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Game Date: Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
Game Time: 7:00 P.M. ET
Location: Quicken Loans Arena
TV: FOX Sports Ohio HD
Radio: WTAM 1100

Probable Lineups
Houston (19-9)
PG- Aaron Brooks
SG- Tracy McGrady
SF- Shane Battier
PF- Luis Scola
C- Yao Ming

Rockets Team Leaders
Scoring - Yao Ming 20.0
Rebounds - Yao Ming 9.5
Assists - Ron Artest 3.2
FG% - Yao Ming 54.8
FT% - Aaron Brooks 91.4
3PT% - Tracy McGrady 42.9
Blocks - Yao Ming 1.7
Steals - Ron Artest 1.8

Cleveland (23-4)
PG- Mo Williams
SG- Delonte West
SF- LeBron James
PF- Ben Wallace
C- Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Cavaliers Team Leaders
Scoring - LeBron James 27.7
Rebounds - Zydrunas Ilgauskas 7.3
Assists - LeBron James 6.4
FG% - Zydrunas Ilgauskas 52.6
FT% - Mo Williams 94.9
3PT% - Delonte West 38.8
Blocks - Ben Wallace 1.8
Steals - LeBron James 2.0

Last Meeting: Houston 93, Cleveland 85 - Feb 19, 2008 in Cleveland. Houston also won 92-77 in Houston to sweep the series.

Finally another test for this Cavs team. Houston has had our number for a few years. It's easy to see why looking at the rosters. They have the best set of wings in the league to throw at LeBron in Artest, Battier and McGrady. Yao is Z with better feet. Scola is underated and Varejao/Ben is pretty even there. We have a major hole here though with Delonte guarding McGrady in this game. On the other end, I feel Mo will do whatever he wants against Brooks/Alston. I am confident that this years team is much more prepared for Houston. That said they are a very good team and the Cavs need to play well to win. I can't wait for this one. Go Cavs!

Should be a great game, going to be really close

Yao vs Z
Shane Vs King

good match ups, key for this game should b determine Tmac or Mo

Really good insight by the OP, no mean to troll here, I am just wondering why you would say Yao is Z with better feet?

CPaulMVP3 wrote:Really good insight by the OP, no mean to troll here, I am just wondering why you would say Yao is Z with better feet?

I've always viewed Z and Yao to have a similiar game is all. Z has had many operations on his feet and Yao is still young. I should have just said quicker feet. Yao has the advantage, but its still a good matchup. The two best pure shooters for their position, a rare skill for a 7'4 or 7'6 player.

Oh ok, I see. I thought was Z was 7'3" by the way.

As long as we dont have any late night bashes that keep the fellas out all night and have them hungover for the game the next day this time I think we should be alright. I cant remember if it was last year or the year before, but that game at Houston that they all went out the night before and partied at DJ's locales and could barely even run the next day was one of the most embarrassing things I've ever seen. Good thing we have most of those knuckleheads (Hughes, Gooden, Marshall, DJ) off this team. No need to be up all night the day before a game.

I call a 12 point win. I know it should be an incredibly tough game, but I'm just feeling good about this one for some reason.

Houston is prob the worst match up for the Cavs thru out the entire league if they are healthy

1. We have the strongest wing defender with Shane Battier and Ron Artest rotating on Lebron James, I know he is unstoppable, but Shane and Ron Ron can slow down Lebron like no others.
2. Tmac is relatively healthy for the last two weeks, a 75% Tmac is still more than capable to own players like Delonte West and Wally.
3. Yao has been playing his best stretch of the season right now by averaging 25+ppg 9+ RPG for the last 4-5 games, no one on the Cavs team can really stop him other than double him up( Z cant front him)

Good thing for the Cavs is that this is the last game for our ridiculous 4 game in 5 days schedule, I expect a 3 points win from Cavs

Cavs 98
Rockets 95

Houston is a match up nightmare for us but we should win at home. Last years game at the Q was annoying because we were able to shut down both Yao and T-Mac but Rafer Alston played like he's Michael Jordan.

This will be a really tough game.

prekazi wrote:Houston is a match up nightmare for us but we should win at home. Last years game at the Q was annoying because we were able to shut down both Yao and T-Mac but Rafer Alston played like he's Michael Jordan.

