RealGM

[15-7] [14-9]

| December 11th, 2009 | 8:00 PM - ET | Quicken Loans Arena | Cleveland, OH |
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................| ESPN | WTAM 1100 |




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...................................... PF: C: SF: ..........
...................................................................................................................................................... Hickson #21 .................. O'Neal #33 ............................... James #23

.............................................................................................................................................................. PG: SG:
........................................................................................................................................................................................................ Williams #2 ......................... Parker #18




................................................................................................................................................................... PG: SG:
.................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Blake #2 ...................................................... Roy #7

......... PF: C: SF:
............................................................................................................................................. Aldridge #12 ....... Przybilla #10 .............. Webster #23





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_____________ Game Notes ____________

ESPN wrote:The Cleveland Cavaliers suddenly find themselves on a two-game losing streak against Western Conference opponents after winning their previous 13, but both of those came away from Quicken Loans Arena.

The Portland Trail Blazers know rather well they're much tougher to beat at home.

LeBron James has had a triple-double the last two times the Cavaliers hosted Portland, and he'll try to help Cleveland avoid a rare three-game skid Friday night as it seeks a seventh straight home win both overall and against the Trail Blazers.

The Cavaliers (15-7) won their final eight games against Western opponents in 2008-09 and their first five this season, but that streak was snapped Tuesday in a 111-109 overtime loss in Memphis.

Twenty-one turnovers plagued Cleveland against the Grizzlies, and they were a problem again Wednesday in Houston. The Cavaliers gave it away 20 times against the Rockets in a 95-85 loss.

"You have to take pride in avoiding them and we didn't. We just can't have unforced turnovers," said James, who had 27 points but committed five turnovers for the third straight game. "We needed to play with a sense of urgency earlier than we did."

Cleveland hasn't lost three straight since March 22-29, 2008.

James is averaging a career-high 3.8 turnovers, though he's also dish out a career-best 8.2 assists per game, and Cleveland is at its best when he's getting his teammates involved. The Cavaliers are 9-2 when he has at least nine assists, and 7-1 when he attempts 17 shots or fewer.

The production of point guard Mo Williams, Cleveland's second-leading scorer at 16.8 points per game, has also been consequential to the Cavaliers' success. Cleveland is 11-2 if Williams hits 40 percent of his shots and 13-3 when he scores 12 points or more.

Williams averaged 22.5 points as the Cavaliers swept Portland (14-9) last season -- pouring in 33 in a 104-98 win at the Rose Garden on Jan. 21 -- but James has been Cleveland's catalyst against the Blazers at home. The reigning MVP has averaged 27.7 points in leading the Cavaliers to a 6-0 record during his career when Portland visits, finishing with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a 97-92 overtime victory March 19.

Three of James' 25 career triple-doubles have come against the Blazers.

Portland, meanwhile, has had to lean even more on its multitalented All-Star recently with its lineup depleted by injury. The Blazers lost Rudy Fernandez (sciatic pain), Greg Oden (knee) and even coach Nate McMillan to a ruptured Achilles' last week, and had lost four of five heading to Indiana on Wednesday.

Brandon Roy had averaged 25.0 points during that rough patch, but another big effort against the Pacers paid off. The 2007 rookie of the year had 29 points, seven rebounds and five assists in lifting Portland to a 101-92 win.

"I could almost fall asleep when (Roy's) got the ball," said assistant Dean Demopoulos, who's assuming head coaching duties while McMillan recovers. "That's how comfortable I feel with him. He always comes through."

Like the Cavaliers' success when James involves his teammates more, the Blazers don't typically thrive on Roy's big games -- they're 3-5 when he scores 25 points or more.

Roy has averaged 19.4 points on 40.5 percent shooting in his career against Cleveland.

Portland's biggest advantage may be up front, where Shaquille O'Neal has been battling foul trouble lately and J.J. Hickson has averaged just 2.9 points in the Cavaliers' seven losses.

Hickson and reserve Anderson Varejao will likely draw duty on Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge, who's averaged 23.0 points in his last two games against the Cavaliers.

Must win no excuses.

Upcoming games

POR
@OKC
NJ
@PHI
MIL

We gotta win all of them because our schedule gets brutal after this:

Sun, Dec 20 @ Dallas
Mon, Dec 21 @ Phoenix
Wed, Dec 23 @ Sacramento
Fri, Dec 25 @ LA Lakers
Sun, Dec 27 Houston
Tue, Dec 29 @ Atlanta
Wed, Dec 30 Atlanta

I say Mike Brown won't be our coach in 2010 and Shaq'll get traded.

