Cleveland Cavaliers @ New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets

[Smooth]

Game #20

Cleveland Cavaliers [12-7] VS. New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets [9-10]

Monday, December 11th, 2006
8:00 PM ET
Radio = WTAM 1100
Television = FSN Ohio [HDTV]; NBATV
The Ford Center [Oklahoma City, Oklahoma]
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Head Coaches

Mike Brown | Byron Scott


Starting Backcourt​

Point Guards​

Eric Snow | Chis Paul​

ESPN's Eric Snow Scouting Report​

Snow is a very poor outside shooter -- he made one 3-pointer all year -- but in his prime he could make up for that with his ability to slash to the basket and finish. Unfortunately for the Cavs his prime was several years ago, and he no longer has the extra gear to get to the rim. Opponents leave him unguarded and dare him to shoot 15-footers; occasionally he takes them up on it.

Snow is a quality defensive player, and that ability would make an OK second stringer. He has the size, strength and quickness to handle players at either guard spot, although he's better defending the point, and he's a good help defender. The Cavs defended much better with Snow on the court last year, although that might be in part because the alternatives were so bad -- opposing point guards had a solid PER against him.

ESPN's Chris Paul Scouting Report​

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Paul is just an outstanding point guard. He's especially good in transition, making lead passes for dunks and lay-ups, but in the halfcourt he has a great handle -- including a deadly hesitation move with his right hand -- good court vision and plenty of shot-making skill around the basket. His one weakness right now is outside shooting, but considering how well he shoots free throws that should improve as he acclimates to the longer NBA 3-point line.

Defensively, Paul was very good as a rookie and figures to only get better. He nearly led the league in steals, with his 2.2 per game just edged by Brevin Knight. However, the flip side of that is that he must gamble less, or choose his prey more carefully. Paul has quick feet and good strength, though at 6-foot and 175 pounds he's always going to have difficulty with bigger guards backing him down

Advantage =

Shooting Guards​

Daniel Gibson | Rasual Butler​

ESPN's Daniel Gibson Scouting Report​

The Cavs' second-round pick played point guard in college, but his inability to set up shots for teammates doesn't bode well for his ability to do the same as a pro. Gibson has good size for a point at 6-3 and he's a decent shooter who also can attack the basket. However, he seems too small to play shooting guard and he's not a great athlete. He might have trouble defensively even at the point, and almost certainly will be overmatched at off guard. He could be one of those guys who needs to go to Europe for a couple of years and figure things out before he can contribute as a pro.

ESPN's Rasual Butler Scouting Report​

Butler basically brings two things to the table -- decent defense and good 3-point shooting. Butler is 6-foot-7 and moves fairly well, so he can defend both wing positions adequately -- not great, but good enough. And his shooting from long range is an asset, with last season being the third straight in which he shot 37 percent or better from downtown.

Otherwise, he doesn't bring much to the table. He has a turnaround jumper he can use to post up smaller players from 15 feet or so, but his inability to create off the dribble for himself or others makes him mostly dependent on catch-and-shoot opportunities, and he's not athletic or skilled enough to do much in transition.

Advantage = TIE

Starting Frontcourt​

Small Forwards​

LeBron James | Desmond Mason​

ESPN's LeBron James Scouting Report​

James is a breathtaking talent who has as much straight-line speed as any player in the game despite being built like a power forward. He understands the game phenomenally well for a player his age and can be a spectacular passer, which combined with his ballhandling skill makes him capable of playing point guard -- where he creates monstrous match-up problems because of the size differential.

The scary thing is that he's about the best player in the league, and yet you get the sense he could be a lot better. For instance, James is still developing as a jump shooter. He has a nice stroke with a high arc and can comfortably fire away even with a hand in his face, but his accuracy remains middling. He started developing more of a post game last season and he should continue working on it to take better advantage of his size.

Another quibble with his offensive game is how he runs the pick-and-roll, because he tends to bring the offense grinding to a halt. Detroit exploited this beautifully in the playoffs -- when a big man shows hard on the screen, LeBron's instinct is to retreat almost to half court and then just go one-on-one with whomever is left guarding him. That breaks down any other movement going on with the play and makes the Cavs easy to defend. James is good enough that he still can score occasionally when he does this, but he needs to either split the trap on this play or get rid of the ball sooner.

James also needs more work on the defensive end. He's a decent on-ball defender, though a bit overaggressive, and nobody even bothers trying to post him up because of his size. But he has to get better from the weak side. James will play passing lanes and go for steals, but the basic help-and-recover moves are still developing.

