Game 4: Cavs @ Mavericks - Mon, Nov 3, 8:30pm [FSN-OH]

[LoveThemCavs]

@

Game Date: Monday, November 3rd, 2008
Game Time: 8:30 P.M. ET
Location: American Airlines Center
TV: FOX Sports Ohio HD
Radio: WTAM 1100

Probable Lineups
Cleveland
PG- Mo Williams
SG- Delonte West
SF- LeBron James
PF- Ben Wallace
C- Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Dallas
PG- Jason Kidd
SG- Antoine Wright
SF- Josh Howard
PF- Dirk Nowitzki
C- Erick Dampier

Cavs need a big win tonight to avoid starting off 0-3 on the road. Granted Boston, New Orleans and Dallas are pretty damn good home teams.

LTC's keys of the game
-LeBron- It sure would be nice to see one of those dominant performances again. I don't mind the all around game, but without his scoring the team is in trouble. As bad as he's been from the FT line too, only getting to the line 2 times in a game is inexcusable.
-Turnovers- So damn many of them for the Cavs already, they have to clean this mess up. Dallas will get many easy buckets tonight if this keeps up.
-3 point shooting- I don't really consider this to be key against many teams. Tonight, IMO we'll need all we can get from Boobie, Delonte and Mo from outside.

[Rise Against]

LeBron needs to break out of his shooting slump.. That would be a key.

[LoveThemCavs]

Delonte having one hell of a game so far. Cavs limiting the turnovers so far too, I like how they're playing. Now if they can just keep it up. Cavs by 12.

[LoveThemCavs]

How come there is no talk on here when the Cavs are doing well? Shaky second quarter, but overall solid first half. LeBron's shot is off still with his shot, but he's alot more aggressive tonight. The rebounding is a big difference in this game. The Cavs are only at plus 7, but it seems more than that by what I'm watching(probably 'cause we had 13 offensive boards). Z and Delonte both had a good first half. Ben Wallace even has 11 rebounds already. Mike Brown has shortened his rotation to 8 tonight so far. Now lets avoid that dreaded third quarter collapse.

[TheOUTLAW]

The Cavs have had solid first quarters in every game. But they always seem to find a way to give it away (or at least so far). LeBron has been a bit less than inspiring as well.

[TheOUTLAW]

Actually, LeBron appears to still be playing like crap. I'm not sure that the long breaks work for him.

[TheOUTLAW]

Cavs are outscored 9-4 in the first 3 minutes of the 3rd. This is exactly why nobody cares that the Cavs start a game off well. They always do and then look like crap at the beginning of the second half.

[TheOUTLAW]

I wonder if other teams are being called for traveling as much as the Cavs? I swear that there are at least 5 against them each game.

It looks like LeBron might have finally woken up. He's only 5/15 and can't make a shot outside of 5 ft, but he's being more aggressive.

The Cavs have almost given up their entire 9 pt halftime lead. Boy this team stinks in the 3rd.

[HouMac]

There's something seriously not right with LeBron. I'd say he's declined as an athlete...but that would be ridiculous for a 23 year old. But watching him so far this season, there's an obvious lack of bounce to his game. He's neither exploding off the ground nor off the dribble. W/O those 2 things LeBron's unrecognizeable from the dominant player we know. I hope this is just a case of fatigue and early season rust.

[TheOUTLAW]

My problem is that he really can't make anything outside the paint. I think he's made only 1 or 2 outside shots so far this season. Ordinarily he's actually a respectable shooter when he gets his feet set. He's terrible this season.

Decent 3rd quarter for the Cavs. Only gave up 3 points of their lead. Normally they'd have given up all 9 and been behind by about 4 by now.

[TheOUTLAW]

The Cavs push the lead out to 10 in the first minute + of the 4th quarter.

By the way, what happened to Delonte? I'm pretty sure he hasn't been in the game in quite a while.

[TheOUTLAW]

I know I've said it before, but I swear the Cavs play better without LeBron (except the first quarter).

[LoveThemCavs]

Great job by the Cavs to push this to 20 point lead. Mo Williams was on fiyah..The bench is psyched too, love seeing that.

[LoveThemCavs]

Great defense this fourth quarter. 21-5 score in the fourth and the starters pulled out. I'll take 2-2. Alot of good things for us in this game.

[bcortell]

LOL only Ben Wallace can post 0 points, 13 rebounds, and 0 assists.

[TheOUTLAW]

What's funny is that Wallace missed 4 point blank shots.

[Rise Against]

Finally another solid win.. Well played in the 4th quarter but it seems that the 3rd is still our Kryptonite. A much better game by LeBron even though his field goal percentage wasn't what I'm expecting. Great games by West, Big Z, Mo Will, and who else but the intangible guy, Big Ben. Oh and Wally had a pretty solid game off the bench. Not to mention, we held Dirk to just 8 points on 3-11 shooting. Great job defensively.

[Baseline Runner]

What a game by the Cavs, to blow out one of the better teams in the league on the road. That game was a good taste of what the Cavs are capable of. Our depth really shown too with everyone having a great game.

My player of the game: Ben Wallace, for completely shutting down Nowitzki making him a nonfactor, along with pulling offensive rebounds left and right.

[rjgraca]

Nice to see Mo take charge and make the game easier for Lebron in beating a good team on the road.

It's Not Just LeBron Any More

"I think the pieces are in place here," says head coach Mike Brown. "I really like this team. Once we're where I think we need to be we'll have a good chance. I'm looking forward to it. It's not going to happen right away, but I always take things one game, one practice, one day at a time. If we take that to heart then come playoff time we'll be ready to go."

"We have some very nice pieces," agrees LeBron James. "I think with Mo Williams and the veterans guys in Ben Wallace and Z (Ilgauskas). . . .Daniel (Gibson) has gotten better every year, and Delonte (West) is a very good piece . . and Andy (Varejao). We have some depth, and then you're always going to have a chance as long as I'm in uniform. We're always going to be a team that you have to worry about."

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=10458

[LoveThemCavs]

Varejao was very active last night as well with 4 steals and plenty of hustle plays. The best parts of this game though were LeBron making 13-15 free throws, the team dominated the glass(plus 17 and 18 offensive boards) and the Cavs had 10 turnovers. Did you guys like the shortened rotation? Pavlovic and Hickson/Wright didn't see the floor until garbage time. Everyone but Boobie played pretty good. Also no one has mentioned the Wally dunk. I didn't think he had any of that left in him.