Cavs Head to South Florida
By Cody Norman
At 23-20 the Miami Heat hold the fifth best record in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland, however, holds the best record in the league and has played very well on the road this season.
Here’s how the two teams match up:
Rafer Alston v. Daniel Gibson
Rafer Alston put up very steady numbers against the Cavaliers last season in the Eastern Conference Finals. But he doesn’t have Dwight Howard to attract all the attention down low this season and is not shooting the basketball with much consistency this season. Daniel Gibson, however, shook off his early nerves on Saturday night and was able to come up with a rather productive game for the Wine and Gold. His three bomb in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter was clutch and his defense late in the game was just spectacular. Neither team has an obvious advantage on paper at the point guard position so it all comes down to taking care of the basketball.
Advantage: Daniel Gibson
Dwyane Wade v. Anthony Parker
This player matchup seems like an obvious advantage for the Miami Heat. And that’s a fair assumption considering that Wade is averaging a solid 27 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and about 2 steals per contest. However, Anthony Parker has done a spectacular job guarding some of the league’s premier superstars. He forced Kobe Bryant into two miserable shooting performances and went to work on Kevin Durant the other night against OKC. As long as AP is able to contain Dwyane Wade on Monday night, the Cavs are the undeniable favorite against the Heat.
Advantage: Dwyane Wade
Quentin Richardson v. LeBron James
This section really needs no explanation at all. LeBron James is absolutely ridiculous and Quentin Richardson was acquired by nearly every team in the NBA during this past offseason. Not to mention the King has been on a tear as of late and will come out looking to draw first blood again on Monday night.
Advantage: LeBron James
Michael Beasley v. JJ Hickson
In his second year out of Kansas State, Michael Beasley has grown into the second best player on the Miami Heat. His 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game provide a steady attack behind Wade and he can step out and hit the long range jump shots. No doubt Beasley poses a huge match up problem for Cleveland as long as JJ Hickson on the floor so Anderson Varejao will probably be handling much of the power forward duties in this contest. I will say, though, that Hickson has been playing much better basketball since the midseason reports came out. Think he reads the Gospel?
Advantage: Michael Beasley
Jermaine O’Neal v. Shaquille O’Neal
At 6’11” and 255 pounds, Jermaine O’Neal has a huge disadvantage against the Diesel. Shaq is coming off arguably his most dominate performance in a Cavalier uniform and will be looking to build off that effort with West and Williams still shelved due to injury. Jermaine O’Neal can hit the fifteen-foot jump shot rather consistently so he may look to draw the Big Fella away from the bucket as much as possible. However, Shaq has a major advantage on the offensive side of the floor.
Advantage: Shaquille O’Neal
Prediction
I don’t know about you guys but I almost felt like I was watching a 25 year old Shaquille O’Neal play against the OKC Thunder on Saturday night. Jermaine O’Neal certainly does not match up well with the
Big Fella so he may be in for another huge scoring performance.
O’Neal starts the game off scoring 8 of the team’s first 10 points and pours in 13 altogether in the first period. LeBron James adds a 6 point-6 assist performance in the early going and the Cavs hold a commanding 35-22 lead after one.
Dwyane Wade sparks a late first half rally and his three point bucket as time expires cuts the Cavs’ lead to just a deuce heading into the break.
Michael Beasley and Jermaine O’Neal come out hot in the second half and torch Cleveland for a 12-3 run to open the third quarter but James brings his squad climbin’ back. Before sitting down for a quick breather after three quarters of play, James punishes the Miami defense for 14 consecutive Cavalier points and has his team back up by four heading into the final period.
Wade leads an early fourth quarter push but is slowed down by the King’s return to action. The two super stars put on quite the show for 20,000+ in attendance and the game is knotted at 97 with just under a minute to play.
Cleveland’s superstar brings the ball up the floor and hands off to Daniel Gibson before getting the ball back on the right wing. He dribbles back out toward half court and switches direction with four seconds on the shot clock. LeBron walks into a deep three point attempt and cans the bomb to put Cleveland up three with 40 seconds left. Wade comes right back down and drills a tre to retie the game at 100.
With 20 seconds left on the clock, Cleveland holds for the final shot and the King attacks the rack with eight seconds remaining. After being mauled by Beasley on a layup attempt (and not getting the call), JJ Hickson skies to snag the rebound attempt and flushes home the tip dunk as time expires to give the Cavs a 102-100 victory in dramatic fashion.
Wade walks off the floor looking like Brett Favre after he choked in the Championship and the Cavs do their best New Orleans impression and mob Hickson under the basket.
Who dat say the Cavs ain’t bad? Who dat? Who dat? What?!
CAVS WIN +2
Tune in to the Wine & Gold Podcast tonight with Brendan Bowers and Glenn Moore.