ESPN's Desmond Mason Scouting Report​

Mason's shooting woes stem from his tortured shot form. He shoots with his hands way out in front of him and flicks low line drives toward the rim that have to be placed almost perfectly to catch any net. He's much better in the open court, finishing fast breaks with earth-shattering dunks, but his ballhandling skills aren't deft enough to get many opportunities at the rim in the halfcourt.

Defensively, Mason is much better. He's a great athlete who moves his feet and willingly takes charges. With the possible exception of P.J. Brown, he was the team's best defensive player a season ago. He can defend both the shooting guard and small forward spot, but is better off against shooting guards since bigger forwards can shoot over him.

Advantage =

Power Forwards​

Anderson Varejao | Cedric Simmons​

ESPN's Anderson Varejao Scouting Report​

"Sideshow Bob" is a classic bench energizer, with hair flying everywhere as he crashes the boards, dives after loose balls and generally causes mayhem in the frontcourt. Varejao isn't a natural scorer but he's great at playing off LeBron James because he's one of the few Cavs who moves well without the ball. He seems to be the only guy on the team to realize that James always will find him if he just keeps moving. Varejao isn't a shooter and has to improve at the line, but he does have some skills in the open court.

Varejao also made a mark at the defensive end, where his energy and athleticism make up for his lack of muscle. He moves well and is comfortable defending the perimeter if he's caught in a switch, and is always looking to get involved from the weak side. He had an unusually high rate of steals for a big man --1.6 per 40 minutes -- and overall the Cavs' defense was 6.8 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court.

ESPN's Cedric Simmons Scouting Report​

Just in case the first shot-blocking center didn't work out, the Hornets drafted another one, as Simmons is a Theo Ratliff clone with a slender frame but great shot-blocking ability. He can handle the ball a little from the high post but badly needs to add muscle if he's going to play center. He's 20 pounds lighter than Hilton Armstrong and probably will see more time at power forward, but I'm sure he wasn't thrilled to go to a team that has two other players (Armstrong and Tyson Chandler) who do the exact same things.

Advantage =

Centers​

Zydrunas Ilgauskas | Tyson Chandler​

ESPN's Zydrunas Ilgauskas Scouting Report​

Ilgauskas is one of the best post players in basketball. Though 7-3, he's fairly mobile and has range out to 17 feet. He likes to set up camp on the left block and shoot a turnaround going to either side, although of late he's added a sweeping hook shot where he dribbles right and never puts his left hand back on the ball as he goes up.

Ilgauskas is a good shot-blocker and his size makes him difficult to score against in the blocks, but he has trouble farther away from the basket. Teams try to involve him in screen-and-roll plays and take advantage of his poor lateral movement. He gives a good effort, though, and overall the Cavs defended better with him on the court last season. He's also not a good defensive rebounder -- an unusually big chunk of his boards come at the offensive end.

If I could choose one player to be on my team for a five-minute overtime, Ilgauskas might be the guy. Not because he's a great clutch player, but because he's perhaps the best jump-ball taker in the game. His height helps, but his real genius is in the art of stealing the tap without being so blatant about it that the ref calls a violation. They must teach this in Lithuania or something -- Arvydas Sabonis was great at it too.

ESPN's Tyson Chandler Scouting Report​

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Chandler didn't show it in the first half of last season, but he's an energetic defensive player who uses his incredible length (he's 7-foot-1) and unusual quickness for his size to close off scoring chances around the basket. He had a lower rate of blocks last season due to his slow start, but Chandler isn't a shot-blocker by nature -- he defends mostly by positioning and using his long arms to challenge shots while staying on the floor. He's also fantastic at fronting the post, as it's all but impossible to loop an entry over the top of him.

Chandler plays with tremendous energy and attacks the glass, and his lack of strength isn't as big an issue as one might expect unless he's defending Shaq. However, his energy sometimes leads to bad fouls. Chandler averages about a foul every eight minutes for his career, and it's one reason he's never averaged more than 27.4 minutes a game in NBA season.

Offensively, Chandler's lack of development has been a major disappointment. His poor hands and worse instincts result in his rarely being in position to finish plays on feeds from his teammates, a shame since he can get up quickly to slam those deliveries home. He has no post game whatsoever and he can't shoot, with nearly all his baskets coming on second shots from his impressive hustle under the boards.

Advantage =

Benches

Key Cavalier Bench Players

F Donyell Marshallhttp://www.nba.com/playerfile/donyell_marshall/index.html |
G Damon Jones | G Larry Hughes | G/F Sasha Pavlovic

Rest Of The Bench

- G Shannon Brown
- G/F Ira Newble
- C Scot Pollard
- F/C Dwyane Jones​

Key Cavalier Injuries​

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PF | Drew Gooden
Drew Gooden is listed as day-to-day with a pulled groin muscle from December 9th's game against the Indiana Pacers.



