The Cavs are dominating

What more can you say about the Cavaliers at this point? They are 12-3, 2-1/2 games ahead of the Pistons in the Central, their last six wins have all been by at least 11 points, they are outscoring their opponents by 10.6 points per night, and they haven't trailed for one second of their last three games. Just stop and think about that last stat for a second. That's tough to do in basketball regardless of the opposition. Yes, the Cavaliers have feasted on lesser opponents in the last week, but what are they supposed to do? Play down to the competition as they used to? No thanks, and gladly those days seem to be over.

J.J. notched a career-high 14 on Wednesday night

There were a couple of times during Wednesday night's 117-82 drubbing (highlights) of the Oklahoma City Thunder that I actually felt bad for OKC. That's not a feeling I'm used to as a Cleveland fan. But that was one of the worst beatdowns I've seen in the NBA in quite some time. I specifically felt bad for our old friend Joe Smith who is stuck on a terrible 1-14 Thunder roster after the late-summer trade that netted us Mo Williams. I loved Joe Smith's game the short time he was in a Cavalier uniform and I saw the way he interacted with his former teammates before the tipoff on Wednesday night. I'm still holding out hope that the Thunder will agree to buy his contract out sometime soon and allow him to chase a ring.

I think the Cavs would take him back in a heartbeat, especially given our open flirtation with free agent Antonio McDyess... although our frontcourt situation does seem a little rosier with the new and improved healthy back of Ben Wallace coupled with the emergence of rookies J.J. Hickson (14 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks on Wednesday) and Darnell Jackson (4 points, 5 rebounds). The recent lopsided wins have afforded Mike Brown a chance to really rest his key players and give the younger guys a lot of court time. And that will come in doubly handy with two more games this weekend to complete four games in five nights for the Cavs. It's time to get greedy and take these last two before a three-day rest. The Warriors and their 5-10 record are in town tonight. I hope the Cavs are still hungry the day after Thanksgiving. I know my Tryptophan and pie-induced drowsiness is still wearing off...

The wait is finally over

We've been counting down the days for a while now, so it's hard to believe the 2008-09 NBA season is finally upon us. The Cavaliers will kick the season off in style tonight, facing the Boston Celtics at 8:00pm in front of a national audience on TNT. But what should we expect from the wine and gold this year? I see big things ahead...

Is this the year that LBJ will hoist an even better trophy?

First, my fearless predictions:

Overall record: 56-26
This is the deepest Cavalier team since LeBron has arrived. We've all seen what LeBron can do without a lot of help. So how will the team be now that it has depth? If they stay healthy I think they will finally take the Central division crown away from the Pistons. And that's just for starters...

NBA MVP: LeBron James
Who else is there? Spare me your Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and Chris Paul arguments. This will be the first of many of these trophies for King James.

Eastern Conference Champs: Cleveland Cavaliers
This is not at all dismissing the Celtics. I wasn't a believer in them at all last year. I didn't buy into the hype. But then I saw their suffocating defense in our playoff series and I knew I had underestimated them. They squeaked out a win in seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals last year and that was basically their NBA title right there.

So what will happen this year? As I said, the Cavaliers are deeper. They won't have more midseason chemistry issues in turning over half their roster in a big trade. They didn't have the contract holdouts of last year. This team is focused and ready. Oh, and they have LeBron. I think they will grab home court advantage over the Celtics and that will be the difference in the end.

NBA Champions: Cleveland Cavaliers
Why the hell would I be wasting my time writing this blog if I didn't think that a Cleveland team would finally break through and win it all? I don't know which team will come out of the West this year, but I do know there will be no sweeping this Cavaliers squad when they get back into the Finals. Whether it be the Lakers, Hornets, Spurs, or whomever... they will have to go through LeBron and his much deeper supporting cast. The Cavaliers have built a franchise around LeBron that expects to win multiple championships. And I think #1 (the sweetest one) will occur this June. And I can't wait to watch it unfold.

Caveats
Of course with all I've said above there always has to be a little luck involved. I'm making the following assumptions, in no particular order:

• LeBron James will stay relatively healthy. This means he won't miss any more than his typical 5-7 games with minor ankle injuries and such. True, the Cavaliers are much deeper than in the past. But let's not kid ourselves. #23 makes all these lofty hopes possible.
• The front court players will also stay relatively healthy. The good news is that Anderson Varejao is in shape and in a contract year. I expect big things from him. More worrisome are the backs of Zydrunas Ilguaskas and Ben Wallace. We need those guys to stay off the injury report to have this team playing in top form. We also have Lorenzen Wright and JJ Hickson to assist, but at this point I don't know how fair it is to expect much from an aging vet and a rookie. Darnell Jackson could also end up in the mix once he recovers from the wrist injury.
• Mo Williams will perform as advertised. I'm not so worried about this one. I know he has tremendous talent and the desire to fit in on the defensive side of the ball. I just don't want this to be the second coming of Larry Hughes. I had high hopes for him too and he consistently disappointed all of us. But I don't see Mo having those same problems.
  
