Game Info
Who: Cleveland Cavaliers (5-3) vs. Miami Heat (6-1)
When: 8:00 PM (ET)
Where: American Airlines Arena (Miami, Florida)
TV/Radio: TNT, FSOHIO HD, WTAM 1100
Lineups
Heat: Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade, Quentin Richardson, Michael Beasley, Jermaine O’Neal
Cavaliers: Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, LeBron James, JJ Hickson, Shaquille O’Neal
Injuries
Heat: Chris Quinn (Right Ankle Sprain)
Cavaliers: Leon Powe (Left Knee Surgery), Delonte West (Personal Reasons)
Game Notes
* Cleveland will try to leave Florida with a two-game sweep after defeating the Orlando Magic 102-93 on Wednesday. Tonight’s game against Miami will feature two of the NBA’s top defensive teams so far this season. Miami ranks 3rd in opponent points per game at 88.6 while Cleveland is 8th at 90.3 ppg. Miami is 2nd in defensive field goal percentage at .415 and 1st in defensive three-point field goal percentage at .257 while the Cavs rank 7th at .430 and 8th at .318, respectively. Cleveland held Orlando to 4-18 (.222) shooting from behind the arc on Wednesday, while also allowing only nine assists. The Cavaliers rank 7th in the league in giving up assists to opponents at 18.0 while Miami ranks 2nd at 15.8.
* The team has won five of their last six games and all four games (4-0) that the team has eclipsed the century mark have come during this streak. In Cleveland’s last six games, the offensive is averaging 97.2 ppg on .477 shooting overall and .495 shooting on three-pointers. The team’s defense in this span has held opponents to just .424 shooting from the field and 87.7 points per game. The Cavaliers defense is tied for 9th in blocks (5.4) per game. The team is allowing only 30.3 points in the paint and 9.4 second chance points per game, which are both the fewest in the NBA. After only giving up seven fast break points to the Magic, the team ranks 5th in fewest fast break points allowed at 9.8.
* Mo Williams combined with LeBron James for 64 points on 25-of-43 (.581) shooting against the Magic. Williams had a blistering 22 points in the first half on 9-9 shooting and finished with 28 points and a team-high six assists in 42 minutes. This game was the fourth in which he has had six assists this season.
* On Wednesday, LeBron James had game highs of 36 points on 13-23 (.565) shooting and eight rebounds along with four assists in 39 minutes. James is averaging 27.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.5 assists in 38 minutes and ranks 6th in both points and assists.
* In his second start of the season, J.J. Hickson added season highs of nine points and six rebounds in 23 minutes. In the two starts, Hickson is averaging 7.5 points on .500 shooting and 3.0 rebounds in 18 minutes per game.
* The team shot a season-high 10-14 (.714) in three-pointers against Orlando. Anthony Parker continues his early season hot shooting from behind the arc. Parker went 3-3 from behind the arc against the Magic to tally nine points while adding three steals. Parker is shooting 8-9 (.889) over the last three games and an overall 17-28 (.607), which ranks 2nd in the NBA (C. Paul) in three-point percentage. Combined with Mo Williams, who ranks 16th in three-point shooting, at 18-35 (.514) and Daniel Gibson, who is tied for 17th, at 18-36 (.500), the team ranks 2nd (Phoenix) in three-point percentage at .464 and is one of the most improved teams in shooting three-pointers from last season (.393) to this season (.464). Through the first eight games, the team has made 69 three-point field goals, which is 15 more than the team’s previous best mark of 54 in 2007-08.
* Zydrunas Ilgauskas (715 games played, 667 starts) is only five games away from tying Bingo Smith (720 games) for second all-time (Danny Ferry, 723 games) in games played in franchise history.
What 2 Watch 4
1. Hunger – When this team is hungry, as they were against the Magic last night, they’re a very good team. Now they shouldn’t burn themselves out during the regular season but the Cavs have to play with a sense of pride night in and night out.
2. Role players – Outside of Shaq, LeBron and Mo, the Cavs haven’t had much scoring. They didn’t need it the other night but Mo isn’t going to shoot like that all the time. The Cavs need their role players to step up.
3. Man-to-man defense – The Cavs team defense has been good lately but what has been getting them into trouble is their individual defense. A lot of breakdowns are happening on the perimeter allowing for middle penetration, which kills defenses.
The Pick: Cavs 99, Heat 94
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