# Game 2: Cleveland Cavaliers @ San Antonio Spurs



## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

* November 4th, 2005 - 7:00 PM (Central Time)*


*Cleveland Cavaliers (1-0)* @ *San Antonio Spurs (1-0)*


*Previous Meetings:*

N/A


*Projected Starting Lineup: *










PG - Eric Snow (0.0 PPG - 4.0 APG - 3.0 RPG)
SG - Larry Hughes (10.0 PPG - 3.0 RPG - 6.0 APG)
SF - LeBron James (31.0 PPG - 3.0 RPG - 4.0 APG)
PF - Drew Gooden (7.0 PPG - 8.0 RPG - 2.0 BLK)
C - Zydrunas Ilgauskas (12.0 PPG - 7.0 RPG - 0.0 BPG)

*Reserves:*

F - Donyell Marshall (18.0 PPG - 9.0 RPG)
G - Damon Jones (12.0 PPG - 3.0 RPG - 2.0 APG)
G/F - Sasha Pavlovic (5.0 PPG - 2.0 RPG)
F/C - Alan Henderson (7.0 PPG - 2.0 RPG)
SF - Luke Jackson (5.0 PPG - 0.0 RPG)
F/C - Zendon Hamilton (2.0 PPG - 3.0 RPG)
PG - Mike Wilks(0.0 PPG - 1.0 APG)


*Projected Starting Lineup: *










PG - Tony Parker (26.0 PPG - 3.0 APG - 2.0 RPG)
SG - Manu Ginobili (10.0 PPG - 4.0 RPG - 2.0 APG)
SF - Bruce Bowen (4.0 PPG - 4.0 RPG - 2.0 APG)
PF - Tim Duncan (19.0 PPG - 10.0 RPG - 6.0 APG)
C - Rasho Nesterovic (2.0 PPG - 2.0 RPG - 1.0 BPG)

*Reserves:*

G/F - Michael Finley (16.0 PPG - 5.0 RPG - 1.0 APG)
F/C -Robert Horry (7.0 PPG - 8.0 RPG - 3.0 APG)
G/F - Brent Barry (3.0 PPG - 2.0 RPG - 2.0 APG)
F/C - Fabricio Oberto (6.0 PPG - 4.0 RPG)
PG - Nick Van Exel (5.0 PPG - 2.0 APG)
C - Nazr Mohammed (4.0 PPG - 1.0 RPG)
PG - Beno Udrih (N/A)



Cleveland upgraded it's talent quite a bit from last season, so they are looking pretty damn good right now. Former Spuyrs assistant coach Mike Brown is their new head coach, so you can believe that he's been preaching defense, defense, defense to his players. LeBron and Hughes pose one of the very best wing duo's in the league, plus they have a good post scorer in Ilguaskas, and deadly shooters in Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones. I'm expecting Duncan and Parker to have good games, because the matchups favor those two. Bowen leaves us in tough position because we have to play him to cover LeBron or Hughes, but on the offensive end it allows one of those same two players to roam and play the passing lanes, and both are very good theifs. We have to win the points in the paint battle against Cleveland, because I doubt we can match jumpers with them. Both teams will be pretty well rested, so it should be some high quality basketball. One other note, Danny Ferry and Mike Wilks switched over to the Cavs during the offseason, so I'm sure there will be a little something to give those two their rings before the game.


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## GODisaSpursFan (Mar 25, 2003)

Spurs 108

Cavs 97


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

GODisaSpursFan said:


> Spurs 108
> 
> Cavs 97



Damn, that was fast. :biggrin: 


I forgot to mention, I get to go to the game tomorrow, so I'm pumped.


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## qross1fan (Dec 28, 2004)

Spurs 91

Cavs 86


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## FreeMason Jr. (Jul 12, 2004)

Spurs- 95
Cavs- 87


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## DaBobZ (Sep 22, 2003)

Spurs 104 - 88 Cavs

Manu turns it up, TD and TP both score 15-20 pts.


