Game 39 | Cleveland @ Portland | January 10, 2010 | 9:00 EST

[jlj3184]

Cleveland Cavaliers (28-10) @ Portland Trail Blazers (23-15)

@

Sunday, 10 January, 2010, 9:00 PM EST

TV: ESPN, FSN-OH

RADIO: WTAM 1100

VEGAS ODDS: Cavaliers -5, O/U 188

Where the Magic Happens:

The Rose Garden, Portland, OR

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OUTLOOK

Portland has been destroyed by injuries this season and are currently playing with only 7 (maybe 8 if Steve Blake returns) players, including only 3 normal starters. That said, they still have Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge healthy and are a deadly home team. Even through all of these injuries, they've managed to keep themselves just 3 games out of the number 2 spot in the West. Look for the Cavs to go into Shaq early and often, in an attempt to get the undersized Juwan Howard in early foul trouble. Doing so would force the Blazers to move Aldridge to the 5-spot and bring in Jeff Pendergraph to play the 4...a huge advantage for the Cavs. The key, as always, against this team will be limiting their transition buckets and not letting Roy or Aldridge explode. I don't expect to see much of JJ this game, with Andy getting a lot of minutes guarding Aldridge. Look for Delonte to play a large part in the Cavs' defense against Roy and enjoy watching LeBron make Martell Webster his bitch. If the Cavs play their game, no reason they shouldn't be able to win. Portland always plays us tough, especially in their building, but I expect the Cavs to win 96-89.

COACHES

Record | Portland | Mugshot | Mugshot | Cleveland | Record
382-378 | Nate McMillan |

|

| Mike Brown | 239-126

STARTING LINEUPS
Cleveland

Mo Williams, PG

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Anthony Parker, SG

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LeBron James, SF

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JJ Hickson, PF

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Shaquille O'Neal, C

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Portland

Andre Miller, PG

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Brandon Roy, SG

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Martell Webster, SF

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LaMarcus Aldridge, PF

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Juwan Howard, C

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BENCHES

Portland | Mugshot | Mugshot | Cleveland
Jerryd Bayless |

|

| Daniel Gibson |
Steve Blake |

|

| Danny Green |
Jeff Pendergraph |

|

| Zydrunas Ilgauskas |
None | None |

| Darnell Jackson |
None | None |

| Anderson Varejao |
None | None |

| Delonte West |
None | None |

| Jawad Williams |

INJURIES

Cleveland
Jamario Moon, Abdominal Strain
Leon Powe, Recovering from Knee Surgery

Portland
Rudy Fernandez, Back Surgery
Nicolas Batum, Torn Right Labrum
Travis Outlaw, Broken Foot
Greg Oden, Left Patella Fracture
Joel Przybilla, Dislocated Kneecap, Ruptured Right Patella Tendon
Steve Blake, Pneumonia

STATS, INC. PREVIEW

The Portland Trail Blazers haven’t been nearly as dominant at home this season as they were in 2008-09, but they did just win a visit from the team with the NBA’s best record.

They haven’t been able to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers anywhere over the past two years.

LeBron James(notes) has nearly averaged a triple-double in leading the Cavaliers to five consecutive victories over Portland, and they’ll look to make it three straight at the Rose Garden on Sunday night.

The Trail Blazers (23-15) went 34-7 at home last season, but entered Friday night’s visit from the Los Angeles Lakers with six losses in their first 19 games in the Pacific Northwest.

Portland hadn’t had any problems with the Lakers at home over the past few years, and that held true again. Brandon Roy(notes) led the way with 32 points and Jerryd Bayless(notes) had 21 points in 21 minutes off the bench as the Blazers stretched their home winning streak over Los Angeles to nine straight with a 107-98 victory.

“We did a great job of playing a full 48-minute game,” said Roy, who has 59 points in his last two games after having his 15-game streak of scoring at least 23 snapped. “It does give us confidence going into Cleveland, but again, we’ve got to start from square one and play the same type of basketball.”

