# Cavs vs Hornets - 8PM EST Dec 29th



## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

_vs_







​
*Cleveland Cavaliers* 
_vs_
*New Orleans Hornets*

*New Orleans Arena*
New Orleans, LA
Saturday, December 29th, 2007
8:00 pm EST


*Projected Starting 5*
*Cavaliers*:
*






PG - Larry Hughes







SG – Sasha Pavlovic







C – Zydrunas Ilgauskas







SF – Lebron James







PF – Drew Gooden​* 
*Hornets*:*







PG – Chris Paul







SG – Mo Pete







C – Tyson Chandler







SF – Peja







PF – David West​*
*NOTES:*
*



The New Orleans Hornets have been flying under the radar in the highly competitive Western Conference, but that is quickly changing as they pile up blowout victories.

The high-powered Hornets look to continue their surge and match a season-high five-game winning streak when they host LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.

New Orleans (19-10) defeated Charlotte 99-85 on Friday for its fourth straight win, during which time it is outscoring its opponents by an average of 20 points.

The surprising Hornets are in second place in the Southwest Division, just 1 1/2 games back of Western Conference-leading San Antonio.

"Hopefully, sooner or later you start to get a little bit of notice," New Orleans coach Byron Scott said. "We want to just keep playing the way we're playing."

The Hornets finished fourth in their division last season and have not made the playoffs since 2003-04.

"We can't worry about who's the hottest story," point guard Chris Paul said. "The (Trail) Blazers are getting a lot of attention right now. We've just got to keep winning."

Paul had 17 points and 11 assists Friday, and is averaging 24.3 points and 12.5 assists during the winning streak.

Cleveland (14-16), meanwhile, snapped a seven-game road skid with its 88-81 win at Dallas on Thursday.

Coupled with their 96-82 victory over Miami on Christmas Day, the Cavs have won back-to-back games for the first time since winning a season-high four in a row Nov. 21-27. The defending Eastern Conference champions have won four of six after dropping eight of the previous nine.

"It's a good win, but we've got a long way to go," said center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who had 18 points and 11 rebounds Thursday.

The Cavs held the Mavericks to 19 points and 5-for-18 field-goal shooting in the fourth quarter, continuing a recent pattern. Cleveland is limiting opponents to an average of 19.9 points on 36.6 percent shooting in the final quarter of its last eight games.

"The bottom line is we got to keep trying to embrace our identity, the more we embrace our identity, which is on the defensive end of the floor, the more confidence we'll gain," Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. "If we defend, that's going to help our confidence, because that's who we are."

Cleveland faces a tough challenge trying to slow down the Hornets, who are averaging 108 points during their four-game winning streak.

James finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists on Thursday, despite taking some hard hits from Dallas.

"I took some blows," said James, who is averaging a league-best 29.1 points per game. "I don't come out of the game. I'm fine. I shake it off and go to the next play."

In his last five games against the Hornets, James is averaging 31.4 points while shooting 53.2 percent from the field -- including 12-for-27 from 3-point range.

These teams split their two meetings last season, with the home team winning each game.

Click to expand...

*


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

This will be a tough game (why is our early schedule so rough right now??)

Chris Paul is playing amazing ball, like MVP level so Larry will have his work cut out for him. Picking this game up would be huge because we have 2 home games with ATL/SAC coming up that should be wins to get us over .500 

I'm not sure what to expect from our team. We tend to show up against good teams, and Lebron will want to do well against his buddy Paul. I give us a 50/50 chance at stealing this one.


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## hendrix2430 (Mar 21, 2005)

I predict Sasha will have a big game...:clap:

At least I hope so. I really like him but he needs to step his game up. He hasn't done well at all so far. It can only go up for him, and we all saw it during the playoffs last year with great hussle and key plays.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

hendrix2430 said:


> I predict Sasha will have a big game...:clap:
> 
> At least I hope so. I really like him but he needs to step his game up. He hasn't done well at all so far. It can only go up for him, and we all saw it during the playoffs last year with great hussle and key plays.


Yeah Sasha has been terrible this year. Almost worse than Hughes


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Guarding Paul is going to be miserable. We always sucks against these quickie types


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Lebron's going to have trouble guarding Peja, too.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Can we make a ****ing open jumpshot?


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Man, we're getting TERRIBLE shots early.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Nice move by Z: tough shot


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Does Z pick up 4 fouls per game on showing on all these damn screens? Jesus.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Hughes back to his embarrasing self


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Stop turning the ball over "PG"


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I'd love to have David West on this team.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Bring in Gibson please


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Brandname said:


> Man, we're getting TERRIBLE shots early.


