Cavs playing host to the Knicks

[anjac]

Tonight at 7p.m. the New York Knicks come to Cleveland Town to do battle with the Cleveland Cavaliers at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, in a game that is sure to provide much excitement.
Both teams are in the Eastern Conference. New York, having lost their last 5 road games, are 10-21 overall and 3-13 on the road, and 4th in the very competitive Atlantic Division, 9 games behind the New Jersey Nets. The Cavs are 20-11 overall, and a blistering 14-4 at home, and hold 2nd place in the just as tough Central Division, 6 games behind last year's Conference Champion Detroit Pistons. The Cavs have won 7 of their last 8 at home, and 9 of their last 11 overall. They are truelly on fire of late.
New York has won 3 of the last 4 meetings between the clubs, including the last two ( a 6 pt win at Cleveland and a 3 pt win at the Garden).Three games back, Cleveland won at home in a blow out, 104-79, and four games back the Knicks won by 10 (98-88) as 2' pt chalk at New York. In their last confrontation, in April 2005, New York shot 50.7% (38-75) to Cleveland's 41.4% (36-87) from the field. The Knicks also bested the Cavs from long range on 8 of 17 to Cleveland's 4 of 17, but the Cavs had a resounding edge on the boards (62-50) and controlled the offensive boards 20-11. Both teams went to the free throw line 24 times, Cleveland sinking 13 to New York's 11, making it a negligent factor in the game's outcome.
Tonight, Cleveland will be led by the young "Super Star" LeBron James. D. Gooden, Ilgauskas, E. Snow and D. Marshall will probably account for the remainder of the Cav's point output. Over the last 3 games for the Cavs, James is shooting at 55.7% and Gooden at 58.3%. Ilgauskas at 44.1%, Marshall at 36.5% and Snow at 31.5% round out that three game span, which saw the Cav's play Milwaukee twice and Houston in between. James, who usually puts in the most points for the Cavs, has only managed 27, 22 and 13 respectively in the last 3 games he has played against the Knicks. Due to double teaming, or just good old fashioned NY defense, he has not fared well vs the Knicks.
New York will counter that staunch attack with a host of players that can put the ball through the bucket. In New York's last 3 games ( Seattle, Washington and an on fire Phoenix) M. Taylor is 20-36 (55.5%), N. Robinson is 13-28 (46.4%), E. Curry is 17-32 (53.1%), C. Frye is 18-24 (75%), D. Lee is 15-17 (88.2%) and S. Marbury is 29-65 for 44.6%. The Knicks will be without Jamal Crawford for the third game in a row. Crawford accounted for 25 and 22 pts, respectively, the last 2 encounters with Cleveland. Stephen Marbury, Maurice Taylor, Ed Curry and Nate Robinson have stepped up the pace a bit in his absence, and will do so again tonight. Quentin Richardson, who has been out due to a back injury and just returned last game for the Knicks (1of4 and 5 pts) may see some game time, but it will be limited. Antonio Davis is also day to day with a back unjury.
The spread on this game opened at Cleveland -8' and a game total around 203. The oddsmakers could well be correct in the assumption that the game will be high scoring, and I feel that it will probably go over the total, but not decisively. James will score his share, and made a statement after one of the Cavs/Knicks games, saying something to the effect that "teams that come to Cleveland to play, have to be shown that they are playing a team." What he meant, I have no idea, but the Knicks will come to play tonight. I look for a solid game from Marbury and Taylor, since they have faced the Cavs before. The rest of the youngsters on the Knicks team, if they are not intimidated by LeBron James's performance, should also fare well. On the other hand, for the Cavs, James and Gooden should account for about 50% of the point total. How well Ilgauskas plays tonight, and the Cav bench strength may well be the deciding factors in this game. I am fairly certain regarding the Knick's bench. All in all, the line seems to be set a bit too high on this game, so I tend to favor the Knicks. Whatever your play is, I hope you do well.
And always remember......"Everybody plays the fool sometimes.....there's no exception to the rule."