The Cavs hit the boards and played defense and that’s why they won this game. The Cavs outrebounded the Nets 51-37 and they held the Nets to 37.2% shooting from the floor. LeBron James led the way for the Cavs with 21 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists despite only shooting 8 of 21 from the floor. Larry Hughes also had a rough shooting game (7 for 20) but he still finished with 17 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. Sasha Pavlovic had a good game with 15 points and 3 blocks (one of which altered the game when he stuffed Jason Kidd from behind on a fast break). Drew Gooden was tough in the paint with 14 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Zydrunas Ilgauskas only shot 4 of 12 from the floor but he still wound up with 8 points and 14 rebounds. The Cavs need more from the bench as the whole crew only scored 6 points. The Cavs are up 1-0 in the series with the Nets.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270506005

The Cavaliers have a huge advantage in the frontcourt in this series and they have homecourt advantage, but, the Nets have the “Triplets” that can cause havoc on the court. Here’s a closer look at the matchups in this series:

POINT GUARD: The Nets have a Hall of Famer starting at point guard and the Cavs have a converted shooting guard. This will be an interesting matchup in this series. Jason Kidd was outstanding against the Raptors in the first round of the playoffs as he averaged a triple-double. Kidd averaged 14.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 13.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Kidd also shot 46.9% from the 3-point range and he will make the Cavs pay if they choose to double-team the basketball. Larry Hughes still plays the game like a shooting guard and he will make Kidd work at the defensive end of the court. Hughes averaged 19.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.25 steals per game against the Wizards. EDGE: NETS

SHOOTING GUARD: Vince Carter is one of the most dynamic shooting guards in the NBA. He averaged 25.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game against the Raptors in the first round. Carter will also make the Cavaliers double team the ball as he hit 46.9% from three-point range in round #1. Sasha Pavlovic had a rough first series against the Wizards as he only hit 32.4% of his shots from the floor. Pavlovic only averaged 7.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in the first round. The Cavs will need to get more from Pavlovic and to make Vince Carter work on defense. EDGE: NETS

SMALL FORWARD: Richard Jefferson of the Nets is a really good basketball player, but, LeBron James is an elite basketball player and he will dominate Jefferson on the court. In the first round, King James averaged 27.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.75 steals per game against the Wizards. He is an unselfish superstar that likes to keep all of this teammates involved in the gameplan. Jefferson also played well in the first round as he averaged 21.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game against the Raptors. This matchup will be fun to watch. EDGE: CAVALIERS

POWER FORWARD: This is a huge mismatch for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Drew Gooden is an outstanding rebounder and a willing defender. He averaged 14.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game as he shot 61% from the floor in the first round against the Wizards. Mikki Moore is a glorified garbage man on offense as most of his points come on putbacks and dunks. He averaged 7.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game in the first round against the Raptors. He did do a good job against the Raptors’ Chris Bosh defensively in round #1. EDGE: CAVALIERS

CENTER: This will be no match at all. The Cavs have Zydrunas Ilgauskas who’s one of the best centers in the NBA while the Nets are playing Jason Collins who’s a pretty poor basketball player. Ilgauskas was on fire in the first round as he averaged 19.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game vs. the Washington Wizards. Collins only averaged 3.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game against the Raptors in the first round. EDGE: HUGE FOR CAVALIERS

BENCH: The Cavaliers didn’t get much out of their bench in the first round against the Wizards and they will need more from them to beat the Nets in this series. Rookie Daniel Gibson did a good job in his limited minutes on the court in the first round of the playoffs. Gibson averaged 11.8 minutes, 4.3 points and 1.0 rebounds per game in the first round. Gibson is a good shooter as he hit 55.6% of his shots from the floor and he hit 4 of 5 three pointers in the first round. Eric Snow will provide Larry Hughes with a break once in a while on the court. He averaged 19.3 minutes, 3.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game against the Wizards. Anderson Varejao needs to play much better in the 2nd round if the Cavs are to succeed in this series. He averaged 20.0 minutes, 3.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game against the Wizards. Varejao only hit 29.4% from the floor in the 1st round and that must improve against the Nets. Donyell Marshall didn’t get much playing time as he only played 14 minutes against the Wizards and he only averaged 2.0 points and 1.0 rebounds per game. The Cavs need more from him.

The Nets bench is really a young bunch but they did a decent job in the first round against the Raptors. Bostjan Nachbar had an outstanding series in the first round of the playoffs. He averaged 26.3 minutes, 12.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game against the Raptors. Antoine Wright (4.5 points, 2.5 rebounds), Josh Boone (3.7 points, 2.2 rebounds) and Marcus Williams (3.0 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists) each didn’t get much playing time in the first round but they played well when they got the chance. EDGE: EVEN

PREDICTION: The Cavaliers front line will be way too much for the Nets to handle. The Cavs should win this series in six games.

In the end the Cavaliers were just too big for the injury depleted Wizards to handle. The Cavs outrebounded the Wizards 46-35 and they outscored the Wizards 31-23 in the 4th quarter and that’s why they won last night. LeBron James led the way for the Cavs with 31 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals on 8 of 22 shooting from the floor. Zydrunas Ilgauskas was awesome around the basket with 20 points, 19 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Larry Hughes scored 18 points in the final 6 1/2 minutes of the game to give his old team the dagger in this series. He finished with 19 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Drew Gooden also had a solid game on offense with 14 points and 8 rebounds. The Cavs swept the Wizards 4-0 and their Magic Number now sits at 12!

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270430027