Re: Cavaliers @ Bucks
Cavs anxious to deliver their message
Brown's team has a seven-game losing streak at Bradley Center
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter
CLEVELAND - If the season were to end today, the Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks would be playing each other in first round of the playoffs.
The chance to win what could be a valuable tiebreaker and make what could be an important statement comes tonight when the Cavs face the Bucks at the Bradley Center.
The Cavs, winners of seven of their past eight games, hold a one-game edge over the Bucks in the standings. The two teams have flopped back and forth all season. With the Detroit Pistons running away with the Central Division and the other two top seeds in the East reserved for the winners of the lessor yet still recognized Atlantic and Southeast Divisions, the Bucks, Pacers and Cavs look to all be tussling for that last playoff spot that promises homecourt advantage.
All that will play out and will be broken down later, though. More of an issue is that the Cavs have lost their past seven games at the Bradley Center. They've lost there twice already this season, once in the preseason and once last month.
``You want to send a message and it's important that you establish yourselves on their court, whether it is for the playoffs, the division or some tiebreaker; all of those reasons,'' Cavs guard Eric Snow said. ``If a team gets homecourt advantage on you, then you have to beat them on their homecourt at some point if you want to win a series.''
Last time, not even 54 percent team shooting and an unearthly 52 points from LeBron James could stop the Bucks as they hammered the Cavs on the boards and seemed to score on nearly every possession in a 111-106 win. It was the low point of the nine-game stretch in which the Cavs dropped seven games.
Their defense has improved since then, but mostly the Cavs have gotten fat at home. The game against the Bucks is the first of 10 road games this month for the Cavs.
``We've got to get better on the road, period. We haven't been good on the road for several years,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said. ``We need to play a solid game. They score a lot of points and we can't go in there and let them shoot 50 percent and score 105 points. If that happens we're not going to win.''
The Bucks will play without catalyst T.J. Ford, who will also miss Saturday's return game at Quicken Loans Arena with a foot injury.
``T.J.'s speed and talent gets them 6-12 points a game just the way he pushes the ball,'' Snow said. ``That's an intangible that not everyone can give.''
Pick your poison
James said he wouldn't be surprised if the Bucks changed their strategy of defending him tonight. James scored 52 points last month and 40 points in the previous meeting last season with the Bucks. Some teams that have been torched by James in the past, such as the Toronto Raptors after they gave up 56 to him last season, responded by double-teaming him in the next game.
``I remember last year we played Toronto, I had 56, they played me different and next time we played them I had a triple-double in the third quarter,'' James said. ``So pick your poison, I guess.''
Probables
Larry Hughes skipped practice Tuesday to have the middle finger on his right hand examined by team doctors. He's been battling a strain there since the preseason. Donyell Marshall missed the workout with flu-like symptoms. Both traveled with the team to Milwaukee and are listed as probable.
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