GAME #26
New York Knicks vs Cleveland Cavaliers
Game Info: 7:30 pm EST Wed Dec 19, 2007
TV: FSOH, MSG
Head Coaches
Isiah Thomas / Mike Brown
Starters
Stephon Marbury / Daniel Gibson
Jamal Crawford / Sasha Pavlovic
Quentin Richardson / LeBron James
Zach Randolph / Drew Gooden
Eddy Curry / Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Cleveland Cavaliers Bench
Varejao / Snow / D.Brown / Hughes / Newble
New York Knicks Bench
Lee / Robinson / Jones / Collins / Balkman
Game Preview
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers hit the Big Apple on Wednesday night to take on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Like New York, which is looking to string some wins together after a tough loss to Indiana on Monday, the Cavs are also looking for consistency this season. Cleveland enters Wednesday's game under the .500 mark despite being only six months removed from playing in the NBA Finals.
Any discussion of the Cleveland Cavaliers begins and ends with James. Although he was already a superstar, this season has seen James begin to tap into all of his potential, as he is playing every minute of every game with singular intensity.
James averages almost 30 points per game and also chips in a remarkable seven rebounds and eight assists per game. "The King," as he is sometimes called, also adds two steals and a block per game and is already building a case to one day be remembered as the greatest player in NBA history.
Recently, James missed five games due to a broken finger and the Cavs simply could not win without him, going 0-5 in that stretch. At the end of the season, the Cavs public-relations staff might just need to mail game tapes of those five games to the MVP voters, rather than any list of James' considerable accomplishments.
Clearly, the Knicks must contain James if they hope to beat the Cavs on Wednesday night. No doubt his performance in the Knicks season-opener in Cleveland is fresh in their minds, as James erupted for 45 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in a Cleveland victory.
James makes his teammates better in every facet of the game. As a result of his efforts, he has several teammates who are playing at a high level right now, especially in the frontcourt. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cleveland’s center, is averaging 14 points, almost 11 boards and two blocks per game. Starting power forward, Drew Gooden, is also hot, and his averages of 14 points 10 rebounds per game will force the Knicks' frontcourt to give him attention.
Cleveland's backcourt is also contributing. Daniel "Boobie" Gibson nets 13 points per game and had a24 point performance against the Knicks in the opener. On that night, Gibson was unstoppable from long range, as he hit six three-pointers. If James has even one teammate that gets hot, as Gibson did that night, the Cavs will be that much tougher to stop.
Larry Hughes, recently back from injury, is also chipping in 11 points a game; and Anderson Varejao, recently returned from a protracted holdout, has immediately contributed with six points and nearly seven boards in 29 minutes per game.
To win on Wednesday, the Knicks will have to exhibit consistent intensity on both ends of the floor, something the team has had difficulty with lately. In New York's recent loss to Dallas, the Knicks were lacking fire until the fourth quarter ,when the team burned hot and played some of its best basketball. Then, on Saturday night against the Nets, they showed fire and intensity right from the opening tip. But New York followed that game with an up-and-down performance against Indiana on Monday night.
"The one thing we prided ourselves on last year -- we didn't always play well, but I thought as a team we had heart and we had courage and we competed. I am not getting that out of this group right now," Knicks President, Basketball Operations, and Head Coach Isiah Thomas said after falling to the Pacers.
Knicks supersub David Leewas also disappointed in the team's play against Indiana.
“Offensively we didn’t execute, defensively we didn’t stop anybody. … That can’t happen, shouldn't happen, especially in our home arena," Lee said. "We have some things to figure out as a team. By no means is our season over or our spirit broken but we have some things to figure out and we better do it quickly because we have some tough games coming up."
On Wednesday night, the Knicks will play one of those tough games, as they will look to show LeBron James and the Cavs that what happened in Cleveland can't be repeated in The Garden.
That north south east west crap was so annoying the other night.
