CAVS.SPACE

Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers went a dismal 7-34 on the road. Aside from an early season win at Philadelphia and a late season win at New York, the Cavs struggled immensely on the road. At home, their 12-29 record included some clear signature wins, including the season opener against the Celtics, the losing streak ending overtime thriller against the Clippers, and a pair of 'vengeance' wins versus the Lakers and the Heat. Entering Sunday's game at Boston, the Cavs were 4-7 on the road this season. Wins at Minnesota and Phoenix and close games at Indiana and Miami already showed that the team was much better prepared for road games this year, but the team still needed a signature road win under Byron Scott. Tonight, the Cavs finally won such a game. In franchise history, the Cavaliers have always struggled to beat the Boston Celtics. Entering tonight, the team had a 68-113 record all-time against the Celtics, including losing four out of five playoff series. The

With the 1st quarter of the regular season just about over, it is time to re-evaluate comparative team chemistry across the NBA. There still appear to be three tiers of team chemistry: the best (1st thru 10th), the next best (11th thru 23rd), and the rest (24th thru 30th). It should be noted that the Washington Wizards were an easy pick for 30th, as they entered Tuesday night with a 1-12 record and are getting outscored by 11.9 points per game. Here are the updated team chemistry rankings (preseason rankings are in parentheses; end of last season rankings are in brackets). Further explanations are listed below the rankings. Oklahoma City Thunder (1) [2] Portland Trail Blazers (11) [6] San Antonio Spurs (3) [5] Philadelphia 76ers (13) [14] Chicago Bulls (7) [9] Indiana Pacers (6) [7] Memphis Grizzlies (2) [3] Atlanta Hawks (10) [10] Denver Nuggets (26) [25] Phoenix Suns (4) [8] Utah Jazz (27) [21] Cleveland Cavaliers (20) [26] Orlando Magic (14) [23] Los Angeles Clippe

The 4-3 Cleveland Cavaliers face their toughest test of the season thus far in facing the 5-2 Portland Trail Blazers.  Based on their early season play, a number of analysts consider the Trail Blazers a possible "Cinderella team" in this lockout-shortened season.  However, the Cavaliers have played well in all games against opponents not named the Toronto Raptors (more on this in a future article), taking a comparable Indiana Pacers squad to overtime.  Here are some observations heading into tonight's game. >  Gerald Wallace: Wallace has averaged 20.6 points per game in 5 Blazers wins this season.  In 2 losses, he scored only 1 point.  While holding him scoreless is probably asking too much, Omri Casspi and Alonzo Gee are strong enough defenders to help keep him in check.  It will be interesting to see how they cover him tonight. >  Raymond Felton: In looking to speed up their offensive play, Portland swapped former Cavalier Andre Miller for younger rising poi

*Originally published on Yahoo! Contributor Network in 2012. From 1999-2011, Phil Jackson coached the Los Angeles Lakers for 11 of 12 seasons.  His teams won 5 NBA Championships in 7 Finals appearances during that span.  With that said, Lakers’ personnel, media, and fans have set the highest of standards at which to evaluate new head coach Mike Brown. To his credit, Brown has a strong track record.  After rising up the ranks as an assistant coach under Bernie Bickerstaff, Gregg Popovich, and Rick Carlisle, Brown spent 5 seasons as the head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Each season, the Cavaliers advanced to at least the second round of the playoffs.  The Cavs were eliminated by either the NBA champions or the Finals runners-up in 4 of 5 appearances, including a sweep at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs in the 2007 Finals. With much criticism and skepticism surrounding Brown’s hiring, there are four main areas of the Lakers’ performance to evaluate going forward: defe

The Cleveland Cavaliers won their second straight game to start the new year, defeating the visiting Charlotte Bobcats, 115-101 .  Here are some observations about the Cavaliers' performance from tonight's game. Positives >Moved the ball around well and had balanced scoring again tonight: 5 players in double-digits, 3 players with 8-9 points >Countered against Charlotte's strong shot-blocking defense by pushing the ball and running the floor in the second half >Hustled back on fastbreak defense today, with key stops including Kyrie Irving's block in the third quarter >Held the Bobcats' Boris Diaw scoreless in 18 minutes >Limited the opposing bench's guards to 6 points >Irving, Antawn Jamison, and Tristan Thompson were very aggressive in attacking the rim >Alonzo Gee and Ryan Hollins did a good job when called upon to substitute on defense >Omri Casspi adjusted his coverage on Corey Maggette in the second half, playing back to