Pregame

Starting lineups

Cavs: Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, Devin Brown, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Raptors: Jose Calderon, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, Andrea Bargnani, Rasho Nestovic

Officials:

Joe Forte, Michael Smith, Sean Wright

–Mike Brown made the decision to sit LeBron, he said he could’ve played. No reason to rush anything in November. Plus I don’t think LeBron did a lot at shootaround today and they’d like to see how he plays with the finger taped.
–Chris Bosh is also out, so the headliners are gone. TJ Ford is active but not starting.
–Cavs obviously have a massive scoring void. No idea how they are going to deal with it other than pounding the ball in to Z, whom the Raptors have always had trouble defending. Z will have to have a good night. I also envision Gooden or Sasha taking advantage and getting up a load of shots. Historically, teams tend to play well in the short run when a star goes down. But with Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall also out, the Cavs are so thin it might not matter.
–I’ve been thinking…how long before Drew attempts that first 3-pointer?
–The Raptors will probably look to bomb away from the outside off penetration from Calderon and/or Ford. Cavs’ defensive rotations are going to have to be tight for them to stay in the game.

Halftime — Raptors 54, Cavs 49

–This game is going how you’d expect it. The Cavs are scrapping and Gooden is stepping up to take the most shots. The Cavs offense really puttered in the second quarter. They have only seven assists in the game and two came on the last two possessions. Still they are in it somehow.
–Ford and Calderon have combined for 11 assists and their ability to get their shooters open is really working. The Raptors shot 60 percent for most of the half and Carlos Delfino came off the bench to hit 6-of-7 shots and score 15 points. The bench points so far are 21-5. The Cavs are going to have to find a way to contest more shots, the Raptors will have a cool spell but if they are up 12 points when they have it, it won’t matter.
–Z got just five shots in the first half and didn’t get the ball in the post much. The Cavs struggle when they try to create on the outside, even though that is about all they are trying so far. He’s going to need to step up in the second half to take the pressure off the shooters. He’s also not crashing the offensive boards well because he’s out on the perimeter.

Postgame — Raptors 91, Cavs 82

Stars
Carlos Delfino, 24 points, seven rebounds
Andrea Bargnani, 26 points
Drew Gooden, 15 points, 14 rebounds
Daniel Gibson, 24 points, seven assists

–For the Cavs to win this game they were either going to have to play unexpectedly good offense or unexpected good defense. They did neither, so they didn’t win. Meanwhile, the Raptors had two guys (Delfino and Bargnani) get their career highs. That’s pretty much the story.
–Not sure whose fault it was, but Z getting seven shots isn’t going to do it. Rasho Nesterovic has never been able to stop him before. Some of it was him not working to get into position, he had a low energy night…just one offensive rebound. But he also wasn’t in the post all that much either.
–Want to know why the Raptors survived, other than they have a deeper team? TJ Ford and Jose Calderon combined for 16 assists, the Cavs had 13 as a team. If you can’t keep those guys in front of you then you have to be cleaner in rotations…yet Delfino seemed to be taking wide open shots all night.
–Obviously the 82 points after the 74 the other night shows the Cavs have scoring problems without LeBron. Here’s why, the low assists, and just four second chance points (the double teams weren’t there to force the opposition out of position) and just six fastbreak points.
–It appears that LeBron will play on Sunday, he could’ve played tonight. He will probably practice tomorrow and give the green light would by my guess.

Quotes
–Mike Brown: “I thought our guys did a decent job of competing but we did some things defensively where we put ourselves in a bind. We had some mental breakdowns and it put us in a predicament.”
–Z: “When LeBron is not there it makes it so much harder for everybody else. When he gets the ball the defense shifts toward him and a lot of opportunities open up from offensive rebounds to easy baskets. That’s why 70 percent of our plays go through him and we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare not to have him.”

The Cavs released this statement about LeBron James’ injured finger:

“Cavaliers forward LeBron James experienced a sprained left index finger late in the second quarter of the Cavaliers game against the Detroit Pistons last night. He did not return to the game after half-time. X-rays taken at the arena were negative and he traveled with the team to Toronto after the game. LeBron underwent a MRI today at Cleveland Clinic Toronto which confirmed the sprain. He is currently listed as day to day and will be a game time decision for tomorrow night’s game in Toronto against the Raptors.”

Overall, it is good news for the team because there was concern there could be something more serious in there. It takes a lot to keep James out of the lineup, but I expect the Cavs to be very cautious with this injury. They won’t want him to re-injure it so quickly. At the very least, though, this is the type of injury that can linger for weeks. That is nothing new, James plays with nagging stuff all the time.