Key New Orleans/Oklahoma City Bench Players

G Jannero Pargo | F/C Hilton Armstrong
G/F Linton Johnson III | F Brandon Bass

Rest Of The Bench

- G/F Marcus Vinicius
- F/CMarc Jackson

Key Hornet Injuries​

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PF | David West
David West strained his forearm during the November 12th meeting against the Los Angeles Clippers and is not likely to play against the Cavaliers.​

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SF | Peja Stojakovic
Peja Stojakovic hurt his back in the Minnesota Timberwolves game late last month. He is doubtful for the game on Monday vs. the Cavaliers.

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PG | Bobby Jackson
Bobby Jackson cracked his rib during the Hornets game vs. the Raptors, November 28th, and is likely to be out two weeks.​

Advantage =

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Smooth32's 3 Keys To Get The "V"​

1). Get the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets big men in foul trouble – The Hornets don’t have many big men to begin with and the injury to their best big man, David West, makes this an even bigger mismatch for the Cavs big men. Whether we keeping pounding the ball to Z or get lots of drives to the basket, it should be effective with their big men looking to keep out of foul trouble.

2). Take the ball to the hole – To begin with, the Hornets perimeter defense stinks. Desmond Mason and Rasual Butler are their best defenders and LeBron nor Larry should have much trouble with them. We can’t settle for jumpshots with the Hornets three key players out. We need to continue taking it to the hole and getting easy baskets in order to wear them down and demoralize them.

3). Take it to them early – The Cavs need to get off to a good start versus a likely sluggish Hornets team. They just came off a back-to-back games against the Warriors and Sonics, where their rotation players played 35+ mintues. If we can get them down by 7-8 points and continue to add to our lead, they will likely giveup. They don’t have that much firepower, so it’s going to be hard to catch up, only if we can get a big lead.

Prediction​

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Cavs - 96
Hornets - 83


GOCAVS !!


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Note - The scouting reports are from ESPN. So credit should be given there.

 

[Smooth]

Does anyone know if Daniel Gibson will get the start again, in place of Larry Hughes?

 

[TheAdmin]

Does anyone know if Daniel Gibson will get the start again, in place of Larry Hughes?

http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/probable_starters.html

 

[Smooth]

http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/probable_starters.html

Thanks Ben.. I'll have to make that change for the Cavs..

For the Hornets they have Jackson starting, but the last few games, Cedric Simmons has been starting while Jackson has gotten a few DNP's in that stretch...

 

[ChicagoCavFan]

Nice work with the preview smooth32.

The Hornets have a solid team, if healthy. Looks like the bug has bitten them. Personally speaking, a little disappointed in West (he's on my fantasy team). He was very solid last year - once he's back, and Peja is healthy, they have a nice combo of outside shooting (Paul, Peja) with strength down low (West, Chandler).

Unfortunately, with them out, this should be a victory. I saw that with hesitancy, because "should-be" wins are never the case with the Cavs. The Cavs need to "play to win the games."

 

[PIP]

Hughes has no business starting... In fact, he has no business playing in meaningless blowout minutes either considering his history... I don't care if he's rusty or not, that was just stupid..

 

[cdt]

If he strings 20 solid games together you deal him for cap relief picks or something..

He's never healthy and isn't worth the 10 mill when he is healthy..

 

[clevelandrox23]

You can put a thumbs down by this game we are going to lose.

 

[Karma]

Chris Paul will likely have a field day. The challenge is to restrict the rest of them. Keeping their bigs off the boards, getting a hand in Rasuals face (all he can do is bomb away), etc. Without West they do lack post offense so this is a decent opportunity to take a dangerous Western Conference team on the road.

 

[crazedcav333]

Hughes scares the crap out of me everytime he's on the court now. I agree with Karma, Paul will have his day. I don't think they have the depth or offense to keep up with us. Drew would be huge tonight giving us depth with Andy.

 

[The George]

we need to win this game....especially if they are without Peja West and Jackson

in fact no reason to lose...ya never know with this team but im putting faith in them tomm night

I say we win and win big....Hornets are just too hurt right now and we need to keep this winning streak alive and pick up most of the games in Dec cause Jan is gonna be tough

 

[CornerThree]

Desmond Mason is going to go for 30, and we will lose this one. Book it.

 

[The George]

when was the last time Desmond scored 20???

that kid blows

 

[The George]

Gooden Out Against Hornets
11th December, 2006 - 2:15 pm
Press Release -
Drew Gooden will not play tonight against the Hornets, the Cavaliers have announced. Gooden has a left strained groin. [READ]


we can still win without him tongiht as the Hornets are beat up pretty bad with injuries

 

[Deadlock]

It's called a winning streak. Lets get one.