- So what took them so long? Mike Brown got the Coach of the Year award in the NBA, formally known as the Red Auerbach Trophy, today in the worst kept secret in post-season awards history. But what took them so long? He’s taken the Cavs to the playoffs in each season he’s been here and they went to The Finals two years ago. There’s paying dues and then there’s ridiculous.

LeBron James came up with a reasonable explanation for that - his presence has handicapped Brown in some respects.   As weird as it sounds, it’s very possible.

I think it was the main reason. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that we still have to go out there and play for him and abide by his system and go out there.  There’s a lot of teams with great talent, but that doesn’t automatically classify you as a good coach or give you wins as a team.

- The Cavs aren’t putting much stock in the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic losses to the Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic against the Chicago Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers respectively, a smart move given the pedigree of those teams.  Although, as I type this the Celtics are in a nip-and-tuck battle with the Bulls at TD Garden.

It’s just one game.  A series is never won in one game, LeBRon James said.

Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said it could turn into a lesson for his team:

It just goes to show you every team and play and if you let your guard down, before you know it you won’t have a homecourt advantage. Or it happens very quickly and then you have a fight on your hands. If anything we should learn from it and keep our focus.

You have to appreciate their ability to keep their eyes on the here and now.  Read below for another example.

Other views:

On ABC Sunday Magic Johnson, the former Los Angeles Lakers legend, said that his former team watched the Cavs 102-84 win over the Detroit Pistons and wanted to one-up them by blowing out the Utah Jazz.  The Lakers ultimately beat the Jazz by 13.  LeBron James wasn’t buying into that notion:

We buy into the fact that we’re keeping an eye on Detroit.  Detroit is our only main focus right now.  It’s a long playoffs and we got to approach Game 2 like it’s our last.

And, yes, Tracy McGrady is around for the playoffs, he’s just not playing for the Houston Rockets- and whether he plays hoops again is up in the air.  But he has no limit to when it comes to opinions about who will win the NBA Championship.  It’s not who he picks, but how he dismisses the Cavaliers in an interview:

It’s no knock on Cleveland, I think Cleveland’s gonna get there… Cleveland to me is really not that good.  If you take what the Celtics did last year… You knew, they were either gonna get to the finals, or they were gonna win it.  You can’t really say the same thing about the Cavaliers.  Although, they had the best record in the league this year, a lot of people like, ‘Okay, they havin’ a great year, but we don’t know if they can win the championship.’  They really didn’t do anything on the road with the elite teams in the league, they lost, they had a bad record when they went to face the elite teams in the league.  I think they’re a good team, but I don’t they’re ready to take the next step.

Ultimately he may be proven right, but the lack of respect for what the Cavs have accomplished this season is interesting for someone who’s never sniffed a second-round playoff game.

Game: Cavs (23-4) vs. Houston
Broadcast:  TV: FSOhio
WAKR (1590 AM); WTAM (1100 AM), WHBC (1480 AM)

Starters: Cavs: LeBron James (F); Ben Wallace (F); Zydrunas Ilgauskas (C); Delonte West (G); Mo Williams (G); Rockets: Shane Battier (F); Luis Scola (F); Yao Ming (C); Tracy McGrady (G); Rafer Alston (G).

Injuries/inactives:  Cavs:  Eric Snow, Jawad Williams, Darnell Jackson.  Rockets:  Steve Francis, Joey Dorsey.

Officials:  Scott Foster, Rodney Mott and Phil Robinson.

Streaking: The Cavaliers have won three in a row, 13 in a row at Quicken Loans Arena. The Rockets have won four in a row.
 
Three things to watch:

• Z and Yao – Battle of the titans. It will be intersting to see how Yao plays Ilgauskas because both centers have their strengths.  Yao clogs up the middle which is why the Cavaliers have had problems with the Rockets in the recent past.  But the Rockets have to worry about Z on the perimeter also.  If Yao can be drawn outside where he opens up the middle, that opens lanes for LeBron James, Delonte West and Mo Williams to drive to the hoop for easy scores.
• T-Mac and Delonte West – West has been surprisingly good on both sides of the ball.  He plays agains the bigger shooting guards, despite the fact that he gives up a few inches to them.  He gets a big test with McGrady tonight who averages almost 23 points per game against the Cavaliers.
• Ron Artest – To a person the Cavs say that the former Sacramento King and Indiana Pacer adds toughness to their team. Coming off the bench with the Rockets he’s very effective averaging 15 points.  He averages more than 16 against the Cavaliers.

Quotable:

From the coach’s office:

Mike Brown on the Cavs losing their last two to the Rockets:

They’re a very good team that’s a defensive minded team.  They have size inside and size along the perimeter with Battier and McGrady and it causes match-up problems for us. 

Mo Williams on Ron Artets as a player:

He just gives them another dimension.  He’s the complete opposite of T-Mac.  He’ll post up.  He’s more physical.  T-Mac is more a finesse player so I think they complement one another real well.  All three of those guys do different things at different areas of the floor so they can play well together.