Hello, Cavalier fans and CavFanatics! It’s A.C., checking in from just off the links. What’s happening?

On Monday, the Cavaliers hosted the 25^th Annual Youth Fund Golf Classic at the Westfield Group Country Club in Westfield Center outside of Lodi. It was another incredible day – both on the course and for the community. I’m honored to play every year.

My foursome played well. I think (new assistant coach) Jamahl Mosely’s team won it. And I think Byron Scott’s team came in second.

Don’t kid yourself, it’s for a great cause – but it’s also pretty competitive. We play with the “string” – where you get 18 feet of string to use throughout the course. The strategy is: not only do you have to play good golf, but you have to manage the string. That’s very important and that’s how you do it. What you try to do is get every shot within a foot so you can legitimately have enough for the next hole.

But the string kind of dilutes how well you’re actually playing, because that Westfield golf course is definitely not that easy where you’d get four, five, six eagles in an 18-hole round.

I’m a competitive golfer, but with golf – it’s you against the golf course. You play against the par of the course – not against your opponent. If you play well against the course, you’ll beat your opponent. That’s the way I was taught to play the game.

When I first started, I wanted to beat my opponent. But, I was an athlete. I was a basketball player. So I’m used to looking at the guy on the other side and wanting to beat him. Golf is a different animal. Not only do you have to play against the golf course, but you have to play against Mother Nature. The wind’s blowing, it could be raining a little. And then you have to play against yourself. Some days, you’re jumpy. Some days, you’re impatient.

That’s why I love the game – there’s so many variables to it. It’s a great game of competition and focusing in for five hours. It’s not easy.

As far as the Cavaliers family, I know among the current guys, Mo Williams is a very good golfer. From my generation, Foots Walker is pretty good. Campy’s coming fast, and he loves the game. Actually, Bingo was the best before he had his health problems.

I’ve played in the Cavaliers Youth Fund Tournament since I’ve been with the Cavs. I’ve been with the Tournament ever since Roy Jones has been running it.

Roy Jones is the driving force behind the Tournament; always has been. And it was good to see Roy have success on the course yesterday. Roy gives his heart and soul to that Tournament. It’s his baby – he’s developed it from infancy to adulthood. And it’s just been a great situation every year.

We raise a lot of money for the youth in this area, and the Cavaliers distribute that money. I enjoy being a part of it, because it’s something that has tangible results.

I hit every club pretty well yesterday, except for my driver. There’s always one or two swings that are “off the charts” – so to speak. And it always costs me. That club is always messing me up. In fact, the driver that I used yesterday, I’m putting it in the basement as punishment. It will not see the light of day for a while.

It’s funny, getting out on the course with people, they’re always sounding off about this summer. I hear it all.

Most of it is – they don’t begrudge LeBron for leaving, but they don’t like the way he did it. That’s the main theme I receive every time. And then also, it’s that people choose to ignore his idiosyncrasies, but are looking back on these years and noticing. They’re starting to notice that there were some inconsistencies in his behavior. Fans are looking forward to the season in general, but they definitely have that date – December 2 – circled on their calendar.

The other subject that people want to approach me about is Dan Gilbert. A lot of people were in favor of Dan’s letter. They really appreciate the fact that he did what he did.

But the best conversation I’ve had on the golf course was this past Sunday, when I played with Byron Scott. He has enthusiasm, but by the same token, he’s a realistic person. And he’s warning all his players: Be in shape. Because fatigue makes you a coward. And you don’t want that.

When you want to have a style where you’re aggressive on offense and aggressive on defense, you have to be in shape. You have to be able to get up and down the floor, and it has to be second nature. You can’t be thinking about it. You just have to do it.

When you are an up-tempo team, it changes the complexion of the game. You can gain leads quickly; you can lose leads quickly. You can make up deficits quickly and you can blow people out quickly, especially if you’re on your game on the defensive end. And simply understanding how the system works is big.

What Coach Scott is doing now is building his culture. And it’s based on discipline, hard work and understanding what you’re doing out there.

In other words, learn how to use your advantages instead of focusing on your weaknesses. It’s a very positive approach. And in this league, if you’re in shape and you work hard, you’re going to win a certain amount of games anyway. Because there’s a lot of players who don’t work hard on a consistent basis.

