Cavs vs. Warriors (Sunday 6PM, FSN)

[chiefwahoo]

@

Sunday, December 23, 2007
6:00 pm ET, Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
TV: FSN Ohio, Radio: WTAM 1100

Golden State Warriors

PG Baron Davis

ESPN's Scouting Report

Davis is one of the most athletic guards in the game and an absolute terror in transition because of his ability to pass or finish. At 6-3, 215 pounds, he can destroy smaller guards on the post-ups in the half court -- something he happily did to Dallas in the first round of the playoffs from his preferred perch on the left block. Davis has a bad habit of getting 3-point happy and forcing long shots off the dribble, but he isn't a good shooter unless his feet are set and he's just catching and shooting.

His size and athleticism are huge weapons at the defensive end, too; Davis deserved far more All-Defense attention than he received. Davis ranked second among point guards in blocks per minute and third in steals per minute; he also was outstanding at pressuring the ball upcourt and his size allowed him to defend shooting guards in the half court. Although his effort wasn't consistent every night, at his best there was nobody better, and he was at his best for all of the final two months of the season.

Injuries are an annual concern with Davis, who tends to pull hammys and groins quite a bit. He hasn't played more than 67 games in any of the past five seasons.

SG Monta Ellis

ESPN's Scouting Report

Ellis is small for a shooting guard and is just a mediocre shooter, but he's so quick that he's still a handful for opposing defenses. Much like Phoenix's Leandro Barbosa, he's great at pushing the ball upcourt quickly for his own shot. He's also an explosive dunker, although he gets tunnel vision in odd-man breaks and takes it himself too often.

Ellis has the speed and ballhandling ability to play the point, but two things hurt him here -- first, his shooter's mentality, and second, his lack of a left hand. Ellis is vastly more effective going right than left, which allows defenses to overplay his strong hand and take away his drives.

Ellis is a weak defender at the shooting guard spot, lacking in both height and strength. However, his quickness is an asset at the point. He's also very quick in the passing lanes and had the fifth best rate of steals per minute at his position.

SF Stephen Jackson

ESPN's Scouting Report

Jackson has the skill to rain 3-pointers from the outside and the size to score around the basket, making him a tough matchup. However, he's not masterful at any one area. Though he can hit the jumper, he's only a middling outside shooter -- he has a high arc but a slow release. And although he can get to the basket, he has a high dribble that produces lots of turnovers, and he's not a great finisher at the rim. He's real good at making cuts off the ball, though.

Defensively, Jackson did very well against Dirk Nowitzki in the Dallas series, but his other results were more uneven. The Pacers tried using him as a stopper on the wings with terrible results -- he's not the lightest guy on his feet laterally. And in spite of his tough-guy image, he's pretty much useless underneath.

Jackson's behavior is another issue. The Pacers were anxious to get rid of him after an incident at a strip club before the season -- one that will have him suspended for the first seven games of this season. He also loses his cool quickly in the midst of games -- who can forget his role in the Malice at the Palace? -- and his 13 technical fouls tied for third in the league.

PF Al Harrington

ESPN's Scouting Report

Harrington is a tough matchup for opponents, but that applies to his own team as well. He's not terribly quick and has trouble staying with quick small forwards, which was one reason his return to Indiana didn't work out quite as well as expected. But he lacks the elevation and motor to battle with power forwards under the rim, let alone centers. He'll hold his ground and take charges, though.

Offensively he liked to operate from the left corner on post-ups from 18 feet, but liking it and doing it well are two different things. Though he takes far more 2-pointers from the left than the right, last year was the third straight season in which he shot 37.2 percent or less on those shots. He tends to have the most success when he can operate from there against a smaller opponent, but that rarely happened after the trade.

C Andris Biedrins

ESPN's Scouting Report

Biedrins lacks muscle, but his activity around the basket makes up for it. He excels at putting himself into position for easy layups and dunks, and has a nice lefty hook shot from close range that he'll bust out in his rare catches on the block.