• We pull off another trade at the deadline. We have Wally Sczcerbiak's $14M expiring contract to play with and you know Ferry will use it at some point. This is the one wild card that could really propel the Cavaliers from contender to the team to beat. Ferry has shown us that he's not afraid to make a deal, but always with an eye on the summer of 2010. This will be the year that we will have to take on a contract past 2010, so it better be the right one for the Cavs this season and beyond.

This could be a special year for Cavs fans everywhere. It starts tonight with a chance to send a message to the defending champs the night they collect their rings and the banner is lowered. That should be motivation enough to start the season out right, even if the Cavaliers won't be watching.

Other Cavs Notes: Brian Windhorst gives a nice piece on coach Mike Brown... LeBron and the Cavs are following my lead by skipping the pre-game party in Boston tonight... Mike Brown is still evaluating the starting 2-guard spot... And Bob Finnan has another profile of the Cavs' head man.

"We don't need to be out there watching that, we need to get ready for the game," James said before the team left for Boston. Congratulations to them. But we're not [like] the fans of Boston. We don't need to be out there clapping for them getting rings."

1-9 and 0-1

The Browns are now 1-9 in season-opening games since returning to the league in 1999. Most of those losses over the years can be attributed to them just not being a very talented team. And when you factor in that every one of those openers has been at home, it really makes it seem a lot worse. But the Browns have talent now and they were 7-1 at home last year. So their 28-10 loss at the hands of the Cowboys yesterday is troubling, even if somewhat expected.

I have no problem with losing to the Cowboys. They are obviously an elite team in the NFL and will likely challenge for the Super Bowl this year. I understand that and I even said last week that a loss wouldn't surprise me and that the Browns could even afford to lose this non-conference game. What bothers me is the way it happened. From Donte Stallworth hurting himself in pre-game warmups, to Braylon Edwards dropping catchable balls, to the defensive line putting absolutely no pressure on Tony Romo, to our defensive backs getting torched by Cowboy receivers. There is a long list of things that were troubling to any of the 73,000+ of us fans that were in attendance yesterday. I won't dwell on this loss for very long, with much more important business coming up this Sunday.

The Browns defense couldn't stop anyone in blue on Sunday

My hope is that the Browns will be able to put this game behind them quickly and focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers. They need to get healthy and get focused on their own 'must-win' game now. They can't afford to start the season 0-2 with two road games in Baltimore and Cincinnati looming ahead. So all I'll say about Sunday is that the game was not much fun, and the tailgating was the highlight of the day. That's not what I expect the rest of this season.

"I wanted to put some points on the board ... there were 10 minutes left, and if you don't make it, then where do you go?"- Romeo Crennel on the decision to kick a field goal when down 28-7 with 10 minutes remaining

Other Browns Notes: Terry Pluto has some scribbles on Sunday's game, including some comments about Crennel's puzzling decision to kick a field goal when down 28-7 in the 4th quarter. That was just one of many "WTF" moments from yesterday's game for me... Braylon Edwards says he's just a little rusty after the preseason injury... and Pat McManamon gives his thoughts on a forgettable opener.

Tribe Update: There was some good in Cleveland sports yesterday - Cliff Lee notched his 21st victory in the Tribe's 3-1 win in Kansas City yesterday. The win puts Lee at 21-2 on the year, and barring a catastrophic collapse in his final four starts, he should now be a lock to bring home the Indians' second straight Cy Young Award.

"I really don't think about it that much," Lee said. "I think about preparing each day and doing everything I need to do to get ready for my next start. I don't really reflect back on previous outings and what I've done or look too much ahead of today. That's been a key to me being successful this year. I'm going to continue to have the same mindset."

The team is now 32-21 since the Sabathia trade... With the Anthony Reyes injury the Tribe has called up Scott Lewis from Akron to take his place in the rotation... And finally, Travis Hafner could be back on the field as early as tomorrow night for the Tribe. He homered in his last two starts for Akron in the playoffs over the weekend.

Cavs Update: The Cavs made it official on Friday with Lorenzen Wright. They also inked second-round pick Darnell Jackson from Kansas to a three-year deal. And speaking of Arthur, his letter to Kansas fans makes me happy to know we have a class-act wearing the wine and gold... The start of the season is only 50 days away now!