ORLANDO, Fla. -- Pre-game from Amway Arena:
Projected starting lineups:
Cavs: Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, LeBron James, JJ Hickson, Shaquille O'Neal
Magic: Jameer Nelson, Vince Carter, Matt Barnes, Rashard Lewis, Dwight Howard
Officials
Joe DeRosa, Tony Brown, Gary Zielinski
* Should be some interesting signs in the crowd aimed at Shaq, who will probably get booed in his hometown. Shaq's decision to attack Howard with the "Superman" slap two weeks ago is a little like playing with fire. There is one school of thought within the league that suggests Howard will back down from confrontation or that it will take him out of the game. I'm not so sure about that. I feel like the Magic's biggest flaw is when they don't focus on Howard enough (Vince Carter often feeds this issue, which is why I felt trading for him was a mistake in my opinion and I felt that way last summer).
Because of what Shaq said and that personal challenge offered last time around, I suspect the Magic will attempt to force it down Shaq's throat on their home floor in this one. Let's see how this plays out. Not exactly what the Cavs want, I don't think, when they are in full struggle mode as they are at the moment.
* Antawn Jamison has a history of playing well against the Magic and especially Rashard Lewis. That was another reason the Cavs were interested in him. This season, in two games, he's averaged 18.5 points and 10 rebounds against Orlando. He was pretty shaken by that performance on Friday. Don't know enough about him to know how he responds to adversity like that. Pretty sure, as a veteran All-Star, that he'll bounce back. But when the Cavs traded for him he was in the middle of a shooting slump. He's had a poor February after an excellent January.
Not sure if it is a slump, his shoulder that is bothering him (though the Cavs just put him through a physical that included an MRI on the shoulder), or he was so downtrodden by the situation in D.C. that it got to him. Guess we'll see.
* Let's go over the game plan once again when playing the Magic. They put high pressure on the defense by sending the ball or Howard or running pick-and-rolls with Carter and Nelson. the idea is to find single coverage they can exploit or force double teams and kick the ball to the shooters. In general, when the Magic shooters are going from the outside they are very hard to beat, especially at home. Sometimes when they are hot, you just take your licking and head home. However, in Cleveland two weeks ago the Magic shot the ball well and the Cavs survived because LeBron was fantastic. Cavs have a little more margin for error, oops there's that reference again, against Orlando than they did last season.