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CavsCast, Game #33: Cavs vs. Wizards

By Smooth | January 4, 2009 | Cavalier Attitude

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (27-5) VS. WASHINGTON WIZARDS (6-25) WHEN: 1:00 PM ET, JANUARY 4TH, 2009WHERE: VERIZON CENTER [WASHINGTON D.C.]TV/RADIO: FSOHIO / WTAM 1100COACHESMike Brown -HC- Ed TapscottPROBABLE LINEUPSMo Williams -PG- Mike JamesDelonte West - SG- Dominic McGuireLeBron James - SF- Caron ButlerBen Wallace -PF- Antawn JamisonAnderson Varejao -CT- Andray Blatche CAVS RESERVES Lorenzen Wright Boobie GibsonSasha PavlovicWally SzczerbiakJ.J. HicksonTarence KinseyDarnell JacksonWIZARDS RESERVES Darius SongailaNick YoungJaVale McGeeEtan ThomasJavaris CrittentonJuan DixonOleksiy PecherovINACTIVES/INJURY LISTGilbert Arenas (WAS) [Knee]Brendan Haywood (WAS) [Wrist]DeShawn Stevenson (WAS) [Back]Eric Snow (CLE) [Knees]Zydrunas Ilgauskas (CLE) [Ankle]Jawad Williams (CLE)SMOOTH'S KEYS TO THE GAME Keep it going - the Bulls game was a good start to getting back on the right path. Hopefully they can keep it rolling against the Wizards.Don't sleep on the Wiz - last time the Cavs played the Wiz, they underestimated them and almost got beat. That can't happen again today.Low-post scoring - with Z now out for a...

Read more | 17 Comments | Tags: CavsCast, Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards

Ilgauskas Out For a Month; Cavs Cruise Past Bulls, 117-92

By Amar Panchmatia | January 3, 2009 | Cavalier Attitude

Highlights ll BoxIf the Cavs thought that ending 2008 with a 104-95 loss at Miami was a setback, then they had to brace themselves for the news that awaited them on Friday.No, it wasn't the Chicago Bulls, all 14-18 of them. It was the news that center Zydrunas Ilgauskas -- who is already on pace for an All-Star season -- will miss up to a month of action with a fractured bone in his left ankle. It's the recurrence of the same injury that Z suffered on December 10th at Philadelphia when he accidentally stepped on Cream Puff's foot in a 101-93 Cavs win.An MRI and x-ray confirmed the injury on Friday, and the Cavs have purposely not set a definite timetable for his return (as per Brian Windhorst of the CPD).And now it's time for Anderson Varejao to become unplugged. Varejao stepped in for Z at center, as he...

Read more | 11 Comments | Tags: Anderson Varejao, Ben Wallace, Boston Celtics, Brian Windhorst, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Plain Dealer, J.J. Hickson, Larry Hughes, LeBron James, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards, Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Fourth down for George Michael and the Redskin Report

By Anthony Brown | December 27, 2008 | Hog Heaven

Economic turbulence is blowing Washington's long running Redskins Report off the air. The Washington Post reported on Christmas Day that George Michael, the popular sportscaster on WRC-TV (Channel 4) ended his 28 year career with the station when WRC's parent, NBC Universal, demanded deep cuts in Michael's Redskins Report, covering the Washington Redskins, and Full Court Press, covering the Washington Wizards NBA team. The Redskin Report was a fixture on Saturday evenings during the NFL season. The show featured Redskin Hall of Famers Sonny Jurgensen and John Riggins, and Washington Post sports columnist Michael Wilbon. Tony Kornheiser, Wilbon's colleague in the Post's sports department often substituted when Wilbon was not available. The Redskin Report launched Wilbon and Kornheiser on their visual media career. Both are seen on ESPN and other sports venues.Michael feigned fan indignation at poor performance by the Redskins, but he is known to be close to owner...

Read more | Discuss | Tags: Baltmore Ravens, Detroit Lions, NFL, Washington Nationals, Washington Redskins, Washington Wizards

Christmas Day Notes

By Zach Harper | December 26, 2008 | Talk Hoops

Just wanted to jot down a few notes about the Christmas Day NBA festivities from yesterday. As you can probably tell there ended up not being an Eight-Second Violation for today because of the juggling of family time and NBA basketball. It led me to breaking free from family and going home at around 1am. With having to get up less than six hours later for work, it seemed unlikely that an effort could be made. But I'll try to hit on a few things here to make up for it as I wake myself out of this sleepwalk. Hornets-Magic GameWho would've thought that this would be the clunker of the whole day? I actually thought that this would end up being the second best game because Chris Paul doesn't seem to let his team give up and Dwight Howard is leading this Magic team perfectly right now (he's even...