To me, you’re going to have probably six or seven teams that you’re really going to have to focus on and deal with. But the rest of the teams, you might split. And you can probably dominate another three or four teams. But if we play together as a unit, our strength will be in our numbers. We’re not going to drop off much from our first to second unit. We’re going to play hard. And that’s going to make the difference.

I predict there’ll be a lot less standing around. The system will be predicated on movement and getting the ball to the right guy at the right time. It won’t be one man pounding the ball and giving it up with two seconds on the shot clock. It’s going to be interesting.

So you could say I’ve had some interesting times on the links these past few days. But the golf season is winding down and Cavaliers season is gearing up. I’ll put my clubs away at the start of the season. Once the weather starts to change, it’s time to chalk it up. But I’ve still got a few more weeks to work it out.

That driver I put in the basement, however – he’s going to sit there for a while. I’m going to leave him down there all winter to think about what he’s done.

Hello, Cavalier fans and CavFanatics! It’s A.C. – off the links and checking in.  What’s happening?

Since I last checked in, the Cavaliers have made a couple moves. And I feel pretty good about them.

First, they made the deal to acquire Ramon Sessions from Minnesota. It’ll be interesting to see how he and Mo Williams operate together.

If they play together, it’s a small backcourt – which is something we’ve been trying to get away from over the years. But, they know each other well.

Sessions is a good defender, at least from what I’ve seen. He’s not afraid to stick his nose in there. He’s a combo-guard, but at the same time, he’s got enough point guard experience to be able to run the team. He’s more of a point guard than Mo. And I’ve always felt that Mo is more effective off the ball. That’s how he was most effective before he came to Cleveland.

With this new offense, this new style, Mo and Sessions should do very well. But the question is: who’s going to defend the basket? And if you want to run, you have to rebound. You have to keep the offensive players out of the middle – if you can – and you’ll need a guy in the middle to slow things down.

I feel that Mo and Sessions can play on the court at the same time, but maybe not for extended minutes. They need to be staggered in the lineup – kind of like they were in Milwaukee. And we still need some size at two-guard. If we’re going to be running, these guys will get caught in mismatches a lot. It’s simple: when you run, you can’t control where you end up.

It’s always good to have size. But if you don’t have size, it comes down to individual defense. How tough are you as an individual defender?

Once teams find out your weaknesses, they will exploit them. So you want to be able to defend those areas. Again, we’ll have to wait and see. On paper, the frontline looks decent. But we’ll have to see how they play. If you don’t have that dominant guy – like Dwight Howard, for example – to clog things up and prevent penetration, you must have good individual defenders.

The other move Cleveland made was signing forward Joey Graham. He’s a steady player. He’s going to give you good minutes and he’s not going to make a lot of mistakes. He’s tough and he brings a certain toughness to this team. And that’s something that’ll be needed.

The Cavaliers continue to get younger and that means some of these kids will have to grow up fast. That could be a good or a bad thing.

There are a lot of people who want the pressure and the responsibility, but when it gets to them, they can’t handle it. And that’s what we’re going find out. Who are the guys who can handle it, and who can’t? As a player, you should love that challenge – especially coming off seven years with LeBron. I would definitely welcome that challenge. That’s a challenge I’d want. I’m going to let you know that he wasn’t the only player on this team.

This team should have a chip on their shoulders this year. Absolutely they should! And if they don’t – something’s wrong. These are competing athletes. Most athletes want to prove that they can get the job done by themselves. They don’t want to rely on help.

For years, all these guys have heard is: “The only player Cleveland has is LeBron.” That’s a bunch of crap, and most of these players should want to go out and prove that.

I’m sure the new coaching staff will have no problem incorporating that. I’m very impressed with the staff Byron Scott and Chris Grant have assembled. And they’ve kept the pieces that they felt would enhance their group. Chris Jent a good holdover. Good for players like Anderson and J.J. in terms of continuity.

We finally have an ex-player on the bench. (Actually, a few.)  It’s a credibility thing. As a player, you know this guy has gone through the same things that you have. And he knows how you’re feeling before the game; he knows how you’re feeling after the game – whether you’ve played well or poorly. He knows what it’s like to go against the top players. You can rely on his information, and that’s huge.

I love Byron’s drive. He’s a no-nonsense guy, because he’s seen it all. You’re not going to B.S. this guy! You’re either going to bring it, or you’ll be sitting next to him, watching the game. I love that! That’s the way Fitch was. If you bring it – everything’s fine. If not, you’re on the bench.

