What Can Cleveland Lean on at this Point?

Hopefully being back at Quicken Loans Arena will do something to lift the spirits of LeBron and the rest of his teammates.

The Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves on the back end of four playoff contests in which three have gone down to the wire and could have been anyone’s game. However, the bad news is that the Orlando Magic have capitalized on two of those situations; game one on a Rashard Lewis three with under ten seconds to go, and most recently in game four in overtime off a LeBron James missed long three. The Cavs, who were the favorites for many to win this series, and perhaps the so-called “darlings” of the league, now need to become ferocious. If anything, there is one fact that they can lean on to fuel one notion they can believe in.

The Fact:

Cleveland this year was 39-2 during the regular season; one loss to the Lakers who they don’t have to worry about yet unless they both get to the finals, and the other to the Philadelphia 76ers in Cleveland’s final home game where they rested LeBron James and Mo Williams.

The Notion:

Although they lost one home game already in the post season (and no less to Orlando in game one of this series) they can still say “All we have to do is win one road game to get this series.”

The Conclusion:

It’s quite simple, but also a very realistic mentality to keep, and with that being said, if Cleveland wins game five in Cleveland, and then Orlando fails to close it out in Florida, well then my friends, I don’t think there will be too many people picking against the Cavaliers in a game seven at the Q.

Orlando Staves off Cleveland’s first half Big Push – Ready to create one of their Own Now

Why the Orlando Magic can Beat the Cleveland Cavaliers

Let's see where the eastern conference home games will be played in this year's finals.

The Orlando Magic did what many people thought they would, although not as fast as some people thought, and that was stop the injury-riddled Boston Celtics from any chances they had of repeating as champions. It may seem to some as though the Magic are not ready to stand the test that is the efficient basketball playing Cleveland Cavaliers who are led by the, this year, super-cool LeBron James. However, the adversity they faced in the Boston Celtics series (most notably games four and five) has helped them mature into a team that can definitely beat the Cavaliers and perhaps even in convincing fashion.

What about the Cavaliers looks like they should just run through the Orlando Magic with ease? That they are efficient, every player knows their place, and they all feed off of LeBron James’ confidence? Sometimes, that’s just not enough when you can’t match up well with your opponent. And I’m talking pure plain and simple physical matchups.

Let’s start with the most obvious… the 6 foot 11 inch Dwight Howard. There are three options to guard him; Anderson Verajao, Ben Wallace, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. First off, Verajao is 6 ft 11, so not bad. Anderson is very tenacious and plays with a lot of energy, but he does not have the scoring nor the speed or power to truly offset a Dwight Howard. Ben Wallace is 6 ft 9 and is a former four-time defensive player of the year. But when you factor in his digression at 35 years of age, it may be too much to ask of him to consistently keep Howard at bay. Finally, the 7 foot 3 inch Ilgauskas has the height advantage, but he is not known for his defense, nor does he have the body strength to prevent Howard from getting to the line for some free throws, and with “hack-a-Dwight” not always being a safe option, this could pose problems.

After Dwight Howard, Verajao will have to look after Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. These are two strong and tall forwards who also exceed Verajao in his strength and speed, and most obviously, scoring. Verajao can at best, produce one, maybe two nights, where he can match one of these men scoring wise, but one of two and only one or two times is not good.

But this is not all that Verajao will have to worry about. The Magic still have two more big men scoring threats that will be coming off the bench in Mikael Pietrus and Tony Battie, and this does not bode well for the Cavs, even if they are top two in the league in defense.

Raefer Alston and Anthony Johnson together can easily offset Mo Williams, who is more of a streaky scorer, and Williams’ backup, DeLonte West, who also needs space to score, or a clear lane to the hole. Whereas he could get a few lanes, he’ll have Dwight Howard standing under the basket.

This should be no easy task for either team, but what the Magic’s advantage is that they do not have to alter their game-plan or rotations too much to deal with Cleveland’s size. Cleveland most likely will have to. So, in that regard, this should be more of a strategical challenge for the Cavaliers than it will be for the Orlando Magic.

The Magical Bums

Maybe if the basket was really that low, he could actually hit his jumpers.

The Orlando Magic are a team that has just downright gotten under my skin. It has hardly anything to do with a biased opinion. This literary lashing that is about to ensue is derived from their lack of effort but mainly their incompetence.

