# GT: Dallas Mavericks vs Cleveland Cavaliers 3/21/07



## Ninjatune (May 1, 2006)

*VS









*Dallas Mavericks* [55-11] vs *Cleveland Cavaliers* [41-26]
*| Wednesday, March 21st, 2006 | Cleveland, OH | Quicken Loans Arena | 7:00pm |
| *TV:* TXA21 | *Radio:* ESPN Radio 103.3 FM |

*Game Notes*
The Cleveland Cavaliers aren't coming into their showdown with the best team in the league with the kind of momentum they had hoped for.The Cavaliers will look to bounce back from their first loss in nine games when they host the Dallas Mavericks (55-11) on Wednesday night.Cleveland's longest winning streak of the season came ended Tuesday night with a 108-100 overtime loss in Charlotte. The Cavaliers (41-26) fell 2 1/2 games behind Eastern Conference-leading Detroit, which routed Philadelphia 96-75."We gave ourselves a chance to win at the end of regulation, and I didn't come through for the team," said LeBron James, who scored 30 of his 37 points after halftime but missed a runner in the lane and a 3-pointer in the closing seconds. "We had a lot of unforced errors at the end of the game and we paid for it."
The Cavaliers will need a better effort against the Mavericks, who reached the 55-win mark for the third straight season with Tuesday's 92-77 win over the New York Knicks. Dallas has won three straight after back-to-back losses for first time since starting 0-4.

"I think offensively we're explosive. I think we can score with the best of them," said Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 24 points. "I think even though we're a slower team now than we used to be with (former coach Don Nelson), defensive-minded, we still have a lot of offense out there."

Josh Howard also scored 24 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for Dallas, which owns a 4 1/2-game lead over second-place Phoenix in the Western Conference. The Mavericks are 2-0 on a six-game road trip that also will have them play Boston, Atlanta and New Orleans.The Mavericks are on pace to easily break the franchise record of 60 victories set in 2002-03 and matched last season before they lost the NBA finals to Miami in six games.










*Who's hot?* LeBron James 
We know that's a shock. James has averaged 33.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 6.9 assists in the last 10 games. His average is just under 33 points in March over the last two seasons. ... Sasha Pavlovic isn't James, but he hasn't been bad lately. Pavlovic averaged 19 points and shot 58.3 percent from the field in the three games before Tuesday's loss to Charlotte. ... Dirk Nowitzki is shooting 30-of-53 from the field (56.6 percent) over the last three games.
*
Who's not?* The Mavericks' bench 
We're not including Jerry Stackhouse. Take him out of the equation, and the other Mavericks reserves have scored a total of five points over the last two games. Even with Stackhouse, the bench was a combined 3-of-13 from the field in the win over the Knicks. ... Damon Jones has fallen out of the Cavaliers rotation. He's played in only three games all month and has scored nine points in March.

* Injuries* 
*Mavericks: *D.J. Mbenga (torn ACL), Devean George (right knee) and Greg Buckner (left knee) are out. 
*Cavaliers: *none












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## Ninjatune (May 1, 2006)

Figured I'd pull out a little Ninja mojo for the Cavs game.


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

Ugh, George and Buckner still out. We'll have a hard time to contain LeBron then.


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

Ninjatune said:


> Figured I'd pull out a little Ninja mojo for the Cavs game.


Appreciate letting me use it yesterday, btw. :biggrin: 

I agree, we're going to get bit sooner or later if we can't depend fully on the roster that's been assembled.


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

Ninjatune said:


> Figured I'd pull out a little Ninja mojo for the Cavs game.


Do we REALLY need to know what you are pulling out?

:biggrin:


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

All this stuff about bench scoring, or lack of...

Devin Harris was playing from the bench but inserted into starting line-up b/c of Buckner.

Isn't Cuban still going to sign Miller?


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

Dallas is a 4 point favorite with point total set at 187.

If you were to put money on the game, which side would you take?

DALLAS and OVER for me. :biggrin:


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

What happend to those games where we guess the stats?


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Maybe Lebron will be primed to venture into the lane without Master Mbenga in the paint. :wink:

Anyhow, good luck tonight guys. I think it will be hard-fought. Nobody can be happy with the way we finished the game last night, and I expect them to come out hungry with the crowd on their side. Hopefully there will be no injuries, and we'll get to see an exciting game.

Best of luck tonight.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Why does Avery have Harris on Lebron instead of Howard?


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

We're running around like chickens with our heads cut off on offense. The Mavs are executing, and that's the difference.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Why is Marshall in?!?!?!?! **** Mike Brown!!!


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

If we can get some momentum here, it would be great.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Where did everyone go?


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Oh my word, I just posted a series of messages in the wrong forum. These were all supposed to go in the Cavs forum.

Hahahahaha, I'm so sorry guys.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

All right, I really mean for this post to be here.

Good game guys. You clearly just out-talent us. Your guys hit their shots, ours didn't. I feel like our superstars played comparably, and it was just clear who the more talented team was.

Good game again fellas. If we don't make it to the finals, I'm going to be rooting for you guys to win it all.


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## knicksfan89 (Jan 6, 2005)

i am pleased for the mavs on a back-to back night, another great win for us, i thought we would come out flat but we didn't and i am really pleased for them, i knew tonight was tough but we pulled it out because it was a back-to-back but now we will win friday in boston


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

Brandname said:


> All right, I really mean for this post to be here.
> 
> Good game guys. You clearly just out-talent us. Your guys hit their shots, ours didn't. I feel like our superstars played comparably, and it was just clear who the more talented team was.
> 
> Good game again fellas. If we don't make it to the finals, I'm going to be rooting for you guys to win it all.


Thanks :cheers: 

I excepted LeBron to get 40 tonight, if he didn't bang his head early, he might have gotten even more. 



> Notes: Mavericks swingman Devean George, who has missed the last five games (sore right knee), will rejoin the team Thursday. ... G Greg Buckner, out since he sprained his left knee March 14 against Phoenix, will practice Thursday.


:clap2: 

It's about time that George is back, Croshere just can't make a shot.


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

Brandname said:


> All right, I really mean for this post to be here.
> 
> Good game guys. You clearly just out-talent us. Your guys hit their shots, ours didn't. I feel like our superstars played comparably, and it was just clear who the more talented team was.
> 
> Good game again fellas. If we don't make it to the finals, I'm going to be rooting for you guys to win it all.


LOL... as long as somebody's using the GT's.


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

Anybody notice that Dirk shot a surprisingly high number of 3's? He had a whopping 7 3-point attempts.

Maybe that forced the Cavs to spread the floor even more and opened the lane for Harris, who played for 37+ minutes, 8-11 FGA, 7 boards and 6 dimes.

Thoughts?

Perhaps we might see more of it down the stretch?


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

I think it's by design - in fact it's got to be. As a very useful weapon, spacing opens things up...very few things frustrate a coach more than spagetti on the court.

:biggrin:


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## Ninjatune (May 1, 2006)

Thats the Devin I want to see every game. When he is penetrating like that, it really makes it tough on defenses.


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