Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Miami Heat

Place: American Airlines Arena in Miami, FL.
Time: 7:30 p.m. EST
TV/Radio: Fox Sports Ohio/WTAM 1100 AM

Projected Cavaliers Starting Lineup:

PG: LeBron James
SG: Ricky Davis
SF: Darius Miles
PF: Carlos Boozer
C:  Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Cavaliers Injury Report: C Bruno Sundov (right Achilles tendinitis) and SG Dajuan Wagner (right knee surgery) are all on the injured list.  SF Darius Miles (nose contusion) is expected to play.

Projected Heat Starting Lineup:

PG: Dwyane Wade
SG: Eddie Jones
SF: Lamar Odom
PF: Udonis Haslem
C:  Brian Grant

Heat Injury Report: PF Malik Allen (right foot surgery), SF Rasual Butler (fractured metacarpal) and PF Samaki Walker (right shoulder pain) are on the injured list.

Key Matchups:

LeBron James vs. Dwyane Wade - The Heat also have a rookie PG in Wade, a college SG, who is adjusting to the pro game.  Wade is an extremely athletic 6'3 with long arms that allow him to play much bigger.  Wade's best attribute is his ability to penetrate and get to the rim.  He possesses great quickness with the ball and a good crossover with the strength to finish.  Like most young players his jumper is the weakest part of his game.  Wade, unlike many rookies is a good defender who is able to use his quickness and long arms to get steals.  James when matched up with Wade has to keep him in front of him and make him shoot jumpshots.  Wade can be relentless driving to the basket.  When on, even as a rookie, he can wreak havoc on a defense.  On offense, James must watch his dribble against Wade as he will put pressure on the ball coming up the floor.  Wade cannot match James' size but he can match his athleticism and quickness.  Although his outside shot was falling against New York James must not fall in love with it.  Getting into the lane and being aggressive is when James is at his best and the Heat lack the size and shotblocking to challenge him. 

Ricky Davis vs. Eddie Jones - For all the young talent the Heat have brought in Eddie Jones is still their best player.  Jones is the leading scorer and no. 1 option for the Heat.  Right now he is their best perimeter shooter and three point threat.  Like just about every other Heat perimeter player Jones uses his long 6'6 frame to finish around the basket.  He is the one player that the Heat can consistently run through screens and kick out to for outside shots.  Davis cannot fall asleep on those screens and challenge Jones as he did with the Knicks' Allan Houston.  Jones, in the past, against the Cavaliers, has gotten hot hitting some very tough shots opening up the rest of his game even the post up.  However, Jones has been criticized in the past for not being a goto guy for the end of games although he has hit some big shots against the Cavaliers.  On offense, Davis has to continue to pick his spots against one of the premier defensive guards in the league in Eddie Jones.  Jones can match Davis' athleticism and use his length to give him problems.  Remaining in the system and not forcing things will be important for Davis against Jones.

