Article:Notes from the Cleveland Cavaliers - Los Angeles Clippers game, 2/2/08

Well, I realized I haven't written an article here in a while. I also haven't been to a Cavs game in a while. So why not knock out two birds with one stone, by a $25 nosebleed ticket, and have some fun. Here's what I noticed.

1. Zydrunas Ilgauskas makes some odd errors: Maybe this was an off day for him. 22 points and 13 rebounds is certainly good, but his ball handling left much to be desired. Two travelling calls, and a couple odd passes led to him easily leading both teams with 5 turnovers. Luckily, most came in the last two minutes when the game was pretty much over. (I might be too hard on him, since if you take out his poor ball handling he played great)

2. Josh Powell could be good: He's 6'9, and was put at center against the 7'3 Z. However, if you put him on the floor for 37 minutes, good things happen. 13 points, 5 boards, 2 steals, a block, only 3 fouls. Not great totals, but not bad.

3. Wow the Clippers are hurt: I didn't think much of it, but when the injury report comes up and I see Elton Brand, Chris Kaman, Corey Maggette, and Shaun Livingston, no wonder we won, and no wonder Powell started at center, it was either him or Tim Thomas (who actually disappointed me in his performance, though stat-wise he played well). However, we lacked Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic, but those losses don't affect the Cavs quite as much.

4. Where'd Donyell Marshall go? I just realized he's hardly played at all this season, only three games. Though I'm sure Dwayne Jones likes the extra time. Still, we could've used some good three point shooters last night, a lot of misses from both ends.

5. Clippers: START Al Thornton and BENCH Quinton Ross: After watching last night's game this was a given. Ross hasn't been much of a factor all season and he didn't really do much in last night's game. Thornton played great basketball, and he was the reason the Clippers were still in it as the fourth quarter began.

6. Can we trade Larry Hughes please?

7. Cleveland hates the Pittsburgh Steelers a wee bit more than the University of Michigan: Based on showing the logos and the fan's reaction. The boos were certainly more subdued when LSU and the Red Sox were shown. They mainly stuck with showing Michigan though, which was interesting.

8. For the third time in a row, and the fourth in the last five games, The Cavs were within 2 points of a chalupa when I attend a game. I wanted a chalupa :( That's 98, 99, 99, (loss, well under 100), and 98 in the last 5 games.

9. Brevin Knight - foul machine? All three of Knight's fouls came in the first quarter, after they had already benched Cassell for two. What does this imply? I'm not sure, but it's an interesting stat.

10. LeBron James is awesome!

And one last thing to leave you off on, the angles on the seats in loudville makes it very nerve wracking to leave your seat. The $5 Nachos were worth it though. Until next time, did I mention the Clippers were hurt? I mean, this is coming from a Cleveland guy, their roster's almost depressing to look at with all the injuries...