Company

Cleveland Cavaliers (10-3) vs
New York Knicks (7-6)
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
7:30 PM EST
FSNOH/NBATV/WTAM

Tonight LeBron James steps onto the biggest stage in NBA basketball – Madison Square Garden. To be sure, LeBron loves playing in MSG. In his career he’s averaging 27.8 points, 5.5 assists, and 5.3 rebounds in New York, and if you just look at his last 2 years there, LeBron is averaging 33.7 points, 7.25 assists, and 6.5 rebounds. The Cavaliers are in the midst of another awfully winable stretch of games right now, and it would be nice to get things kicked off with a solid road win.   

Projected Starting Lineups

Cleveland Cavaliers:

-G Mo Williams (17.2 ppg, 4.6 apg, 0.9 spg, 16.78 PER)
-G Delonte West (11.4 ppg, 2.6 apg, .491 3P%, 13.71 PER)
-F LeBron James (29.1 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 7.0 apg, 32.90 PER)
-F Ben Wallace (2.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.7 bpg, 14.61 PER)
-C Zydrunas Ilgauskas (14.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.4 bpg, 22.07 PER)

Key Injuries: Eric Snow (out)

New York Knicks:

-G Chris Duhon (10.4 ppg, 7.2 apg, 1.3 spg, 13.00 PER)
-G Nate Robinson (15.3 ppg, 4.5 apg, 1.8 spg, 18.98 PER)
-F Quentin Richardson (11.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.3 apg, 12.38 PER)
-F Wilson Chandler (15.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.7 apg, 15.75 PER)
-C David Lee (12.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 0.3 bpg, 14.78 PER)

Key Injuries: Eddy Curry (doubtful), Danilo Gallinari (out), Jared Jeffries (out)

Team Efficiency Stats

Cleveland Cavaliers:

-Off (101.2 ppg, 40.5 rpg, .474 FG%, .786 FT%, 20.0 apg, Efficiency-110.6, Rank-1)
-Def (93.1 ppg, 37.2 rpg, .431 FG%, Efficiency-101.2, Rank-11)

New York Knicks:

-Off (105.2 ppg, 42.2 rpg, .439 FG%, .765 FT%, 23.3 apg, Efficiency-103.3, Rank-14)
-Def (106.6 ppg, 49.8 rpg, .482 FG%, Efficiency-105.6, Rank-26)

Game Notes

Last season the Cavaliers played the Knicks three times and went 2-1 against them. A lot has changed with the Knicks since then, though. The Knicks were off to a great start this season, and then they decided to take off the next 2 seasons and wait for LeBron to save them, so they traded away their best players and left themselves with some bare bones. Since trading away Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph last Friday, the Knicks have gone 1-1. After scoring just 87 points against Milwaukee the evening of the trade, the Knicks rebounded on Saturday by putting up 122 points on Washington. The Knicks love to score….a lot. The problem is, they hate to defend….a lot.

For the Cavaliers, the key in this game will be to try to impose their will a bit with the Knicks. While the Cavaliers have shown that they are capable of playing at a faster pace at times, the Knicks lead the league in Pace Factor. This is their style, and they will make it tough for the Cavaliers to win that style of game, which is why it will be important for the Cavaliers to control the ball and limit turnovers in this game. A fast paced team like the Knicks love to turn mistakes into easy fast break points.

The good news for the Cavaliers is that the Knicks do not play defense, and they do not rebound. As long as the Cavaliers stay within their offense, this should be a game that the Cavaliers will win. With plenty of ball movement and off-ball rotations, the Cavaliers will be able to find themselves with a lot of easy baskets. Defending the Knicks is where this game will get tricky for the Cavaliers.

As of the writing of this preview, it is still unknown if Cuttino Mobley’s health has passed the Knicks test. If it hasn’t, Mobley and Tim Thomas will still be unable to play. Al Harrington is expected to make his debut, and he does add some offense to the Knicks to replace the production they lost, but it’s still hard to predict what the Knicks offense will look like tonight. What we do know, though, is that any team Mike D’Antoni coaches in the NBA is going to play fast and score in bunches. The Cavaliers seem like a good matchup against the Knicks, as the Knicks feature an undersized back court that the Cavaliers’ own undersized back court can match up with somewhat favorably. In the past, Nate Robinson has played great against the Cavaliers, as his strength and quickness has created problems for Cleveland. We’ll see how Mike Brown chooses to go about defending the Knicks, but I would imagine you’ll primarily see Delonte West on Robinson, and it will be very important for West to stay out of foul trouble in this one, or else Robinson could have another solid evening against the Cavaliers.

Down low, David Lee is probably the best young player the Knicks have. He was banged up earlier in the season, but now he’s relatively healthy and back to being the disruptive force down low that he’s capable of. Now that Randolph is gone and Harrington has replaced him, though, it really leaves Lee, and sometimes Wilson Chandler, as the only players who care about rebounding on the Knicks. New York throws up a lot of shots, and misses a ton of shots, so there will be rebounds galore to be had as the Cavaliers also force their opponents to miss a lot of shots. If the Cavaliers let the Knicks dictate the style of play, I would expect to see a lot of Anderson Varejao tonight as Mike Brown will try to use his quickness and rebounding skills to matchup with the Knicks. However, if the Cavaliers try to slow things down a bit and play more their way, you could see more of Ben Wallace as his defense, strength, shot blocking, and rebounding presence should all be accentuated against the Knicks.

Vegas Line

New York +8.5
Over/Under 212

From The Outside Looking In

Posting and Toasting
KnickerBlogger
Rockin’ Steady
What Would Oakley Do?
NY Knicks Beat

Next Game For The Cavaliers

Oklahoma City Thunder vs Cleveland Cavaliers
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
7:00 PM EST
FSNOH/WTAM