It was a road win over a playoff team in April. Those are always good. What made it sweeter was the fact home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs came along with it. In another workman-like performance, the Cavaliers went to Philadelphia and toughed-out a 102-92 victory.
For the Cavaliers, you can tell Mike Brown is getting set on a playoff rotation. Anderson Varejao is now firmly entrenched as the starter at Power Forward, and a role coming off the bench seems to fit Ben Wallace well. The two combined for 9 points and 12 rebounds and brought their typical energetic defense.
The offense was also a 3-headed monster with LeBron James leading the way with 25 points and 10 assists.James ended with only 2 rebounds, both of which he gobbled up in the final seconds.
Mo Williams chipped in with 18, while Delonte West scored 11 to go along with 7 rebounds. The Cavs are nearly unbeatable when they get a big impact from a bench player and tonight was no exception. Wally Szczerbiak seemed to break out of a late-season funk with 18 points on 6-7 shooting. Wally was 4-4 from deep.
Overall this is the type of performance you look for heading into the playoffs. The fact that the road to The Finals has to go through Cleveland is definitely icing on the cake. What remains to be seen is how hard Mike Brown will go after the League best record. Brown has said repeatedly that the #1 seed in the East is the big prize and once obtained he would give his team a rest accordingly.
With Boston coming to town on Sunday, with a real chance at equaling Boston's 40-1 home record, you wonder if the players will take Brown up on the offer.
GO CAVS!
0 recs | 22 comments
Beasts of the East!
JulioBernazard - April 10, 2009
Can't rest yet
Not as long as the damn Lakers are one game behind us. Let’s hope the Blazers knock some of the swagger out of them tonight.
WaveOcean - April 10, 2009
Blazers close the half on a 9-3 run
Come on, you upstarts!
WaveOcean - April 10, 2009
Detroit clinches a playoff berth
Farewell, Charlotte. We hardly knew ye.
WaveOcean - April 10, 2009
Portland wins 106-98
YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS
WaveOcean - April 10, 2009
YOURE WELCOME
BEAT LA
trailblazersfan - April 10, 2009
And that gives us a 1 game to play with … thank you Portland!!!
talonk - April 10, 2009
We need to go all out against Boston — don’t give them the thought they can beat us at home. Get up big at the half and keep pressing. Then rest guys the following two games, if we beat Boston, we only need to win 1 of those to clinch best record in the league. 40-1 at home sounds nice, but if we win the next two, I’d say that the bench has to win it with about 15 minutes each from Lebron, Mo, Ben, Andy, and Delonte.
CU Adam - April 11, 2009
With KG resting and Ben in the lineup
I don’t see Boston winnning in the Q. I see the Cavs going home and taking care of business.
WaveOcean - April 11, 2009
But the Celtics did beat the Cavs even without KG...
…So you better hope the Cavaliers are not too relaxed because even if we don’t have one of our strongest defensive players on the court, our defense is still strong. Hopefully Powe comes back… we still have two good players injured and Scalabrine (haha ;P).
This game is definitely going to be the game to watch.
AlexC - April 11, 2009
Perhaps, but that was IN Boston without Ben Wallace.
Even with a completely healthy lineup, you couldn’t beat us in the Q without Ilgauskas.
WaveOcean - April 11, 2009
LOL not with the REFS IN YOUR BACK POCET
name the only team to win at the Q this year?
The LA Kobe’s
Yup it’s nice to have the league on your side eh?
I hate Baseball - April 11, 2009
ps. WE HAD YOU DOWN 41 points WITH NO JAMEER NELSON
I hate Baseball - April 11, 2009
Oh, a Magic fan
How could you guys lose to the lowly Knicks? Do you want the number 2 seed or not?
WaveOcean - April 11, 2009
DOWN 41.
I hate Baseball - April 11, 2009
um… The Knicks
hans - April 12, 2009
I have to love how someone pulls out these non-consequential facts to bash their opponent in an online forum. The only thing that has mattered (i.e. impacts the chances of a team winning the championship) thus far in the season has been the overall records of the teams because they dictate playoff seeding and in turn homecourt advantage which gives the top seed a better starting point than the lower seeds. And Orlando did a good job of being the third seed this year, but they have failed to be better than the Cavs over the season and will have a more difficult time getting to the finals because of it. So enjoy you small victories (and I mean this in the strongest sense of the phrase) because your team has been worse than the Cavs.
hans - April 12, 2009
If you can't beat us in the Q
What you do in Orlando isn’t going to matter.
WaveOcean - April 11, 2009
Back in January
WaveOcean - April 11, 2009
lovely … playoff season is almost here, so the trolls start coming out of the woodwork.
talonk - April 11, 2009
103-93 New Jersey
I don’t have to say anything
WaveOcean - April 11, 2009
Orlando and Celtic fans
are not tolls they just support their team so much that they need to pick fights.
E5 - April 11, 2009
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Fear The Sword to post a comment.