This will be a really tough game.

wait wasnt Yao injured? too lazy to check

EDIT: oh wait never mind he was injured the week after

Jaykoolzboy wrote:Good thing for the Cavs is that this is the last game for our ridiculous 4 game in 5 days schedule, I expect a 3 points win from Cavs

Yeah we know that situation... Cavs have had 2 different stretches of 4 games in 5 nights so far. Nov 25th-29th and then again Dec 9th-13th. The second stretch ended with us coming up just short in Atlanta. In fact, two of our losses were on the second night of back to backs on the road (@ Detroit and @ Atlanta). And in both games we just seemed to run out of gas, go figure. Damned scheduling.

Its nice to that scheduling favor us though in this particular matchup.

Houston is really stacked. Wow. I'm scared of Artest and Battier on LeBron.. Then we have McGrady and Yao to take care of to go along with Scola. Man, that's crazy. It should be a good game though. I'm expecting for us to continue our winning streak at home since we are the only NBA team to stay undefeated at their homecourt.

Should be a good game , I hope w ewill and will be thrilled if we win but I have a feeling we lose this one in a close one.

Who will guard Mcgrady , Lebron or Delonte?

^Who will guard Battier, Artest?

I'm not worried about Battier or Artest guarding Bron. He has been playing out of his mind and i can't see nobody really slowing him down that much. Last year he played well against Houston and you gotta assume Battier was guarding him both games. And this time we have a better supporting cast, still gonna be a tough game but thats not a matchup i am really worried about. The match up to watch for is whoever West is guarding, lets see how long he actually guards McGrady. We could put Lebron on McGrady early and i think Pavs should be seeing decent minutes this game to guard the likes of McGrady and Artest.

Gonna be a very good game that could go either way. The Cavs are at home where we are undefeated so hopefully we can thrive off the crowds energy.

We might have to go bigger with a lot of minutes from Sasha tonight (ugh).


EDIT- james gang got to it first, sorry for the double post

LoveThemCavs wrote:
I've always viewed Z and Yao to have a similiar game is all. Z has had many operations on his feet and Yao is still young. I should have just said quicker feet. Yao has the advantage, but its still a good matchup. The two best pure shooters for their position, a rare skill for a 7'4 or 7'6 player.

Rockets fan here:
Just thought I'd point out that misconception, contrary to popular belief, Yao is not a good shooter outside of the immediate basket area, in that regard, Z is much better. Yao's strength is his low post back to the basket game.

I feel like Houston matches up as well as anyone against Cleveland, but you have been playing out of your minds this year, so it's going to be a real test for us. GL

Da_James_Gang wrote:Last year he played well against Houston and you gotta assume Battier was guarding him both games.

Actually in the second game last year, LeBron really struggled against Battier. He couldn't beat Battier to the basket because of good footwork and help defense, so Battier was able to force him into tough contested jumpshots. But LeBron is looking a lot more unstoppable lately mostly thanks to having a better supporting cast, so this matchup will be an intriguing one to watch. Battier and Artest are different types of defenders -- Battier is basically Mr. Fundamental, playing disciplined defense with perfect footwork, weak side help and contesting jump shots, while Artest plays a much more physical, harassing, gambling type of defense.

The matchups I'm concerned about are McGrady against West -- I think McGrady shouldn't have difficulties with West on offense, but West's younger, healthier knees could give him fits on defense; also, Yao vs. Z -- Z always seems to play well against Yao, and he's taller than most of Yao's usual opponents. Yao will need to come out aggressive early to have an advantage in that matchup.

It was just easier to guard LeBron when he almost always got the ball at the top of the key. When he's playing off the ball and/or moving without the ball he's almost unstoppable.

Rafer is coming back for us tonight so Brooks is most likely to come off the bench. This should be a good matchup with you guys. I doubt we can pull it out. Good luck.

bigbreakfast wrote:
Rockets fan here:
Just thought I'd point out that misconception, contrary to popular belief, Yao is not a good shooter outside of the immediate basket area, in that regard, Z is much better. Yao's strength is his low post back to the basket game.

I feel like Houston matches up as well as anyone against Cleveland, but you have been playing out of your minds this year, so it's going to be a real test for us. GL

Fair enough, I only watch about 5-10 Houston games per year(if the Rockets were in the East I'd try to see more). I'd like to add that Z has actually even taken his range to the three point line some this year(6-13). It's not something that gets drawn up by design, atleast I hope not anyways. However if Yao leaves him open in the corner, he will shoot it from out there without hesitation. I like Yao's game alot though, he's real smooth with his shot.

It should be a tough game filled with some excellent defense by both teams. GL to you as well.