LeBron James suffered a left index finger sprain with 4:41 left in the second quarter Wednesday here at the Palace. He drove down the lane and Nazr Mohammed slapped at the ball and got LeBron’s hand.

He grimaced, made both free throws and finished the half was was in discomfort much of the time and was holding it as he went to the locker room.

The team took X-rays that were negative, in other words they showed no fracture. Team officials just told me that at this point they think it is minor and that it is a day-to-day thing. He might miss some time. LeBron returned to the floor with the finger taped in a suit not looking like he was in a great deal of discomfort. But he was icing his hand, too, which led me to believe there may be more hurting than his finger. The Cavs officially are being very vague about the injury, which is standard.

LeBron went with the team to Toronto. They are off tomorrow but he will likely have another X-ray and an MRI, which will show if there is any tissue damage. LeBron briefed his teammates and the mood in the locker room after the game was cautiously optimistic. Guess everyone will know more tomorrow.

Pregame

Starting lineups:

Cavs: Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Pistons: Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Antonio McDyess, Rasheed Wallace

Officials:
Ron Garretson, Violet Palmer, Mary Ayotte…Garretson was here for the Brawl Game, Palmer loves to call traveling on Z, and Ayotte and Damon Jones have a bit of a history, he ejected Jones in a game last season.

–This is the Cavs fourth game in five nights and comes off an overtime game. The Pistons have had a few days off. This matters in these games, not sure you are going to see a true rivalry game tonight. Especially hard hit might by Ilgauskas, who played 44 minutes last night and in general isn’t great on back-to-backs. The Pistons may get to have their fun in this one.
–Rasheed missed the last two games with knee soreness and Hamilton is coming off the flu, we’ll see if there are any effects on them. Wallace is toughest on the Cavs when he his willing to play with his back to the basket and not just chuck 3s. Sometimes it seems like it depends on his mood.
–Look for the Pistons to try to get very physical with the Cavs, especially with the big men. That especially includes Jason Maxiell, whose energy has always given the Cavs problems. Might be interesting to see Dwayne Jones bang with him tonight for a few minutes. Also, you’ll get probably a look at the Pistons young shot-blocking specialist, Cheikh Samb.
–There just isn’t a whole lot of respect for the Cavs here, the Pistons feel like they lost last year and the Cavs didn’t win. Those respect issues pop up everywhere, even the Cavs locker room. On the door, five years after the logo switched, the Pistons still put up the old Cavs logo.
–The Palace is a great arena, it’s 20 years old and is still one of the best in the NBA. But its staging areas are too small. One of the things that happens is the dance team has to go through its rehearsal on the loading dock before the game. It is apparently very popular here at the Palace, when I walked through to go to the Cavs locker room an hour ago there were dozens and dozens of employees who came to watch.

Halftime — Pistons 48, Cavs 43

–If the Pistons want this game they can have it. The Cavs legs look very heavy, which really shows up in rebouding and on defensive rotations. LeBron’s already hurt himself twice. The Cavs are the best rebounding team in the league and are getting beat up pretty bad. They have have even gone to some zone because they’re trying to contain the Pistons movement a little bit. That said, if they make the mistake of letting the Cavs/LeBron hang around it could bite them.
–Ira Newble was guarding Antonio McDyess in the first quarter. Um, no.
–Chauncey Billups has made it his mission to hold down Daniel Gibson after Game 6 last season. He did it in the preseason and he’s being very physical with him tonight.
–Maxiel’s energy is hurting the Cavs and Dwayne Jones has not yet looked like he’s going to have one of his productive nights. This could end up deciding the game.
–Both Z and Drew are having energy issues and as a result the Cavs are not scoring in the paint. That and the Pistons are going a pretty good job on defense and challenging inside shots. The Cavs probably are going to need to get hot from the outside, which is very possible, if they have a chance to win. That or turn up the defense big time.

Postgame — Pistons 109, Cavs 74

Stars:
Tayshaun Prince, 16 points
Richard Hamilton, 18 points, six assists

–Based on the way things were going this was probably going to be a loss no matter what. The Cavs just didn’t have anything close to the energy the Pistons were bringing. They got beat on the boards, 43-23, which should tell you everything you need to know. But after LeBron got hurt, the damage to the Cavs’ mentally was obvious and they packed it in pretty quick.
–There is another blog entry on the LeBron injury, all the info is there.
–I don’t think any further analysis is needed on this one

Quotes:
Mike Brown: “Detroit brought more energy than we did. You could see it in the way they set screens, got out in transition and you could see it in rebounding the ball.”
Drew Gooden: “It was more of a surprise than anything because I didn’t know anything of (the injury) until we stepped on the floor and I didn’t see him. But we still have to find a way to fight through adversity.”

