Mongolmike

The match-ups:

PG: Andre vs Bimbo/Palacio

Andre played his usual solid game with 15 pts and 14 assists, but Bimbo and the rest of the Cavs know Andre's game VERY well, and were able to force him out of his comfort zone which are post ups. Bimbo and Palacio had a solid game, but unspectacular.

Huge Advantage: Clippers

SG: Good spirited match-up later in the game after Ricky Davis head-thumped. Both Q and the crowd took exception to the gesture and Q and Ricky started jawing the rest of the game. However, Ricky feeds off that. Both players had a solid game, but Ricky's numbers were clearly superior- 25pts, 7rebs, 8 assts, 3 stl to Q's- 17pts and 7rebs (I did'nt catch all the stats). Jaric played a little, and looked good. Jumaine Jones played a little and looked good. Neither player will get a lot of minutes unless there is foul trouble or injuries, but are both great players to have coming in off the bench.

Clear Advantage: Cleveland

SF: Darius wants to play better than he currently is, after two games. He had a quiet 15pts, 5 rebs, but Corey had 17pts, a number of spectacular blocks, and some very physical boards and overall play. Maggette looked very good, but it doesn't seem like the Clips run many set plays for him.

Clear Advantage: Clippers

PF: Elton started and played, but is obviously not 100%. Rooks played well, Wilcox had a few minutes. Tyrone Hill, who many people write off, but he's had double-doubles both nights, tonight 17pts, 13rebs. You can't ask more than that.

Clear Advantage: Cleveland

Center: Nice match-up between Olawakandi and Illgauskas. Good tough battle. Z is regaining his form of 3 years ago, and is an offensive threat whether people admit it or not. He is 7'3, strong, and a good touch. 19pts, 9 rebs. Candy looked very smooth. He has made huge progress on offense, needs to be more aggressive on defense. 18pts, 13 rebs. Z hit the fade-away jumper with 2 seconds left to win the game. Wang did not play, Diop played a few minutes and did distrupt the defensive paint with a few blocks in a short period.

Advantage: Tie

Conclusion: A nice win for Cleveland, a game the Clips should not have lost... but they did. The Clips could not put Cleveland away, they lost the ball a lot on steals, and had many more turnovers and probably gave up more fouls. Cleveland battled with more poise, which is surprising since they have almost a completely new starting line-up this year. Clippers have a lot of changes in their line-up too, but they obviously did not play up to expectations. After watching Clev get completely man-handled by Sacramento last night, and then watching the Clips tonight, LAC has a long way to go yet and a short time to get there... basically this year before all the max contract demands start kicking in? Andre and Kandi and Elton would seem to be cornerstones, but will Sterling pay-out 3 maybe 4 max contracts? Doubt it. So that means this is the year that the Clips have to show major improvement. This was only their first game, but they have a lot of work to do to....fast.

Cleveland 98, Clippers 96

__________________
When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.