A lot of people probably thought the Magic would beat the Celtics fairly handily without Kevin Garnett, with the series going no more than six games, especially since they were 3-1 against Cleveland, 3-1 against Boston, and 2-0 against the Lakers in the regular season. You know why they had such great records against those teams in the regular season but don’t look like it in the post season (like the way they let the Philadelphia 76ers start out to a 2-1 lead in their first round series)? Because they keep playing like the team that looked so good in the regular season, as opposed to the type of team that it takes to get through the postseason… one with heart, and guts, and that wants to live up to the hype, rather than expecting to.

An example of this is Dwight Howard. How many times has he missed on his short hooks in this series? More than someone who is considered in some circles “the next Shaq.” He has the same expression and drive in playoff games as he does in the regular season games, and I would not be surprised if he never worked on that might-as-well-be eyes closed hook shot of his. And who is to say that he should try to live up to Shaq, but he sometimes seem to have an heir as if all the hype is true and that’s that…. no need to work on it or prove it.

Then you have guys like Hedo Turkoglu and Mikael Pietrus looking like all they can do is shoot three pointers. They need to play smarter than that. They are the three seed in the Eastern conference and sport the fourth best record in the entire league, not the three-balling 29-53 Golden State Warriors. Turkoglu and Pietrus need to trust their inside game more and try to force fouls on that Boston interior defense. They have no excuse. Like they say… “You live by the three and you die by the three.”

In game four, they were down by 10 or so with six minutes to go, and only had a little over 80 points total, and needed the help of a six plus minute Celtic scoring drought in order to catch up for the one point lead they blew on Davis’ jumper. Then, in game five, when they seemed to get it right as they had a ten or so point lead on Boston with about four minutes to go, they blew that, and lost by three! You know what that smells like? Pure, plain, and simple incompetence.

Until they change, I will be an advocate of what Charles Barkley said a few nights ago… “If they can’t beat the Celtics without Kevin Garnet, then how in the world do they expect to beat them with him?” It’s not a pity to say the following either, because they’ve only brought it on themselves… The Magic are the second round version of those loaded teams who can never get out of the first round. Except in this case they just can’t get out of the second.” – Alex V

NBA Playoof Outlook

Who do you wan't to win?

The NBA playoffs are starting to heat up as teams begin to play their game threes and fours. Like many experts like to say, the playoffs don’t really start until a series is tied 2-2, or nobody has control until they’re up 3-0. So, this is the time when those viewpoints truly come into focus.

For instance, The Utah Jazz barely won game three and were laid to waste in games one and two. The sad thing for them was they didn’t fair too well in game four in Utah either, and got beat. They are down 3-1 and should be done.

Over in the east, the Cavaliers swept the Detroit Pistons and get to wait it out a few days before they’ll see anymore action.

Back west again, the New Orleans Hornets kind of looked like the Jazz in their game three as they had to scrap just to get a win and bring the series to 2-1 and make things interesting. Now, if they can win their game four, they’ll completely change the landscape of the series as Denver had dominated them in games one and two, by evening things out at 2-2.

The two and sevens in the east are an enigma to me. Both teams have won a road game and lost a home game. The most interesting factor to me is that Chicago can only beat Boston in overtime!

Another big whopper of a surprise is the battle between the Mavericks and Spurs. The Mavericks have jumped out to a 3-1 series lead and in all three of those wins they have looked fairly dominant with their defense and confidence moving the ball.

Even the three seeded Orlando Magic have run into their share of trouble by falling to a 2-1 deficit against the sixth seeded Philadelphia 76ers before finally tying things up 2-2 last night in Philly.

Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets have really taken charge in their matchup versus the Portland Trail Blazers where they currently lead 3-1. The Blazers have only been dominated in one of those games, game one. However, since overcoming those young playoff willies they have performed very tough and although they are down 3-1 they certainly are not competing like a team who is down 3-1 in a series.

As for the Heat and Hawks, game one made things look like the Hawks might be getting ready for the second round soon. However, since being blown out in game one, Miami has won a dominating game two, and succeeded in a blowout game three in Miami. Now the tables have turned and the Hawks have to prove they were worthy of hosting the series by winning game four.

Basically, if a series gets tied up at 2-2… watch it. If a higher seed is down 3-1… watch it. The higher seeds do not tend to go away too easily. Anything else is either over or about to be.

The State of Detroit

What's happening in Detroit?

The Pistons have been on a downhill slide ever since Allen Iverson got injured two months or so ago. Without Iverson they have gone 9-18 and dropped down to a below .500 record, which is something they haven’t been this late in the season for over five years. On top of being Iversonless, they’ve had stretches without Rasheed Wallace, and even Richard Hamilton. Even right now starting point guard Rodney Stuckey is out for some time!

