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..........the Cavs in the playoffs.

Their bench are way much better than ours.

Looks like Ben Wallace is back to the way he was before.

Delonte West is starting??? Unbelievable.

Discuss....

We'll take them in the second round. We have to play well, but I don't think they are an offensive juggernaut. I also don't see how they matchup against pierce and allen.

I look forward to it however.

delonte is a stud. rondo vs west would be fun.

jfs1000d wrote:We'll take them in the second round. We have to play well, but I don't think they are an offensive juggernaut. I also don't see how they matchup against pierce and allen.

I look forward to it however.

I don't see how we match up with LeBron. Oh yea I forgot, no one can

jfs1000d wrote:We'll take them in the second round. We have to play well, but I don't think they are an offensive juggernaut. I also don't see how they matchup against pierce and allen.

I look forward to it however.

lebrons a pretty good defender, hopfully he could slow down pierce a bit maybe.
last year sasha completly shut down VC and rip hamilton in the playoffs, hopfully he can do it again, for us of course.

i dunno i just want the playoffs to start

LeBron never stuck me as a good defender. Remember that OT battle between LeBron and Paul where Paul had 50 and lebron had like 45? Both of those guys are so good offensively that they are impossible to stop some nights. I think Pierce has picked up his defense some this year, but we really need a team effort to stop James. Concentrating on LBJ worked for the Spurs last year, we'll see if his supporting cast is good enough to make other teams pay for doing so.

Rocky5000 wrote:LeBron never stuck me as a good defender. Remember that OT battle between LeBron and Paul where Paul had 50 and lebron had like 45? Both of those guys are so good offensively that they are impossible to stop some nights. I think Pierce has picked up his defense some this year, but we really need a team effort to stop James. Concentrating on LBJ worked for the Spurs last year, we'll see if his supporting cast is good enough to make other teams pay for doing so.

no, no... this year im talking about lebrons defense. you need to watch the games to see it though. hes really improved... or unless that game came this year where i cant remember lol. but both pierce and lebron has both stepped up the D big time this year. should be interesting.

This Wed should be a great game. You guys will probably win because you are at home and we will be playing on b2b nights.

LeBron is a good defender. He has really picked up his intensity in that department. It should come as no surprise as well, I mean the man has all the natural ability to be a great defender. He is tall, strong, very athletic and he has long arms. There is no reason for him not to be a great defender. He plays lock-down defense in the 2nd half of games.

I really like our team after the trade. We didn't add a guy like KG, Gasol, Kidd, etc but we added a bunch of smaller pieces to our team that we really needed. I thought Cleveland needed 3 things heading into the trade deadline...

1. A solid PG
2. Another shooter
3. 1 extra big man

They got all 3 of those. West is a good combo guard to put next to LeBron, Wally can hit the 3 coming off the bench, and Joe Smith is that extra big man that we needed for depth. If Ben Wallace can give us what he gave us tonight on a nightly basis, then that would be huge as well.

Bottom line is that there are 3 legit teams in the East and any of those 3 can make it to the NBA Finals. I have nothing but respect for you guys this year. You are certainly one of the best teams in the NBA.

I honestly thought the move they made was a good one. Smith is better than Gooden. Delonte's a good fit with Lebron, and Wally will get a ton of looks that Newble and Hughes couldn't knock down.

I think the series would go 7 and I hope we wouldn't have to play them until the ECF's. It's just a tough matchup for us because Paul and Ray aren't great defenders, Tony can't play that much and is a little short to play Lebron, and if Pierce does dig in his offense might suffer.

................Hows this, We have to beat whoever we are against in the playoffs. Or else we have to go home. Change the avatar also.

I think you'd be naive to think one series can't affect the next one. Why do you think the Pistons and Florida Marlins have rings?

I like this deal for CLE beyond this season, if you make your mind up that Hughes and Gooden aren't part of your future they did what they had to do. But with the idea of facing Boston or Detroit in a playoff series this kind of sucks.

The only true SG they have is Devon Brown, not a guy that is going to be in the top 8 of championship team. I like Wally more than most but not at the SG spot. Ray Allen and Rip will be tough for them to stay with. And overall their guards are really bad defensive players save for West who is an effort guy who has match up issues at either guard spot.

While Wallace should be a defensive upgrade for Gooden, that isn't saying a whole lot, beyond that guarding KG and Sheed is going to be a nightmare for him. He doesn't give them significantly better rebounding and Gooden gave them an offensive presence down low if inconsistent. He actually is the player that was giving Boston the most trouble. While Joe Smith can replace some of that the problem is you can only play one guy. They took two flawed players and traded them for four guys, who while combined might provide more, are going to give CLE less as individuals.

I just don't see how getting older, slower, and less athletic is going to help CLE get over the hump.

I thought Gooden was the guy that killed us. He is way better than Big Ben offensively.