Pregame

Starting lineup

Celtics: Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins
Cavs: Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Officials:
Bennett Salvatore, Derrick Collins, Mark Lindsay

–So the Celtics are pretty good, but what has been surprising his how well they have played on defense so far. A big part of it has been James Posey, who I expect to guard LeBron a bunch tonight. I also expect him to be physical.
–The Big Three are one thing, but if the Cavs have any chance they have to hold the others down. In the preseason game in Boston, the Cavs let Perkins get wide open dunks and Eddie House came off the bench and nailed a bunch of shots. Also, Rondo just went down the lane whenever he wanted. If that happens again tonight, it will be another blowout.
–The Cavs are running hot on offense right now, especially with the 3-point shot. Let’s see how engaged they get into running plays or whether they start settling. That will be key.
–Celtics will play small at times with Pierce or Brian Scalabrine or even Posey playing the 4. That means Ira Newble will get time tonight.

Halftime — Celtics 49, Cavs 46

–This game is going about how you’d expect, Cavs had a nice start but the Celtics defense has worn them down and broken their flow. The Cavs had seven assists on their first nine baskets and then just two the rest of the half. Boston forced them into contested jumpers by denying drives and pushing out the posts. They also only had three fastbreak points in the half because they messed up like four or five fastbreak chances, they need those easy points.
–Ray Allen is active and the Cavs are paying so much attention to Garnett and Pierce that he’s hurting them. Hence the danger of the Big 3. Bigger issue, Perkins keep getting open on the backside and he’s got nine points. Just better concentration is needed to deal with that. They have done an OK job keeping Rondo out of the lane.
–It appears the Cavs will need a big scoring half from LeBron to win this game. Boston plays good defense and he’s often just going to have to create in the halfcourt.
–Devin Brown’s technical was a little bizarre. He tried to help Ray Allen up and got shoved aside by Rondo and was hit with it because of his reaction. Not normal for a mild mannered guy like Devin.
–Cavs are in a bit of foul trouble, Drew Gooden has 3. Expect Kevin Garnett to force the issue early in the half.

Postgame — Cavs 109, Celtics 104, OT

Stars
LeBron James, 38 points, 13 assists
Drew Gooden, 24 points, 13 rebounds
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 15 points, 14 rebounds
Ray Allen, 29 points, seven rebounds

–Z, Drew and LeBron: 77 points, 31 rebounds, 18 assists, seven blocks. Garnett, Allen, Pierce: 64 points, 18 rebounds, 15 assists, six blocks. I wrote about this two weeks ago, the production the Cavs are getting out of their frontcourt is off the charts. Who knows if it will last, they are all logging heavy minutes.
–The Cavs winning this game was pivotal and not just because it was the Celtics. This game was played at a slower pace and much of the time was a defense-based game. The Cavs have been winning by running recently. They got beat on the backside paying too much attention to the Big 3 at times, but overall they played excellent defense. Their rotations were very strong and Pierce and Garnett didn’t have much room to operate.
–Gooden’s focus tonight was remarkable, he was locked in for much of the game. Beyond hitting all those jumpers, this was the most noteworthy thing of the night. Drew was even doing some trash talking to Garnett and the Celtics bench.
–The key play in the game was LeBron missing the jumper at the end of regulation. Now, that may not be a great shot, but he was hitting his jumpers all night and he was talking trash with Pierce the entire second half and he wanted to bury one in his face. Remember these guys have a history. Anyway, missing that shot focused him and he immediately went to the basket to start overtime. It later earned him space to hit a big 3-pointer with 1:50 left that turned the tide. He had 11 points in overtime.
–Overall, I thought the Celtics played great defense on the Cavs, who didn’t have great spacing and ball movement tonight. Still, they had 24 assists on 38 baskets, which would’ve been tremendous last season. The offense, indeed, is maturing.
–Interesting that Allen, who had 29 points but needed 25 shots to get there while James had 38 points on 25 shots, missed those free throws late in regulation. I felt rookie ref Mark Lindsay blew that call because Allen dribbled the ball off his leg. As Rasheed Wallace would love to say in that spot…”Ball don’t lie.”
–Sasha Pavlovic is showing some proof that he’s turning the corner. Not just because his shot is falling now, but because he’s got legs after the third quarter. Daniel Gibson was just 3-of-11 tonight and the bench gave just eight points so Sasha’s 16 were needed.
–Between them Z and Drew now have 17 double-doubles on the season after both got them tonight.

