Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Houston Rockets
by:MYoung

Place: The Toyota Center in Houston, TX.
Time: 9:00 p.m. EST
TV/Radio: ESPN/WTAM 1100 AM

Projected Cavaliers Starters:

PG: Jeff McInnis
SG: LeBron James
SF: Ira Newble
PF: Carlos Boozer
C:  Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Cavaliers Injury Report: C Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje (ankle sprain) and SG J.R. Bremer (patella tendinitis) are on the injured list.  C DeSagana Diop (ankle sprain) has been cleared to play.

Projected Rockets Starters:

PG: Steve Francis
SG: Cuttino Mobley
SF: Jim Jackson
PF: Kelvin Cato
C:  Yao Ming

Rockets Injury Report: PG Mike Wilks (plantar fasciitis) is on the injured list.

Key Matchups:

Jeff McInnis vs. Steve Francis - Francis is arguably having his worst season as a pro.  His scoring is down, FG% down, 3PtFG% down, rebounds down, assists are down and is still turning the ball over at a high rate for a 5th year PG.  With that being said Francis is still one of the more dangerous and explosive players in the league.  He possesses good size, great athleticism and quickness in combination with his ballhandling ability can seemingly get anywhere he wants to on the floor.  Francis is very good at the pick and roll where he can turn the corner and get into the lane where he can finish or he can step back and behind the screen and shoot the three pointer.  He is also one of the better one on one players in the league using a quick crossover to break down defenders.  Once in the lane Francis and his backcourt mate Cuttino Mobley have an uncanny knack of throwing close lobs in traffic.  Francis after penetrating and drawing the defense up the paint to him will just flip the ball to the rim where another Rockets player usually Kelvin Cato it seems is there for the dunk.  A flaw that has dogged Francis since he came into the league has been his tendency to overdribble which often leads to the offense getting stagnant and him settling for bad jumpshots.  Francis is turnover prone mainly due to trying to force passes or not being sharp with them.  Defensively, Jeff McInnis who has seen Francis a bunch after being in the Western Conference for so many years has to keep Francis from consistently driving into the paint and breaking down the defense.  It is best to make Francis a jumpshooter until late in games where has been known make big shots usually three pointers.  He wants to get into the lane and will burn much of the shotclock doing so and you win defensively by making him settle for jumpers.  McInnis has a habit of going behind the screen on pick and rolls and it has gotten him burned when PGs step back and shoot the three.  He must also do a better job of picking up his man in transition.  Francis will get out and run with Mobley and McInnis has a tendency not to pick up his man and stopping the ball but rather passing him off to a teammate.  Offensively, McInnis must continue to be the threat he has been in the past three game which includes knocking down open three pointers.  Almost as big as his fearlessness late in game to take big shots has been his ability to make three pointers when the ball goes inside and then out.

Yao Ming vs. Zydrunas Ilgauskas - If you ever wondered what Zydrunas Ilgauskas could have been without the half dozen or so foot surgeries you have to look no further than Yao Ming.  Yao is the heir apparent to the dominant center title in the NBA.  He possesses many of the same skills as Ilgauskas; good outside touch, hook and turnaround jumper in the post, good passing skills but the difference being that Yao is a couple of inches taller, 50lbs heavier, quicker and more mobile due to his injury free career thus far.  Yao is one of the few players in the NBA that is taller and bigger than Ilgauskas which poses unique defensive problems for him.  Paul Silas has been using Ilgauskas against smaller PFs in order to utilize his length against them but that strategy is rendered moot against Yao.  Yao, however, has faced similar issues with Jeff Van Gundy that Ilgauskas has had with Paul Silas in terms of the coaches wanting the big men to be more aggressive and tougher.  Both players have steadily improved over the year with Yao averaging 20ppg and over 9rpg game over the last month while Ilgauskas has averaged 16ppg, 10rpg and 3bpg over the last 10 games.  Yao is definitely the better player but in the previous meetings with the Rockets Ilgauskas has held his own if not outplayed Yao.  The best bet for Ilgauskas is to be as aggressive as he can with Yao on both ends of the floor.  Offensively, Ilgauskas cannot settle for his baseline fadeaway.  It should be a compliment to his other moves rather than a staple.  It bails Yao out defensively and it will be tough to get good looks with that shot against the bigger Yao.  The center who is more aggressive and even draws fouls on the other will givetheir team a big advantage.

When the Cavaliers have the ball: Jason Kapono gave the Cavaliers a huge lift off the bench against the Hornets with his three point shooting give them an outside presence they sorely need.  They will need Kapono's bombing down the stretch and against Houston who is one of the premier defensive teams in the NBA.  The Rockets are first in FG% defense holding teams under 40% shooting, in the top three in rebounding and tied for first in points allowed.  Their big men show well defending screens and they like to pack it inside and make teams shoot contested jumpers.  Cleveland can expect Houston to zone them like every other team and it will be important for McInnis, Kapono, Wagner and even Williams to provide an outside presence.  James must continue to be strong driving to the basket drawing the Houston big men and creating some easy opportunities for Boozer and Ilgauskas.  Other important keys against the Houston defense will be swinging the ball from one side to another to get their defense moving and getting out in transition when the turnover prone Rockets give the ball up.

When Houston has the ball: There has been a battle of wills between Steve Francis and Jeff Van Gundy has the Rockets transform from a wide open perimeter oriented team to a defensive minded one built around Yao Ming.  When you look at the Rockets it's hard to understand how they are one of the more anemic offensive teams in the NBA.  They have some weapons.  Houston is a much better team when Yao is the focal point of the offense and Francis' assist totals are over 5.  They are one of the better three point shooting teams in the NBA with Jim Jackson, Cuttino Mobley and Eric Piatkowski all over 36% with Steve Francis having the ability to hit clutch three pointers.  SF Jim Jackson has really picked up his play over the last month and a half and PF Maurice Taylor who has given the Cavaliers fits provides their scoring punch off the bench.  Expect the Rockets to run a lot of pick and rolls and go at Ilgauskas early with Yao. Houston does fall into stretches where they don't move the ball well, turning it over and forget about Yao inside.  Paul Silas said that the Cavaliers may go to their zone to take away the pick and roll and the penetration of the perimeter players.  This may be problematic considering the Cavaliers play one of the worst zone defenses in the NBA.  Lastly, the Rockets have two players namely Francis and Mobley that can just break their man down and make shots outside the flow of the offense especially late in games.

Game outlook: This is just another challenge on National TV for the Cavaliers.  The Rockets are similar to the Spurs in a lot of ways but not at their level at this point.  Much of the Cavaliers success starts with playing with intensity and that sense urgency which often leads them to playing with confidence and executing offensively.  The Rockets have not been playing particularly well losing to Dallas and San Antonio their last two games and having to go to triple overtime to beat the forsaken Atlanta Hawks in the previous one.  Cleveland has expended a lot of emotion in recent games and you always have to be leery of a letdown especially on the road.  It will be interesting to see how the Cavaliers come out.

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