Free throws are an adventure, though. Biedrins may have the ugliest form since Chris Dudley, shooting one-hand line drives that often fail to clear the rim and only sporadically have any backspin.

Defensively, Biedrins' lack of muscle is a problem because it prevents him from defending elite post players one-on-one -- which is really what Golden State needs. He's an active rebounder and shot-blocker and holds down the middle better in zones, but the hope is that he'll fill out and hit the weights so he can fill a more traditional center role. He also needs to work on transition D -- he jogs back too often and gets beat by opposing big men.

GOLDEN ST ROTATION

Mickael Pietrus (SG) / Matt Barnes (SF) / Austin Croshere (PF) / Kelenna Azubuike (SF) / DJ Mbenga (C)

GOLDEN ST BENCH
>> Marco Belinelli (SG)
>> Kelenna Azubuike (SF)
>> Brandon Wright (PF)
>> Patrick O'Bryant (C)

INJURY REPORT
Troy Hudson (PG) | Status Alert: 12/19 - Out indefinitely with a hip injury.

Cleveland Cavaliers

PG Daniel Gibson

ESPN's Scouting Report

At 6-2 with decent athleticism, Gibson should have the size to be able to get to the basket more than he does -- something he showed at least briefly in the Detroit series. The threat of his shot could become an especially potent weapon, as he's a deadly outside shooter who should be able to open up driving lanes with a pump fake.

Gibson isn't a natural point guard by any stretch, but on this team that isn't a problem -- LeBron James and Larry Hughes do most of the ballhandling anyway. However, he'll have to cut down on the turnovers (a common rookie problem) in coming seasons.

Defensively, Gibson seems to do better against bigger point guards, especially in the playoffs. He seemed to have a much easier time defending bigger points like Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd than he did chasing around Tony Parker.

SG Sasha Pavlovic

ESPN's Scouting Report

An athletic 6-7 forward, Pavlovic can defend both wing positions and is a good finisher in transition. Defense is his best asset, as the Cavs used him as their primary stopper against high-scoring wings and he was a big factor in their fourth-rated defense.

While Pavlovic is a good leaper, he doesn't get many open-court chances because he's such a poor ballhandler, and his inability to handle also limits his ability to take slower players off the dribble in the halfcourt. He's developed a niche by cultivating his skill at shooting 3s from the wing, and since he doesn't turn 24 until early November his game has a chance to progress further from here.

SF LeBron James

ESPN's Scouting Report

One reason James often ends up trying to make a heroic shot at the end of the clock is because there is so little going on up until that point. James tends to be far too methodical when attacking defenses, often waiting several seconds to read the defense before he attacks. That tends to bring the offense to a halt and makes it easier for help defenders to collapse on him. His habit of retreating when double-teamed on the pick-and-roll only exacerbates this problem.

This is particularly noticeable when James tries to post up. Despite his imposing physique, James rarely attacks opponents on the blocks and isn't terribly effective when he does. All he does is wait for the double-team instead of making a quick move, neutralizing what should be his best tool.

Of course, other players would kill for such problems. James is an amazingly good ball handler for his size, acting as the Cavs' de facto point guard and ranking 12th among small forwards in assist ratio. He's almost impossible to stop once he gets some momentum toward the basket and, though a streaky shooter, can get his shot off over anyone. James is also a devastating finisher in transition, making it unfortunate the Cavs can't find a guard to help push the tempo more often.

Defensively, James does a poor job fighting through screens but the rest of his game has become pretty solid. He's still better at playing passing lanes than he is at making help-side plays or taking charges, and he rarely guards the opponent's top scorer. On the other hand, nobody seems particularly anxious to attack him, and he's virtually impossible to post up against.

PF Drew Gooden

ESPN's Scouting Report

Gooden's best asset isn't his scoring, but his rebounding. Despite a slender build, Gooden is a force on the glass because of his quick hops and a nose for the ball. Gooden had the sixth-best rebound rate among power forwards last season, and that was completely consistent with what he'd done the previous two campaigns.