Right now, they are 36-39 and a looking at a seventh seed in the eastern conference playoffs. And with about seven games to go they better watch out, because they are only half a game ahead of the eighth seeded Chicago Bulls, and just two and a half in front of the ninth seeded Charlotte Bobcats. So they are in danger of not even making the playoffs if they really don’t get off their schneid.

On top of that, even if they do get in, things aren’t looking up. They will face Cleveland or the Celtics as a seven or eight seed right now, and with the Pistons not having home court advantage in any round, that does not bode well.

Is there any Test in the West this Year for the Lakers?

Kobe and his Lakers won't be denied as Western Conference champs.

The Los Angeles Lakers seem to be miles ahead of their other western conference counterparts. They are currently 9.5 games ahead of the second place Denver Nuggets. That’s pretty good distance even for a season like this, wouldn’t you say? I would say, sir. On top of virtually securing home field advantage until they get to the finals (Cleveland currently owns the league’s best record), they’ve also got some favorable potential opponents.

The eighth seeded Dallas Mavericks are clearly not at the top of anyone’s playoff brackets. Number six New Orleans has not found as much success as last year, and has been injury riddled, and has also suffered from the loss of Janeiro Pargo from last year. Number five, Portland, is pretty spunky, but they’re still young. The number four Houston Rockets look promising, but they suffer from a lack of scoring, although they are great at defense.

I’d say the ‘scariest’ teams for the Lakers are the number seven Jazz, who took them to six games in last year’s second round of the western conference playoffs. They are one year older and their other players are almost doubling their career ppg from last season. Then of course, at number three, are the experienced San Antonio Spurs. They know the Lakers well and have always been master executers in crunch time. Finally, the number two Denver Nuggets. They’re gaining a lot of confidence behind their calm new leader, Chauncey Billups, and players are getting their work done in a much more efficient basketball manner.

But the Lakers have Kobe Bryant surrounded by immense talent, and will not fail to make it to at least the NBA Finals this season.

5 Contenders

At this point there are five title contenders in the NBA; in the west, the Los Angeles Lakers (31-8) and the San Antonio Spurs 26-13, and in the east, the Cleveland Cavaliers (31-7), Orlando Magic (33-8), and Boston Celtics (33-9).

Right now, I would put the Spurs over the Lakers. I know the records are five games different, but lately I’ve been seeing Kobe take a lot of shots in the fourth quarter in games against Orlando and San Antonio that just haven’t been going down. Pau Gasol is having a great season, but now the Spurs have four guys who can be counted on to hit big shots, and not in any particular order; Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, and now Roger Mason Jr.

Furthermore, the Spurs show no signs of getting older, and they even seem like they are playing “younger” than last year.

In the east, the one team with the overall best consistency has been the Cavaliers. The Celtics seem like their big three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen are getting older (More-so Garnett and Pierce), and their role players have not stepped up much in their recent strings of losses. I would have to say that right now Pierce and Garnett seem to be taking a step back, but I know they can turn that around. However, until that happens, I have to keep them under Orlando and Cleveland, even if they are the defending champs.

The Orlando Magic just seem like they play within themselves every game, and that has been just enough to pull out some big road wins this season. But with their ever-growing regularity of settling on huge three pointers down the stretch to win games may not be so hot come playoff time… “You live by the three, you die by the three.”

Finally, it is the Cleveland Cavaliers who are my top pick in the east. LeBron James seems to be coming into his own, as if what he had been doing already wasn’t enough. He is really hitting his peak now, and is relying on his teammates much longer in games than Kobe Bryant.

What’s even more is that they (Cleveland) aren’t even letting any of the non-contenders come close to beating them at home. If they can hold on to the number one seed come playoff time, and have homecourt advantage in the Finals, I will pick them to win it all.

NBA Quarter-Mark Outlook

So far in the NBA a few teams are back up to their old tricks, a few have been somewhat disappointing, and a good number of upstarts from last year as well as some surprising newcomers have begun to surface.

The newcomers that need to be involved in this discussion are as follows; in the east it’s Miami, New York, and New Jersey and in the west all of the other teams with playoff aspirations are of no surprise at this point in the season. Miami, led by top scorer in points per game, Dwyane Wade, are currently 9^th in the eastern conference standings. Last year, everyone remembers how atrocious they were. New York seems to be hitting its stride under the tutelage of former Phoenix head coach, Mike D’Antoni as they are 8-8 and 8^th in the standings. Finally, the previous season’s trade between the Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets has finally begun to payoff, as the Devin Harris led Nets are 8-7, 6-4 in their last ten, and 7^th in the east.

