Can Josh Cribbs Hold Out Now?
November 17, 2009While We’re Waiting… Dyfunctional Browns, Nakita Filatov takes off, and OSU-Michigan Week
November 18, 2009Golden State Warriors (3-6) vs
Cleveland Cavaliers (7-3)
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
7:00 PM EST
NBATV, FSOH/WTAM
The Cleveland Cavaliers come into this game riding a nice little hot streak. They’ve won 4 straight and 7 of 8 as they get ready to host the Golden State Warriors. At one point we thought this would be a chance for the Cavaliers to get an up close and personal look at Stephen Jackson as the two team were working on a trade. Instead, the Warriors have already traded Captain Jack, and it wasn’t to the Cavaliers, but to the Bobcats. In his stead, the Warriors received a couple of decent and serviceable players in Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic, but the big prize was getting out from under the atrocious contract they gave Jackson.
The Cavaliers are kicking off their 2nd stretch of 4 games in 5 nights already this season, and the Warriors will ideally be a nice way to ease into it before hitting the road to Washington tomorrow night. At 3-6, the Warriors were already struggling before trading away Jackson, particularly with injuries to 4 of their best players. The Warriors will be extremely shorthanded in this game, and it will give the Cavaliers a chance to further rest Shaq. There are worse ways to start a 4-in-5-nights stretch than this.
Projected Starting Lineups
Golden State Warriors:
-G Monta Ellis (19.3 ppg, 5.0 apg, 1.8 spg, 15.92 PER)
-G Stephen Curry (8.3 ppg, 4.4 apg, .467 3P%, 11.69 PER)
-F Anthony Morrow (11.2 ppg, 0.9 apg, .533 3P%, 12.99 PER)
-F Vladimir Radmanovic (4.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.9 apg, 8.90 PER)
-C Mikki Moore (3.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 0.5 bpg, 9.00 PER)
Key Reserves: Corey Maggette, Anthony Randolph
Injuries: Brendan Wright (out), Kelenna Azubuike (out), Andris Biedrins (out), CJ Watson (out), Ronny Turiaf (out), Devean George (out)
Cleveland Cavaliers:
-G Mo Williams (18.4 ppg, 4.3 apg, 0.9 spg, 17.36 PER)
-G Anthony Parker (9.0 ppg, 1.9 apg, .595 3P%, 9.83 PER)
-F LeBron James (27.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 7.6 apg, 30.45 PER)
-F JJ Hickson (5.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 0.1 bpg, 11.69 PER)
-C Zydrunas Ilgauskas (6.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.1 bpg, 9.88 PER)
Key Reserves: Anderson Varejao, Delonte West, Daniel Gibson, Jamario Moon
Injuries: Shaquille O’Neal (doubtful), Delonte West (probable), Leon Powe (out)
Previous Matchups
None
Future Matchups
- Mon, Jan 11 at Golden State
Game Notes
This game will feature strength on strength, as the Golden State Warriors come into this game as the best team in the NBA in fastbreak points (23.6 ppg) while the Cavaliers are first in fastbreak points against (9.1 ppg). This contrasting style of opponents would normally make for a great game, but with the Warriors only playing 7 guys tonight, you have to wonder if they can really sustain their tempo for an entire game.
The Cavaliers are expected to have Delonte West active, which will be a nice boost. This is purely speculation here, but I somewhat find myself wondering if being rumored to be included in a trade to Golden State provided some motivation for Delonte to get himself back in the team’s good graces. Again, that is pure conjecture as I have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes. All I know is that Brian Windhorst reported that Delonte has had a good couple days now and the Cavaliers are hopeful he has gained some “positive momentum”. Whether the catalyst for that was the trade rumor is unknown, but I’ll admit the thought popped into my head.
With Shaq out, Big Z will get the start, but Z is just an awful match for the Warriors. I would expect to see a lot of Andy and JJ on the floor together, and this could even be a game where we see Darnell Jackson get some burn. The Warriors don’t play a lick of defense, and with Stephen Jackson they still gave up 55 points to Brandon Jennings last week, which makes you wonder what LeBron and Mo can do now that the Warriors are without their best perimeter defender.