Portland might have a hard time recording consecutive home wins over two of the NBA’s elite. The Cavaliers (28-10) have won five straight tight games over the Blazers since Jan. 30, 2008 - none by more than eight points - as James has averaged 30.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 9.2 assists.

With a victory Sunday, Cleveland would join Orlando as the only teams with active three-game winning streaks at the Rose Garden. The Magic visit Portland on Friday.

James had 35 points, seven assists and six boards Friday night at Denver, but perhaps his most significant statistic was a season-high eight turnovers. The Cavaliers gave the ball away 19 times overall in a 99-97 loss to a Nuggets team playing without Carmelo Anthony(notes).

“We’re playing too good of basketball to be frustrated with one game,” said James, averaging a career-high 3.6 turnovers. “I feel like we played well enough to win, but we shot 60 percent from the free throw line, we turned the ball over 20 times. That can’t help us.”

James took 18 shots in the second half and 28 overall, and Cleveland is far better off when the reigning MVP is getting his teammates involved. The Cavaliers are 19-4 when he takes 20 or fewer shots and 12-2 when he has nine or more assists.

While James and Mo Williams(notes) do the bulk of Cleveland’s crunch-time scoring, perhaps no player is as vital as reserve forward Anderson Varejao(notes). The Cavaliers are 11-3 when their bench spark scores in double figures, and Varejao had a season-high 22 points and 10 rebounds in a 104-99 win over the Blazers at Quicken Loans Arena on Dec. 11.

Roy has averaged 23.3 points on 35.9 percent shooting in his last three games against Cleveland and LaMarcus Aldridge(notes) 22.7 points in his last three, but the Cavaliers also may want to keep their eyes on Martell Webster(notes).

Webster, who had 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting in Cleveland last month, is averaging 19.2 points while hitting 40.5 percent of his 3-pointers over his past five games - the best extended stretch of his career.

Sexy Time

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[Powerslave]

My first NBA game, first time seeing Shaq/Bron (from far away, turrible seats).

A real Cavs fan reppin the west coast - I'm driving over 300 miles to see this game!

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

Nice game thread. POR cheerleaders are decent...

Just noticed POR has a bunch of players out which means we will probably come out half-assed and pick up another loss.

 

[The Oi]

You got it, man.

Healthy Blazers=

Cavs- 104
Blazers- 98

Unhealthy Blazers=

Blazers- 99
Cavs- 93

 

[Gimme Some Mo]

Agree with the 2 above. I was pissed when Melo was out tonight. At least it isn't Brandon Roy, because if he was out it would be a guaranteed L.

 

[blazenmp]

Something is really wrong in the world when you believe we (I do) may have a better chance because their star is in.

 

[Chris]

Feels like we get torched any time a team is missing key players. Not very excited about this one...

 

[Otsego Mar]

Man that has got to be the most icy/down-slopped street in the history of America or those drivers are absolutely horrible!!! lol

 

[Backstage]

A lot of key players are out, yeah. BUT! They're starter is playing. That's the key. We can beat them without their key players. We can't beat them without their marquee guy. Cavs by 439 points.

 

[jlj3184]

Blazers beat the LakeShow last night without all those guys...they're still a very competitive team with Aldridge and Roy.

 

[Scrote Squad]

Hollinger ripping our boy Windy:

JohnHollinger: The staff at Voodoo Doughnut have been alerted. RT @PDcavsinsider Im already in Portland

:chuckles:

 

[GoGetta]

O they have ket injuries?

Loss.

 

[The Enai Q]

i got the warriors preview ready to post

ill wait til tomorow afternoon

 

[Splitz]

i got the warriors preview ready to post

ill wait til tomorow afternoon

We run game previews through a schedule so up next is:

Mon 11 @ Golden State 10:30pm Warren G


If you would like to do a game preview, please notify Karma. I'm not sure there are any open spots at the moment though.

 

[The Enai Q]

thanks

yeh i didnt know

i asked in the last thread but i didnt get a response