Read more | 7 Comments | Tags: Boston Celtics, Chris Paul, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Dwight Howard, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, New Orleans Hornets, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trailblazers, San Antonio Spurs, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Washington Wizards

Yikes: Cavs Avoid Christmas Day Disaster By Outlasting Wizards, 93-89

By Amar Panchmatia | December 26, 2008 | Cavalier Attitude

Highlights ll BoxThe Cavaliers nearly ended Christmas with lumps of coal in their stockings.Fortunately for them, though, they've learned how to make their free throws. And on this night, that - more than anything else - was the reason they left The Q as the only remaining team to be undefeated at home in the National Basketball Association.Mo Williams: 24 points, six assists, 7-for-14 from the field, 4-for-7 from downtown. Oh, and one huge 3-pointer with a minute left, not to mention two big free throws to all but ice the game at the end. With the Wizards up, 89-85, the Cavs were able to get a huge stop on the defensive end before LeBron James found Mo on the left side of the arc for a huge trey to make it 89-88 with exactly a minute to go.But mulligans by LeBron 30 seconds earlier was why they got there...

Read more | 6 Comments | Tags: Anderson Varejao, Antawn Jamison, Ben Wallace, Boston Celtics, Caron Butler, Cleveland Cavaliers, Delonte West, Dwyane Wade, Gilbert Arenas, LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Mike Brown, Mike Fratello, Mo Williams, New Orleans Hornets, Nike, Orlando Magic, Wally Szczerbiak, Washington Wizards, Zydrunas Ilgauskas

NBA Studs and Duds: 12/25/08

By Stu Holdren | December 25, 2008 | NBA Noise

Studs:Tim Duncan, San Antonio SpursTim Duncan was a force on both ends of the floor in today's thrilling win over the Phoenix Suns. Duncan dropped in a tough-earned 25 points and also grabbed 17 rebounds, often playing through foul trouble. Tip of the hat to Roger Mason, whose three-pointer at the buzzer gave the Spurs the win. [boxscore]Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas MavericksDirk Nowitzki torched the Blazers for an astounding 24 first-half points. This scoring outburst put them in a position to stay close with Portland and pull away for the win in the fourth quarter. Nowitzki finished with 30 points on 12 of 18 shooting, and also chipped in 5 boards, 2 steals and 2 assists. [boxscore]The Los Angeles LakersSure, Kobe Bryant had 27 points, and Pau Gasol chipped in 20 of his own, but tonight's win against the Celtics was a total team effort. If you beat a team that...

Read more | 2 Comments | Tags: Caron Butler, Chris Paul, Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs, Tim Duncan, Washington Wizards

CavsCast, Game #29: Cavs vs. Wizards

By Amar Panchmatia | December 25, 2008 | Cavalier Attitude

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (24-4) VS. WASHINGTON WIZARDS (4-22) WHEN: 8:00 PM ET, DECEMBER 25TH, 2008WHERE: THE QUICKEN LOANS ARENA [CLEVELAND, OHIO]TV/RADIO: TNT / WTAM 1100COACHESMike Brown -HC- Ed TapscottPROBABLE LINEUPSMo Williams -PG- Mike James Delonte West - SG- Caron Butler LeBron James - SF- Dominic McGuire Ben Wallace -PF- Antawn JamisonZydrunas Ilgauskas -CT- Etan Thomas CAVS RESERVES Anderson Varejao Boobie GibsonSasha PavlovicWally SzczerbiakJ.J. HicksonTarence KinseyDarnell JacksonWIZARDS RESERVESDeShawn Stevenson Darius Songaila Nick Young JaVale McGee Juan Dixon Javaris Crittenton Oleksiy Pecherov Andray BlatcheINACTIVES/INJURY LISTGilbert Arenas (WAS)Brendan Haywood (WAS)Eric Snow (CLE) [Knees]Lorenzen Wright (CLE)Jawad Williams (CLE)CAVALIER ATTITUDE'S KEYS TO THE GAME No mercy - Even though this is a horrific Wizards team, there is plenty of bad blood between these two clubs. To add to it, this game is on Christmas, which is a showcase day for the league. The audience will be large, and the Cavs need to use this putrid Wizards...