The Upstarts from last year that are proving their worth are as follows; in the east it’s the Orlando Magic, the Atlanta Hawks, while in the west we have Portland and Denver. The Magic currently sit at 3^rd and atop the eastern conference standings at 13-4 going 9-1 in their last ten. Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis, and Hedo Turkoglu and company are really hitting their stride. The continued and improved production of guard/forward Keith Bogans and the extra lift provided by off season veteran pick up Anthony Johnson as point guard have been stalwart.

The Hawks slid a bit after starting off 5-0 mainly because of losing Josh Smith for the next few months, but have regained form and are now 10-6 and 5^th in the eastern conference.

In the west the Portland Trailblazers, continue to look like a team of the future with stars Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and the potential of first-year NBA players like Rudy Fernandez, and Greg Oden. They are now tied with Phoenix, Denver, and Houston at 11-6 while going 7-3 in their last ten games.

Denver’s success can be attributed to the trade of Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson. The Nuggets are 11-6 and 7-3 in their last ten while holding 3^rd place in the west. They have had many impressive victories and performances as they beat Boston in Boston, and took the Lakers to the brink of a loss in L.A.

Now come the disappointments. The Detroit Pistons are hovering somewhere between average and above average. Although they are 10-5 and in 4^th place in the east, they are suffering some inexcusable losses, most recently a 10+ point loss to Minnesota, do not yet seem to have their act together with Allen Iverson skipping the thanksgiving day practice (however, I do give huge props to Michael Curry for taking charge by suspending him for one game), and are not nearly as consistent as they were when they had Chauncey Billups in the lineup. 

The other eastern disappointments for the eastern conference are the Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, and Washington Wizards.

The Raptors just 8-7 and are barely holding a spot in the eastern conference as the 7^th seeded team. With capable point guard Jose Calderon, and former all-start Jermaine O’Neal, they should be doing better.

The Sixers were a team last year that without Elton Brand finished 6^th in the east and took Detroit to six games in the playoffs. Now with virtually the same team and Elton Brand, they are struggling to find their rhythm and are 7-9 and 5-5 in their last ten. As for the “Wiz Kids,” although without injured star Gilbert Arenas they may not have been a playoff contender anyway, they are still abysmal with their 2-12 record which is good for worst in the east. Last season they played without Arenas for the most part, but still managed to finish above .500 and make the playoffs. They have now fired their coach Eddie Jordan and are in a state of disarray.

The disappointments in the west are the New Orleans Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, and L.A. Clippers. The Hornets finished second last year and were one game away from the western conference finals. They are now 9-6 and 7^th in the standings in the west. The Mavericks are 8-8 and look like they are ready to get their act together one game, and then go back to mediocrity the next. As for the Clippers, you would think they could be more competitive than their 3-13 record would suggest with the pickup of marquee point guard Baron Davis. Oh well.

As for the Spurs, I’m sure a lot of people would like to put them in as a disappointment, but they have been playing without Manu Ginobli for the entire season (who is set to return soon), and Tony Parker has just returned from his injury earlier in the season. To further their defense, they are now 9-7 and 7-3 in their last ten while being 8^th in the west.

Finally we come to the top dogs in the league.

In the east you have the Cleveland Cavaliers with their 14-3 records, 9-1 in the last ten games, and 2^nd place spot in the standings. They have put together a bevy of blowouts on their opponents this season, and the addition of a scoring point guard in Mo Williams has been absolutely huge for them.

The second team that has picked up right where they left off from last year is the Lakers. They are 13-1 and making mince meat out of would be superpower teams and have the best record in the NBA.

But the pinnacle of all teams continues to be the Boston Celtics. They’re 16-2 and are still dominating defensively and continue to get great production from their supporting cast members. And although the Lakers get much help from their bench and up and coming players, let’s face it… the Celtics are still the champs.

The last three teams I must mention are the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, and Utah Jazz. To me, these three teams are in a state of limbo. Houston would look to be an upstart, but they can’t seem to keep their stars, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, healthy. The Suns seem like the same team as last year, which wasn’t a contender anyway, and the Jazz keep being a team with potential that can’t seem to build on it.

That would about sum up the NBA season at or around its quarter mark. We’ll look to see who shifts from wherever they were in this discussion and who remains where they are in the coming weeks. As for those that I did not include in this article… you really just aren’t worth mentioning (Chicago, Indiana, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Golden State, Minnesota, Sacramento, Memphis and Oklahoma City).