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## texan (Jul 10, 2003)

Bron should have another magnificent game. He was on fire with the threes in the opener. I expect Bruce to play him tight but I still expect him to get 25-30 points. I think stopping their role players like Hughes, Ilgaulskus, Jones and Marshall is key in this game. There depth is better than last year but its still nothing to brag about. I predict that they play us close up until about 8 minutes left in the 3rd. I think Ilgauskas gets in foul trouble, as does Gooden and we pull away in the late 3rd with a big quarter from TD. I think Manu has another rough game b/c Hughes is guarding him.

Prediction:
Spurs-101
Cavs-91

TD-24pts, 12 rebs
Parker- 18 pts, 4 assists, 4 rebs
Lebron- 31 pts, 7 rebs, 3 assists


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

I'm interested to see how the Center minutes are distributed tonight. Rasho started and barely played last game, and Mohammed and Oberto barely played as well.


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## TiMVP2 (Jun 19, 2003)

99 Spurs
97 Cavs


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

texan said:


> Bron should have another magnificent game. He was on fire with the threes in the opener. I expect Bruce to play him tight but I still expect him to get 25-30 points. I think stopping their role players like Hughes, Ilgaulskus, Jones and Marshall is key in this game. There depth is better than last year but its still nothing to brag about. I predict that they play us close up until about 8 minutes left in the 3rd. I think Ilgauskas gets in foul trouble, as does Gooden and we pull away in the late 3rd with a big quarter from TD. *I think Manu has another rough game b/c Hughes is guarding him.*
> 
> Prediction:
> Spurs-101
> ...


hughes isnt that good of a man defender. i dont think manu will have trouble taking him off the dribble. bron and hughes play the passing lanes a lot and the spurs are a great passing team so im kinda interested as to how that works out.

i'd say spurs win. bron puts up around 30 pts, 8-10 boards but only 4-5 assists. i think the spurs will do a good job preventing the open 3.


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## 1 Penny (Jul 11, 2003)

The Spurs just reaffirmed how good they are. under 30 minutes for their 3 superstar yet wins by 20+.

Oberto looks a bit confused on the offensive end, 2x 3 second violation and passing up open looks that he should be taking. But Popovich obviously wanted him to experience how the spurs play so more rest for Duncan and Horry, whilst still having a good all-around team.


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

1 Penny said:


> Oberto looks a bit confused on the offensive end, 2x 3 second violation and passing up open looks that he should be taking. But Popovich obviously wanted him to experience how the spurs play so more rest for Duncan and Horry, whilst still having a good all-around team.



Yeah, you can definitley see Oberto is still learning the game. The one thing I did notice is that he sets some very hard screens, which I'm sure Popovich will love.



Overall, impressive win. It's good to see that we can handle a team like Cleveland even with Manu not being right. He just doesn't look fluid out there, and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't play tomorrow against Dallas. I must praise Tony Parker tonight, dude looked very very good tonight. Just like last season's matchup, he butchered Cleveland. He didn't hit one jumper tonight and still finished with 18 points and 8 assists. He's definitely an All-Star caliber talent, it's just a matter of knocking down jumpers. I've been very impressed with his distributing the few times I've seen him this season, so hopefully that trend continues. Bowen had a very good night as well. He showed his experience and showed LeBron still has some learning to do as well. Duncan put up great numbers as usual, and doing it in his usual quiet manner. 


All-in-all, impressive win. I absolulely love the ball movement and unselfishness of this team, and it should only get better from here on out.


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## Rocket (Oct 26, 2005)

Very impressive win against a talented Cleveland squad...the Spurs' 2nd five is just LETHAL...Van Exel, Finley, Barry, Horry, Mohammed...thats a crazy bench, and even better than most team's starting 5...I'm anxious for the Spurs-Rockets showdown in a few weeks so that I can get a good feel for how far my Rox have come :clap: should be an awesome matchup...


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