Los Angeles Lakers(58-15) - Last Week(3-1) - This Week -- 4 Games(2 Home, 2 Away)

The Lakers have gone 3-1 each of the last two weeks and actually lost two games in the standings to the Cavaliers.  That is how good Cleveland has been since the All-Star break.  Like the Cavs, the Lakers play 4 games with the first two finishing a long road trip. 

On paper, LA's schedule looks much more favorable, but the Lakers are running out of time and need to keep winning.  Phil Jackson has said, however, that getting healthy for the playoffs is much more important than home court and I tend to believe him, at least for his team.  As long as they have a shot, however, expect the Lakers to charge hard after the best record.

3/31 - @ Milwaukee    (31-43)
4/01 - @ Charlotte       (33-40)
4/03 - Houston             (48-26)
4/05 - LA Clippers       (18-56)

The Cavaliers can almost taste it.  Not quite, but almost.  Sitting with a 4 game lead in the battle for the #1 seed in the East, with only 15 games to go(Boston only has 13 remaining), the Cavaliers are enjoying a heavy dose of home cooking.  Only a trip to New Jersey on Sunday will disrupt a near two week stretch at The Q. 

That continues tonight when Greg Oden, Brandon Roy and the Portland Trailblazers come to town tonight.  The Blazers are in the midst of a 5-game road trip in which they have won the last two after dropping the opener.  Last night, the Blazers went to Indiana and beat up on the Pacers 95-85, the 7th win in 10 games for Portland.

The Cavaliers beat Portland in their first match up of the season, 104-98, back in January in Portland.  Like the Cavs, the Blazers are a dominant home team having only lost once at home since that game.  The Blazers would love to return the favor to the Wine and Gold who are an impressive 30-1 at home.

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Fourteen straight times the home team has won.  That includes an intense 7-game playoff series last season and two more game this season.  The Cavaliers and Celtics have given new meaning and signifigance to the term 'home-court advantage'.

When the rivalry is renewed tonight in Boston, the Cavaliers will be trying to break the streak of home victories as well as take a commanding 3-game lead in the loss column in the battle for home court advantage in the playoffs.  The job gets much easier with Kevin Garnett missing his 7th straight game with a knee strain.  While it is unfortunate that Garnett will be out, the Cavaliers can't and won't feel sorry for the Celts and neither should the fans.  Besides, the last time Garnett missed a Cavs-Celtics game, last season, the Cavaliers were only able to win 114-113 at the Q.

A win tonight would also do wonders for the confidence of the winners, whether it is Cleveland knowing definitvely that they can win in Boston, or be it the Celtics who would gain tons of confidence from beating a nearly full strength Cavaliers team without Kevin Garnett.

Nothing will officially be determined by th results of tonight's contest.  The two teams will meet again, the final week of the season in Cleveland, in a game that will likely determine home court.  That doesn't mean, however, that tonight is meaningless and I expect a playoff atmosphere, both on the court and in the stands.

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After toying and disposing of the Toronto Raptors last night, breaking the team record for most consecutive home wins in the process, the Cavaliers jumped on a plane to head to New York to face the Knicks. Yes, another media frenzy as the New York fans and beat writers try to sell the world that playing for a bad basketball team is in the best interest of LeBron James just because New York "is better than" Cleveland.

We all know better, and so does LeBron, but being the flirt that he is he'll put on that smile and tease the Big Apple with more talk of "going to sleep tonight and waking up on July 1st, 2010".  LeBron must love being the one athlete that can make the city that never sleeps stop on a dime and take notice. 

Back to the game for a minute.  We all know Kobe Bryant dropped 61 on the Knicks a couple nights ago, and most are looking for LeBron to try and match.  Don;t count on it.  LeBron James isn't a scorer by definition.  He is, at his best, a fasacilitator who scores when the pportunity fits the flow of the game. Besides, LeBron will never get the fouls called that would allow him to take 20 trips to the Free Throw line as Kobe did, not with the whole "re-route" controversy.

No, LeBron will do what he does, and the Cavs will do what they do.  So far this season against the Knicks, what the Cavs do is effectively end the game by halftime.  In both games agaisnt the Knicks LeBron has yet to see the floor in the 4th quarter.  James scored 26 in New York before sitting out the final 12 minutes of the Cavaliers' 119-101 victory on Nov. 25, then had 21 before leaving with 2:33 left in the third of Cleveland's 118-82 blowout on Dec. 3.

TO their credit, the Knicks have been playing solid basketball as of late, winning 6 of 8.  Home wins against Houston and Atlanta are among those wins.  There's something about LeBron at MSG, however, that seems to bring out the best of him, and regardless if he scores 50, as he did on March 5, 2008, or a "lowly" 21 in 20 minutes, the Cavs should get another 'W' to stay close to the Celtics.

