This is a nice matchup, two young teams with some momentum trying to establish themselves in the league. Also two of the best rookies out of this year's crop will go at it and the battle on the boards between Boozer and Odom will be a great matchup. This game is important to both teams, but I'm going with the Cavs tonight. They are learning how to close out games, and with the addition of McInnis, they should have less turnovers and shoot a higher percentage. Miami's going to be thin inside with out Grant, and I don't think they have the fire power to keep up with the Cavs offensively. The Cavs are finally healthy and Wags is giving them the scoring off the bench to keep them competitive for all 4 quarters. My prediction: Cavs by 5 thanks to some good ol' homecourt advantage.
Heat being without Brian Grant hurts their team,he inside is their guy to crash the boards,play tough defense,go after loose balls and basically is the heart of the middle.Getting Wade back is huge,It's no clear how many minutes he will play but he gives them another scorer and slightly makes up the loss of Grant Should be a good game between two up and coming teams I could see both of these teams fighting for that 8th spot come end of the season.So a game like this is important in terms of the head to head.
My Prediction is the Cavs by 7. Wagner is going to have a bust out game of 25+. Boozer will have 17 points 15 boards. Z will most likely be off tonight (he usually is). Jones will go down early. Odom doesn't have the strength to keep up with Boozer. Rafer Alston will not outplay McInnis tonight. Then there's the Lebron Factor... Cavs 105-98 Heat Final Answer...lol Burn
Im with ya Burn your usually right. But instead of Cavs by 7 ill take Cavs by 12. Lebron will have 30+ wag will have 20+ and Booz will have 20+ with 18 rebs Finally Mcinnis will have like 15 8 ast and like 5 rebs. Cavs are on a roll there gonna win 7 in a row and take 8th seed and then that will give them a big confidence boost and the'll stay on a roll. Oh and one more thing Z's gone for STROMILE by trade deadline. Thats my Final Answer....... LOL (Burn)
If Boozer has to guard Odom, we are going to be in huge trouble. We'll need to attack Odom on the offensive end and try to get him in foul trouble. Once again, Z SHOULD have a big game, but I figure he'll do little like he has been the last month. He is forcing his shots too much and Silas doesn't run the right kind of plays to get him involved offensively. If I see another pick and fade to Z I think I will start crying. Is that the only play we have that involves him? I don't think Z should ever be setting up more than 6-8 feet from the basket. If he starts too far out, the defense collapses before he get the shot off and swipes the ball away from him. I expect him to get a 12-12 with his points coming off of foul shots and put backs. Wagner needs to stay hot and hit the 3 like he has been doing. The Heat have been playing very well lately and in the end will be our biggest competition for a playoff spot in my opinion. Hopefully we will shake off the poor effort against the Magic and come out and play more like we did in the Sixers game. I'll go with Cavs by 5 since the Heat don't have any low post defense to stop Boozer and Eric Williams. There has been a lot of talk about catching the Knicks and Sixers, but with the Raptors and Celtics slumping, the Cavs are only 5 games out of the 6th seed. That is about how far we were out of the 8th seed until the Cavs put together this nice little 5-2 run. I'd say Indiana, Detroit, New Jersey, New Orleans, and Milwaukee are pretty much locks to get in to the playoffs, but after that everything is up in the air.
Breaking News... <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Forward Carlos Boozer will attend his grandmother's funeral at Arlington National Cemetary on Wednesday and then rush back to Cleveland for a night game against the Heat, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. Boozer's flight is scheduled to land between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. The Cavaliers' game tips off at 7:00 p.m. "He'll rush right here and run the stairs or something to get ready," head coach Paul Silas said. "Gotta have him."</div> Link
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Crossover:</div><div class="quote_post"> I think it's safe to say that Rafer Alston is going to really outplay McInnis tonight</div> Wha? I think it is safe to say McInnis will out play Rafer Alston, I think without Boozer it will be hard, but Boozer said he will get there as fast as he can and dress prolly for either 2nd Quarter or 2nd Half, but Boozer will play tonight no matter what. :bigthumbu Look for Wagner to have a really good game, and the return of the king is tonight. All hail the King! :king:
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Amherstcavsfan:</div><div class="quote_post">and the return of the king is tonight. All hail the King! :king: </div> I hope you mean the return of "Big Game James" (rip off of James worthy) because this is his 2nd game back. I agree that it can't be easily that that Alston will out play McInnis, Jeff has done very well so far and we are undefeated with him. I expect Jeff to score around 12 and get his 6 assists with 4 boards, something around there.
Here's the only thing I can suggest Lebron does... LEBRON...TAKE IT STRAIGHT TO THE HOLE!!!! YOU CAN DO IT...YOU CAN DO IT ALL NIGHT LONG!!! WHO ON THE HEAT IS GOING TO STOP YOU?!?!?! Burn
I agree, we must attack Jones and Odom all night long. If either one has to sit, the Heat can have some mad trouble scoring and rebounding, depending on how much Wade playes of course.
Boozer is a no show for the Cavaliers tonight. Cavs up 33/21 after 1 Z has 12, 3, and 1 Williams has 7, 4, and 2 Newble and James have scored 6 a piece for the Cavs Jones has scored 8 for the Heat
Heat up 49/48 at the half as the Cavs blew a 14 point lead Heat had a 28 point 2nd quarter to the Cavs 15 James has 12, 3, and 2 Z has 14, 3, and 1 McInnis has 2, 3, and 6 Williams has 7, 5, and 2 Newble has 8 and 2 assists Wade led the Heat with 9 points and 2 assists Jones has 8 points and 2 boards Odom has 6, 4, and 5 Haslem has 8 and 6 off the bench Cavs shot 50%, the Heat 48.6 Cavs have 4 turnovers to the Heat's 9 Heat are 5-7 from deep while the Cavs are 0-4, that is the difference right there. Will the Heat stay this hot from outside?
Terrible second quarter. Somebody has to stop wade they've stopped Odom. Oh and stop letting jones shoot the three somebody get on him already. Not having boozer is really hurting on the boards somebody needs to step up. Come on CAVS you can do it!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Where is Wagner's impact on this game tonight?</div> 3 points, 1-3 from the floor for Wags 79/70 Heat after 3 Cavs are missing the 23 and 16 that Carlos Boozer was giving them over the last 5 games. Z has 26, 8, and 1 on 12-13 shooting James has 16, 3, and 3 McInnis has 4, 4, and 8 Wade has 15, 3, and 3 Odom has 13, 7, and 6 Jones has 13, 3, and 2 Not enough scoring out there for the Cavs, plain and simple.
Cavs win 94/93! Cavs came back down from 11 in the 4th James had 27, 5, and 4 Z had a season high 30 points to go along with 11 boards and an assist on 14-16 shooting from the field. Wagner was the 4th quarter mand and hit whatw as the game winning shot. He scored 10 points. Full story coming soon! Box Score