Read more | 25 Comments | Tags: CavsCast, Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards

Christmas Day Survival Guide

By Zach Harper | December 24, 2008 | Talk Hoops

Okay. We all need to stick together on this. Christmas comes with a lot of pressure, commitments, and responsibilities through the holiday. For those of you who do not celebrate the holiday due to philosophical or religious beliefs, consider yourself lucky this year. For those of you who do celebrate it, consider yourself screwed. The NBA has provided us with four potentially fantastic games and one match-up that looks like it will be over by the time Grandpa passes out. Here are the games with times and stations: New Orleans at Orlando, 9am PST on ESPNSan Antonio at Phoenix, 12:30pm PST on ABCBoston at LA Lakers, 2pm PST on ABCWashington at Cleveland, 5pm PST on TNTDallas at Portland, 7:30pm PST on TNTOther than the Wizards-Cavs snoozer, that is a loaded day of basketball. Unfortunately for someone like myself, I will be bouncing around from home to home on Christmas Day...

Read more | 1 Comment | Tags: Boston Celtics, chloroform brownies, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, New Orleans Hornets, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trailblazers, San Antonio Spurs, Washington Wizards

NBA Stock Market: Rondo Keeping Celtics on Record Pace

By Joe Boikess | December 22, 2008 | MVN Outsider

Rajon Rondo surveying the floor (Photo via culhanen/flickr.com)

Note: We at MVN Outsider have re-organized our posting schedule in an effort to make our sports coverage more well rounded and timely. For those of you expecting to see the NBA Power Rankings today, that post has been moved to Tuesdays. With these changes, get ready to see more fresh content every day on every major sport. Thanks, and enjoy!Rising:Boston Celtics - Honestly, this team has been on the rise this entire season, piling up wins at a rate that we haven't seen since the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. They now have won 18 in a row and have tied the league mark for the best start (26-2) for a team with two losses. Their recent success has been due in large part to the play of point guard Rajon Rondo. When the team needs him to score, he does it (as we saw on Sunday in the C's win...Read more

Read more | Discuss | Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, NBA, NBA Outsider, New York Knicks

NBA Roundtable: Breaking down Wednesday's trades

By Michael De Leon | December 11, 2008 | MVN Outsider

I got a chance to talk to Ryne Nelson of SLAMonline, Stu Holdren of NBA Noise, Zach Harper of TalkHoops and Ben of Ben's Suns Blog about the two trades that sent eight players packing and on flights to their new NBA homes Wednesday.The biggest trade had the Phoenix Suns sending Boris Diaw, Raja Bell and Sean Singletary in exchange for Jason Richardson, Jared Dudley and a 2010 second round pick.In the other trade, the Wizards acquired Mike James from the Hornets and Javaris Crittenton from the Grizzlies, while the Hornets get Antonio Daniels from the Wizards. Memphis comes away with a future first round pick.Listen in as we talk about the winners and losers, how this trade affects each team, and if Jason Richardson can help get the Suns over the hump and into the finals. Oh and we have some not too kind words about Mike James as...Read more

Read more | Discuss | Tags: audio, Charlotte Bobcats, Memphis Grizzlies, NBA, NBA Outsider, New Orleans Hornets, Phoenix Suns, Washington Wizards

Top ten surprises of the NBA season so far

By Jon Burkett | November 18, 2008 | MVN Outsider

With most teams past the 10 game point in the NBA season, subplots and storylines are emerging. While the Lakers and Celtics are clearly the top teams in the league, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are playing well as the best of the rest. Other teams have not been up to the challenge. Heading in to Tuesday's action, here are the top ten surprises of the NBA season so far... 10. Mark Cuban's alleged insider trading - The league's most entertaining and passionate owner has been on the wrong side of David Stern before. He has a reputation for being a bit of a rogue, but always follows the law. The most surprising aspect of the story to me is public reaction fueled by speculation. Sure, the NBA is still reeling from image issues of the Tim Donaghy scandal two summers ago. But every piece of gossip is not...Read more

Read more | 3 Comments | Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clipppers, Milwaukee Bucks, NBA, NBA Outsider, New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, Washington Wizards

Fantasy Tracker: Target Gasol, Thompson to boost forward/center production

By Michael De Leon | November 5, 2008 | MVN Outsider

Every Wednesday, I'll highlight five players who you should either add to your fantasy team if you need the help or put on your watch list. I'll also list 5 players that should have their bags packed and may be on their way to free agency in your leagueADD/WATCH LISTNick YoungWhile Young was buried on the guard-heavy Wizards bench last season, he will get plenty of minutes this season with Gilbert Arenas out once again. The Wizards start Antonio Daniels to set up the offense and distribute the ball, but when they want instant offense, Young is their go-to guy. He has been averaging 16.5 points through two games, and I only see him getting better. Keep in mind that for the most part, he is mostly a one-cat guy. If you need assists or steals, you may want to go another route, but Young will provide points and he...Read more

Read more | Discuss | Tags: Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies, NBA, NBA Outsider, New Orleans Hornets, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards

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