DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum ***Cleveland Cavaliers February/March***

I don't understand why the Knicks waited so long to buy him out. Heck....if they waited this long to spite him, why give him an opportunity to play this late in the game?

I think you guys are overthinking this a bit...

Marbury was brought to Boston for one reason and one reason only: to bring the ball up the court and function as a "second unit" PG... they don't trust Eddie House handling the ball, period. House turns the ball over when he is pressured, so their second unit was struggling to get into their offense...

Now, the KEY to things blowing up will be the playing time issues... Right now I notice they have been playing Marbury and House at the same time to start the second quarter. Good teams will be able to exploit those two, as they are a horrible defensive backcourt duo.. So with that said, who loses the minutes when Doc decides they can't be out their together?

haha, yeah, absolutely.. thats what was goin through my mind when that happened... this thread makes me wonder how we even got to talkin bout that clown... forget him...

man i hope we bring it tomorrow... if we play D on rondo like we defended Tony Parker, we will be in good shape... Pierce can try and iso LB all day, that aint gonna beat us... and allen doesn't create his own shot.. really comes down to keepin rondo at bay and not lettin him drive and dish all nite.. plus he finishes at the rim a lot better now.. tomorrow would be a great nite for boobie to decide and make some shots...

Haha, I think we got on that subject because I posted that I can't wait to see him do poorly against the Cavs. But yeah, enough about him.

I'm geeked for this game tonight. Can't wait.

Cavaliers-Celtics Preview

The home team has won the last 14 meetings between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, including all seven games of the teams' second-round playoff series last spring.

But if the defending NBA champion Celtics want to leave themselves with a realistic chance of claiming home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference again, they may have to tackle a different challenge -- beating Cleveland without Kevin Garnett.

The league's reigning Defensive Player of the Year will miss his seventh straight game Friday night against LeBron James and the Cavaliers, who will have a chance in Boston to strengthen their hold on the East's top spot in a possible conference finals preview between the budding rivals.

Both the Cavs and Celtics are officially heading back to the playoffs after becoming the first two teams to clinch berths Wednesday night, but there's no longer a clear favorite between them after Boston finished 21 games ahead of Cleveland last season en route to its first NBA title since 1986.

Instead, the Cavs (48-12) have taken a slight lead in the standings behind an MVP-caliber season from James and the arrival of point guard Mo Williams to support their superstar.

Cleveland's improved defense also has surpassed the Celtics (48-14) statistically, allowing NBA lows of 90.3 points and 42.7 percent shooting.

"We got one goal," James said after a 91-73 win over Milwaukee on Wednesday, the team's fourth straight. "That's to win an NBA championship."

To do that, they'll likely have to go through the Celtics, who are looking for their first back-to-back titles in 40 years. But Boston has run into problems lately owing largely to the absence of Garnett.

The team's emotional leader has not played since Feb. 19 due to a knee strain and the Celtics have struggled at times without him, losing at the lowly Los Angeles Clippers and at home to Detroit.

They needed a late charge to earn a 115-111 win at New Jersey on Wednesday, as Paul Pierce's 31 points were capped by a go-ahead jumper with 20.9 seconds to play.

Earning a victory Friday will be tougher, even though Boston will be trying to become the 15th consecutive home team to win a Cavs-Celtics game.

That run includes each game of the teams' dramatic playoff series last May, as well as a 90-85 Boston win to open the season Oct. 28 and a 98-83 Cleveland victory Jan. 9 as the rivalry has intensified.

"I think you have to play a team in the playoffs to get a better rivalry, like us with Cleveland," Boston coach Doc Rivers said after the most recent meeting, when James scored 38 points.

"I think that's what starts it," the coach added. "You see a team every night, seven times, the next time you see them in the next regular season, you can't love each other anymore."

Home-court advantage figures to be key if the East's leaders meet again in the postseason, and a Cavaliers victory Friday would give them a comfortable three-game edge on the Celtics in the loss column.

"It's going to be a big heavyweight bout," Cavs guard Delonte West said.

Garnett has missed one game against the Cavaliers since joining the Celtics, with Boston losing 114-113 at Quicken Loans Arena on Feb. 5, 2008. In addition to his absence, the Celtics are adjusting to a pair of new faces in their rotation after signing Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury in late February.

Cleveland will likely have a new player in uniform Friday after bringing back Joe Smith earlier in the week. Smith, who was waived by Oklahoma City, averaged 7.6 points on 62.2 percent shooting for the Cavs against the Celtics in the playoffs last season.

The Cavs were searching for another interior player with Ben Wallace sidelined due to a broken leg.

"It's a great thing for us," center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. "... We'll have a big who can shoot, play good defense, a great teammate who knows the system. I expect him to fit right in."

Did anyone listen to Reghi yesterday?

Reghi had an ESPN/NBA analyst, based in Boston, on his show yesterday. The guy gave the Cavs NO respect saying that Mikki Moore was a much bigger acquisition than Joe Smith and that the Celtics bench was MUCH deeper than the Cavs.

He also said that if Lebron wasn't completely healthy that the Cavs didn't stand a chance yet if Garnett, Tim Duncan or Kobe weren't completely healthy that they'd still win it all.