Gooden can be a frustrating player because of his concentration lapses. He'll lose track of his man or forget a play and go the wrong way. He cemented this impression at the end of Game 5 of the Cleveland-Detroit series, when the Cavs had a four-point lead in the final seconds and you could see LeBron James screaming at Gooden during a timeout to stay on the floor. The first thing Gooden did? Take a flying leap at Rasheed Wallace while he was shooting a 3-pointer -- even though the only way Detroit could tie was by being fouled on a triple.

People tend to focus on Gooden's mental lapses, but he also makes a lot of positive plays at the defensive end. Gooden is very quick for his size and his ability to switch out on guards on screens or rotate off his man is one of the reasons the Cavs were the league's fourth-best defense last season. He's not as good in post defense, where his lack of strength becomes a factor, and he's a poor shot-blocker, but overall he's a solid defensive player.

C Zydrunas Ilgauskas

ESPN's Scouting Report

Though the Cavs go to him less often these days, the 7-3 Ilgauskas is still a weapon in the post. He's become increasingly reliant on a sweeping one-handed hook shot going to his right, although he also has a nice touch on turnarounds going to either side.

Ilgauskas is also very dangerous on the offensive boards, where despite a lack of elevation he has an almost Rodman-like knack for tipping the ball multiple times before either possessing it or tipping it in. Along with his height, that same ability makes him very good on jump balls.

Defensively, Ilgauskas has the size to be an effective deterrent around the basket, but struggles when he is pulled farther from the basket. Teams try to attack him in screen-and-roll plays, where he struggles to help on the guard and still get back to his man. For that reason, Anderson Varejao often finished games in the middle instead of Ilgauskas.

CLEVELAND ROTATION

Eric Snow (PG) / Larry Hughes (SG) / Ira Newble (SF) / Devin Brown (G-F) / Anderson Varejao (F-C)

CLEVELAND BENCH
>> Damon Jones (PG)
>> Shannon Brown (G)
>> Dwayne Jones (PF)

INJURY REPORT
Cedric Simmons (PF) | Status Alert: 12/18 - out indefinitely with an ankle injury.

Donyell Marshall (F) | Status Alert: Out until at least late January with a right wrist injury.

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GAME NOTES:
This happened 16 years ago on December 23 against the Jazz. No way we lose at home on this date

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CHIEF'S PREDICTION
CAVS - 111
Warriors - 109
=============================================
​

 

[PIP]

 

[King James MVP]

Stephen Jackson is ugly

 

[CavsRules]

Stephen Jackson is ugly

Damn good player, though.

 

[Karma]

I dont like this matchup, although we have done well in the past against the Warriors. LeBron goes up against a good defender, Sasha has to chase the sppedy Ellis, Gibson marking the ever dangerous Davis, and Harrington likely schools Gooden. The Warriors have hit some form since Jackson returned to the team, but they can get real cold as they rely on the 3 ball.

 

[CavsRules]

I am starting to hate Sasha, A LOT. He takes shots and just flat out misses, and his defense is on and off a lot. I seriously don't wanna bash the guy, but what else is there to do?

 

[Karma]

Good to see Boobie drive that one inside. Warriors scoring easilty though thus far.

 

[Karma]

I am starting to hate Sasha, A LOT. He takes shots and just flat out misses, and his defense is on and off a lot. I seriously don't wanna bash the guy, but what else is there to do?

Sasha can be critisised for many things, shooting too much cannot be one.

 

[CavsRules]

Our defense still sucks.

 

[Karma]

We continue to allow teams to hit a high percentage from behind the arc.

 

[CavsRules]

Sasha can be critisised for many things, shooting too much cannot be one.

When you're wideopen, you gotta at least come close to the rim...

 

[CavsRules]

We continue to allow teams to hit a high percentage from behind the arc.

Jackson will drop 30 tonight, so it doesn't matter. Davis will also kill us.

 

[CavsRules]

Golden State wont miss, we keep trying to shoot jumpers.

I am in no mood to watch this garbage.

 

[Rick Astley]

Larry can't even knock on a door what makes him think he can knock down that 3?

 

[B Mac]

On pace to give up 152 points.