Displaced Cleveland Fan

Big game for the Cavaliers tonight. They beat the Phoenix Suns by 17 points and improved to 13-5 on the year. But more than the score and their record, this game was great for several reasons.

#1 - Zydrunas Ilgauskas broke the team record for number of games played at 724. I love Z. He is, hands down, my favorite Cavs player ever (yes, even more than LeBron James). He has played his entire career in a Cleveland uniform and battled through foot injuries to make it this far. This year he has had to move to the bench with the addition of Shaquille O’Neal and is adjusting to that in the best interest of the team.

Congrats, Z. Hope to see you help this team finally win a championship this year as well.
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The Orlando Magic was the team that ended the Cavaliers season last year in the Eastern Conference Finals. They gave the Cavs too many match-up problems. So Danny Ferry set out this offseason to add the missing pieces needed to be able to beat the Magic in a 7-game series.

The most notable of these additions was Shaquille O’Neal. The former Magic center’s role would be to cause problems for current Magic center Dwight Howard - make it difficult for him to score, get him into foul trouble.
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The off-season trade to bring Shaquille O’Neal to Cleveland was huge. Take a 66-win team that fell just short of the NBA Finals and add a future hall of famer like Shaq, and you have one very dangerous team.

On paper.

As everyone should expect, there will be some period of adjustment as the players and coaches learn how to utilize Shaq and as he learns his new role on the team. Through four games, he was off to a mediocre start. But it couldn’t stay mediocre forever. Eventually he would start making an impact.

That night was tonight against the Wizards.
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It’s much too early in the NBA season to be worried about the Cavaliers. But there has certainly been cause for concern. The Cavs lost their first two games. They haven’t figured out how to work newly acquired Shaquille O’Neal into the offense, and Delonte West, who is arguably the second most important member of this team, has been inactive due to ongoing personal issues.

So tonight’s game against Charlotte was an important step forward for the Cavs. Sure, they evened their record (2-2) with a 90-79 win. But the important part of this game is that Delonte West was able to play.
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OK, the season opener didn’t turn out how we would have liked. But it did turn out like we should have expected. The Cavs drop their first game to the Celtics 95-89.

Delonte West was inactive for the game. With as valuable as he is for the team, it really hurt having him out.

LeBron James had a good game (38 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 blocks). But the Cavs’ big offseason addition, Shaquille O’Neal, scored just 10 points. At the end, the Celtics, led by Paul Pierce’s 23 points and 11 rebounds, hung on to spoil the season opener.
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The Cleveland Cavaliers open the regular season tonight against the Boston Celtics. This is the team’s 40th season and perhaps their best chance thus far to win a championship.
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2 more wins to get to the Finals.

2 reasons why the Cavs won this game:

• Lebron got some help: Mo Williams (24pts), Zydrunas Ilgauskas (16pts).
• The Magic’s 3 point shooting came back to earth (32%, as opposed to 45% in game 4).

Next stop, Orlando. Let’s see if they can keep this going.