At this point in the season, you are either finished or in the playoffs. We will deliver our usual weekly fantasy analysis below, but this week my focus is centered upon my experience watching Cleveland play at Chicago last Saturday.
My brother, Brad, is a writer for the Kansas City Star and fellow NBA enthusiast. We met up last Thursday in St. Louis and headed to Chicago very early on Friday morning. The entire focus on this trip was to see LeBron James play, something I’ve been working on arranging for a while. Opportunities have been elusive, primarily because St. Louis has no NBA team. So we were excited, and planned to use this as a chance to write, as well.
Anyone who has read my work over the past four years certainly realizes I become extremely animated while discussing James. He has a skill set that I’ve never previously seen - and I’ve seen almost every NBA game he’s played in on TV. I’ve essentially adopted the Cavaliers as “my” team to follow on a daily basis.
It is arguably a historic time to see Cleveland play. They are not quite poised to win a championship, but they’re getting closer every year. I think they’ll win the Eastern Conference in 2008 and the title in 2009 or 2010. It is a title ride that I am determined to closely follow and personally experience. Saturday’s game was one of the biggest games of this regular season and the most important for the Bulls and Cavaliers because of the Eastern Conference’s seeding situation.
Brad and I took the train into Chicago, and following an obligatory, old-school night out on the town we arrived at the United Center nice and early to take in this big-time NBA game. Besides being a Saturday, it was a national TV game, and this created an aura of a genuinely major sporting event. Of course, the sold-out Chicago crowd was primed and ready.
This high energy level stayed consistent from the opening tip because the teams played a close, extremely high-quality game featuring great shooting and several big runs from each team. James did not attempt a shot for the first nine minutes - which was mildly irritating - but the spectacular play of Tyrus Thomas made up for it. Thomas was impacting nearly every play with his ability to run the floor, get open when Drew Gooden went to double team and was outjumping every other big man on the floor. He had three dunks in the first quarter.
James finally got rolling with four late first-quarter free throws and was brilliant from that point on. He led Cleveland’s second-quarter charge in which they outscored Chicago, 33-23, to take a 59-53 halftime lead. But Ben Gordon came out gunning in the third quarter and had the Bulls fans in a frenzy after scoring nine quick points. Chicago then cooled and trailed by 10 after three quarters.
James’ free throw shooting was essential in keeping Cleveland on top, and I asked Cleveland head coach Mike Brown about this after the game in front of the visitors’ locker room.
“That’s a question for him. We have one guy who works with him and I try to stay out of it. If you have too many voices in your ear it can be a problem,” Brown said.
I asked him if this was this season’s most intense game. Brown downplayed this angle a bit.
“It was definitely intense today. But we played an intense game up in Detroit too. Today the crowd was great and really loud in overtime, so there is no doubt it was exciting.”
It was Cleveland that went cold in the final quarter, and with Gordon, Kirk Heinrich and Tyrus Thomas playing great basketball they caught the Cavs and forced overtime after Sasha Pavlovic missed a difficult driving baseline layup at the buzzer.
James took over in overtime and the Cavaliers outscored the Bulls 12-8 to win, 112-108.
The Bulls outplayed the Cavs for the first three minutes of overtime, but James then dropped in five consecutive points. He drilled a fadeaway jumper and free throw to bring Cleveland within 108-107 with 42 seconds left. After a defensive stop, James banked in a jumper with 20 seconds left to eventually win the game.
I was hard-pressed to corner James for a one-on-one interview, but I was among the assorted throng surrounding his area of the locker room. By the time I was close enough to ask James about his new free throw routine and about the great defense exhibited by Luol Deng in the first half, the Cavs media representative shut down questioning. But I was able to grab a few quotes, thankfully.
“We were down four and I was just wanted to be aggressive,” James said. “I didn't want to settle. I got a switch with Kirk Hinrich on the first one and got an and-one, and we came up with a good defensive stop and I was able to get into the lane and shoot a floater off the backboard to put us up one with 20 seconds to go.”
James finished with 39 points on 14-of-25 shooting from the field, and 11-for-13 from the line. Larry Hughes added 21 points, as did Pavlovic.
“This was a playoff-type game. I said it before the game. We knew it. They knew it. We showed our mental toughness and got the job done." James said. “We want homecourt advantage, see if we can try to get it throughout the playoffs, if not, for the first and second round. We're in that position right now. We just got to continue to do the things we've been doing lately and win basketball games.”
Gordon had 37 points for the Bulls while Thomas had a career-high 27 points with eight rebounds, three blocks and three steals. Hinrich had 22 and 11 assists. Thomas had a career-high 27 points with eight rebounds.
Before exiting the Cavaliers locker room, I was able to ask ex-Cavaliers and Bulls player and current Cavs announcer Scott Williams about his experience returning to Chicago.
“I’ve been with so many teams since I left Chicago that I get used to it. But it’s fun for me to see all of the familiar faces and I get a kick out of hearing some of the same things they play, like “Hit the Road Jack” and all that stuff. It’s a lot of the same things they were doing 17 years ago,” Williams said.
When asked about his time with play-by-play legend Michael Reghi last season, and now working alongside Fred McLeod this season, Williams said: “I’m very fortunate that when I first came into television that I had someone to work with like Michael. He has a ton of experience and we developed really nice chemistry. But I have that now with Fred.”
WEEK 22 SLEEPERS
F Hakim Warrick, Grizzlies: He has been up and down, but Warrick has averaged 30 minutes, 16.8 points and eight rebounds over his past five outings. He shot 33-for-57 in that period.
G Tarence Kinsey, Grizzlies: He has averaged 41 minutes, 19.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and two steals over his past five games. Kinsey shot 50 percent in those games.
G Earl Watson, SuperSonics: He has averaged 32 minutes, 15.4 points, 5.2 assists and two steals over his past five games while drilling 18-for-37 from 3-point range.
F Walter Hermann, Bobcats: His nice run continues. Hermann has averaged 19 points and six rebounds over his past five games, including 41-for-67 shooting.
G/F Gerald Green, Celtics: He has had some nice recent scoring games, but he is too one-dimensional to help most fantasy teams. Green has averaged 13.6 points over his past five games on 52 percent shooting.
PLAYER NEWS:
F LeBron James, Cavaliers: Turns out I was very lucky to see him play. James sat out the next night at Boston. He received treatment for tendinitis in his right knee on Monday, and he is listed as a game-time decision for Tuesday’s game at Minnesota. Playing James this week is a decision that will determine many fantasy championships. It’s a gamble; the safest way to go is not play another star-type player if you can. Otherwise, you might as well gamble and hope he plays, because you likely can’t win without him anyway.
G Dwyane Wade, Heat: He is trying to practice regularly in hopes of playing before the end of the regular season. Wade suffered a dislocated shoulder on February 21. Though he is a 29-5-8 player, Wade will not be back and productive in time for your fantasy playoffs.
F Caron Butler, Wizards: This is not good. Butler broke his right hand on Sunday against Milwaukee and will not play again for six weeks. He is worth considering as a keeper, however. He’s averaging 19 points, 7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.2 steals. He has improved significantly the past three seasons.
G Corey Maggette, Los Angeles Clippers: He was unable to practice on Monday because of his bruised chest. Corey Maggette has a lengthy injury history and missed Sunday’s game. Despite averaging 20 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists over his past four games, the risk of him not playing may not be worth the gamble.
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