Speaking of no B.S., I have to finish today’s entry by saying congratulations to the great Joe Tait, who will be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame later this week.

His induction means a lot to the franchise. For starters, it’s a mark of sustainability for the organization – to have someone that’s been with you for so long. And he’s the voice of the franchise. Everywhere we travel across the country, everyone knows that Joe Tait is our announcer. They know who he is.

And to me, personally, he’s taught me so much about the business of broadcasting. He’s always told me, “You’re only as good as your last broadcast.”

To me, he’s a NBA icon, and he’s someone the whole city can be proud of – especially the Cavaliers organization. He’s a national treasure and a local treasure.   

Hey, Cavalier fans and CavFanatics! It’s A.C., checking in from the dog days of summer. What’s happening?

It’s been an up-and-down summer so far, but some good news came out of Vegas a couple weeks ago, with J.J. turning in a solid performance.

After taking a step up last season, I wanted J.J. to get to Summer League this year. Any experience he can get will help him. He needs to continue to battle with the big boys and see that he can have success. During the season, he’ll see that this year’s Summer League experience paid off.

The best thing about his experience is that the new coaching staff is encouraging him to shoot the open jumper. That could mean the world to his game.

The way you stay in this league is you have to have a counter move to your best move. And what I mean by that is that teams are going to stop your best move. You can still get it off, but they’re geared to stop it. So you have to be able to counter what they do to you. And finding a consistent jumper is going to help J.J. tremendously.

If they step out on him, he’ll go around them. If they back off, he’ll pull up and go over the top. That’s how you become an All-Star.

Hickson’s not a vocal guy, but you don’t have to be. There have been some great leaders in this league who have led by example. J.J.’s going to have to be one of the leaders now, and I’m glad he understands that. I hope he understands how to be a leader now.

That’s something the Cavaliers will have to define this year – who will provide the leadership with LeBron gone.

Naturally, you’d think it’s going to be Antawn Jamison, Mo Williams and Anthony Parker – although Jamison’s kind of a laid-back guy. Right now, they don’t have a vocal leader. They have guys who are going to lead through example. A lot of the maturity level hasn’t been recognized because of LeBron. So now we’ll see who steps up and becomes the vocal leader.

LeBron squashed so much of that because of his dominance, so we’ll see who has the ability and who wants it. (Because a lot of guys don’t want it.) We’ll see who wants that role because that’s a lot of pressure to perform on a nightly basis and be consistent with your actions on and off the court.

Another move that I was happy with was the Cavaliers signing of last year’s No. 1 pick, Christian Eyenga. It was right to bring him over to the States and get him in a Cavs uniform. Because if you believe in him that much and you drafted him in the first round, it’s time to get him out there with the big boys. It’s time to get down to business and see what he has.

You want him to work with your coaching staff. Coach Scott is starting from scratch (with all these guys) and he’s trying to implement his style, his demeanor, the pace he wants to play at. Basically, how he wants things done. All that has to be put in place now.

And when you have a guy like Eyenga, guys coming over who are young – those are guys you want to get indoctrinated right away.

I don’t know if Eyenga will make a splash in the backcourt this year, but there could be some interesting battles in Camp.

But these battles are still a couple months away, and I’m trying to enjoy as much summer time as I can. I’ve been doing most of that out on the local links, but I’ve been going out of town playing in some tournaments too.

I played in the Nationwide Pro-Am down in Columbus, hosted by Clark Kellogg. (I played behind Tommy “Two-Gloves” Gainey – a popular figure on the tour.) In September, I’m going to Detroit to play in a four-day tournament. I got a nice little schedule set up.

Everywhere I go – on the golf course and off – everybody wants to vent about the LeBron situation. And the next thing they want to make sure is that I’m not going with him. I always tell them: “I’m keeping my talents in Cleveland.”

I can still tell that there’s a guarded sense of optimism. Everybody knows that we’re losing almost 30 points, nine assists and eight boards. How are we going to make up for that? We lost a lot of our size, too now, too. We’re a small team now. But still, people are very hopeful.

Everybody’s staying positive and there is one thing consistent with everyone I talk with: they really want to beat Miami. It’s a very contentious, competitive situation.

Now, I just hope that we can give the people what they want.