Quotes:
LeBron: “We know how to win ballgames, no matter if we are shorthanded or not. No matter what the score is or how much time is on the clock.”
Gooden: “There was a lot of trash talking out there, but it is fun. I like that type of atmosphere.”
Doc Rivers: “Give Cleveland all the credit, they played hard the entire game. But we thought we had our chances before overtime.”

Yesterday, Anderson Varejao and agent Dan Fegan broke their silence in an interview with ESPN. My reaction was in a column in today’s paper.

The two sides have avoided making this a media war for five months so the fact that Varejao side is now talking and so are the Cavs, behind the scenes to the media at least, shows just how far apart they are.

Both sides are doing a bunch of scrapping over the details. I don’t not have access to all the information and I certainly have grown tired of the he said/he said stuff. After five months of writing about this I just don’t think any of that matters except to the men in the trenches, as I said in the column.

My personal opinon on the matter is the Varejao and Fegan have misjudged the market and are scrambling like mad to get around the restricted free agency rules which have been in place for years. They are trying to put public pressure on the Cavs by angling in the media, first saying they’ll take a one-year, $5 million contract, then saying they’d bel willing to go to arbibitration, now saying they demand a sign-and-trade.

That’s all sounds so good, but no team in the NBA would give Varejao a one-year deal right now. Varejao would never give up position for a rebound, so why would the Cavs give up their refusal rights to an aribitrator? Nobody in the NBA would. As for a sign-and-trade now, who is fooling whom? The summer is for sign-and-trades, the summer is for doing contracts. You don’t think Fegan has been working on sign-and-trades since July? Of course he has and there is no deal to make. There one coming now just like there wasn’t then. See, so much of this is common NBA sense, which is why so much of this is nonsense.

By the way, Varejao trying to indict the Cleveland media saying he never asked for a contract averaging $10-$11 million a year is rich. One of the worst kept secrets in the NBA is that Fegan asked for six years and more than $60 million a few days before training camp. Executives all over the league have been taking to each other and to media members about that figure. It’s not even inside information anymore, everybody knows it. Maybe that is not what they are asking for now, but they asked for it then.

From the Cavs side, their failure is to not have a backup plan in place. While Varejao was refusing to talk all summer, Danny Ferry should’ve been making a deal to secure another big man. Now they are paying for the lack of a plan B on the court. Also, Danny obviously miscalulated by going to Brazil unannouced. They didn’t help matters, so it was a risk that failed.

The real crazy thing about this is they all this agony is over a non-starter. A key bench player and a key player in the playoffs, but at the end of the day he is a complementary big man who is good at taking charges. He’s valuable to the Cavs, they want him back, and all that stuff. They have offered him a pile of money. They have said they will put incentives in there that will pay him millions more if he becomes an All-Star or First Team All-NBA or whatever. They just don’t think he’s worth more than the $6.4 million they are paying Drew Gooden, a player averaging a double-double, this year.

After that, it’s all pretty academic.

Pregame

Starting lineups

Cavs: Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Pacers: Jamaal Tinsley, Mike Dunleavy, Danny Granger, Troy Murphy, Jeff Foster

Officials:
Bob Delaney, Monty McCutchen, Olandis Poole

–Jermaine O’Neal was not cleared by team medical staff with a left knee issue and isn’t playing. This is a break for the Cavs, but the Pacers are 3-0 without O’Neal this season so Indy certainly can cope.
–Based on the mood in the Cavs locker room before the game, I get the impression they are not thrilled they’re here on an afternoon back-to-back. There may be some low-energy and interest issues. Of course, this is the easiest game of the next week as two games with Boston, one at Detroit and one at Toronto await. So that has to be in their minds, too.
–Granger has been playing great for Indy and has been attacking so expect him to go at James today. And vice versa, of course.
–The Pacers under Jim O’Brien like to push the tempo and shoot a bunch from the outside. This is how the Cavs have been playing lately, too. Even if it doesn’t suit them and doing on the road in the second game of a back-to-back doesn’t seem all that strategic.

