Game 22 | Cleveland @ Houston | December 9th, 2009 | 8:30pm EST

[ice cream man]

TSO sighting!

Cool pictures.

We could learn a lot from this game.

Houstan plays with good energy at home. We can't afford to get off to a bad start.

 

[TAS]

PDcavsinsider
With a 7-inch edge over Chuck Hayes, Shaquille O'Neal will have largest height advantage over opposition starter in his career tonight.

I hope Brian is talking about their height. :chuckles:

 

[Randolphkeys]

Hayes has been doing a nice job impersonating a center this year and is one of the league leaders in offensive boards. That said, they don't have anyone on the active roster who can guard Shaq. I'd love to see the cavs slow the pace, save Shaq's legs, and just let him run the offense from the low left post. If the big fella doesn't realize that he needs to turn back the clock to help the team win tonight, I'll have an axe to grind.

 

[MJA1080]

I see a blowout as long as we keep our focus. These should be phenomenal games for Shaq and Gibson if we're smart. We need to keep feeding the hot hands.

 

[wuck]

From Windhorst pregame blog:

Cleveland Cavaliers at Houston Rockets: Windhorst Beat Blog
By Brian Windhorst
December 09, 2009, 6:53PM
HOUSTON -- Pregame from the Toyota Center:
Starting lineups:
Cavs: Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, LeBron James, J.J. Hickson, Shaquille O'Neal
Rockets: Aaron Brooks, Trevor Ariza, Shane Battier, Luis Scola, Chuck Hayes
Officials
Bill Kennedy, Jason Phillips, Scott Wall

• Jamario Moon (groin) will be activated and play tonight after missing the first two games of the road trip.

• The Rockets are the smallest team in the league and employ Hayes, who at 6-6, is the smallest starting center in NBA history according to the record books. But they are above .500 because they play to their strength, which is speed.

Brooks is one of the fastest players in the NBA and they live on the fastbreak. They are very good at creating steals, Hayes likes to attempt to strip the ball and Ariza loves to jump into passing lanes. In other words, the Cavs will have to be careful because they've had turnover troubles recently and the Rockets live off of that. Despite their size advantage, this is probably going to prove to be a difficult game because the Cavs also struggle with transition defense at times.

• The Rockets have four players averaging 14 points or more, which means it will take a team defensive effort. Ariza is the leading scorer but the tougher cover will be Brooks, because his quickness will pose problems in the pick-and-roll.

• Battier is one of the league's smartest defenders and one of the best at taking charges. LeBron has struggled here over the years and Battier has trapped him into charges numerous times. But with no basket defender like Yao Ming, whose presence the Cavs never used to challenge, LeBron should be able to challenge Battier more going to the rim.

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2009/12/cleveland_cavaliers_at_houston.html

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Hayes is one of the best post-defenders in the NBA. He's really bothered some reallly good bigs with the way he digs in and pushes you out of the paint.

Shaq is going to have to show a bit of lift, but if he does, he can probably dunk every time.

Ariza is scoring a lot of points, but he's shooting horribly from the field and is just a volume scorer. Brooks is quick, and when his jumper is on he's tough to stop. I want to see lots of Delonte+Andy on Scola+Brooks. Delonte can make Brooks pay on the other end of the floor. We can hide Mo to an extent on Battier because he's really just a spot-up shooter.

Honestly? I'd play LeBron at Center tonight.

Delonte
Mo
Moon
Andy
Bron

Andy guards Scola, LeBron guards Hayes and David Andersen(he only shoots jumpers). Delonte abuses Brooks on the post. No shotblockers to deter us. I want to us see take it to the rack every time down the floor.

 

[Splitz]

New policy:

If the team loses and you created the game thread, you will be booted from the Preview Team and forced to sport an avatar of Kevin Garnett mouthing the word "motherf*ckers" to the crowd.

 

[Dr. Gymbo]

If the players on this team move. If the basketball moves around. If LeBron would go into more of a facilitator role instead of a ball-hog, I think we'll be alright.

Oh, and turnovers HAVE TO STOP.

 

[SanduskyCav]

I'm wondering if LeBron will want to shut Ariza down because of the way Ariza called out him in the offseason saying that LeBron told him that he was going to stay in Cleveland and Ariza not believing him and then seeing LeBron deny those events ever happening...

 

[imshakheisshaq]

Hi all!!!!! Go CAVS!!!!!!!! P4D!!!!!!!!! Let's get back on track!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[hud11]

anyone having trouble with FSN HD, i'm in cincy, time warner, only have a black screen.??? doesn't look like the game is on the normal FSN channel either.

 

[All Day Cavs]

Hey guys i would appreciate it if some of you would post the score in here from time to time, im on my ipod touch and just wanna rely on the play by play from here so i don't have to be opening apps all the time, thanks!

 

[bob2the2nd]

Hey guys i would appreciate it if some of you would post the score in here from time to time, im on my ipod touch and just wanna rely on the play by play from here so i don't have to be opening apps all the time, thanks!

ill try and remember.

 

[Otsego Mar]

What the hell is that on the back of Powe's head?? A quarter sized mole???

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

Why are we chucking so many jumpers - post up Shaq please