Cavs Preview Game #73 Mavericks at Cavs

Dallas Mavericks (43-29) vs
Cleveland Cavaliers (59-13)
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
Sunday, March 29, 2009
1:00 PM EST
ABC/WTAM

While the Cavs appear to be a safe bet to lock up the 1 seed in the East, they do not maintain that same cushion when it comes to a precarious 1 game lead over the Lakers for home court throughout the playoffs (with a tie-breaker going to the Lakers).  The game today against Dallas could prove to be one of their tougher remaining contests in the quest to achieve home court advantage.   The Cavaliers are looking to win a franchise record 12th straight game overall and improve to 35-1 at the Q.  Dallas is coming off of a home loss to Denver on Friday night which prompted owner Mark Cuban to use a new approach to an old act – ripping the officials.  The Mavs are only 17-20 on the road this season  and will have to deal with some adversity before the ball is even tipped as starters Jason Kidd and Josh Howard are nursing injuries.  Kidd sat out the loss on Friday and announced that he will play today but Howard is still listed as questionable. 

The Mavericks have the ability to get hot and reclaim the look of a team from their glory years of 2005-2006.  They are capable of beating anyone in the league when they start rolling like that and have shown the ability to go on the road and play close tough games with elite teams like the Lakers.  The Mavs of the past two seasons, however, often appear as a team whose window has closed and who often folds at the first sight of adversity.  This was on display earlier this year in a blowout loss on the road to one of the other Eastern Conference elites in Boston as well as earlier this month in a road loss to an OKC Thunder team playing without Kevin Durant and Jeff Green.  Owner Mark Cuban threatened a roster overhaul after this particular loss and the Mavericks have gone 7-5 since that threat.  They continue to fight for a playoff spot as they currently hold the 8th seed in the West with a 4 game lead over Phoenix in the loss column.

The unpredictable nature of the Mavs could make this a potentially dangerous home game for the Cavs who are bruised  after a physical victory over Minnesota on Friday.  Mo Williams is expected to play despite a sore right hand after he sprained his pinkie on Friday.  Wally Szczerbiak is expected to be on the active list for the second straight game after sitting out 4 games prior to Friday.  Wally did not play against Minnesota so it is expected that he will see  very limited action if he does see the floor this afternoon.  The Cavs beat Dallas on the road way back during the first week of the season.  That road win could be considered the jump start to this record season as it began an 8 game winning streak after a 1-2 start.  Unless Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry really catch fire, the favored Cavs should sweep the season series and capture a franchise record setting 12th win in a row.

Projected Starting Line-ups–

Previous Match-up-

Cleveland 100  Dallas 81, (Box) November 3rd @Dallas

Game Notes

This is the first of 3 Sunday Afternoon national TV ABC games to finish the season for the Cavaliers…Cavs are looking to go 35-1 at home where they hold opponents to under 89 ppg…Dallas is averaging 101.5 ppg and giving up 100.0 ppg…The Cavs held Dallas to their second lowest offensive total of the season in their first meeting holding the Mavericks to only 81 points…If Josh Howard is ruled out, it is expected that James Singleton will take his place in the Dallas starting lineup…The Cavs are looking to improve to 25-4 against the Western Conference this year…LeBron James spent his Saturday afternoon in Columbus watching his alma mater St.Vincent-St. Mary capture the Division II State Championship

Vegas Line

Cleveland -9

Over/Under 191