Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Put out an APB for the No. 1 overall seed



There's still a quarter of the season left to play, but things are starting to look very good in Cavs land. Consider:

a. We just finished 3-1 on our toughest roadie of the year, and we had no business doing so (more on that in a second)

b. After playing four of our next six on the road, we finish the season with 12 of 17 games at home, where we're 26-1 this year

c. We've overtaken Boston by a full game for the Eastern Conference's best record, with a showdown in Beantown on Friday

d. There's no word on when Kevin Garnett will return for the Cs

e. While the Lakers still own the best overall record by a half-game, their ridiculously home-heavy first half is starting to give way to the weary, travel-laden second half

f. Numerous league sources say that Joe Smith will sign with us after his Thunder buyout clears on Wednesday, filling a huge need up front

All good harbingers for the Cavs. Now back to that roadie.

After getting dismantled in Houston last Thursday, we caught the Spurs without Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili in San Antonio on Friday. That's not a game we should lose, and we didn't. No surprise there.

Rather, the surprise came the last two nights, when we won at Atlanta and at Miami. The first time we visited each venue this season, we lost both games. We crumbled in the fourth quarter in Atlanta, and the New Year and LeBron's birthday caused us to play sluggish in Miami.

Fast forward to this weekend. We rallied from five points down with less than two minutes left to finish off the Hawks, and then LeBron and Mo Williams outperformed the Heat by themselves down the stretch on Monday, despite the fact that the Cavs didn't arrive in Miami until 7 a.m. due to plane issues and spent the entire day sleeping.

That's two wins in two nights against the two teams currently on pace to battle in the East's 4/5 matchup. No crumbling on the road this time. No excuses about circumstances surrounding the game this time.

No reason to let the No. 1 overall seed go to anybody else, either.

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