Clearly a biased individual. I thought Reghi was going to get into a throwdown with him. Reg's was clearly ticked....

Quote:

---

the Cavs didn't stand a chance yet if Garnett, Tim Duncan or Kobe weren't completely healthy that they'd still win it all.

---

There is little difference between the top 3 teams and the Spurs are a step behind in my opinion... and none of the 4 is going to win it all without their superstar... Not missing for an entire 7 game series... Not a chance.

Oh.. I see, well in that case I think the Celtics might have an advantage over the field but I don't see the Lakers being better than the Cavs with Kobe or LeBron at 90%.. and the Celtics advantage is slight only because Pierce and Allen can also take over a game where as the Cavs would almost certainly need Mo Williams to do it... all things considered though it would still be a good series...

I think a quote from a certain "soldja" would be appropriate there, regarding percentages. Except in the case of Kobe.

Rizzo had Tom Heinsohn on his show today while I was listening to it on my way to class. You could tell that he was obviously favoring Boston, but had a lot of good stuff to say about the Cavs, including that he believes that it will come down to the Cavs and Celtics in the conference championship, with HCA being the deciding factor.

RE: Boston's bench, for the moment you have to consider that Glen Davis and Leon Powe are playing a lot more minutes than they're used to in Garnett's absence. Similar to what Andy's doing for us, except that he's not replacing a huge offensive weapon, and he has way more starting experience than Davis and Powe combined. Locking down on defense and good ball movement on offense should really tire those two out (especially Davis...I can't imagine he's built to go 30 minutes against elite defenses and offenses with good ball movement at this point in his career). Keeping Rondo from getting open looks to Davis and Powe underneath and forcing them to have to move without the ball if they want to score will be key. Like you heard Lebron yelling in the Bucks game..."stay home!".

i think the cavs are capable of winning in boston.

i just have this hunch that our additions are going to be enough to beat them, regardless of who has homecourt...

think about it, we almost beat them without it last year, with a bunch of guys still getting to know each other. a year later things are different and this team is a lot better.

can anyone make an argument that boston is better this year than they were last?

Quote:

---

can anyone make an argument that boston is better this year than they were last?

---

People jumped on that argument at the beginning when the Celtics started so hot.. they were going to be untouchable, win 75 games and go through the playoffs undefeated... and it was all because the big 3 had more time together... but low and behold, they are human after all and, no, I don't think I would say they are better right now than they were when the won the finals last year...

all the celtics superstars/core players sans rondo are getting very old very fast and this season is wearing on them..whereas we've been able to rest lebron ALOT in 4ths, and majority of our core are all 25 and under...no way boston beats us in 7 home or away..LA on the other hand.....let's see how the Smith signing works

i really think losing posey is gonna haunt the celtics...

they're still a great team, and i expect the series to go 6-7, but i'ts been made clear over the past few months that the cavs are better. both record-wise, and also with the fact that they've just kept things going despite losing guys to injuries. they haven't really been fully intact since december.

it would be nice to win this one tonight and be up 3 games in the loss column, which i always say is the most important. you can get back wins, but losses you can't.

and to think, we only have 8 road games after tonight.

Hopefully the boys make a satement tonight. Funny that on ESPiN today they said if the Cavs lost it would be devastating because the Celts have KG missing yet I dont remember nary a word bieng said about the drubbing at the Q last month when we were missing Z.


is anybody really surprised at this point......

Cavs geting great looks just not going down

gibson is such a horrible PG..he misses wide open big men rotating to the rack all the time..we're getting abused inside...need to start working inside more...open the outside game up

i really love delonte's game...he's got a good overall game

the only time gibson should be playing point guard is when lebron, mo, and delonte are on the bench, and we're up 25

he's used best as a catch and shoot guy off the bench.

honestly, i'd rather have wally and sasha out there. because at least both of them somewhat try to play defense.

LB missed dunk and 3 turnovers and we get owned on the glass and we are only down 2... weathered the storm...

let's go!

yeah i really don't know what happened to gibson..but he should never be the PG at any time..lol...i rather Z be the PG atleast he can hit an open J

wow..getting absolutely destroyed in the paint...we really need a big that can finish at the rim and enforce on the other end...smith is making powe/davis look like baby shaqs. frickin' lid on the basket tonight...need to take it inside

an oop with smith down by 7...really lebron?

Mike Brown with some VERY questionable rotations so far

wow, west shoved out of bounds and no call. thanks.

i was thinking the same thing...getting outcoached so far...we are SOOO weak inside

that's what happens when your best interior defender breaks his leg.

other guys gotta step up.

it's really not as bad as the commentators are making it out to be.

brown will make halftime adjustments, and it'll be a game.

lets hope so..but we need to steal some of this momentum back before half

Man, do we miss Ben inside or what? And if you can't beat em down low, you have to run and make shots .... yet we look slow and sloppy. Not good.

now z pushed in the back and no call. hilarious.

i hate lebron when he gets like this...taking dumb dumb dumb shots...take it in or rotate the ball..

mancrush on mo for sure

Mo is heating up!

Glad we cut into that lead