Halftime — Cavs 54, Pacers 46

–The Cavs are having a lot of fun out there and it has picked up their energy. They are talking a lot and laughing a lot. Normally this wouldn’t be ideal, but considering they needed something to pick up their mood it has probably been good. While LeBron got to sit for nine minutes he was practically working as a color commentator on the sidelines by joking with and even instructing his teammates. Once when Drew Gooden took a long jumper, LeBron yelled: “He’s feeling himself…” then…”Drew, run the offense!” when it missed. All of it can be heard because Conseco Fieldhouse is so quiet today. Like after LeBron made a layup and screamed “I’m a beast” to the Cavs’ bench.
–Early in the game I thought LeBron might slap Drew when he fumbled away two passes and messed up a few times on defense. But Mike Brown stuck with him (does he have another choice) and Drew ended up having a good half.
–Jaamal Tinsley just attacked Daniel Gibson, who sat the last 19 minutes of the half. Boobie couldn’t stop him. But once Eric Snow went in there, Tinsley’s drives stopped quick. Boobie will be needed in the second half, but this is an example of where Snow is valuable.
–The Cavs have been excellent on offense, picking up 12 assists. The 7-of-10 3-pointers has them in the lead including two from Sasha, Devin Brown and Ira Newble. Not something you want to rely on on the road. But the Cavs have eight offensive rebounds and 12 second-chance points which is also helping.
–Triple double warning…LeBron’s got 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Postgame — Cavs 111, Pacers 106

Stars
LeBron James, 30 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, four steals
Drew Gooden, 23 points, 12 rebounds
Sasha Pavlovic, 22 points, five assists
Jamaal Tinsley, 24 points, nine rebounds, 10 assists
Marquis Daniels, 25 points

–So LeBron had another triple double, he’s great and everyone knows it. The interesting thing about it is watching him get them because the offense is running better than it has in three years. Also the spacing has been strong of late. Everything looks good when guys are hitting 3s, but for the most part the Cavs are getting quality shots with the game on the line and that was usually not the case last season.
–Pacers went on a 24-4 run in the second half when the Cavs got lazy. Yes, in the NBA home teams using go on runs when they get down but the Cavs turned the ball over eight times in the third quarter. So that continues to be an issue. However, the Cavs get credit for getting their minds right in the fourth quarter when they had just one turnover and scored 38 points.
–Mike Brown said after the game that he thought the Cavs were pretty good in halfcourt defense and I tend to agree. They gave up a lot of points but 24 were fastbreak points from all the turnovers. The Pacers shot 43 percent and 35 percent in the fourth and the Cavs did force a lot of contested shots.
–The Boobie Gibson ejection was comical. The foul call was wrong and when McCutchen saw the replay I am sure he knew it was wrong. It fouled Gibson out because he’d committed some poor fouls earlier. It’s automatic when you throw something that you get tossed and Boobie tossed the mouthpiece. Eric Snow was trying to argue that the mouthpiece didn’t leave the floor and they were pointing at it sitting on the baseline like it was a bloody glove. He’ll learn from that one.
–Pavlovic was under control today. He plays out of control sometimes, especially when he drives to the basket. He didn’t force anything and found a rhythm. We’ll see if it continues but this could be a game when he turns the corner after being pretty bad since signing.
–The Cavs didn’t get a lot of foul calls today because they didn’t drive the ball much. They had just 28 points in the paint to the Pacers 42, which is a large reason why the Pacers got 13 more free throws. There were bad calls both ways.
–Crazy play with David Harrison getting called for goal-tending when he hung on the rim with 50 seconds to play and Jeff Foster’s putback was called off. Cavs came down and hit a 3-pointer on the next possession, which made it a five-point swing. That break went the Cavs way and they took advantage. Not sure why Harrison felt the need to hold onto the rim.
–Ilgauskas had eight points and eight rebounds, an average game for him. He is probably going to struggle on back-to-backs because it wears on him so much.
–The Cavs going 3-1 this week was important with two games with Boston, one in Detroit and one in Toronto next week. Going 2-2 would be a plus, 1-3 is a reality. But with LeBron playing the way he is right now, anything is possible.

Quotes:
LeBron on Boobie’s ejection: “His mouthpiece is too big first off and it’s red and white. It’s easy for the refs to see, if he had a clear one like mine the refs wouldn’t have seen it.”
LeBron on the 3-pointers: “There’s no way you can guard our team if we’re making shots like that when they double me. We’re shooting the ball outstanding.”
Damon Jones: “I’ll be glad to keep taking open shots that LeBron gets me. I love ‘em.”

Pregame

Starting lineups

Raptors: Jose Calderon, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, Andrea Bargnani, Chris Bosh
Cavs: Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilguaskas

Officials
Mark Wunderlich, Kevin Fehr, Scott Wall

–This guy Moon is one of the stories of the year in the NBA so far. He’s a 27-year-old rookie that got a training camp invite after an open tryout and then somehow made the team even know the Raptors had 15 guaranteed contracts. Now the former Harlem Globetrotter is in the starting lineup. Parker usually covers LeBron but I suppose it is possible Moon could be on him at times.
–TJ Ford is out with an arm stinger, which is lucky for the Cavs because they have problems with his quickness. Calderon, though, is a starter-quality players.
–The Raptors play small in general and all their players like to shoot from the outside. The challenge for the Cavs will be to deny dribble penetration as much as possible and scramble back on the weakside to cover those spot up shooters. This is the type of team that has been beating them early in the season.
–Look for Ira Newble and Eric Snow to get some extended playing time today.
–This is a 1 p.m. game in the middle of a road trip for the Raptors. They all left for Thanksgiving and then all flew to Cleveland separately yesterday. Chances are they will be a little lethgaric, the Cavs can take advantage of this early.

