It's going down in Cleveland
Opponent File
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers play at the Quicken Loans
Arena
in Cleveland. Their 2006 - 2007 record was 50 - 32 (second in the Central
Division). Here's the Cleveland
Cavaliers roster.
Local Papers:
Cleveland Plain
Dealer | Cavs
Team Pages:
CNNSI.com | Cavs
ESPN.com | Cavs
FoxSports | Cavs
NBA.com | Cavs
Sportsline.com | Cavs
Head Coach: Mike Brown
2007 Draft: No selections .
New Players: C Ben Wallace (Trade); G Wally Szczerbiak (Trade); F Joe Smith (Trade); G Delonte West (Trade); G Devin Brown (Free Agent).
Season Goal: Apparently,it's to play out the hand and repeat the success of '06 - '07 with the same cast of characters. When you have LeBron, isn't that enough?
Record vs. Nets: 0 - 2
G18: Nets 100, Cavs 79
G23: Nets 105, Cavs 97
G65: Nets 104, Cavs 99
Other Opponent Files
Cleveland Cavaliers (42 - 35) - Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 7:00PM EST - Quicken Loans Arena
Cavaliscious
It was supposed to be a house party in Cleveland when the Cavs brought in some new (old, really) blood to change out the team and be part of the league-wide trend of swapping out parts at the trading deadline. How'd that work out? Well, for LeBron's sake, since he couldn't get Jason Kidd on his team, you would hope it would work out ok. But LBJ's been slowed with a balky back, they've lost 2 straight, 6 of 10, and 12 of 25 since the big deal. And LBJ's rumored to be sitting this one out, despite the Cavs not having locked up the 4th seed and first round home court advantage. The Nets, meanwhile, know they have to run the table and hope the Hawks choke in a rather large and unproven way, so they'll be thrilled to catch a win on the road without his majesty. Otherwise, they're toast. It's so Cavaliscious in Cleveland with 5 games to go...
Why
Should You Watch? Watch for amusement, to see if the Nets can run the table and start in Cleveland, with or without LeBron. Vince Carter's playing on one ankle, and playing well, so let's see him bring the Nets to that 5 - 0 finish on his back. Can the Cavs avoid getting swept by the Nets in the season's series? For whatever reason, the Nets have their number. A sweep for the Nets would be sweet. More Sean Williams, please, and while you're at it, let's see more of the kids - Boone, the Williams boys, Mo Ager...Devin Harris should have a free ride against the point-less point guards of the Cavs. Lawrence Frank needs to get his injured team (Boki, Gana, Carter) to play hard and finish strong, or the hook could be coming sooner rather than later in 2008. And, coming off that exciting NCAA championship game, you want the NBA to feel like that, so desperately (forget about it...).
- Joe
Cleveland Cavaliers Cheat Sheet
The Story From Cleveland : From the Cleveland Plain Dealer: CLeBron James sat out a second straight day of practice Tuesday to rest his ailing back, and Cavaliers coach Mike Brown indicated he may rest his star player tonight against the New Jersey Nets.
"We'll make a decision [Wednesday] as to whether or not he'll play," the coach said.
Brown did the same thing against Philadelphia on March¤30, when he opted to rest Ben Wallace for a game, though the medical staff had cleared him to play after a bout of back spasms.
Wallace also has rested a lot this week, and Brown said, "There's more of a chance for Ben to play [Wednesday] than LeBron."
James did not meet with the media Tuesday, but he acknowledged Monday that an extra day of rest would do him some good. It remains to be seen whether he'll still feel that way on a game day, especially when the Cavs have yet to clinch the fourth seed in the playoffs, which would mean the home court for the first round of the playoffs.
Brown has the final say.
"I know he wants to play," the coach said of James. "We have to be cautious with him, just like with Ben. Ben wanted to play. Ben was cleared to play. I made the decision to sit him out. It's no different with LeBron. I know he wants to play. But it's something we'll talk about [Wednesday.]
"We want him healthy in the playoffs. Yes, we want that fourth seed. But to get the fourth seed and have an unhealthy LeBron throughout our playoff run wouldn't do us any good."
Pain Game: G Eric Snow (knee) is out. F LeBron James (back) is questionable. C Gana Diop (knee) and C Josh Boone (knee) are listed as questionable for the Nets.
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