Monta Ellis is still an exceptional playmaker, and Stephen Curry is a dangerous shooter. Corey Maggette, who is coming off the bench, is having an outstanding season so far and the team will likely lean on him a lot to make plays against the Cavaliers. Without Biedrins and Wright, the Warriors have no inside presence other than Anthony Randolph and all of their offense will have to be generated from the perimeter, which is further reason it will be good to have Delonte back, if he’s able to play tonight.
This is going to be a strange game. It somewhat reminds me of when the Cavaliers beat the Wizards a couple years ago with only 6 guys after making the big trade. The Cavaliers had no identity that night, but they did have LeBron setting up plays and Damon Jones knocking down shots. If the Cavaliers are off tonight, and Ellis and Maggette can setup plays while Curry knocks down shots, the Warriors can give themselves somewhat of a chance. Otherwise, the Cavaliers should be able to take care of business in this game.
Vegas Line
Cleveland –14
Over/Under 213
Next Game For The Cavaliers
Wednesday, November 18, s009
7:00 PM EST
Cleveland Cavaliers at Washington Wizards
ESPN, FSOH/WTAM
22 Comments
I’m excited to see that Delonte is activated for tonight’s game. I don’t know how much he’ll play, but it’ll be good to just have him with the team.
With rumors of G.S. looking to trade Monta Ellis, this will be a chance for the Cavs to see him up close and personal. He’s a good young SG that could be a good addition. My only issue is that he lacks size and doesn’t help solve our matchup problems on D.
My thought is that for the money, I’d rather have Mo. Ellis just started a 5 year, $55 million deal. I don’t see him really filling a hole on this team.
We can’t trade for somebody like Ellis. He is a worse perimeter defender than Mo.
Also, do we really need another athlete in this city that crashes motorcycles?
Poor Jackson – he went from one terrible team with ugly orange and blue jerseys with management issues to another.
Atleast he isnt on the Cavs
^^^
Agreed
Unrelated, but Sandy as new 1st base coach. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4664733
Anyone have a live feed for this??
good win, even against an injured team.
Nice to see Sandy back in Cleveland, even if he is going to work for a pyramid scheme of a league.
The Cavs played well at times against Golden State but looked bored by their opponent for most of the second half. JJ continues to do most of what the Cavs expected of… Shaq.
JJ = double-doubles
yeh JJ is really steppin up…19.6 ppg last 3 games as a starter. its nice to see him step to plate and excel. and hes still so very very young. who knows he could be a 15ppg 10 rpg guy eventually.
And he didn’t miss a shot. 9 for 9. Very impressive.
14.6 ppg as a starter…( 5 games)and the Cavs 100+ points in all those games also
I’m glad we gave the WFNY staff the night off on the Cavs game tonight…who would want their insightfulness for this lowly game anyway eh? After all the energy expended on the insignificant ill-fated ladder to Cribbs and the stuff that goes with all that?? Phew….those guys must be BEAT. Take a night off boys….no need to worry about us, your loyal readers….
Nice to see the Cavs play fair with the Warriors by only playing 7 or 8 guys themselves. I wasn’t aware at all that AV had a seriousness enough injury to keep him out. Delonte also only played 14 minutes, and
…and (before back and forward functions screwed me up and lost my space), well….now I lost my train of thought.
But anyway…offense was mostly good considering the absences…defense still needs work but I’ll give it a pass this game considering the absences. At the end of the day, it’s a routine W, but somehow it means more to me than a Brad Quinn chop block or a Josh Cribbs concussion.
hansolo1 are you serious? its free, enjoy dont complain. Its not like your giving the editors cash for them to write their opinions on here and allow people a place to come and discuss different cleveland sports topics with other avid fans.
dance monkeys, dance!
Yea. The boys here don’t even make scratch off
adds. Just pays for hosting. Cut some
slack.
What’s more important is JJ’s play off the ball. He’s getting himself open and making shots around the basket that he was missing last year. Let Shaq and Andy rest. Things are looking up. I like this.
I’m really liking a lot of what JJ is doing on offense. Now we need to teach him some Cavs clampdown defense. Congrats for a really good move, Danny and Mike, now get Hickson to the next level. I’ll be even happier when the team gets healthy, and we can now finally have 5 scoring threats on the floor at once.