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MickyEyez · 03-17-2008, 01:07 PM

@

Cleveland Cavaliers (38-29) vs. Orlando Magic (44-24)

7:00 PM EST, Amway Arena

Cleveland Cavaliers

West/Pavlovic/James/Wallace/Ilgauskas

Orlando Magic

Nelson/Evans/Turkoglu/Lewis/Howard

Preview

Quote:

Now that LeBron James is getting some support from his teammates, the Cleveland Cavaliers look to carry over their strong play at home to the road.

The Cavaliers hope to build off their most recent victory while trying to avoid a fourth consecutive road loss when they face the streaking Orlando Magic on Monday night.

James scored 33 points as Cleveland (38-29) held off Charlotte 98-91 on Sunday for its season-high seventh straight win at home. Though James - the NBA's scoring leader at 30.9 points per game - had another strong game, he was glad to share the spotlight.

Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16 points and nine rebounds in his return after missing seven games with a lower back injury. Ben Wallace had 15 rebounds and also added a pair of late field goals to keep the Cavaliers ahead.

"It shows they can help this team if we put them in positions to score," said James, who also had 10 assists and seven rebounds.

With Ilgauskas apparently healthy, James and Cavaliers will boast a deeper lineup at Orlando (44-24), which has already clinched a playoff spot and is averaging 114.5 points during its current four-game winning streak.

The Cavaliers are fourth in the Eastern Conference and trying to nail down home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. They are 5 1/2 games back of the third-place Magic, but 3 1/2 ahead of fifth-place Toronto in the conference.

Cleveland, which hasn't had a winning record away from home since 1995-96, has lost five of its last six on the road and is 16-19 overall. The Cavaliers, though, won 118-111 at Orlando on Feb. 11 in the teams' most recent meeting for their third win in five road games against the Magic.

On Sunday, Cleveland overcame a 42.7-percent shooting effort by recording 50 rebounds and holding the Bobcats scoreless in the final 1:08.

"At that point you need to get a stop," James said of his team's late defense. "You know down the stretch that if you can get one stop and a score, then the game can get out of reach. We were able to accomplish that."

James, who's averaging 35.3 points in his last nine contests, has totaled 68 points, 24 assists and 20 rebounds in two games versus Orlando this season. He had 39 points, 14 assists and 13 boards in Cleveland's 117-116 overtime home loss to the Magic on Nov. 14.

Orlando is coming off a 122-111 home win over Indiana on Saturday. Hedo Turkoglu had 27 points and Rashard Lewis added 22 for the Magic, who shot a season-high 63.6 percent and went 12-for-20 from 3-point range for their 12th victory in 15 games.

"I wouldn't say it was a great offensive night because we handled the ball very poorly," said Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy, who's team overcame 22 turnovers, including seven by All-Star Dwight Howard. "We were able to survive because we shot the ball so well."

Turkoglu had 25 points on 10-for-17 shooting against Cleveland last month.

HAPPY ST PATTY'S DAY ALL!!!

GO MAGIC!

Babir · 03-17-2008, 02:31 PM

I hope Delonte is not going to score 40 tonight

GO MAGIC!

**Basel57** · 03-17-2008, 06:01 PM

I'm surprised there's no Magic fans here posting. It's a pretty big game. Magic leading by 5 right now with a ton of time left in the 4th quarter.

Idunkonyou · 03-17-2008, 06:45 PM

Magic dominated the 2nd half and put a hush on their doubters. What you saw them to do the Cavs in the 2nd half is what they will see in the playoffs, which is why the Cavs = overhyped trash that will be lucky to get out of the 1st round. If the Magic beat the Wiz on Wednesday, they win the division.

Blue Magic · 03-17-2008, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Idunkonyou

When the Magic beat the Wiz on Wednesday, they win the division.

Fixed...

atmacfan · 03-18-2008, 09:48 AM

Fun game, even though it seemed like about a quarter of the people attending were Cavs fans. I was getting a little worried when the "lid on the basket" didn't seem to want to come off. If we weren't hitting anything when LeBron goes off in the 4th ... But then our guys wouldn't let LeBron take over the fourth and their shots started going in so there was nothing more to worry about.

And how about St. Patrick Garrity! He was playing some fantastic basketball and the crowd was thrilled.

The Big 3 ended up having nice games as we made a nice comeback.

A lot of Yankees in the house (f*ck you Cano for wearing a Cavs jersey). Chris Tucker came back, and magic fans gave Tiger a standing ovation for his impressive win.

Good to see Stan show love to Dwight and Rashard by subbing them out.
Mo and Kebo did a very nice job on LeBron tonight.

It took Jameer until late, but he finally got the best of Delonte.

Superb to hit 45 wins. Need to keep the streak going at home vs. Washington Wednesday.

MickyEyez · 03-18-2008, 12:21 PM

great win for the MAGIC... they really showed moxy when the cavs started to make a run and even took the lead a few times.

hopefully the team continues to play with the fire they have played with the past week or so. Agent 0 is expected to play for the first time in a loooong time against us.

MickyEyez · 03-18-2008, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Idunkonyou

Magic dominated the 2nd half and put a hush on their doubters. What you saw them to do the Cavs in the 2nd half is what they will see in the playoffs, which is why the Cavs = overhyped trash that will be lucky to get out of the 1st round. If the Magic beat the Wiz on Wednesday, they win the division.

i agree completely... i don't understand why every sports analyst and casual fan thinks that they are one of the premier teams in the East.

i don't know how many times i've heard this on ESPN, "besides DETROIT and BOSTON, CLEVELAND is the only other team in the East that has a chance to compete" or something along those lines... absolutely ridiculous.

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