Darius Miles vs. Lamar Odom - The last free agent hurrah for Pat Riley was Lamar Odom whom Riley has coveted since Odom came into the league in 1999.  Odom is a supremely talented and versatile 6'10 forward capable playing two, three and even four positions.  Odom is athletic and very long with skills that belie a player his size.  He can handle the ball and pass like a guard, post up like a forward and then step out and shoot the three.  There isn't much that Lamar Odom can't do on the court when he puts his mind to it.  Issues with maturity, injuries and focus have dogged Odom pro career up to date.  Best with the ball in his hands Odom has not gotten off to a good start with his new team.  He is having trouble adjusting to a new Conference and a system where he isn't controlling the ball.  His shooting percentage is ridiculously low for a player with his size and skills.  Darius Miles, as Odom's near physical mirror image, should know his former teammate well.  Odom, a lefty, almost exclusively goes left.  Moves starting right will usually wind up back left with Odom either going that way or shooting with his left hand.  As the Heat's likely best option in the post Miles has to be wary of Odom's jump hooks and flips around the basket.  Odom also likes to face up on the wing and in that situation it is best to make him show he can make the jumper rather than penetrating where he can use his guard skills to make plays.  Offensively, it all starts with energy and confidence for Miles.  Miles has been going to the basket with more purpose and shooting from the outside with more confidence.  The Heat and Odom will most assuredly see if Miles can keep up his improvement from the outside.  Miles can take advantage of Odom defensively who is not known as a strong defender.  The Heat rely on team defense and Miles is at his best slashing to the rim, breaking the defense down and making plays.  Going after Odom defensively could keep him in his early season funk.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas vs. Brian Grant - It has been a house of horrors for Ilgauskas against the Heat and Grant especially in Miami.  Miami is the place where Ilgauskas last broke a foot.  Ilgauskas simply hasn't played well against Brian Grant.  Despite a 5-6 inch height disadvantage Grant, a good post defender, is able to get under Ilgauskas base and push him off the post.  Former Heat coach Pat Riley's philosophy of "they can't call everything" allowed the Heat to be very physical and get away with a lot of things and Grant frustrated Ilgauskas.  Compounding the Cleveland center's problems is the Heat like to run high pick and pops with Grant against Ilgauskas pulling him away from the basket for 17-18 footers.  Ilgauskas must sell out on those pick and pops and not worry about Grant pump faking and going around him.  He wants to shoot those jumpers. Grant has been struggling offensively but his jumpers always seem to fall against Cleveland.  On offense Ilgauskas has been patient in the post the last two games recognizing double teams.  New coach Stan Van Gundy has kept Riley's system and philosophy intact and Riley teams don't like to double team.  If Ilgauskas can get off to a good start against Grant forcing some double teams it will give the Heat defense another option to worry about. Defensively, Ilgauskas must be wary of leaving Grant to help on penetration as Grant will either crash the offensive boards or fade out along the baseline for kickout jumpers.

When Cleveland has the ball: The Cavaliers offense is starting to run smoothly.  The assists are way up and the turnovers are way down.  The team is moving and sharing the ball in a fashion unseen in several years.  A factor in their success has been their renewed effort in attacking the basket leading the NBA in dunks.  Cleveland is going to the line more and being more aggressive has allowed their outside game to open up as a compliment.  The Miami Heat are one of the worst shotblocking teams in the NBA and the Cavaliers can get to the rim with success if they continue to move the ball on offense.  Even Riley's defensive system like most others can be broken down when there is ball and player movement.  The Heat have some rookies and suspect defenders so if Cleveland remains patient and has the same focus and attention to detail they showed in the previous three games they can get their first road win of the year.

The bench must continue their energy and solid play especially the big men.  The Heat have nothing like Mihm and Diop coming off their bench.

When Miami has the ball: The Heat have gotten off to a horrible offensive start and is one of least scoring and poorest shooting teams in the NBA.  They had some nagging injuries to Lamar Odom and Dwyane Wade along with just getting Caron Butler back from preseason knee surgery but for all their athletes they have not been able to get any kind of transition game going despite being a middle of the pack rebounding team.  When you don't get easy baskets and you are a suspect outside shooting team settling for jumpers it makes for a bad recipe.  New Heat coach Stan Van Gundy wants his team to get out and push the ball more and stop settling for outside shots with the athletes and players they have who are best at getting to the rim. 

The Heat bench is filled with aging veterans and castoffs with the likes of former Cavaliers PF Tyrone Hill (recently signed) and PG Bimbo Coles.  PG Rafer Alston and SF John Wallace have had moments and have given the Heat at boost at times.

Game outlook: A definite and real trap game for the Cavaliers.  The Heat are getting healthy and they are of the few teams that can match the perimeter athletes of the Cavaliers.  Although improved the Cavaliers perimeter defense is still suspect and if Heat do decide to stop settling for outside shots and attack the basket with Wade, Jones, Odom and Butler it could be a long night for Cleveland.  If the conga line into the paint returns expect Cavaliers coach Paul Silas to go defense once and again and go with C DeSagana Diop if the Cavaliers are in striking distance and especially if Ilgauskas has more problems offensively with Heat C Brian Grant. 

Cleveland cleared the first hurdle of winning a game and then responding the next hurdle of by responding well to the success by blowing out the New York Knicks now the next test is winning on the road against a team with similar talent who are hungry for a win.