Both Sasha and Hughes have bricked makeable jumpshots for most NBA'ers


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

what the **** happened to the 45/40% shooter that was sasha last year. terrible backcourt just terrible


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

lol, David West looks like he gets fouled on every possession, lol.


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

i always wonder why gooden doesnt pass to the wide open person when his first pump fake doesnt work


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

MMkay I changed my mind, lets deal Drew/Hughes. Addition by subtraction


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Wow, Paul might get more calls than Lebron, lol.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Does Mike Brown not know teams double Lebron off the pick and roll?


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

clean block


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

It does not take Hughes long to give the ball away.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

WTF does it take to get Hughes benched? 3 TO's and no points


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

please release larry hughes and sasha pavlovic


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Lebron needs to step it up. We aren't going to win this with him only taking 3 shots a quarter


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> Lebron needs to step it up. We aren't going to win this with him only taking 3 shots a quarter


Yeah, Peja isn't exactly Ron Artest.


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

daniel gibson nice bounce


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Is Boobie hurt? That would br real bad


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Can you imagine how good we could be if we fielded a full complement of players who can shoot? It would be amazing...


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Boobie showing some progress. Need to see him attacking the hoop more often


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Z keeping on this game


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Benedict_Boozer said:


> Boobie showing some progress. Need to see him attacking the hoop more often


It would be nice to run some plays for him


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Z keeps this up we will win. With a secondary scorer to Lebron we are tough to beat


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

That was an obvious charge


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

David West reminds me of Eric Williams


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Come on Lebron this is Peja: take him to the rack


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Boobie!


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Lebron is just letting Peja off the hook this game: the Cavs have to recognize that is a mismatch


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

lebron needs to score


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

God DAMMIT: ****ing Hughes has another TO already


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

God Hughes is awful.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Put Lebron on West in the 4th quarter if we're close: he's bullying everybody else


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

i cant wait to read what heylarryhughes.com has to say tonight


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

What was that shot Larry?!


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

We are playing like crap: I have no idea what Lebron is doing tonight and Hughes has been worse then terrible. I have no idea what you have to do to get benched in Mike Brown's mind


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

larry hughes is the worst player in the world


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

I really don't understand why LeBron doesn't slash right when isolated on the right wing. One step and he's past his defender. But he just doesn't do it.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Larry Hughes IS STILL IN THE GAME? WTF


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

I ****ing hate Larry Hughes


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

What good is a 2 for 1 if Hughes is the one taking the shot?


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

lmao what a pass by bron


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

larry all signs point to 27%


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Lebron has had a very crappy game so far for him: too many jumpers, TO's, and blown FT's. That being said if we had anybody other then Larry Hughes out there we'd be leading this game


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Terrible start: way too eascy scores


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

What does mike brown do at halftime? Diagrams pick and rolls with Lebron and Z all halftime?


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Ferry must have agreed to pay the Cavs' players for 3 quarters of play.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Maybe the only thing worse than Larry's shot is his court awareness, haha.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

That is what we got out of a TO? ****ing pathetic


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Why does Mike Brown call TO's and not switch any players? IT's like he purposefully doesn't try to do anything


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Hughes


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Hey, we got something heading towards the basket! And Hughes lets Paul right back for some more FTs.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Is Mike Brown forbidden from making lineup changes by the organization unnless they happen at certain times.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

This is one of the worst coaching jobs I've ever seen


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> Is Mike Brown forbidden from making lineup changes by the organization unnless they happen at certain times.


Nope, he's just an idiot.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Did Lebron party last night or something: he is juct completely unaggresive tonight


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> Did Lebron party last night or something: he is juct completely unaggresive tonight





Brian Windhorst said:


> –The Cavs are catching another break, getting the Hornets on a back-to-back. Also, there are lots of Hawaii and Georgia fans at the game tonight, in town for the Sugar Bowl, plus maybe some early Ohio State arrivals. May give it more of a neutral court feel. Of course, the *Cavs were all off and able to enjoy Bourbon Street on a wild Friday night* so perhaps it is a disadvantage.


If this is affecting our energy on the court, should the coach step up and say they can't go out the night before?


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

drew is really bad at defense..


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Chris Paul might be the biggest gambler on defense in the league. I can't believe how often he plays for the steal.


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

MAN this is frustrating to watch


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

didnt we come back from like 20 down one night when kapano played with us against new orleans.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Too little too late there Lebron?