Halftime — Raptors 56, Cavs 52

–56 points and 54 percent shooting for the Raptors. Not the type of defense that is going to get it done. Period.
–The Raptors are a jump shot team and they are hitting a lot of them. At one point the Cavs had 24 points in the paint, the Raps had eight and they were ahead by nine. But the Cavs are forcing to help too much on dribble penetration. It’s understandable when it happens with Calderon, but guys like Jason Kapono are getting to the basket.
–Because of the way the Raptors play, it is possible there will be wild swings. When they hit a few in a row they get up big but their misses come in bunches too and lead to fastbreak points off long rebounds. The Cavs have 13 fastbreak points in the half.
–Chris Bosh scored 16 points in the first quarter with Eric Snow and Ira Newble spending time on him. That should be avoided, of course.
–Zydrunas Ilgauskas has five turnovers in the first half, the Raptors have just three as a team.
The Cavs’ seven turnovers have cost them 12 points.
–LeBron is getting zero foul calls and he’s getting frustrated. He’ll need to continue to put pressure on the officials by driving. But he’s done a great job of beating double teams with passing. In fact, all the Cavs have. They have 15 assists on 22 baskets, which is great execution. If they play a little defense in the second half, they’ll have an excellent chance to win.

Postgame — Cavs 111, Raptors 108

Stars:
LeBron James, 37 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists
Chris Bosh, 41 points
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 16 points, 15 rebounds

–First off, Bosh was great and LeBron was again unstoppable. Bosh had 17 points in the fourth and LeBron had 14 including a crazy fallaway jumper with 16 seconds left that put the Cavs up 3 and two free throws with 2.5 seconds left.
–This is not the way the Cavs want to win games. Bosh is one thing, he’s hard to guard. The last two games have shown how valuable Anderson Varejao is because the Cavs have all sorts of trouble with active power forwards. Calderon is a handful, too, but he cannot be permitted to just drive into the middle of the floor.
–Plus the Cavs put up 30 3-pointers. This is not the way for them to win. It was fun for the fans to watch them make 13, in fact this was a very enjoyable game to attend at the Q, I will bet most people left feeling they got their money’s worth. But that’s not the Cavs’ game. They won this one and as they are searching right now, they will take them however they can get it.
–Classic moment in the second half when the Cavs mascot had a skit using a bunch of four-foot high inflatable dinosaurs to mock the Raptors. LeBron James Jr. apparently was taken by them because he wanted one. So LeBron’s mom, Gloria, walked into the back and got one and brought it out to him, carrying it down the whole court. He sat it in front of him for the rest of the game.
–So LeBron is averaging 39 points, 10 rebounds and 9.4 assists over the last five games. Last guy to do that over a five-game span was Oscar Robertson in 1960. Because the Cavs are .500, LeBron isn’t getting Player of the Week Awards, etc., but this is the best November he’s ever had. The ratings are down and most of the talk shows I hear are talking Browns and Buckeyes, which is fine at this time of the year, but I am getting the feeling some people are missing this guy playing at this level.
–LeBron did not come out in the second half and Gibson played 43 minutes so we’ll see how it affects them today at Indiana. By the way, this is the fourth straight back-to-back when the Cavs have played a team who had the day off before. All the Cavs back-to-backs so far have had the second game on the road.

Quotes

LeBron: “It’s not as easy as it may look. I’m just getting into my comfort zone. I just tried to do whatever it took for us to win.”
Mike Brown: “He gets a triple-double and it seems effortless, he comes up with those numbers all the time. You try not to take it for granted, but he’s so talented that sometimes you do.”

Pregame

Starting lineups

Cavs: Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilguaskas
Wolves: Marko Jaric, Rashad McCants, Ryan Gomes, Al Jefferson, Michael Doleac

Officials:
Jack Nies, Courtney Kirkland, Eli Roe

–Randy Wittman changed his starting lineup for the Cavs, putting Gomes in ahead of rookie Corey Brewer and Doleac in instead of Antoine Walker. He doesn’t want the rookie, who is having defensive issues against bigger players, against LeBron. Doleac is in there to deal with Z.
–Jefferson could really give the Cavs problems tonight. He’s a really good back to the basket scorer and he racks up fouls. Dwayne Jones is going to have to give the team something and I don’t mean five fouls in four minutes.
–The Wolves are not a good team and a poor defensive team. The Cavs need to apply pressure with drives and moving offense and they will get all the points the need. Bigger issue is defense, especially keeping Jefferson under control and not losing track of Walker, who can kill you if he’s left open from the outside.

