The Cavaliers rolled to a 61-44 first half lead in this basketball game, but instead of putting their foot down on the Wizards throat they let them off of the mat and had to battle tooth and nail to win this basketball game. It’s amazing that the Cavs couldn’t put the Wizards away in this game as they shot 50% from the floor and they outrebounded the Wizards 48-33! LeBron James led the way for the Cavs with 30 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists. Zydrunas Ilgauskas was outstanding for the Cavs last night with 24 points and 8 rebounds on 10 of 13 shooting from the floor. Larry Hughes (11 points, 8 rebounds) and Sasha Pavlovic (11 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists) both were very active last night. Drew Gooden was also tough in the paint with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists. Still, the Cavs couldn’t stop Antwan Jamison who willed his team to stay in this game with 38 points and 11 rebounds. The Cavs now lead this series 3-0.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270428027

The Cavaliers hit the boards and made their free throws and that’s why they won last night. The Cavs outrebounded the Wizards 58-36 and they made 26 of their 33 (78.8%) free throws last night. LeBron James only shot 8 of 22 from the floor but he still wound up with 27 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Drew Gooden was outstanding last night as he shot 10 of 13 from the floor and wound up with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Larry Hughes had another good game with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Zydrunas Ilgauskas was tough around the basket with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. The Cavs are now up 2-0 as the series shifts to Washington.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270425005

The Cavs started this basketball game on cruise control but they saved their best for last as they outscored the Wizards 23-15 to make this game look like a blowout. The most important thing about this game other than the fact that the Cavs won, is that they hit 30 of 39 free throws (76.9%) which is much better than they did as a team during the regular season. Larry Hughes was on fire in this game as he led the Cavs with 27 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals. LeBron James had a solid all-around game with 23 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. Zydrunas Ilgauskas used his size to his advantage as he scored 16 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. The Cavs lead the series 1-0.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270422005

The Cavaliers didn’t really have much playing time to offer the rookies but they both appear to have a future with the Cavs. Point guard Daniel Gibson played in 60 games this season and he averaged 16.5 minutes, 4.6 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Gibson also hit 41.9% from three-point range and when he’s in the game, the Cavs run an up-tempo offense because of his speed with the basketball. He could be a future starter. Shannon Brown (SG) was the first round pick of the Cavs and he struggled when on the floor. He played in 23 games this season and he averaged 3.2 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. He also only shot 37.8% from the floor. Brown will need to improve his game if he wants to see the floor in the future.

The Cleveland Cavaliers finished 2nd in the Central Division with a 50-32 record, 3 games behind the Detroit Pistons. The Cavs really defended their home court well as they were 30-11 at home, but only 20-21 on the road. The Cavs did well in the Eastern Conference with a 31-21 record and they were a very solid 10-6 against their Division. They wound up averaging 96.8 points per game and only allowed 92.9. The Cavs played very well at the end of the season as they roll into the playoffs winning their last 4 games and 7 of their last 10.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are 1/2 a game behind the Chicago Bulls for the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Because the Bulls hold the tiebreaker with the Cavs, the Cavs will need to win their last two games (tonight against Philly on the road, and tomorrow against the Bucks at home) and have the Bulls lose their last game tomorrow night against the Nets in New Jersey. The Sixers are without their best basketball player tonight due to injury (Andre Iguodala), so they have no excuses to lose this game tonight. The Bucks should be easy pickins’ tomorrow night as they’ve had big injury problems this season. The Bulls could lose to the Nets tomorrow, because the Nets will likely also be playing for playoff position.

Donyell Marshall is in a huge slump in April. In the 5 games Marshall has played this month he’s only averaged 9.4 minutes, 1.0 point, 1.8 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. He also is only shooting 13.3% from the floor and has only hit 1 of 10 shots from three-point range. Marshall’s a very important player to the success of the Cavs so he needs to get his act together with the playoffs approaching.

The Cavs have been very pleased with the play of Sasha Pavlovic as of late. Over the last two weeks, Pavlovic has averaged 14.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals in his last 8 games. He also has hit 13 of his last 33 three-point shot attempts. Pavlovic is a very aggressive player that likes to get to the rim and he has emerged as the Cavaliers #2 option on the offense.

The Cavs lost today to the Pistons and fell to 46-32 on the season and they’ve fallen all the way to the #5 slot in the Eastern Conference. Still, the Cavs are only 1/2 a game behind the Chicago Bulls for the #2 slot in the playoffs but the Bulls hold the tiebreakers. The Cavs have 3 home games left out of their last 4 of the season and the Cavs are 27-11 on the season at home so they need to win all of those home games if they want to move to #2, which is very important. If the Cavs remain #5 they will play either the Miami Heat or the Toronto Raptors in the first round, but if they are #2 they will play either the Nets, Magic, Wizards or Pacers and that would be a much better matchup for the Cavs in the playoffs.