Cavaliers vs Timberwolves <div align="center"> <font color="DarkRed">Cleveland Cavaliers</font> (19-30) @ <font color="DarkGreen">Minnisota Timberwolves</font> (34-14)</div> Friday, 8:00 pm Eastern The Target Center TV: FSOhio, NBALP Vegas Line: No Clue. Ha. Season Series: Cavaliers 0, Timberwolves 1 2nd Meeting Previous Game Lakers 111@ Cavaliers 106 Timberwolves 89 @ Hawks 97 Last 10 Games Cleveland: 6-4 (Lost 1) Timberwolves: 9-1 (Lost 1) Head Coaches Paul Silas vs Flip Saunders Probable Starters Jeff McInnis vs Sam Cassell LeBron James vs Trenton Hassell Eric Williams vs Latrell Sprewell Carlos Boozer vs Kevin Garnett Zydrunas Ilgauskas vs Ervin Johnson 6th Men DeSagana Diop vs Gary Trent Injury Update Cavaliers Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje Tony Battie Timberwolves Michael Olowokandi Wally Szczerbiak Troy Hudson <div align="center">Players To Watch LeBron James vs Kevin Garnett James: 20.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.50 steals Garnett: 24.5 points, 14.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.29 steals</div> Fast Facts Minnisota just ended their 13 game winning streak last night with Atlanta. Wow what a streak, and another wow to who ended it. Keys To The Game <u>Cavaliers</u> My favorite, PERIMITER DEFENSE. Cassell, Sprewell Big Z vs Johnson. Let the big men battle it out Double up on Garnett in the post LeBron has to attack the rim Move w/o the ball and find a way to get open <u>Timberwolves</u> Zone will definatly work Big Z will have to be double teamed Don't give Boozer that spot up 15 footer Box out Hack LeBron when he gets to the hoop <font color="Red">The Infante Choice</font> Minnisota is hot. Theres no doubt about it. If the Cavs really want this win, it is obtainable. The T-Wolves are coming home from an upset loss to the weak team of Atlanta Hawks. Cavs we got to kick them while they are down. Take no prisoners. If you guys want to make it to the post season then damnit, play like it tonight! But eh, the T-Wolves are at home, they are above .500, we only have 5 wins on the road, I feel we will fail on this one too. Wolves by 10.
I must say I don't like the Cavs chances either. I have told you guys about this month and how tough it will be. I like it that way though, this is where we will learn more and grow as a team. Wolves by 9
Garnett is going to abuse Boozer. Cassell could quite possibly due to Lebron what Payton just did to him last game. Sprewell is clutch and is a lot more explosive of a player than Williams is used to guarding this year. All signs point to this game as being a potential ugly loss for the Cavs, especially after the big 3 all struggled and the T'Wolves suffered an bad loss to the Hawks last time out. Lebron and Z should be able to exploit mismatches, but I don't know if it will be nearly enough. Z shouldn't have to work very hard on D to stop Johnson, but he'll probably spend half the time trying to help Boozer out. This will be a big test for the Cavs. Right now the T'Wolves are the best team in the league in my opinion, so we'll find out a lot about how close we are to being a playoff club. I think we'll keep it close for 3 quarters, but Lebron will wear down eventually and the Wolves 3 headed monster will just be too much for us. Wolves by 12.
If Hassell defend LeBron Cavs will won it. IMO Hassell isnt good enough to defend LeBron with success. Carlos must stoped KG. If he do that good, Cavs are winners. CAVS BY 4
^ Thats not true at all, You stop KG, you stop the Wolves? maybe in past seasons but not this year. Stopping Sam Cassell taking over is what the Cavs must do, KG will get his no matter what, he can't be stopped in the post. Forcing Sprewell into tough jumpers instead of letting him drive to the basket at will is also a key factor. Wolves are too good at home, don't see this one being close.
Oh my, both of my favorite teams are going at it, this is going to be a great game! Minnesota will probably run away with it, though, because they have a lineup that is hard to matchup with. And KG won't let Lebron get any layups, and Hassell or Sprewell won't give him much breathing room on the perimeter. I think the key matchup will be Garnett vs. Boozer, though, not because of my bias, but because Boozer and Garnett are both playing great basketball right now. It will be fun to see who comes up with the win. I think the X-Factor will have to be Ilgauskas, because of Minnesota's lack of a center. But I think Lebron has something to prove, because he wasn't voted into the All-Star game. Should be fun, can't wait.
For the cavs to win they have to stop the players around KG. KG is always going to get his points you have ti stop the players around him. I think Mcinnis is going to play well tonight he is averaging 18 points against the T-Wolves. And im pretty sures he's pissed off that he only had 2 points last game and got in foul trouble and fouled out. He's sick of having to give up fouls and he's going to get the team fired up tonight. He's PISSED. CAVALIERS by 7. There all PISSED. Stop the hot t-wolves and kg! GO CAVS!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AllNet:</div><div class="quote_post">^ Thats not true at all, You stop KG, you stop the Wolves?</div> Of course Wolves aren't only KG. Minnesota have one of the best players right now in whole NBA (world ). Cassell can shot, Spree can shot. One of these great players can win game by themselfs. But IMO good defense on KG can give Cavs some space in paint. Iluglauskas is big, ha have long hands and he can score a lot of points. I'm sure that Z is better then Johnson, and LBJ is better then Hassell. And i hope that Cavaliers will be better team today. You ask me why? My answer is: I'm Cavs Fan.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting coolhandluke:</div><div class="quote_post">I think the X-Factor will have to be Ilgauskas, because of Minnesota's lack of a center. </div> ugh got the words right out of my mouth..if there is ANY chance for the cavs to win..Ilguaskas needs to have a BIG game..even if he does..and any of the other players dont step up Wolves will take the win anyways. Wolves by 10.
Yeah, I agree with you! It will be to hard for Cavaliers to take this game I think! No problem for Twolves to take this game, and they will take it easy! Twolves by 17!
I heard that Silas was going to put Z on Garnett because Booze couldn't handle him. That's good and bad, you take away the agility that Booze would have and put in the leanky Z. It will be a good game and I do believe that the..............CLEVELAND CAVS WILL...............lose by 2. James will have a normal game for him and Boozer will have another double double, but Spreewell will have a ton of points, just like last time, I'd say close to 30.
If all the Timberwolves are up to the task, as sad as I hate to see the Cavaliers lose. I say a cleanup, on both ends. No chance at all. I think LeBron will play very well however. Timberwolves by at least 13.
Easy win for the Wolves? Still too many people looking at the Cavs record and thinking "losers" This game will not be a blowout, book it.
It has more to with the fact Timberwolves are title contenders and are basically unstoppable at the target center.
I think the Timberwolves should have this one by at least 10, but we always seem to keep things close, so I say the Wolves by 3.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AllNet:</div><div class="quote_post">It has more to with the fact Timberwolves are title contenders and are basically unstoppable at the target center.</div> We have faced the Lakers, Kings, Pacers, and many other contenders and have not been blown out. The only team to do so the last month was the Nets, but that was before the McInnis trade too, but I won't use that as an excuse. All season the Cavs have been hard to blowout, no matter who we played. You Piston fans should know
Wolves by three. Cavs are playing hard but they will come up a little short against a strong wolves team.
Game in 3 hours, lets see more opinions. I would like to see Z taking Garnett on D also. But that leaves 7 foot Ervin (not magic) Johnson against 6'8 Boozer, that wouldn't work. At times like this, we need Battie.