Halftime — Cavs 46, Bucks 42

–Cavs started playing much better defense in the second quarter when Eric Snow came into the game. Not to say he made the difference, but he was +7 in his seven minutes on the floor. After the Wolves shot 57 percent in the first quarter, they shot 6-of-23 in the second quarter as the Cavs really contested shots and were pretty good in their rotations.
–The downfall for the Cavs has been rebounding. The Wolves are the second best rebounding team in the league — CLARIFICATION: They give up the second fewest total rebounds — and they have five more rebounds and four more offensive rebounds. Their 10 second-chance points have helped them stay in the game despite not shooting well of late.
–LeBron could get 50 tonight if he stays hot from outside. The officials are giving him calls and the matchups all favor him.
–Before the game, I asked LeBron about his free-throw shooting because he’d hit 31-of-37. I told him I wasn’t trying to jinx him but after he started 2-of-5 he stared over at me on press row. Oh well. He’s got 23 points, it’s not like he’s in the tank or anything. However the Cavs are 8-of-15 at the line.
–Dwayne Jones got five rebounds in 15 minutes and played pretty good defense. He was a part of the second quarter turnaround, too.
–Al Jefferson has great post moves and is really developing into a star. He’s got 18 points and I’m not sure how the Cavs can guard him without bringing double teams, which they may want to consider.
–Look for the Cavs to get Daniel Gibson in the game more in the second half and take advantage of the mismatches with Ilgauskas. Big Z has just three shots and for a time he was being guarded by rookie Chris Richard.

Postgame –Cavs 97, Wolves 86

Stars:
LeBron James, 45 points, 6-of-10 on 3-pointers, eight rebounds
Al Jefferson, 30 points, eight rebounds
Drew Gooden, 17 points, nine rebounds

–In case no one is paying attention — and I’m getting the impression much of the country isn’t at the moment –LeBron is playing some of the best basketball of his career. He was on cruise control tonight and he still put up 45. Obviously when he’s making his outside shots it’s over, it always has been. But he would’ve had 35 tonight even if he wasn’t drilling his 3s. He mixed up his drives and his jumpers very well, which made him hard for the Wolves to guard. He had 45 points on 26 shots, that’s remarkable. Four straight games of 34 or more points and he’s leading the NBA in scoring at 30 points a game.
–Al Jefferson is going to be a stud. Gee am I glad I voted him most improved player last year. His post moves are fantastic.
–Antonie Walker was hoisting threes, Gerald Green was having a career game in a loss and Jefferson will killing in the post. Yet the Cavs still won. I had to pinch myself, I thought I was in Boston.
–Cavs played really good defense in the second and third quarters. First and fourth…not so much. Baby steps on that end. But, along with LeBron, that defense is why they won. Wolves started 12-of-20 and then went 13-of-39 largely because the Cavs were forcing contested jumpers. 86 points, that is in the Cavs’ zone.
–Cavs turned around the rebounding in the second half, won the battle 42-37 and won the second-chance points battle 17-12. Again, this is a mark of them playing their style of game. Plus all the long rebounds off those contested jumpers helped them rack up 15 fastbreak points.
–If Dwayne Jones played half as well as his did tonight — 10 rebounds, four points in 24 minutes — he’d really help the Cavs. I am not yet convinced.
–Daniel Gibson has 14 assists in the three games at PG since Larry Hughes went down. That’s got to be a career high in a three-game stretch. He’s working and he’s improving at point guard.
–I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, they play they have the best music selection in the NBA at the Target Center. The topoff was playing Purple Rain at the end of the game.

Quotes
Mike Brown: “LeBron’s an amazing talent, I don’t know how he keeps doing what he does. I’m watching him and I get exhausted.”
LeBron: “We call these trap games. When you come into an environment and think just because the team hasn’t played well and young that you can win. But did a great job of not falling into the trap.”
Devin Brown: “LeBron is something special when he gets goin’ like that…you just sit back.”

Happy Thanksgiving all you loyal blog readers. Be thinking of me when you sleep in tomorrow and are ready to eat as I wake up at 5 a.m. to get a flight and pray the weather in Chicago holds.

