<div align="center"><u><font size="5"><font color="#0066CC">LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS</font> @ <font color="#FF0033">CLEVELAND CAVALIERS</font></font></u> <u><font size="3"><font color="#FF0033">PROJECTED STARTERS</font></font></u> <u><font size="2"><font color="#FF0033">CAVS</font></font></u> <font color="#FF0033">C Zydrunas Ilgauskas PF Drew Gooden SF LeBron James SG Larry Hughes PG Eric Snow</font> <font color="#0066CC">C Chris Kaman PF Elton Brand SF Corey Maggette SG Cuttino Mobley PG Sam Cassell</font> <u><font size="2"><font color="#0066CC">CLIPPERS</font></font></u> <u><font size="3"><font color="#FF0033">MATCHUP BREAKDOWN</font></font></u></div> <font color="#FF0033">Zydrunas Ilgauskas</font> v <font color="#0066CC">Chris Kaman</font> ? Kaman has been improving his game since last season, but I still don?t think he is up in the top 6 or 7 centers with Ilgauskas. I mean, he?s rebounding and blocking more than previously, but his overall game is not as good as Ilgauskas?. Therefore, I expect Ilgauksas to come out on top comfortably. <font color="#FF0033">Drew Gooden</font> v <font color="#0066CC">Elton Brand</font> ? Gooden has been an integral part of the Cavaliers over the last year, but Brand is a step above him when it comes down to it. Gooden could provide a fierce fight in the matchup, but I think that Brand will prevail. <font color="#FF0033">LeBron James</font> v <font color="#0066CC">Corey Maggette</font> ? Maggette is a very good player, there is no question about t, but LeBron James is pretty much in a class of his own at this position. There is no small forward in the League that he could not match up with and therefore I expect him to surpass Maggette in virtually every statline. <font color="#FF0033">Larry Hughes</font> v <font color="#0066CC">Cuttino Mobley</font> ? This could be a fairly interesting matchup, but I think that Hughes will come out high and above Mobley because he has been exceeding my expectations, <font color="#FF0033">Eric Snow</font> v <font color="#0066CC">Sam Cassell</font> ? Cassell has been in top form so far this season and I expect him to have another big game here. Cassell to be victorious in this one. <div align="center"><u><font size="3"><font color="#FF0033">OTHER NOTES</font></font></u></div> <ul> [*]After an 8 game winning streak, the Cavs are now coming off the back of two straight defeats. [*]The Clippers, too, have lost back to back games prior to this one (and the Minnesota game on Nov 29) [*]LeBron James has averaged 15.5-7.75-7.5 against the Clippers, 8.9 points below his career average but 1.35 rebounds and 1.1 assists above it. [*]Since LeBron came to Cleveland, the record between the two teams has been 2-2, 1-1 in each of the 2 seasons. [/list] <div align="center"><u><font size="3"><font color="#FF0033">SCORE PREDICTION</font></font></u></div> <u> <font size="2"><font color="#0066CC">89</font> - <font color="#FF0033">97</font></font></u>
Iam not saying the Clippers are going to win this game because Cleveland plays best at home....and the Clippers are having major problems defending the the three spot. Ron Artest and Carmelo killed them in back to back games, so that means big #'s for Lebron against Maggette. But even though I can predict who will win, I can definately tell you the Clips will score more than 89 points...I dont think they have been held under 90 yet this season. And I dont see the Cavs being strong enough defensively to be the first team to do so.
Who knows who wins this one? I think these are two teams that have been remarkably hard to predict favorably. At this point, I expect both of these teams to win on a regular basis, and saying that one of the both of them will win two to three games a week until the all-star break isn't all that far-fetched. Matter of fact, it'd better happen. That said, I don't expect to see much in the way of perimeter defense. With Cuttino, LeBron (who is on again-off again), Cassell all playing around the outside, we can expect both teams to probably put up a hundred. The interior defense is good, but not consistent, so who can say how they'll perform inside? I think the most important key to this game will be the Clippers letting cooler heads prevail. I've never seen a team scramble quite as much as they do when a lead starts to slip. They need to learn to put the brakes on come run time, or we're going to see them lose close games when they start to matter. All that in mind, I love watching both these teams play, and the game should be extremely exciting. Good preview Chingy, go Clips.
