Cleveland Cavaliers (27-20) vs Houston Rockets (28-20)
Toyota Center, Houston, TX
Thursday, February 7, 2008
8:00 PM EST
TNT/WTAM
Tonight the Cavaliers play their final road game against Western Conference opponents this season. I know, that’s hard to believe, and I had to double check that fact like 10 times, but it’s true. After tonight, the Cavaliers do not play a single road game against the West. Meanwhile, the injuries keep piling up for the Cavaliers, but even while shedding depth they still manage to keep finding ways to win. Drew Gooden travelled with the team and is expected to dress for the game. For the purposes of this preview, I will go ahead and just assume he is starting tonight. This will be another difficult challenge for the Cavaliers as they face a very solid Western Conference team.
Starting Lineups
Cleveland Cavaliers:
-G Larry Hughes (10.5 ppg, 2.4 apg, 32.6 3-pt%, 10.66 PER)
-G Ira Newble (3.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.3 apg, 10.89 PER)
-F LeBron James (30.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 7.3 apg, 30.12 PER)
-F Drew Gooden (11.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 0.6 bpg, 12.91 PER)
-C Zydrunas Ilgauskas (14.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 1.6 bpg, 19.45 PER)
Houston Rockets:
-G Rafer Alston (11.6 ppg, 5.4 apg, 1.3 spg, 12.24 PER)
-G Tracy McGrady (22.3 ppg, 5.4 apg, 33.6 3-pt%, 20.38 PER)
-F Shane Battier (8.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.8 apg, 11.37 PER)
-F Luis Scola (8.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 0.2 bpg, 14.74 PER)
-C Yao Ming (22.0 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 2.2 bpg, 22.95 PER)
Team Efficiency Stats
Cleveland Cavaliers:
-Offense (97.3 ppg, 44.4 rpg, .438 fg%, .723 ft%, 19.4 apg, Efficiency-102.5, Rank-17)
-Defense (97.9 ppg, 40.9 rpg, .461 fg%, Efficiency-103.3, Rank-14)
Houston Rockets:
-Offense (95.7 ppg, 44.1 rpg, .446 fg%, .727 ft%, 21.3 apg, Efficiency-101.8, Rank-19)
-Defense (93.4 ppg, 40.6 rpg, .438 fg%, Efficiency-99.7, Rank-2)
Game Notes
This one should be another great game. These two teams are very evenly matched, from their efficiency stats to their records. With a win, the Cavaliers can finish at 10-5 on the road against the West this season, a testament to just how well the Cavaliers have played on the road against the superior conference. This one will be tough to win, however, as the team must deal with the long journey to Houston and the injuries affecting the roster.
For the Cavaliers, they really just need to keep doing what they’re doing. Since January 11th the Cavaliers are scoring 104.5 points per game. That number is second best in the East over that span. Their FG% and 3-pt% are up over this stretch as well. It’s been surprising to see how well the team has been playing offensively, and frankly a lot of it has to do with the surprising “resurgance (?)” of Larry Hughes. He’s finally started to contribute double digit points (and closer to 20 than 10) on a much more consistent basis, and it has made the Cavaliers offense that much better because of it.
Houston is another team who has had to deal with their fair share of injuries this season. It seems like every time this team gets on any kind of a roll they are struck down by a nagging injury of some sort to someone. However, the Rockets come into this game fairly healthy, missing only Steve Francis (who’s been out since December with a season ending surgery) and Luther Head. The Cavaliers just finished playing the NBA’s best defensive team, the Celtics, and now they must face the NBA’s 2nd best defensive team in the Rockets. The Cavaliers’ offense is better than the Rockets offense while the Rockets defense is better than the Cavaliers defense, so once again simple logic would dictate that the game will be decided when the Cavs have the ball.
Which is a good thing when you have LeBron James on your team. In his last five games, LeBron has averaged 35.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 6.4 assists. He will be going for his 4th straight double-double tonight, which would be a career first. So once again, the goal of LeBron and the rest of the Cavs should be to try to keep this game close for 3 quarters, and then let LeBron do his thing and take this game over in the 4th. It won’t be easy, but this another one of those games that had better be a winnable game if you want to take yourself seriously as a contender for the NBA Championship.
Vegas Line
Houston -5
Over/Under 184
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