On the heels of a win at San Antonio, the Cavs dispatched the Bulls, 113-94, putting to rest (for now) any debate over who’s the best team in the Central. Kenny Smith made a good comment at halftime about the Bulls. They looked great against Miami because they pushed the ball and outran the Heat. But when they play a young, athletic team like the Cavs, they have trouble getting open shots. They still don’t have a low post game – you’re better off not mentioning that Elton Brand for Tyson Chandler trade in the Windy City – and the addition of Ben Wallace isn’t going to make that any better. They are a team of jumpshooters, so they’ll run into the same problems the Bucks did when they had Sam Cassell, Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson. When the jumpers aren’t falling, and there will be stretches, things are going to get ugly. On the other hand, the problem with Cleveland is their consistency. Sure, they’ve got three impressive wins against playoff teams from last season, but their two losses were against the Bobcats and the Hawks. And they lost to the Hawks at home. Ugh.
Will the real Cavs please stand up?
The Mavs got a much-needed win against the Suns in Phoenix. There’s nothing like a game against the Suns to cure your offensive woes. Jason Terry finally reported to the team, scoring 30 points, while Dirk Nowitzki was himself, posting a 35/7/4 games. The Suns simply can’t stop anyone, and that will be their Achilles heel unless they figure out a way to put forth at least some resistance at that end of the court. A quick look at the standings tonight shows Dallas (1-4), Phoenix (1-5) and Denver (0-3) all at the bottoms of their respective divisions. I didn’t see that coming.
