CAVS.SPACE

The NBA Playoffs have been pretty good thus far.

"Boobie" Gibson, meet Delonte West. Delonte, Boobie. Both are combo guards that left college early for NBA success. Both players have skills and mentalities better suited for the shooting guard position, but both have the size of an NBA point guard. Thus, Gibson and West are working on becoming better point guards while not losing their shooting guard abilities. In light of this, the two would make good training partners throughout the playoffs, in the offseason, and for the road ahead. Pairing the two together would greatly help each player to develop. Although they are similar players in similar situations, Gibson and West have different primary strengths and different professional basketball experiences. West has played mostly as a point guard since entering the league. On the other hand, Gibson has seen much time as a two-guard with another point guard in the game running the offense. While Gibson has the better ballhandling skills, West has a better understand

The title reads a wise saying that has become somewhat cliched. Quite possibly, in the Washington Wizards' cases, the repetition of such a saying has caused the players to ignore the phrase completely. This has been evident in the first couple games of the series. Gilbert Arenas and DeShawn Stevenson have continuously spoken about their individual and team superiority over the Cavaliers, yet they and their teammates have failed to match the Cavaliers' performance. After losing the opening game, last night was a great opportunity for the Wizards to fight back and take back some of the momentum in the series. Yet, they did not capitalize on a solid start to the game. Once the Cavs took control, the Wizards displayed frustration that clearly outweighed their words of confidence. Seeing victory slipping away, Gilbert Arenas set an illegal pick by sticking out his foot and tripping up Delonte West. Brendan Haywood surrendered to the pressure in a much worse manner, shoving

Positives Ben Wallace looked a lot more relaxed as he finally revealed his Afro for the first time as a Cavalier Delonte West and Daniel Gibson played very well together; each had 5 assists LeBron James put together another outstanding 4th Quarter Zydrunas Ilgauskas exhibited some toughness and leadership in pushing James out of the way during the end-of-half skirmish; Z then stepped forward in the faces of the Wizards Coach Mike Brown also stepped in the front of the skirmish (as did Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan) to help keep order Both Wally Szczerbiak and Anderson Varejao looked and played more focused The team showed some emotion and defensive composure in taking control of the game in the 4th The Cavaliers capitalized on 1st Round home-court advantage for the 3rd year in a row Negatives Ben Wallace needs to show proficiency in making easy baskets The Wizards kept Joe Smith out of rhythm, which caused Coach Brown to limit his minutes The Cavs are still 3-point happy and need

If LeBron James is #2 in clutch play in the league, what does that make Gilbert Arenas? Perhaps Agent Zero is #0. He hit a nice shot at the end of the 1st Quarter, but the 1st Quarter did not win the game yesterday. Really, Arenas is a great player and he is respected by the Cavaliers. He needs to stop acting like they do not respect him and also needs to stop feeding the Cavs fuel. Otherwise, Agent Zero will continue to make Charles Barkley sound prophetic. Eastern Conference, 1st Round: Cleveland Cavaliers 1, Washington Wizards 0 . . . . . . more fun tomorrow . . .

Day 1 The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Washington Wizards renewed their rivalry through a tension-filled game. The San Antonio Spurs and the Phoenix Suns played a Conference Final-quality game. The 3 by Duncan was refreshing to see. The New Orleans Hornets came in ready to battle with the Dallas Mavericks. The Utah Jazz took advantage of the injury-plagued Houston Rockets. Day 2 The Orlando Magic came out firing and pulled out in front early over the Toronto Raptors. The Los Angeles Lakers kept enough breathing room in holding off the Denver Nuggets. The Detroit Pistons got caught off-guard by the Philadelphia 76ers. Philly showed that their good play did not end with their recent winning streak. The Boston Celtics are playing aggressively, as are the Atlanta Hawks. Boston wants to derail Atlanta's morale early in the series.

The Cavaliers won Game 1 93-86. The Wizards possibly blew the game at the end of the 1st Half, when a midcourt skirmish brought out the emotional energy that the Cavaliers have been lacking this season.

Ben Wallace just took the court, and the 'fro is back! Now, when the 'fro is out, he and Anderson Varejao actually can make it work and play at the same time.

The NBA Playoffs begin in a few minutes. Here are a few quick comments regarding the upcoming first round. -Spurs VS. Suns: Everyone knows the obvious stars (Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker; Nash, Shaq, and Stoudemire). At the same time, much was said about the Suns losing Shawn Marion in the Shaq trade. Marion was said to be the best defender on the team before leaving. Keep an eye on Boris Diaw. Just 2 years ago, such a big deal was made about the development of Diaw as an all-around defender and team player. Diaw just may be the player that can turn the tide in this matchup, as he will be one of the Suns guarding Ginobili. -Celtics VS. Hawks: It would be nice to see the Hawks steal Game 1. While it is pretty much a given that the Celtics will win the series, an Atlanta win would serve as a nice wake-up call/reality check. Simply making the playoffs has been a feel-good story for the Hawks. Then again, just a year ago the talk in Boston was about the football, baseball, and ho

With tonight's win, the Cavaliers will open the first-round series versus the Washington Wizards at Quicken Loans Arena. This is the third straight first-round series with the Wizards, as well as the third time in a row when the Cavs have home court advantage.

Yesterday, Mike Brown found some productivity when Daniel "Boobie" Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, and Anderson Varejao were on the court together. Today, he added Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Devin Brown to the mix. Their chemistry became evident quite quickly as they took control of the game in the 2nd quarter. The offense seemed very fluent, with everyone, especially Pavlovic, cutting and setting screens. It was clear that these five players had been on the team together for most of the year. It was a huge disappointment when Pavlovic hurt his ankle in the 2nd half. The team definitely lost momentum when he left. In the end, the Cavaliers needed a gutsy end-of-game foul call by the referees to help them pull out the victory. Regardless, hopefully Pavlovic gets well soon, because he served as a spark plug today for a lineup that made a very effective combination.

After tonight's victory, it is hard not to think of the Cavaliers as thieves. In an unprecedented instant replay situation, the referees added time to the clock in acknowledging that Devin Brown was fouled before the buzzer. Then, Brown calmly stepped to the line and hit both free throws to give the Cavs a one-point lead. With Z guarding the sideline, the Sixers were only able to get off a Hail Mary 3-pointer (which should not have counted anyway since there were only two-tenths of a second left). The ending resembled the Browns-Baltimore Ravens game from last football season, as the Sixers--like the Ravens--had to return to the court after already departing to the locker room. This seemed fitting, as LeBron James made a nice interception of a fast break lob in the 4th quarter.