Least Valuable Player
February 11, 2008GAMBLOG Picks Of The Week
February 11, 2008Cleveland Cavaliers (28-22) vs Orlando Magic (32-20)
Amway Arena, Orlando, FL
Monday, February 11, 2008
7:00 PM EST
FSN OH/WTAM
This is truly an unfortunate time for the Cavaliers to be injured. It’s hard enough playing back-to-back games when the first game is at home and the second is on the road, but when you factor in the lack of depth that is plaguing the Cavaliers it’s tough to see how this one could have a positive outcome. The Cavaliers are taking on one of the rising powers in the East and it would be nice to show the Magic that they still have work to do if they want to top the Cavaliers, but as it is, I’m just hoping the Cavs can find a way to produce a decent showing in this one.
Starting Lineups
Cleveland Cavaliers:
-G Larry Hughes (10.7 ppg, 2.4 apg, 31.6 3-pt%, 10.34 PER)
-G Eric Snow (0.9 ppg, 1.9 apg, 0.5 spg, 4.81 PER)
-F LeBron James (30.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 7.2 apg, 30.09 PER)
-F Ira Newble (4.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.3 apg, 14.84 PER)
-C Zydrunas Ilgauskas (13.8 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 1.6 bpg, 19.23 PER)
Orlando Magic:
-G Jameer Nelson (10.8 ppg, 5.8 apg, 0.8 spg, 14.47 PER)
-G Maurice Evans (7.7 ppg, 1.0 apg, 37.3 3-pt%, 13.18 PER)
-F Rashard Lewis (18.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 0.4 bpg, 15.61 PER)
-F Hedo Turkoglu (19.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 4.6 apg, 17.62 PER)
-C Dwight Howard (21.8 ppg, 14.5 rpg, 2.5 bpg, 24.66 PER)
Team Efficiency Stats
Cleveland Cavaliers:
-Offense (96.7 ppg, 44.3 rpg, .436 FG%, .721 FT%, 19.3 apg, Efficiency-102.0, Rank-19)
-Defense (98.0 ppg, 41.2 rpg, .460 FG%, Efficiency-103.6, Rank-15)
Orlando Magic:
-Offense (103.8 ppg, 42.3 rpg, .469 FG%, .727 FT%, 20.2 apg, Efficiency-108.0, Rank-7)
-Defense (100.4 ppg, 41.8 rpg, .450 FG%, Efficiency-103.6, Rank-16)
Game Notes
This pretty much sums it up:
Sasha Pavlovic (left midfoot sprain) – OUT; Anderson Varejao (left ankle sprain) – OUT; Drew Gooden (right groin strain) – GAME-TIME DECISION; Daniel Gibson (strained right hamstring) – GAME-TIME DECISION; Damon Jones (right ankle sprain) – GAME-TIME DECISION; Zydrunas Ilgauskas (back spasms) – GAME-TIME DECISION
Hard to imagine any team overcoming this level of loss to injury. It may sound like I’m making excuses, but come on, look at this list. This isn’t a very good team to begin with, and when you knock out 2 key contributors and have 4 others dealing with some kind of nagging injury, it just gets worse. LeBron is going to have to have another monster triple double like he did last time these 2 teams faced off (39 points, 13 rebounds, 14 assists), Larry Hughes is going to have to step up and have a huge game, and Z is going to have to be able to contribute something meaningful if the Cavaliers are going to have any chance.
The Magic are one of the best young teams in the East. This is a huge game in the Eastern Conference standings and the Magic will show no mercy to the Cavaliers no matter how beat up they may be. The Magic have historically played the Cavaliers pretty well. 4 of their 5 starters are averaging double digits in scoring with 3 of them in the 20 ppg range (Lewis, Turkoglu, and Howard). This really takes a lot of pressure off their bench play, which is good because their bench is less than stellar, although Keith Bogans and Brian Cook are both capable of scoring some solid points off the bench. Dwight Howard is one of the most exciting young players in the entire NBA to watch….unless it’s your team playing him. The Cavaliers are one of the few Eastern teams to have a big man capable of at least slowing Howard down a little bit, but being tired and hurt, it will remain to be seen how effective Z can be tonight.
The Magic haven’t played since Friday night when they beat the Lakers. The Cavaliers will be playing their 4th game in 5 nights. This one just has disaster written all over it. I don’t feel like this is a great matchup anyway for the Cavaliers. The Magic’s size seems to really disturb the Cavaliers and takes away some areas where the Cavaliers normally excel. As always, and I’m sure you’re as tired reading this as I am writing this, if the Cavaliers can hang in there and keep this thing close in the 4th, they’ll have a good chance with a healthy LeBron. However, I find it hard to imagine this one staying close. I think this is one of those games we’ll wish we never had to watch and we’ll quickly write this one off as just “one of those games”. Hopefully I’m wrong.
Vegas Line
Orlando -8.5
Over/Under 197.5
2 Comments
Thanks for the thoughtful review. I’ll be watching in snowy Shaker Heights with fingers and toes crossed.
Carolyn
Hopefully, Carolyn, this one will be entertaining enough to pass the time by for all of our snowed in readers tonight.