Could D.A. be Kurt Warner’s Successor?
March 8, 2010Breaking News: Browns Trade for Quarterback Seneca Wallace
March 8, 2010San Antonio Spurs (36-24) vs
Cleveland Cavaliers (49-15)
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
Monday, March 8, 2010
7:00 PM EST
FSOH/WTAM
The Cavaliers look to rebound from their tough loss in Milwaukee by squaring off with the San Antonio Spurs for the first time this season. This is the last team that the Cavaliers have yet to play this year, and it sounds like it could be another tough test for Cleveland. LeBron James is a game time decision, and it sounds like Mike Brown would prefer to sit him, but LeBron wants to play. I’d personally like another chance to see what the Cavs can do without LeBron, and the fact that the Lakers keep dropping games left and right makes this one expendable. On the other hand, this is a prime chance to take advantage of the current Lakers slump and try to add some buffer. So I’ll support the decision either way.
Projected Starting Lineups
San Antonio Spurs:
-G George Hill (11.7 ppg, 2.5 apg, 0.9 spg, 14.23 PER)
-G Roger Mason (7.0 ppg, 1.8 apg, .368 3P%, 11.06 PER)
-F Keith Bogans (4.6 ppg, 1.2 apg, .367 3P%, 8.17 PER)
-F Tim Duncan (19.0 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 1.7 bpg, 26.08 PER)
-C Antonio McDyess (6.0 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 0.4 bpg, 12.67 PER)
Key Reserves: Richard Jefferson, Manu Ginobili, DeJuan Blair, Matt Bonner
Injuries: Tony Parker (out)
Cleveland Cavaliers:
-G Mo Williams (15.7 ppg, 5.0 apg, 1.1 spg, 15.25 PER)
-G Anthony Parker (7.2 ppg, 1.7 apg, .447 3P%, 9.57 PER)
-F LeBron James (30.0 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 8.5 apg, 31.99 PER)
-F Antawn Jamison (19.9 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 0.3 bpg, 17.53 PER)
-C JJ Hickson (7.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.5 bpg, 15.04 PER)
Key Reserves: Anderson Varejao, Delonte West, Jamario Moon, Jawad Williams, Leon Powe
Injuries: LeBron James (game-time decision), Shaquille O’Neal (out), Sebastian Telfair (out)
Game Notes
No formal preview tonight, just an open thread for your comments. So enjoy watching Mo’s search for redemption, Hickson’s fight for validity, and LeBron’s battle to play. As always, keep it clean, and Go Cavs!
45 Comments
I agree with you, Andrew. I want to see what we can do without LeBron. I hope he sits. It will be for his own–and the collective–good. Windy says the Cavs should be worried about the Magic catching up, but we’re up 5 games right now. I feel pretty comfortable with that.
With 18 games left for both teams, Cavs magic number for best record is only 15. Number for Lakers is 22.
With .766 win pct right now, expected win total would be 13.8. For Lakers, that expected number is just 12.9. At this pace, Cavs will win the race for NBA’s best record by four games.
http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NBA/Eastern/Central/Cavaliers.html gives us about 50% chance of winning at least 13 games the rest of the way. Schedule is pretty tough for us, but unless Lakers go at least 15-3 (~ 6.3% chance), any possibility of this race being close is actually quite slim.
LeBron should play if at all possible the Cavaliers are off until Friday at which time they face the 76ers. I’d rather have LBJ for the Spurs then I would the Sixers. Personally I see no benefit in seeing what the Cavaliers can do without LBJ because that is of little to no importance. IF however Mike Brown was not truthful and that he did in fact not play #23 verse the Bucks due to injuries as well as the need for rest then he should by all means sit.
I posted this earlier…if I was Mike Brown I’d make like LBJ would play or at least might play and he would dress. I would not give the Spurs any kind of idea whether or not LeBron was playing.
Windy says Lebron will sit this evening.
i’d love for them to win without lbj in the lineup, but he is intertwined on about every level. envisioning it otherwise, at this point, is water under the bridge. The team works best (only) as an extension of LeBron, and of his need for a rest. Their “flying on their own” may be cute at best.
If he needs the rest, rest him.
Else, he should play.
So much for my idea LeBron is out for tonight according to Sportscenter. Lets see if George Hill outplays Mo Williams.
@Matt #2 it was bound to happen the way Mike Brown rides LeBron he’s just lucky the MVP isn’t hurt more. Now is the perfect opportunity to get Antawn Jamison heavily involved and for these other role players to step up. The role players showed why they are role/bench players verse the Bucks so lets see what they do against the Spurs. I know Greg Popovich will be prepared to face the LeBronless Cavaliers so lets see what his former assistant can do against the Spurs.
They should “pretend” that someone is LBJ and that someone else is Shaq and just have a ball.
Jamison could be LBJ and when he jacks up a 3 yell, “Heat Check for the King!”.
JJ could be Shaq and yell things like, “Shaq Struggling from the Stripe!”