If we don't win this game we got some serious problems. I don't think we lost 3 straight games all of last year.

Won't be easy either because POR is a good team.

Good luck tonight guys. As a Blazer fan i was hoping that you guys would have won last game because i figure there is no way you will lose 3 in a row, especially with this one at home. Always fun to watch and see how are guys respond to playing the most talented players in the NBA, and tonight we get to see the most talented. We played tough @ Cleveland last year, but with injuries it will most likely be a blowout tonight.

Either way i hope its at least entertaining and Portland at least plays hard. I do have a couple questions though:
1.) Do you guys think Shaq was the guy you needed to put you over the top?
and
2.) What do you guys think the Blazers need to do to make the next step like you guys have?

Apparently Mo and Andy are both sick.

Boobie is also questionable.

whatchaknow wrote:
Either way i hope its at least entertaining and Portland at least plays hard. I do have a couple questions though:
1.) Do you guys think Shaq was the guy you needed to put you over the top?
and
2.) What do you guys think the Blazers need to do to make the next step like you guys have?

1) I'm starting to have my doubts. I was pleased with how Shaq was looking overall prior to his shoulder injury. Since then he has looked awful though on both ends. I think father time might be catching up to him, but against teams with dominant bigs (LA, ORL) he will still be very valuable.

2) If I'm the Blazers, I consolidate some depth for a star player. You guys have alot of good, young, talented players - but combining some of that for 1 star player to put alongside Roy/Aldridge could be interesting.

whatchaknow wrote:Good luck tonight guys. As a Blazer fan i was hoping that you guys would have won last game because i figure there is no way you will lose 3 in a row, especially with this one at home. Always fun to watch and see how are guys respond to playing the most talented players in the NBA, and tonight we get to see the most talented. We played tough @ Cleveland last year, but with injuries it will most likely be a blowout tonight.

Either way i hope its at least entertaining and Portland at least plays hard. I do have a couple questions though:
1.) Do you guys think Shaq was the guy you needed to put you over the top?
and
2.) What do you guys think the Blazers need to do to make the next step like you guys have?

No. He might've got us closer (at least he'd help with slowing down Dwight, although we're paying a big price for his main use to just be slowing down other Cs) but the current team is worse than at least 2-3 other teams IMO.

Get healthy, lol. With the emergence of Oden, I think a healthy Blazers team would make a strong push for the 2 seed in the West. But anyway, I'm really not sure now. If Oden hadn't gone down for the season I think an upgrade at SF (Butler? Gay?) and possibly a backup PF would be a big help. That kinda goes out the window though - with the uncertainly with Oden, a backup center might be a necessity. Him going down - especially considering how well he was playing - really puts the Blazers in a tough situation IMO.

edit: ^^ yeah that's why I was suggesting Butler or Gay. Depth is a good thing to have, but being TOO deep can turn into a problem if you want to be a legit title contender.

Yeah the injuries are killer, more annoying than anything. If it does bring one positive though its that we get to see what Bayless is all about, the kids been playing really good lately. I agree that we need a Rudy Gay/Caron Butler type but Blazer fans/management are so big on Batum that im not sure if they would be willing to do something like that.

The Shaq thing for you guys just didnt feel right to me. It seemed like Shag would just clog that lane for Bron every time he drove. Now ill admit that i dont watch a lot of Cavs games, but 2 of the times i have (Loss to Raptors and Loss to Celts) this has been the case. I also didnt think defending Dwight was the biggest issue for you guys last year, i thought it was the matchups with Lewis. Its tough to guard those stretch 4s. I thought you guys needed a younger version of Z, for instance Kristic or Okur, guys like that instead of Shaq. Overall though i dont think it was that bad of a move because worse case hes one and done and you guys can move on.

Nothing like playing the Blazers to turn around your woes

CLE is doing alright early but giving up too many open jumpers

Does Cleveland have more than 2 offensive plays. Is the bench that inept just because Boobie is out?!

Not looking good at the moment.

Mike Brown needs to be fired!

3rd quarter will be critical. We will see what this team is made of.

Lebron just made one of the most amazing passes I've ever seen. Sick touch pass to Varejao on the fast break.

I didn't watch the first half and based on the responses I'm glad I didn't. Watching Up was a much better idea [watch it asap if you haven't!!]

But now I'm watching and all I can say is.....Shaq

This lack of effort against the lesser teams is really disturbing.

Lebron is basically winning this game for us by himself.

Good sign that the defense picked up though

Did Austin just say that someone was caught with their foot in the cookie jar?

Great sign. They should see now they need effort every night. Talent alone wont cut it. Huge wipe by Lebron right there.