Game 26 | Cleveland @ Philadelphia | December 16, 2009 | 7:00 EST

[Marcus]

Wednesday's Fast Facts​

- The Cavaliers won the first meeting of these two teams this year, 97-91, in a November 21 matchup in Cleveland.

- The Cavaliers are coming off a 99-89 win over the hapless New Jersey Nets, a game that should not have been as close as it was, considering the Nets are now 2-23 on the year, rank near or at the bottom of the league in many statistical categories, and that the Cavs led by as many as 15 points in the first half before allowing the Nets to tighten the gap.

- Likewise, the Philadelphia 76ers ended a 12-game losing streak with a 117-101 rout of the Golden State Warriors on Monday. They stand at 6-18 on the year.

- The Cavaliers, at 18-7, are a season-high 11 games over .500. They are 8-5 on the road. The 76ers are 4-8 at home.

- Philadelphia is missing two key players in its rotation: starting point guard Lou Williams and backup big man Marreese Speights. Williams will be out until at least February, late January at the earliest with a broken jaw. Speights should be able to return in 2-4 more weeks.

- In his first four games back in a 76ers uniform, Allen Iverson is averaging 15.5 ppg to go with 4.0 apg and 3.0 rpg. He has scored 20 points in each of the past two games, his season high.

- Andre Iguodala leads the 76ers in points (19.4), assists (5.6), and steals (2.04) per game.

- Allen Iverson did not practice on Tuesday due to a knee injury, and backup guard Willie Green is also battling a nagging knee injury. Both are expected to play on Wednesday night. Andre Iguodala hurt his left rib in Monday's game, and is listed as day to day. He was able to return to that game.

- Daniel Gibson made his return from a finger injury against New Jersey on Tuesday after missing the two previous games.

Keys to the Game​

- Allen Iverson has traditionally been a Cavalier killer. He may be getting up there in age, and he has obviously lost a step or two, but he is still very much a capable scorer that the Cavs must account for.

- The Cavs need to control the pace of the game to their liking. The 76ers like to play a very up-tempo style of basketball.

- Keep the 76ers out of the paint. They don't have a whole lot of jumpshooting ability on that team and rely a lot on scoring in the paint and fastbreak opportunities to get their points.

- Keep Elton Brand in check. He had 18 points and 14 rebounds in the last meeting of these teams, although it is also worth mentioning that Shaq was out with a shoulder strain.

- DO NOT PLAY DOWN TO YOUR LEVEL OF COMPETITION!!! Far too often, the Cavs get burned when they play down to their level of competition. 5 of their 7 losses have come against sub-.500 teams, including very close losses to Chicago and Memphis and a blowout in Washington.

- Get off to a fast start. The Cavs lead the NBA in first quarter points per game. Come out of the gates firing on all cylinders and put this team away early.

 

[Marcus]

Are all of the starting lineups and benches showing up? My internet has been incredibly fucked up ever since that wind storm last week, so I can't tell if everything is loading like it should be.


EDIT: Nevermind, everything that I uploaded is loading thus far... keys to the game and 76ers dancers forthcoming!!!

 

[DougHeil]

This will be a good game to gage how well the team is listening to Mike Brown and the coaches. Play down?.. maybe lose. Start and finish with intensity?... win.

AI is the kind of jitterbug we have big problems with. Did West make the trip and is he going to play?

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

This will be tough because of the back to back.

JJ needs to step his game up in this one. Hit the boards and play with confidence out there.

 

[jlj3184]

The 76ers fascinate me more than any other team in the league. They have talent up and down their lineup (Iguodala, Iverson, Williams, Speights, Brand, Green) and yet they can't seem to ever compete at the level they should. This team, to me, should be at the same level of the Hawks and Heat, but they never seem to be able to break the .500 barrier. I know they play crap defense, and they have too many chiefs and not enough indians on offense, but you'd figure a coach like Dracula would be able to get them playing some semblance of decent ball. 6-18 is inexcusable for a team with this much talent...

 

[MYoung23]

Here are the media notes for the game.

Cleveland:
http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/notes.pdf

Philadelphia:
http://www.nba.com/sixers/news/notes.pdf

 

[djlofi]

The 76ers fascinate me more than any other team in the league. They have talent up and down their lineup (Iguodala, Iverson, Williams, Speights, Brand, Green) and yet they can't seem to ever compete at the level they should. This team, to me, should be at the same level of the Hawks and Heat, but they never seem to be able to break the .500 barrier. I know they play crap defense, and they have too many chiefs and not enough indians on offense, but you'd figure a coach like Dracula would be able to get them playing some semblance of decent ball. 6-18 is inexcusable for a team with this much talent...

