This game sees the 4-2 Cleveland Cavaliers take on the 2-5 New York Knicks at Madison Square Gardens. The Knicks are going through a rather torrid time at the moment; despite being the team with the highest payroll, they had one of the worst records last season, and things don’t seem to be looking up this season. Head Coach, Isiah Thomas, has stated that hostile fans at the MSG are affecting their own teams play, to the extent that it is shaking up the best players. The Knicks lost to the San Antonio Spurs on Nov 11, making their record 2-5. The Cavaliers, however, had a spectacular comeback against the Boston Celtics, on the same night. At one stage of the game, they were down by 25 but came back to win the game 94-93, thanks to 38 points from LeBron James. [div=50%] <font color="#E86E32"> <u>PG</u> – Stephon Marbury Marbury is known for his short fuse and often his brilliant play. However, this play has often eluded him in New York and he will have to work to the pinnacle of his ability to carry the Knicks past LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. He is, however, matched up with Eric Snow, so he will not have to work too hard on defense, unless matched up with Larry Hughes. Hughes is likely to be defending him, so Stephon will have to work very hard on offense to keep the Knicks in the game. <u>SG</u> – Jamal Crawford Crawford is a very capable player, with the ability to take over any game at any given moment. He has the total package on offense as he can make his way to the rim and pull up for a jump shot from downtown. His defense is weaker than his offense, but it is not horrible. If he is matched up with Eric Snow, he may find he has to work hard on offense, but can relax a bit on defense.. <u>SF</u> – Quentin Richardson Richardson has the difficult task of being matched up with LeBron James. Like Crawford, Richardson is a very good offensive player with abilities ranging from a repertoire of dunks to precise shooting. His defense, however, is a problem, especially when dealing with players of LeBron James’ calibre. Nevertheless, he should receive help from his team in the form of double-teams on the King, in an effort to slow him down. He should, however, have a serious deterioration in his stats, given the fact that he will be attempting to contain LeBron James. <u>PF</u> – Channing Frye Frye had a decent rookie season, averaging 12 points and 6 rebounds per game. He is looking to continue that form, but is currently only averaging 3.4 points and 4 rebounds per contest. He will want to improve this, but I can’t see that happening against the in-form Forward Drew Gooden. <u>C</u> – Eddy Curry Eddy Curry is perhaps the Knicks’ main hope for this game. He should be matched up with the struggling Lithuanian Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who is having trouble with the plays he is being asked to perform. Curry, however, has started this season very well, and will be looking to use his sheer weight to his advantage against Ilgauskas. Due to issues with form, Curry should be the most productive of the two centers in this game. <u>Knicks’ Keys to winning the game</u> <ul> [*]Contain LeBron James. If you can make life difficult for LeBron, he will be forced to give the ball up to his slightly lesser able team-mates. It is also important to guard the other players tightly in order to make the potential pass as difficult as possible. [*]Force the Cavaliers to take jump shots. The Cavaliers thrive on their play in and around the basket so the solution is to prevent them from playing around the basket. Their options and production will fall if forced to shoot from outside, which the Knicks should try to do. [*]Rebound well and hard. The Cavaliers are the best rebounding team in the NBA this season, and they stop their opponents from getting too many. It should be an interesting affair but, if the Knicks can get a lot of rebounds, they should be able to stop the Cavaliers from getting too many second chance opportunities. [/list] </font> [/div] <font color="#B94056"> <u>PG</u> – Eric Snow Snow is a very defensive minded point guard. He should be able to decrease the productivity of the player whom he guards. I expect that to be Jamal Crawford, whilst Larry Hughes takes on Stephon Marbury. Snow will have a problem guarding the taller Crawford, but he should still be capable of containing Crawford, who will be ready and waiting to try to explode. . <u>SG</u> – Larry Hughes Despite getting off to a blistering start this season, Hughes has slowed in later games. He shot just 4-13 against the Celtics, but will be looking to prove a point here in New York. His defense has not been fantastic either, but he could suddenly provide a strong game and a game against the Knicks could be the perfect opportunity. There are two ways the game could go for Hughes: fantastically or awfully. <u>SF</u> – LeBron James LeBron is LeBron. Despite ongoing rumours regarding his future with the Cavs and potential future with the Knicks, he is currently playing well and passionately for the Cavaliers. He scored 38 points on Saturday night, scoring 19 of his points in 23 trips to the free throw line. I expect nothing less than his 22.7 points, 6 rebounds and 6.3 assists average against the Knicks again. . <u>PF</u> – Drew Gooden Enter the in-form player of the Cavaliers, Drew Gooden. His play so far this season has been phenomenal, as he is averaging 14.