Since the release of the schedule, Cavs observers have been looking at these first two months as the toughest stretch with the biggest hurdles to clear.  The Cavs are not winning in the convincing manner that they did last season and they certainly look shaky at times on both ends of the floor.  Yet we lag only a few games behind the crème of the league in the loss column with our first major Western Conference trip kicking off tomorrow night in Big D.  Marc Stein, a Western Conference guy and the lead writer in charge of ESPN’s power rankings, fairly or unfairly, is typically hard on the Cavs.  But Stein reminded us this week that “the Cavs — for all the lukewarm reviews so far — are a tidy 7-2 against teams at .500 or better.” 

Let’s hope they continue to play to the level of their competition on this trip because they will be facing 3 of the top 4 records in the West and a fourth team that, while under .500, is 10-3 at home.  In addition to the tough competition, the 4 games come with little rest in a 6 day span – as a frame of reference, the Cavs second West Coast swing, which happens a mere two weeks after this one ends, consists of 5 games in 9 days.  Lebron, in his postgame remarks last night, was referring to it as “business trip to the Wild, Wild West.”  We will bring you your game previews for each specific game this week but let’s take a quick look at each team and what we should expect/hope for on this trip as a whole.

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