The flirting and mindless obsession by New Yorkers is just the cherry on top.

Now that the Cavs, Magic and Celtics are all across the mid-way point of their schedule, the race for the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference is officially on.  Each Sunday I will look at the upcoming opponents for each team so that all of us know what is to come for the week and how it might impact the 'Race'

Cleveland Cavaliers(37-9) -- 3 Games(2 Home, 1 Road)

The Cavaliers went 3-1 last week with wins against Sacramento, the LA Clippers and Detroit surrounding a road loss to the Magic.  The Cavs did extend their home winning streak to 22, though at times I get the feeling the streak is becoming more of a distraction to the team.

This week, the Cavaliers face a Toronto(Home, 2/3) team that might be the biggest disappointment in the NBA.  With Chris Bosh, however, they have to be considered dangerous.  That home game is followed immediately by a trip to New York(Away, 2/4) to face the Knicks.  The Cavs have already beaten the Knicks twice this season in blowouts.

They finish the week next Sunday in another National TV game, this time against Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers(Home, 2/8) in a rematch of the Cavaliers worst loss of the season a couple weeks ago.  The three days off between games should help the Cavaliers be in peak condition.

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I keep looking for more and more ways to keep Cavaliers' fans informed and here is teh latest - Touch Pass - a feature that will provide a few notes regarding that nights' game. 

As always, GO CAVS!

• Tonight's game features two of the best teams in several statistical categories: Cavs (#2) and Magic (#3) in defensive field goal percentage, Cavs (#1) and Magic (#7) in points allowed and Cavs (#3) and Magic (#8) in offensive field goal percentage.
• With a win tonight, Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown will become the Eastern Conference head coach for the 2009 NBA All-Star Game. He would be only the second coach in Cavaliers franchise history to coach an All-Star Game. Lenny Wilkens was the coach in the 1989 All-Star Game and was joined on the East team by three Cavs players: Brad Daugherty, Mark Price and Larry Nance.
• At 35-8 (.814), Cleveland possesses the best record in the league. The last time the Cavaliers had the best record in the NBA this late in a season was March 21, 1989 when the team had a record of 48-17 (738).
• The Cavaliers are 23-0 when they score 100 points, averaging 108.8 points to opponents 93.3 (15.5 margin) and shooting .499 while opponents shoot only .423 from the field. Of those 23 games, 11 have come on the road and the Cavs have scored 100 points 12 times out of 17 overall games against Western Conference teams.
• The Cavs remain the only undefeated team at home in the NBA at 21-0. At home, Cleveland is holding opponents to NBA-lows 89.0 points on .416 shooting while averaging 105.0 points (7th) and shooting .491 (3rd - Phoenix, Boston). The team is one win away from tying the franchise's longest home winning streak (22 games), which was accomplished during the 1988-89 season from Dec. 15, 1988 - March 2, 1989.
• For the 2008-09 NBA season, the Cavaliers rank in the Top 5 in the following defensive and offensive statistical categories: The Cavs are one of only three teams (Boston, Orlando) to rank in the Top 10 in both points scored and points allowed and are winning games by an 10.6 point differential (16.0 at home), which ranks 1st in the NBA.
• The team ranks 1st in overall opponent points allowed per game, allowing only 90.6 (the only team to allow under 91.0 points) and ranks 2nd (Boston) in defensive field goal percentage, allowing opponents to only shoot .425 from the field.  There have only been two teams this decade to rank 1st in both categories for the season (2000-01 New York Knicks - 86.1 ppg/.417 and the 2003-04 San Antonio Spurs - 84.3 ppg/.409).
• The Cavs rank 4th in the NBA (Golden State, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver) at 5.8 blocks per game.
• The team ranks 3rd in the NBA (Phoenix, Boston) in offensive field goal percentage at .477.
• On Tuesday, Mo Williams scored a career-high 43 points, on 15-24 (.625) shooting, including a career-high seven three-point makes (7-12), and added season highs of eight rebounds and 11 assists while recording his first double-double of the season. Mo Williams has now scored in double figures in 17 straight games, which is the 2nd longest streak in his career (19 games from Dec. 12, 2007 - Jan. 11, 2008).Over his last four games, Williams is averaging 28.8 points on .513 (41-80) shooting, including .514 (19-37) from three-point range, 4.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game.
• LeBron James scored 23 points and added 15 rebounds and 11 assists to record his third triple-double of the season. In his last eight games, James is averaging 29.0 points, on .443 (81-183) shooting, 11.6 rebounds and 8.8 assists. In that span, James has recorded six double-doubles and two triple-doubles.
The Cavs ranks 3rd (L.A. Lakers Milwaukee) in converting points off turnovers at 18.8.