Game #82 - Cleveland Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks Season Finale Open Thread

2009/2010 NBA Regular Season
	VS
51-29		61-20
April 14, 2010
Phillips Arena
8:00PM et
Radio - WTAM 1100 / FSOhio
Probable starters:
Mike Bibby	PG	Mo Williams
Joe Johnson	SG	Jamario Moon
Marvin Williams	SF	Jawad Williams
Josh Smith	PF	Antawn Jamison
Al Horford	C	J.J. Hickson

LeBron James has missed the past 3 games so why play him now?  The Cavaliers won't play James tonight when the Cavaliers finish the regular season in Atlanta.  The Hawks have sewn up the #3 seed in the East - and a possible 2nd Round matchup with Orlando but are expected to go for the win in front of their hometown fans.  The Cavaliers have beaten Atlanta all 3 times this season - much to the dismay of Hawks fans - so I expect Atlanta to bring a little extra to the arena tonight.

Win or lose, the key is for Cleveland to get in and out of town healthy and ready for the Playoffs to start this weekend.

3-in the Key

1. Cleveland owns the NBA's best overall record at 61-20 (.753), best home record at 35-6 (.854) and is tied with Boston for the second-best road record (26-14, .650) behind Dallas. The Cavaliers are the first team since the Chicago Bulls (1995-96 and 1996-97) and only the fifth team in the last 19 seasons to finish with sole possession of the best regular season record in consecutive years. The team has won 60-games for the second time in franchise history and became only the ninth different franchise (done 18 times) in NBA history to have back-to-back 60 win seasons.

2. On Sunday, Cleveland finished the season at home 35-6 for the league's best home record and became only the 14th instance in NBA history and seventh time (five teams) in the last 35 years that a team has held sole possession of the best home record in consecutive seasons: (Boston Celtics (twice) 1985-86 & 1986-87 & 1987-88, Utah Jazz - 1990-91 & 1991-92, Chicago Bulls - 1995-96 & 1996-97, Sacramento Kings (twice) 2000-01 & 2001-02 & 2002-03).

3.  This season at The Q included three 11-game home winning streaks (Nov. 14-Dec. 30, Jan. 6-Feb. 11, Feb. 23-Apr. 6) and the team became first one to have three separate double-digit winning streaks at home in one season since the Utah Jazz during the 1996-97 season. Since the start of the 2008-09 season, the Cavaliers are an NBA-best 74-8 (.902) at home, and since the 2005-06 season, the Cavaliers are 162-43 (.790) at home, which trails only the Dallas Mavericks (163-41, .799 / 27-13 this year) for best home record over the last five seasons.