.... it just doesn't work... they'll shut you down every time...

I get to see this one! HUGE game tonight - very tough team in the Suns

Hello Cavs fans!

Anyone notice its the same 10 or so people in the Cavs gameday threads?

Anyways, LeBron I think you make a good point. We can't panic against this team. The Suns have a high octane offense, so what? They can't even spell defense. We can crush them on the interior. We have a huge advantage when it comes to points in the paint and rebounding, we need to utilize it.

As Austin Carr would say: "the Cavaliers, in these types of situations, need to continue to attack the basket, you're playing right in the defense's hands when you continue to shoot jump shots in these situations, attack, attack, attack". Or something like that.

The last 2 weeks we've been playing tenacious defense. That will need to continue if we hope to hold Nash and company under 115 points.

Should be a VERY entertaining game. Enjoy everybody, and GO CAVS!!!!!!!

lets hope it's interesting...last game was freakin awesome...loved how we came back n hung on to that one vs the queens...

you've gotta add a "ha ha ha" in the austin carr voice, and then go off about how you want a digiorno...

[color:"pink"] 10:30! guess I will tape this one. So are the Suns on top of the NBA this year? I see Dallas is up there too. Do the Cavs play them sometime? [/color]

Suns are probably the best team in basketball right now

Dallas has more wins but the have the same amount of wins... but personally I think the Suns are playing better ball

Not sure if the cavs play Dallas this year

We play Dallas twice in March...

Yes the Cavs will play Dallas. I'm pretty sure they play each western conference team twice, one at home and one away.

Funny cuz its true <img src="/images/graemlins/rofl.gif" alt="" />

Classic.


I know Im not going to be able to stay awake for this one, I have to be up at 5:45am, game wont be over until 1am or later...man I hate west coast trips.

Did you guys see the last play of the Bulls/Nets game. Kirk Heinrich, while battling for a lose ball, blatantly pushes Jason Kidd to the ground, get his shot blocked, and has the audacity to complain about no foul.

Classic. The Bulls are pretenders. No interior scoring = not contenders. Jump shooting teams don't make noise in May and June. Sorry.

Wow this is going to be fun.

Sweet dime from LBJ to Snow, and then with the dunk in the lane. 50 points tonight I'm calling.

chicago will probably finish with a high seed... which just shows you how weak the east is... it is the nfc of professional basketball...

they're a good defensive team, but not the best like a lot of people predicted... the cavs are better, detroit is better, i might even say to some extents, orlando is better...

cavs look sharp right now... it really seems like lebron will score at will in this game...

if they can drag this thing out, and keep it close inside 2 minutes, they should walk out of here with a win... they just can't get suckered into running the entire game... it's ok to run with them, but you have to force them to play your game for at least a little bit...

Man if they only played this game a few days ago I could have went. Down by 10, but that isn't too bad. Phoenix is tough though, LETS GO CAVS!

I swear, any time I'm watching Lebron shoot free throws he misses. He needs to work on them more.

37-44 Suns (6:50 left in the 2nd)

the cavs are playing right into the suns' hands...

they're down big, and just hoisting up 3's....

dumb, dumb, dumb...

No defense... no rebounding... and turnovers...

we look pathetic

They're taking the bait alright.

Sigh.......Arizona has not been kind this week. Goodnight.

anybody listening to barkley?

this guy is laughable... he obviously has something against the cavaliers...

the cavs are medicore? come on...

Barkley is a fat tub of goo.

I'll give Charles his due......"good player".....but he acts like he won a championship(not).So what gives him the right to talk s***?IMO.....he's JEALOUS of LBJ. I hate when the Cavs play on TNT.


BTW, what's the score?

we're down 67-41

if this were against detroit or san antonio, this game would be over, but like i said, the suns will cough up big leads, the cavs just have to do it right...

take it to the basket, get to the line, and contest every shot... try and get it to 10 going into the 4th...

Ouch...too bad Lebron was the only one who showed up last night. Go get em' in the next one.

they didn't do it...

they just gave up and started chucking 3's....

as cavs fans you shouldn't be worried, because they are the only team in the league that plays like this, and we have to play them only one more time

and if the cavs find a way to the finals, it won't be against the suns, i know everybody loves them, but they'll never get past dallas and san antonio with that embarassing defense... both of those teams know how to beat the suns...

i get so sick of hearing bozos like dan patrick talk about how much he loves that style of basketball

i honestly don't see what's so exciting about a bunch of uncontested baskets...

the cavs could show us a lot by going into staples and beating the clippers saturday night...

considering that game was over before halftime, I can't believe LeBron played almost 40 minutes last night... seems like it would have been the ideal time to rest him...

Exactly, They havent beaten the Spurs, The Mavs or the Jazz yet this year.

I really don't have major issues with the Cavs dropping one to the Suns after the way the Cavs have been playing as of late. Use it as a learning experience to help prepare for the next time they meet. No problem with a loss like this. I DO have issues when the gag against stinkers like Charlotte or NY.

i agree...

when you look at the top ten teams in this league, all or most of those teams dominate on home court, they expect to (just like the cavs)

i think mike brown, while doing great, isn't quite to the level yet where he can do what popovich has always done to the suns... only because we see them twice a year... he has to worry more about the pistons, bulls, and pacers than he does with the suns

now in a seven game series, that can change... brown has already proven that he can make adjustments, and turn a series around...

and yeah, losing games to these mediocre squads is what really gets me...

like i've said before, when the cavs come to town, it's a huge thing for the other team, some of these teams only sell out when a big name guy like lebron comes to town...it's a playoff atmosphere every time the cavs roll into any arena...

One thing I wish Brown WOULD do more is learn WHEN to call a timeout to stop the bleeding before it becomes a rupture. Some of these teams go on 10-0 or 12-2 runs and he allows the Cavs to clank away from long range. Reign them in, grab your star & tell him to take it to the hole! He's either going to a)score b) draw a foul c) possibly miss or d) commit an offensive foul. I'll take my chances on Lebron penetrating 9.9 times out of 10!

Yeah, I thought we got outcoached in the Suns game. We were doing pretty much everything you DON'T want to do against them. Hoisting threes ... letting Nash make plays ... not slowing down the game.

And Charles Barkley is an ass. I don't get what his beef is with Cleveland, but he takes every opportunity he gets to rip LeBron and his team. Then again, that could be a good thing. One time he did it, the East game back and won the All-Star game, with LeBron being MVP. Another time he did it, we won our playoff series against the Wizards. I think he's just bitter that LeBron has cost him a couple million in betting expendatures. <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />