Tribe players have reported to Goodyear, Arizona for Spring Training as the season of America’s Pastime is just around the corner. But before we get too amped up for Grady Sizemore and the crew, Monday night marks another day of Cavaliers basketball.
The New York Knickerbockers will be in town and will likely be trying to butter up to our King. And that ain’t cool with me. If the Knicks actually had a relatively decent team, I might hate them, their fans and their media knuckleheads more than I hate the Celtics.
But they don’t. And that’s why Cleveland will be A-OK without your boy, the Diesel, in there for a while. But here’s how the two team’s matchup:
Sergio Rodriguez vs. Mo Williams
Between Thursday night’s schu-lappin’ of the Boston Celtics and the thrilling OT victory in Toronto on Friday, Mo Williams seems to have rediscovered that sweet stroke we’ve seen in spurts this season. Since coming over in a trade from Sacramento, Sergio Rodriguez has played solid (by his standards) basketball posting 7.8 points a night and has come up with more than 2.6 steals per game. Even during his poor shooting stretches, Mo Williams averages over 7.8 points and should have very few problems against Rodriguez on Monday night. I expect Mo to have a coming out party in front of “the best fans in the NBA.” I’m predicting 30+ tonight.
Advantage: Mo Williams
Tracy McGrady vs. Anthony Parker
Tracy McGrady is scoring right at 14 points a night since joining the Knicks just five games ago but has shot the basketball very poorly from beyond the arc. As he has done against tougher opponents this season, I would expect Anthony Parker to turn McGrady into a jump shooter. If T-Mac can knock down the jumpers, he could be in for a breakout performance. If not, it’ll be a long night for him and the Knicks.
Advantage: Tracy McGrady
Wilson Chandler vs. LeBron James
Wilson Chandler is one of two players (the other being David Lee) that has seen action in all 58 games this season and has performed rather well. He is averaging more than 15 points and 5 rebounds a night for the league’s second-worst team but there’s just no way he can matchup with the best player in the world, LeBron James. The King has been known to step up when his team is hindered by injuries and, after losing Shaquille O’Neal to an injured thumb, I am preparing myself for another segment of “How Did He Do That?!” tonight. Do I hear a triple-double?
Advantage: LeBron James
Danilo Gallinari vs. Antawn Jamison
There’s been a lot of talk that Danilo Gallinari might be the young “star” that the Knicks are going to use to attract the King to the Big Apple at season’s end. But his 13.7 points and 5.1 rebounds a night don’t qualify for that “star” status. And Antawn Jamison knows a thing or two about being something of a superstar. Jamison seems much more comfortable on both sides of floor and is looking like the Stretch-4 we thought we were getting when we traded for AJ. I’m looking for another big night of maybe 20-and-10 for the UNC alum on Monday night.
**Note: For those of you keeping track, that’s three guys that I’m predicting to have big nights tonight. Call me crazy but I’m feeling about 130-140 points from the Cavaliers tonight.**
Advantage: Antawn Jamison
David Lee vs. Anderson Varejao
David Lee is averaging a double-double for the Knickerbockers this season at 20.4 points and 11.5 rebounds a night. He was New York’s only representative in Dallas for this year’s All-Star game. (Wait a minute, the first place Cavaliers and the nearly-last place Knicks sent the same amount of representatives to the All-Star game this season? What a joke.) Anderson Varejao will be getting his second straight start as Shaq recovers from an injured thumb and will get the bulk of his minutes at the center position. I don’t expect Andy to just go off completely but he will certainly make his presence felt on the defensive end, limiting Lee’s touches and playing a huge role in Monday night’s victory.
Advantage: Anderson Varejao
New York Bench vs. Cleveland Bench
Do I really need to do this one? The Knicks will bring Al Harrington, Eddie House and Chris Duhon off the bench for big time minutes. But those three guys can’t handle Delonte West, Leon Powe, JJ “The Baby Bull” Hickson and the rest of the Cavalier bench. Cleveland is just too deep.
Advantage: Cleveland Bench
Prediction:
As our Tribe prepares for their season in the home of the Shaqtus (who doesn’t just love the new Shaquille O’Neal-Shaqtus commercial?), the Quicken Loans Arena will play home of the Shaq-less on Monday night.
But that’s okay. When injuries arise, our Cavaliers don’t put their heads down and sulk. They go after their opponents and rattle off thirteen straight wins. Or because Mike Brown always says, “One game, one day at a time,” they’ll rattle off four straight wins.
From Shaqtus to Shaqless
LeBron James starts the game as the wealthy distributor and hands his crown to Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison for a quarter or two. Meanwhile, the King picks up assist after assist after assist and is sitting at six points, 11 assists and eight rebounds through the first half. The only problem is, the Cavs only hold a 64-61 advantage.
And three points just is not enough for LeBron. The King singlehandedly outscores the crummy Knicks in the third period and disappears for the night with 27 points, 12 assists and 11 boards – a la triple double.
Mike Brown elects to stick with Prince Mo Williams and one Antawn Jamison to handle the scoring duties for the rest of the night as the Cavs coast the rest of the way with a 20+ point advantage. Mo goes off for 31 points (19 in the first half) as Jamison scores 21 and snags 10 ‘bounds in the winning effort.