Pregame

Starting lineups

Bucks: Mo Williams, Michael Redd, Desmond Mason, Yi Jianlian, Andrew Bogut
Cavs: Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Officials
Jim Clark, Bennie Adams, Tommy Nunez

–The Cavs only reserve big man right now is Dwayne Jones with Cedric Simmons out with another left ankly injury. The Bucks have a good big man rotation with energy man Dan Gadzuric and Charlie Villaneuva coming off the bench. Keep an eye on that.
–Desmond Mason has developed a bit of a rep as one of the guys in the league who does a good job on LeBron on defense. Let’s see how he handles him tonight when he’s hot and rested.
–The Bucks have not been scoring very well in the early season and the Cavs spent their three off days working on defense. Of course, Williams will be everything Gibson can handle and Redd can go for 40 if he’s hot from the outside.
–Eric Snow is back and available, but he’s probably not in the rotation. That is unless Charlie Bell, Redd or Williams gets going, then watch how fast Mike Brown tries his defensive stopper.
–Drew Gooden has always seemed to play well against the Bucks. Now he’s got a new opposite number in Yi Jianlian. Drew is stronger than Yi, we’ll see if he can take advantage.

Halftime — Cavs 53, Bucks 49

–Cavs had a 14-point lead and then got lazy and it showed as they turned the ball over seven times in the second quarter which led to — prepare — 14 points. Also, Cavs are being beat on second chance points. Cavs are effort challenged at the moment.
–Royal “with Cheese” Ivey has 11 points off the bench. Enough said.
–LeBron can get to the basket whenever he wants, we’ll see how much he goes. The Bucks have been bringing doubles and then backing off and he’s attacked when they’ve backed off. We’ll see if Milwaukee sticks to that plan.
–Early in the game the Cavs were posting up a bunch and then they went away from it. The Bucks outscored them in the paint and at the line in the first half. Cavs can’t win that way.
–I thought Drew Gooden’s attempt at being a point guard on that one possession worked out just fine.
–Ira Newble has his moments out there, but he sure seems to get beat on a lot of rebounds, too.

Postgame — Bucks 111, Cavs 107

Stars

Michael Redd, 34 points, 20-of-25 free throws, seven assists
LeBron, 24 points, seven assists, seven rebounds
Mo Williams, 20 points, nine assists
Daniel Gibson, 26 points, 5-of-8 on 3s

–Bucks played very well, they must be given credit first off. They worked their game plan well and took advantage of the way the officials were calling the game by using drives to get fouls and free points.
–Now that’s out of the way, the Cavs’ defense is just flat out not getting it done. There is no reason to talk about the offense right now. It’s doing its job and then some. Coming into this game, the Bucks were averaging 89 points and shooting 41 percent from the field on the road. Tonight they get 111 and shot 48 percent. And that was after a 5-of-17 start.
–Redd was great in the third quarter but he made contested shots. That spurt did not decide the game. It was Redd driving and the Cavs reaching in and being slow to rotate that made a difference. Mo Williams drove through the lane a couple of times and went around three guys.
–In their six losses the Cavs are giving up 108 points and 48 percent shooting. That is why they are 5-6. Not because of injuries or holdouts. This team needs to play defense to win, even more so than getting great performances from LeBron, which he had tonight.
–Royal Ivey had 10 points this season until tonight, when he had 15.
–Bucks had more rebounds, scored 15 more points off turnovers, had more fastbreak points, more second chance points and a load more bench points. Amazing the Cavs just lost by four.
–Speaking of injuries, Donyell Marshall is out another eight weeks. The team announced it after the game, which is quite shady to say the least. And they announced it quite poorly. Here is the press release, word for word:

“Cavaliers forward Donyell Marshall today completed a period of additional examination and evaluation for his sprained right wrist. The initial treatment of rest and immobilization for 7-10 days was step one and has been completed. After additional opinions and evaluations were gained, step two started today with a cortisone shot to the impacted area of his wrist. A period of further immobilization, and then rehab to promote healing and resolution of his symptoms, will now commence. It is estimated that the complete treatment and rehab process will take 6-8 weeks starting today. Donyell will be listed as Out during that time period and his status will be updated as appropriate.”

Talk about burying the lead. This is semi-NBA standard, I remember the release from the Suns when Amare Stoudemire had knee surgery and the word “microfracture” was in the last paragraph. I will now commence to make a comment about the promotion of healing and resolution of symptoms. The Cavs are going to need another big man and sooner rather than later. Ira Newble played 26 minutes and had just two rebounds. He’s fighting but he can’t do it night in and night out against so many bigger bodies.

Quotes:

Mike Brown: “107 points and shooting 47 percent from the field should be good enough for us to win any basketball game we play. We’ve got to figure out what our identity is.”
LeBron: “We know what we need to do defensively, we have to continue to get better and figure some things out.”