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. He is finally becoming a consistent player in the League, possibly thanks to finally having some consistency regarding coaches, location and team-mates. Expect Gooden to thwart any threat from Channing Frye or, possibly, switching to guard Eddy Curry. <u>C</u> – Zydrunas Ilgauskas Ilgauskas’ start to the season has been somewhat disappointing, as he is struggling with the screens he is being asked to perform. He is still looking to find his groove, but this could be found against a lacklustre New York side, especially if he can guard a weaker player than Eddy Curry. <u>Cavaliers’ Keys to winning the game</u> <ul> [*]Get ahead early. By going ahead early, the Cavaliers will make the Knicks fans annoyed with their team. The team do not like their fans getting on their back, so it will be a perfect way to hurt the Knicks early on. [*]Keep up the good free throw shooting from Saturday night. If this is upheld, it will make life difficult for the Knicks as they will have few options to contain the Cavs. [*]Crash the boards. The Cavaliers are the best rebounding team in the NBA, so should use this to their advantage. More rebounds means more second chance opportunities for themselves and less for the Knicks. [/list] </font> <u>Prediction</u> The Cavaliers, in general, are in form and Sasha Pavlovic appears to be emerging as a prominent bench player, in conjunction with Anderson Varejao and Donyell Marshall. The three a crucial for the Cavaliers but, to be honest, with the way the two teams are playing at the moment, it wouldn’t matter if the three were the Stooges, the Cavaliers should still win. Since the 2003-04 season, the teams have met 11 times, 2 of which LeBron James did not play in, with the Cavaliers winning 6 of them. The cumulative score is 1039-998 in the Cavs’ favour. <font color="#B94056">109</font>-<font color="#E86E32">92</font>
Nice preview Chingy007. LeBron James loves playing in New York, so I expect another monster game from him against the Knicks. He will have to pay attention to QRich on the defensive end, because so far this season QRich has found his shooting stroke again. I don't like any of the matchups for the Knicks in this game. Cleveland's players are stronger and a lot more physical at every position. With Jeffries, the Knicks don't have anyone to challenge LeBron and he should be able to go anywhere he wants on the court. He just needs to remain focused at not settle for his 3point shots. Should be another W for the Cavs tomorrow night.
Yeah, like they said that the Madison Square Garden is the best arena in the NBA and everybody love to play there. I think that it should came a easy W. The only way Knicks can win in my opinion, is if Marbury and Curry will make a great game. Snow is quite cold and Marbury can still score and lead the team well, Big Z isn't in his shape at all... I don't see more strenghts against the Cavaliers from them. Q-Rich isn't a good defender and I expect that we will get a great perfomance from LBJ, BUT he hasn't played well against New York so we never know... I'm hoping for a 40+ points perfomance from him, but it's just a hope.
Even though the knicks suck now everybody still wants to make a statement at madison square garden's.
Oh yeah ! Again a W. I just laughed yesterday, when I was reading a text where James said that, if I'm on the court, then it doesn't matter how much we're trailing, we can still win it. But it's kinda true. When this monster is hot, he's unstoppable. Kobe etc also, but LeBron has a great body, he can post many PF's etc. And we all know that clutch isn't only a shot in the last seconds, it's clutch when you take over the game when there are many minutes left. He's a king. He also made great plays to Doneyll and Vareajo. Drew has some kind of injury, right ? That's why he didn't got many minutes, Big Z was still off... Haha, NYK's "stars" Francis and Starbury didn't still show their best game, I don't think that they'll ever be a good players anymore, in Knicks or when they're together in the same team... WTF happened do Damon ?;D Maaan he was hot from downtown.