I like LeBron sitting for the obvious rest factor, but I like it even more because it gives Antawn another night to just really settle in and take a few more strokes. I think he’s been a bit tentative so far playing with LBJ and giving up a few shots and has looked tentative on the jumpers he has taken… until the other night. Another night of free-stroking ‘Tawn will do him a lot of good, imo.
Boogey, you are riding these guys pretty hard. Yeah, they are role players but they certainly have talent. Are they immediately going to show case that talent the first game LBJ is out? Of course not. The entire offense revolves around him. It takes a lot to adjust.
And as others pointed out, if Mo does even a bit better than 3 of 17 vs. the Bucks, Cavs win.
boogeyman
This ain’t gonna be pretty.
Needs a brawl.
@8 Matt the coaching staff had two days to prepare for a LeBronless Cavaliers-Spurs game so I’m expecting a much better performance. I’ll be watching…I want to see if they continue to have Jamison be a perimeter 6’9″ PF and if Mo Williams can only continue to jack up three point attempt after three point attempt. I’ll also be watching to see if Anthony Parker can do anything else but stand on the wing and even more importantly if he can stay in front of Ginobli. It’ll also be interesting to see what Varejao, Hickson and Powe do against Duncan. I wonder if Varejao starts in place of Hickson or has to come in after 6-7 minutes in the first quarter.
Mp34 I know but I’m sick of watching the same old same old. Mo Williams has entirely to much talent to be as one dimensional as Daniel Gibson. Besides if I’m hard on these guys it’s only out of love unlike Mike Brown who is as soft as it comes. That’s another issue I have with him. He lets his players do what they want entirely to much.
Matt I think the Cavaliers will account for themselves tonight whether it’s a win or not I don’t know but I expect them to put up a much better fight if for no other reason then playing at home.
Run the ball down their throats. With the youth and athleticism the Cavs have against the Spurs age, they should press the tempo and wear these guys out.
Careful guys, Matt Bonner likes sandwiches.
Bonner is a ginger, and has no soul. Everyone knows this.
How many times are we going to attempt a oop to JJ with 5 guys guarding him?
Remember when Mo Williams rediscovered the dribble drive?
How good would the Cavs be if the team was this aggressive with LBJ playing?
Mo Williams 0-4 3 pointers. Hey mo, shoot only easy buckets man!
Jawad deserves a B after that shot!!!
M.K. Cabot reporting that the Browns have traded for Seneca Wallace, siting ESPN as the source.
http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2010/03/report_browns_deal_for_seattle.html
Adam Schefter confirms it.
http://twitter.com/Adam_Schefter/status/10197611448
Um, Chris – Scott already posted on that.
Anyways, Delonte West for everything. Ever.
I say it again, for effect: Delonte West for everything. Ever.
Why doesn’t Powe play ever?
I hate Ginobili…..that said, he’s an absolute baller
any word on ‘Tawn?
My apologies. You guys usually end the night with the open threads, I didn’t even look.
Cavs win! Mo Williams may have aggravated his shoulder again though!
@27 They said doctors just wanted him to ice it. Back of the knee joint soreness.
Nice win.
You are forgiven for showing knowledge of how the machine works here. Breaking news tends to get a post, regardless of the time.
Also, CAVS WIN.
It was his finger, Cavs dude.
Stop being such a muckraker.
What a great win…..completely redeems the Bucks game, as we didn’t have Jamison….also, Jawad can be a weapon off the bench
Great gutsy win, glad to keep the lead over the Lakers and Magic. Rest up Tawn and Bron, cya in a few days.
Jawad’s got moxy. It was great to see him out there.
A W 4 C Town
Goodnight Cleveland!!!!
@Jack I’m listening to it on NBA Broadband. Joe Tait said Shoulder! Don’t accuse me dude.
nice win….nice to see Jawad doing his best Michael Jordan impression with those killer fades. Def a confidence builder…I hope they can carry this over to when lebron returns!
Well, I put some naysayage in my pregame comments.
Now I’m eatin’ it.
I was super impressed with the Cavs defense…
And, the second stringers really stepped up…
I hope that Lebron and Jamison are going to be OK… Mike is smart to rest Lebron… It didn’t hurt us tonight, and the reserves got to show us what they are made of.
Who are we going to let go when Z comes back? It’s a tough choice.
does going to the D-League constitute being “let go”? because if so, send Green, because he won’t even sniff the floor in the playoffs…
because I like to type “because”
team Brady:
Not exactly about the D league. When Dblock and Green were sent there earlier, they were still occupying a roster spot on the 15 man team. When Z comes back, presumably one of those two will actually have to be released in that they are no longer on the team.
Note to everyone: Please use Fred’s nickname for Andy – The Gift of Grab
Kudos to the Cavaliers for a hard fought well deserved ugly victory but man did Ginobli look good! Now that’s an NBA guard. Anyways no LeBron, no Shaq, no Z and no Jamison for much of the game and the band of role players were able to summon enough intestinal fortitude to pull out the win. Good thing there are a couple days off and LBJ is supposedly back for Friday.
Mo Williams looked like the Mo Williams I have been pleading for, well, at least in the first quarter. It was nice to see some dribble penetration out of him not to mention that rarity called a Mo-Flo, been a long time since we saw one of those.