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

This team deserves to get blown out by 30 tonight (that includes both the players and the coach)


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

This team is disgusting to watch.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Lebron has 14 points? Sheesh, what a passive game.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Jump ball?

If that were Chris Paul they would have called 2 fouls.


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

Thanks for beating the Mavs, first Utah gets blown out after beating Dallas and now the Cavs look even worse. Thank you very much


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

croco said:


> Thanks for beating the Mavs, first Utah gets blown out after beating Dallas and now the Cavs look even worse. Thank you very much


What can I say, evidently the Dallas night life isn't quite like New Orleans.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Thanks for deciding to wake up from your hangover Lebron


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Wow, how does Larry miss a wide open 7 foot floater?

Austin, we're taking the life out of this team? Really???


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

crazier things have happened


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

lol were taking the life outta them down by 10


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

yea i really wanna see what larryhughes.com has to say tonight


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

lol @ Hughes.

2 points on 9 shots.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Anyone else notice we've had NINE free throw attempts tonight?????


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

What does it take for Larry Hughes to get permanently benched? Seriously, what the **** does it take?!


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

It's really hard to be a fan of a team with stinkjobs like this

This was a ****ing WINNABLE game but our moron coach must have been out drinking with his players because he just didn't seem to care much about what was going on in the game.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

If Mike Brown's stupid *** talks about defense as the reason we lost this game, I'm gonna strangle someone. We score 76 points. 76.


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## TyGuy (Apr 19, 2003)

Brandname said:


> If Mike Brown's stupid *** talks about defense as the reason we lost this game, I'm gonna strangle someone. We score 76 points. 76.


Well you see, if we held them to 75 points, we would have won. Therefore defense was obviously the problem.

On a side note, I think Larry Hughes dropped the biggest stink bomb stat line of the year.


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

You guys do realize that the Hornets are 20-10 don't you?They outplayed Cleveland on both ends of the floor and quite easily as well.They're a straight up much better team than the Cavaliers.Now they're only a game behind teh Spurs and the Suns for the best record in the West.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Diable said:


> You guys do realize that the Hornets are 20-10 don't you?They outplayed Cleveland on both ends of the floor and quite easily as well.They're a straight up much better team than the Cavaliers.Now they're only a game behind teh Spurs and the Suns for the best record in the West.


No offense but Lebron played like he didn't give a **** for 3 quarters. I KNOW the Hornets are good team but Lebron being held down one on one by Peja for an entire half is just a joke.

And it also doesn't have anything to do with problems we've had for awhile: Hughes, Brown postTO and post halftime "adjustments"


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Diable said:


> You guys do realize that the Hornets are 20-10 don't you?They outplayed Cleveland on both ends of the floor and quite easily as well.They're a straight up much better team than the Cavaliers.Now they're only a game behind teh Spurs and the Suns for the best record in the West.


I don't know if I'm sold on the Hornets yet. They're a good team, that much is obvious. But it was obvious that none of our players cared about the game tonight and we stayed in it pretty long. Plus we killed the Hornets on the boards, despite shooting a lower %. 

This was a very winnable game for the Cavs, and that's why they should be ashamed of coming out flat and passive like they did.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

I guess I should supplement my last post by saying that in no way did I feel like the Hornets were out there putting on a clinic tonight. They looked relatively vulnerable, we just happened to come out completely listless. 

Sometimes when we play the Jazz, Spurs, or Suns you just get the feeling like they're putting on a clinic. And Dallas will sometimes come out and it seems like their team just can't miss from the field. I don't think the Hornets are on that level yet, although I do think David West is a stud. Great young player.


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## hendrix2430 (Mar 21, 2005)

Diable, no one is saying the Hornets aren't good. In fact, I'm really excited about this team going forward. Chris Paul is excellent, and David West is just rock solid.

However, if somehow it was possible for both teams to meet in the playoffs, I think the Lebron James...ooops, the Cavaliers, would take it handily. I do believe the Cavs are a better team. You probably think I'm crazy, but: :cheers:


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Lebron mailed this one in, plain and simple. We have no chance if he is gonna come out and play like that.

Embarrassing.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

On that same note though, Lebron would have had gobs of assists if the people he was passing to weren't piles of steaming hot ****. He could have played better, but it says a lot that his teammates rarely if never pick up any slack from him. He has to come out and be the best player on the floor in every single game for the Cavs to have a chance. And even then it's not certain.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Benedict_Boozer said:


> Lebron mailed this one in, plain and simple. We have no chance if he is gonna come out and play like that.
> 
> Embarrassing.


And not just Lebron. The whole damn team. 

Including Mike Brown.


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