RCF complains about having a 2nd option, but if the cavs had the 76ers roster, everyone would be bitching about not having a star. The Sixers are the bizarro cavs. The 76ers have one of the best #2 guys in Iguodala. He'll never be a No. 1 guy, and he's surrounded by third-tier talent (Iverson, Speights, Lou Williams, Thad) and a fading Elton Brand, who was a great No. 2 guy, but never quite a star.

That and playing no defense is probably the difference between the Cavs and the Sixers.

 

[jlj3184]

RCF complains about having a 2nd option, but if the cavs had the 76ers roster, everyone would be bitching about not having a star. The Sixers are the bizarro cavs. The 76ers have one of the best #2 guys in Iguodala. He'll never be a No. 1 guy, and he's surrounded by third-tier talent (Iverson, Speights, Lou Williams, Thad) and a fading Elton Brand, who was a great No. 2 guy, but never quite a star.

That and playing no defense is probably the difference between the Cavs and the Sixers.

Agree, for the most part. That explains why they shouldn't be in the top 3, but they do have a roster very similar to the Hawks (Johnson, Smith, Bibby, Horford, Williams, Crawford) who also don't have a superstar (although Joe Johnson is a #1.5). Miami actually has far worse depth, but they have Wade (Beasley and O'Neal are the only other legit ballers on that team), so that explains why they're in that 4-5 spot as well. Tell me Philly doesn't have more talent than Milwaukee, Charlotte, Detroit, Indiana, Chicago, Washington and New York (teams they're currently behind in the standings). The only team with as much talent that is as big an underachiever is Toronto...another team that plays no defense.

The fact we can even have this argument almost proves my point...

 

[djlofi]

Agree, for the most part. That explains why they shouldn't be in the top 3, but they do have a roster very similar to the Hawks (Johnson, Smith, Bibby, Horford, Williams, Crawford) who also don't have a superstar (although Joe Johnson is a #1.5). Miami actually has far worse depth, but they have Wade (Beasley and O'Neal are the only other legit ballers on that team), so that explains why they're in that 4-5 spot as well. Tell me Philly doesn't have more talent than Milwaukee, Charlotte, Detroit, Indiana, Chicago, Washington and New York (teams they're currently behind in the standings). The only team with as much talent that is as big an underachiever is Toronto...another team that plays no defense.

The fact we can even have this argument almost proves my point...

I think that the Sixers are about the same in terms of talent and success as all of the teams you list. They are a team that perennially fights for the 7th and 8th seeds in the East. To compare the roster of the Sixers to the Hawks is not even close. I would say Iggy and JJ are the same in terms of talent. The difference with the Hawks is that Atlanta has surrounded JJ with better talent. Horford and Josh Smith are legit talents. Crawford is the perfect guy for that team off the bench because he can score. Williams is the glue and then they have Bibby and Zaza as the guys filling in roles.

I guess I'm not as high on the Sixers talent. Love Iguodala, and Lou looked like he has finally taking the next step, but is he better than Mo Wiliams? I'd say no. Then you have Dalembert who's athletic but floats in and out of games. There's the Speights and Brand conundrum - Speights is better, but you've invested superstar money into Brand. Thaddeus is a nice player, but he's started out slow, and he plays out of position on this team.

I just don't think Stefanski has done a good job of constructing this team. His Brand and Dalembert deals are haunting him, and his team has been just good enough to draft in the mid-teens, early-20s every year. Think about this: the Sixers went to the Finals with a star (Iverson) and one of the worst supporting casts ever (think 07 Cavs). That team had Raja Bell (who played 30 minutes all season), Dikembe, Eric Snow, Matt Geiger, Tyrone Hill, Theo Ratliff and Aaron McKie. Yikes. The fact that Iverson was a superstar that could carry that team (I'll concede the talent in the NBA was diluted in 2001) shows what a superstar can do for your team. The Sixers have none, and they have nothing to show for the Iverson deal.

 

[Chardon]

Who are the Statefarm agents of the game?

 

[Otsego Mar]

Harry Jumblar

&

Brooke Stellerton

 

[moohead]

RCF postgame show right after the game

http://realcavsfans.com/showthread.php?t=25930

Moo

 

[Mr. Glass]

Delonte is shooting around.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Delonte's shaking hands with Danny Green on the bench and is definitely dressed.

Windy didn't tweet it but it seems like he's activated for tonight.

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

I like the Parker post-up early

JJ running the floor well early