Here is the official thread where I will talk to myself about the Cavaliers.

Watch out Boston, LeBron has some help!

I like Houston, San Antonio, Phoenix, and the Celtics.

Certainly good teams to like. SA has injury problems this year though. Phoenix has the wrong guy at center for the way the rest of the team is built. Boston is in position to get back to the finals (although I am rooting against that for obvious reasons). And Houston has to get off the "All Potential" list.

But I'm supposed to be talking to myself in here since no one watches the NBA anymore.

I watch and follow NBA.

And those are the teams I like-like. Not just the teams I think will do well. I love Duncan and Genobli's effort. I'm fascinated by the potential of the Rockets. And I like Nash and Grant Hill of the Sonics.

LeBron is one of my favorite players, but Cleveland makes it hard to like them. The rest of the team is such a snoozer.

They should get Baron Davis. He's one of my favorite players.

That's what my first post is sort of about. Mo Williams actually scored more points than King James last night. The Cavaliers actually extended a lead without James even on the floor. This is much more of a team than the last few seasons, even if Ben Wallace can't score a point (although in fairness Wallace actually scored 11 last night after back to back games of zero).

I watch the the nba too. Though I can't tell why my sixers are not doing so hot right now. Brand and Igouldala dont seem to be meshing yet.

Regarding LeBron I thought he was just a flavor of the month. Some NBA marketing gone wild. Till the Olympics this summer. He was clearly the best player on the court.

And yet Kobe ended up having the moment, putting the championship game away.

Anyway, the Cavs are defending less but scoring more. I peeked last night at the score before going off to do other things and saw them behind. Nice to wake up to a win.

The NBA system of getting into the playoffs is so open that at 8 - 2, the Cavs are already at a 74% chance to make the playoffs.

I have been less and less interested in the NBA post-Jordan. I did get wrapped up in it a lot again during the years Shaq and Kobe were winning in LA, and followed the game closely for that time, but since a)it's not on network TV anymore and b)I have less time to devote to sports anyway, I've fallen off. I watched one quarter of one of the NBA Finals games last season. Usually I at least catch 4 or 5 games at my parents house on cable, then watch the Finals in their entirety. Maybe this year LeBron will lead the Cavs to a championship and I'll get sucked back in.

At some point (post football, IIRC) the games are on ABC on Sundays.

Ah, didn't know that. I thought they'd gone completely to cable.

The Lakers appear to be dialed in and the Cavs are still scoring (although their defense isn't what it used to be). If the Cavs can get past the men in green, perhaps the network will have the Kobe versus LeBron they have been dying for.

Well, not sure how with LeBron James this is even possible, but the Cavaliers are on pace for 70 wins and nobody even knows they exist. That's because the Lakers and the Celtics are too. Wow.

I used to watch a lot of the NBA when the Knicks were good. However their ineptitude has worn me down. The Bobcats aren't any better. I did watch the lakers vs. Celtics yesterday and that was fun.

The Cavaliers have supplanted the Celtics in the East. The Celtics don't seem to be physically wrong; just not able to ratchet up the effort. It will be interesting to see what the Magic are made of.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magaz ... ier-t.html

Cool article by the guy who wrote Moneyball on the Rockets and Shane Battier.

The Cavs are in the lead in the East again, now back within a half game of the Lakers for best record overall, this despite being spanked twice by the Lakers this year. Big game coming up end of this week against Boston. Scary thing is, the Cavs have done most of this damage with at least one starter not named LeBron out of the lineup. This team could be a special one.

Magic number for the Cavs to clinch home field in the East: 4.
Magic number for the Cavs to clinch home field in the NBA Finals: 6.

How the Cavs play today will say a lot about whether they have the mentality to win the NBA finals. It's been nice not to have to pay attention to the early struggles of the Indians.

Another series in the bag. Eight wins down, eight to go. The Cavs games haven't been pretty to look at (from a competitive standpoint), but they're winning. So once again they wait for an opponent.

bounce