It was a road win over a playoff team in April. Those are always good. What made it sweeter was the fact home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs came along with it. In another workman-like performance, the Cavaliers went to Philadelphia and toughed-out a 102-92 victory.
For the Cavaliers, you can tell Mike Brown is getting set on a playoff rotation. Anderson Varejao is now firmly entrenched as the starter at Power Forward, and a role coming off the bench seems to fit Ben Wallace well. The two combined for 9 points and 12 rebounds and brought their typical energetic defense.
The offense was also a 3-headed monster with LeBron James leading the way with 25 points and 10 assists.James ended with only 2 rebounds, both of which he gobbled up in the final seconds.
Mo Williams chipped in with 18, while Delonte West scored 11 to go along with 7 rebounds. The Cavs are nearly unbeatable when they get a big impact from a bench player and tonight was no exception. Wally Szczerbiak seemed to break out of a late-season funk with 18 points on 6-7 shooting. Wally was 4-4 from deep.
Overall this is the type of performance you look for heading into the playoffs. The fact that the road to The Finals has to go through Cleveland is definitely icing on the cake. What remains to be seen is how hard Mike Brown will go after the League best record. Brown has said repeatedly that the #1 seed in the East is the big prize and once obtained he would give his team a rest accordingly.
With Boston coming to town on Sunday, with a real chance at equaling Boston's 40-1 home record, you wonder if the players will take Brown up on the offer.
GO CAVS!