Cavaliers’ fans were panicked after Friday night’s blowout loss at the hands of the Orlando Magic. Yes, there should be some concern because the wine and gold is now 2-6 versus the Lakers, Celtics, and Magic. It would be better if the Cavs record was better against those teams, but quite frankly, Orlando was shooting the lights out on Friday, and it really didn’t matter what Cleveland did that night.
However, the team rebounded from that huge loss by beating up one of the NBA’s better teams, the San Antonio Spurs, by 20 points at the friendly confines of Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavs are now 62-15 on the season with just five games remaining in the regular season, three of those at home. Several thoughts hit me during the crushing of San Antonio, who of course, beat the Cavs in the NBA Finals two years ago.
First, watching LeBron James take control early with 18 points, and then playing a superb all around game, it struck me that if The King is on the top of his game, the Cavaliers are really unbeatable. I realize this sounds rather simplistic, but if you think about it, when the wine and gold have lost this year, #23 had one part of his game not at the highest level.
Now understand that the opposing team’s defense plays a factor in James not playing up to his usual standard, but there are nights with a player of LBJ’s caliber, that the defense has no answer for the player. It was like that with Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant. If LeBron has it going, the wine and gold are going to win.
The other pleasant sight was the return of Delonte West’s shot. West had been struggling with both his shot and confidence since returning from his broken wrist, but the last few games prior to Sunday; he started going to the basket. Against the Spurs, his outside game returned. He was hitting stationary jumpers, and hitting shots off the dribble. Having West back involved in the offense will be a huge boost to the attack.
Tonight, Ben Wallace will return from his broken leg, which means the team will be whole for the first team in months. The time missed by Big Ben could be a blessing in disguise, as it could mean a fresher Wallace when the playoffs start. That would be a tremendous boost for the interior defense.
Also, count me among those who would like to see Tarence Kinsey get a shot at more playing time, replacing Sasha Pavlovic and Daniel Gibson. Right now, the latter duo isn’t really contributing much. In fact, the bench scored just seven points against the Spurs, all by Joe Smith. Kinsey is a good defender, which is important to Mike Brown. Why not see if he can hit some shots in place of the inconsistent Pavlovic and Gibson.
Five games to go before the quest for a title starts…
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 
Tarence Kinsey is very lanky but the guy can get to the basket much better than Pavlovic and he is a very active defender, unlike Daniel Gibson:) Jawad Williams "the Cleveland native" is a guy who is now on the Cavalier roster; he has played very well in the development league. With his size and athleticism, he might be able to give the team the production that Sasha Pavlovic was suppose to provide. As for Ben Wallace (The time missed by Big Ben could be a blessing in disguise, as it could mean a fresher Wallace when the playoffs start) "VERY TRUE" but the same thing can be said about Kevin Garnett and maybe, Andrew Bynum:) It looks like the Cavs will possibly see the Detroit Pistons in round 1… It will not be that easy; the Cavalier guards will be tested, Tayshaun Prince will make Lebron work very hard on both sides of the court and the Cavalier big men will be in for a rough battle with Wallace, McDyess, Maxiell and whoever else they have, but the Cavaliers "should" win the series in no more than 6 games. The road to the NBA finals will not be that easy be for the Cleveland Cavaliers; the win-loss record during the season may say otherwise but I really think there are some match-up problems in the Eastern Conference that have the potential of knocking the Cavs off earlier than what most expect, including me! I also think the Los Angeles Lakers have a tough road ahead of them, maybe even tougher than Cleveland… I would not be surprised if they got beat out there in the West by Denver or Houston. PS: I really hope you’re right about the Cleveland Cavaliers because I am not that confident with the overall quality of talent on this roster. BUT… Lebron James is on a mission and the road to the NBA finals "must" go through Cleveland.