Wham with the right hand!
March 26, 2008On The Cover
March 26, 2008New Orleans Hornets (48-21) vs
Cleveland Cavaliers (40-31)
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
7:00 PM EST
FSN OH/WTAM
The Cavaliers are kind of getting close to being healthy. Daniel Gibson is starting to practice and should (hopefully) return to the lineup soon…possibly even for this game. But of course as soon as one is coming back, another one goes down. This time, it’s Ben Wallace’s turn as his back spasms are getting worse and he will likely miss this game. It won’t be an easy one with or without Wallace, as the Cavaliers take on one of the 3 best teams in the league in the New Orleans Hornets. The Hornets feature one of the most exciting players to watch in the entire NBA in Chris Paul. CP3 is playing the point guard position better than perhaps any other PG in the history of the NBA this season. His numbers are through the roof, and the only person with a better PER this year than CP3 is our own LeBron. Hopefully it will be a fun matchup and the Cavaliers can start to find their groove, which is seeming so unattainable these days.
Projected Starting Lineups
New Orleans Hornets:
-G Chris Paul (21.5 ppg, 11.2 apg, 2.7 spg, 28.82 PER)
-G Morris Peterson (8.1 ppg, 1.0 apg, .381 3-pt%, 11.00 PER)
-F Peja Stojakovic (16.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.3 apg, 15.82 PER)
-F David West (20.0 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 1.3 bpg, 19.42 PER)
-C Tyson Chandler (11.6 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 1.1 bpg, 17.46 PER)
Key Injuries: None
Cleveland Cavaliers:
-G Delonte West (7.6 ppg, 3.5 apg, .337 3-pt%, 10.45 PER)
-G Sasha Pavlovic (7.8 ppg, 1.7 apg, .297 3-pt%, 7.31 PER)
-F LeBron James (30.8 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 7.3 apg, 30.02 PER)
-F Anderson Varejao (6.9 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 0.4 bpg, 11.58 PER)
-C Zydrunas Ilgauskas (13.6 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 1.7 bpg, 18.56 PER)
Key Injuries: Ben Wallace (Day-to-Day), Daniel Gibson (Day-to-Day)
Team Efficiency Stats
New Orleans Hornets:
-Off (100.3 ppg, 42.4 rpg, .463 FG%, .771 FT%, 21.6 apg, Efficiency-108.5, Rank-6)
-Def (95.0 ppg, 40.9 rpg, .456 FG%, Efficiency-102.3, Rank-5)
Cleveland Cavaliers:
-Off (97.1 ppg, 44.5 rpg, .439 FG%, .722 FT%, 19.8 apg, Efficiency-103.5, Rank-17)
-Def (97.3 ppg, 40.7 rpg, .456 FG%, Efficiency-103.8, Rank-12)
Game Notes
The Hornets come in to this game having won 4 straight and 8 of their last 10 games. For the Cavaliers, that would be considered a hot streak. For the Hornets, that’s just how their season has been, for the most part, as they are winning at a 70% pace this year. The catalyst for all of this success has been Chris Paul. I get a little fired up when people try to say that Kobe Bryant deserves the MVP more than LeBron does this year, but when people try to make that argument for Chris Paul, I find myself stumbling a little bit trying to defend LeBron against Paul’s season. Just how good has he been? He’s averaging almost 22 ppg, 4 rpg, 11 apg, 3 steals per game, while only turning the ball over 2.5 times per game. He’s shooting 49.7% from the field, which is 35th best in the NBA, but he’s doing this as a point guard. His shooting percentage is on par with some of the best bangers and low post scorers in the game. He’s shooting a solid 37.6% from 3-pt range.
Chris Paul isn’t doing all this by himself, though. He has fellow All-Star David West chipping in with a monster season in his own right. Then you also have the improved play of center Tyson Chandler and the always solid and always scary Peja Stojakovic. Their worst starter is Morris Peterson, but even his PER is better than either of the Cavaliers’ starting guards. This Hornets starting lineup is stacked. The Hornets are 9th in the NBA in ppg, 9th in FG%, tied for 2nd in 3-pt%, 8th in FT%, 13th in assists per game, 8th in steals per game, and 4th in assist-to-turnover ratio. There just aren’t a lot of holes in the armor. But enough gushing about the Hornets, right? So how do the Cavaliers beat the Hornets?
For the Cavaliers, this matchup isn’t as bad as it might seem. The Hornets are a half court offense team, which we know by now are the teams the Cavaliers usually defend the best. In the first meeting of the season, while the Hornets ultimately won 86-76, the Cavs’ defense was pretty solid, holding them well below their season average. In that game, though, the Cavaliers’ offense was miserable. LeBron only had 21 points and 6 assists, and the team as a whole only had 13 assists and 13 turnovers. With all of the injuries and time missed, plus the massive roster overhaul of the deadline trade, I fear the Cavaliers simply lack the time and cohesion to ever be a good offensive team. But there’s no reason this roster cannot be a very good defensive team, and they need to get that mentality back if they want to win in the postseason. The Cavaliers simply need to get back to basics and rely on what they do best, defense and rebounding. The Cavaliers must control the boards against New Orleans, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to do just that. The Hornets also do not shoot a lot of FTs, as they lack a serious slashing threat outside of Chris Paul, which means the Cavaliers can force them to shoot a lot of jump shots, which bodes well for the Cavaliers because if there’s one thing they are good at on defense, it’s lowering the FG% of their opponents when their opponents settle for a half court game.
On offense, the Cavaliers again need to just focus on the basics. They need to focus in general. Watching this team struggle on offense again for the 3rd year in a row has been quite frustrating. I’d love to see the Cavs just focus on taking care of the ball, increasing the ball movement to increase assists, and be agressive getting to the hole and drawing fouls. No, the Cavs are not a great FT shooting team, but they can shoot a high volume of them which can help tip the scales in their direction. The Hornets are coming off a road game last night and now they must play on the road again tonight, while the Cavaliers are extremely well rested. The Cavs need to be agressive to wear out the Hornets, and the Cavaliers need to prove to themselves again that they can win games against elite opponents, especially at home where the Cavs have been outstanding this season.
Vegas Line
Cleveland -2.5
Over/Under 190
From The Outside Looking In