Hey, Cavalier fans and CavFanatics! It’s A.C. checking in after a little summer sabbatical. What’s happening?

Well, it’s been a wild summer so far, and it promises to get even wilder. So much has been unsettled since the Cavaliers were knocked out in mid-May. But I think things got back on track perfectly with the hiring of Byron Scott.

I think Scott is a great choice. He’s an ex-player and he knows what it’s like to be in the trenches. He has taken teams from scratch to the Finals – and he did it in back-to-back years, which means he can sustain what he’s developed. And it seems like the players really play for him. And that, to me, is very important.

I was surprised both times he was let go, though, and that’s probably the only thing you’d have to look at and ask why. But at the same time, his track record is almost flawless. And I like him because he’s an ex-player and he’s going to have some ex-players on his staff.

It’s not essential that a successful coach has to have played. But it is important.

The way I see it; being a former player gives you credibility. What you teach the guys, they know you’ve gone through it. You know what works and what doesn’t work. That’s huge, as far as credibility goes.

And any veteran that’s been in this league a while – who’s currently coaching – there are certain things he knows about the game that made him be able to last that long. (Byron Scott played 14 years in the league and made the playoffs in 13.)

He’s passing on his little tricks of the trade down to you. It’s big to be able to get those “tips.” I got great tips from Lenny Wilkens or from Nate Thurmond. Even as a big man, Nate gave me tips about playing in the low post. (And I was a guard!) But whenever I had a chance to post up, I’d use those little tips. And Lenny taught me so much about ball-handling, even though I played off the ball.

Each guy has his own niche that he was good at, that kept him in the league for so long, and he passes those things on. And when there’s some advice that you may question, you have a tendency to lean more towards doing what the coach wants because he’s been there before. There’s going to be a gray area where you might want it done one way and the coach wants it done another, but players will lean more his way because he’s done it before and he has succeeded in doing it that way.

It’s that simple.

Another thing I like about Byron Scott is that he’s played with some of the all-time greats. He understands how to coach and be around players of that ilk. He’s not going to be in awe of anyone. If someone does something wrong, he’ll say: ‘You need to come and sit down here with me. We have a problem and let’s work our way through this.’

And he will not be afraid to coach LeBron.

Schematically, I love the Princeton offense, because it opens up the back door cut. Actually, it opens up a lot of cutting, and cutting at unique angles. There’s constant movement. When you have an offense that uses all five guys, it helps you expose an opponent’s weakness. But when you work with two guys at a time or even three guys at a time, it doesn’t expose the whole defense. So I like that part.

But what I really like is that he will use our defense to run in the open floor. That’s what the Cavaliers are good at. We were at our best when we were aggressive on defense and out in the open floor. You want LeBron out in that open floor.

Over the past couple seasons, we would go through five minutes of that type of defensive intensity and running and just blow teams out of the gym. But to have that as our main focus for 48 minutes … oh, man … RELEASE THE HOUNDS!!

(But it’s also important to note that Scott knows how to have his teams run, but also understands how to use the low-post. A lot of “running” coaches don’t have that, and it bites them in the end.)

More than anything, I’d like to see him make teams adjust to us and not us adjust to them. That’s very important.

Of course, the big story all over town – and all over EVERYTHING – is LeBron James’ free agency.

And I knew Cleveland would be at their best at this time of year. It was great to see. I thought the city stepped up big-time to let him know how we feel: that we want our native son to stay here and finish the job.

As I’ve said before, we’ve only gone to Lake Tahoe and we need to get to Vegas.

As a former player from the 1970s, this whole free agency thing is like a fairytale. I never thought free agency would ever turn out like this. It’s like college recruiting, except at a higher level.

I was really glad to see that LeBron cancelled all those trips and made these teams come to him. He has control of the whole situation this way. And that tells me that he understands the magnitude of what’s going on around him. He’s making teams talk basketball – and that’s all that matters anyway.

LeBron doesn’t care how many restaurants are in what city or how many free meals he can get there. He can go to any restaurant in the world. He can travel to any city in the world. He wants to know what the basketball plan is going to be. And he did a good job by having people come to him.

I can’t predict what’s going to happen, but I’m thinking with Byron Scott in the fold and our management team working behind the scenes that something positive must be going on. (I’d love to know what it is, but I don’t.)

We don’t have the type of management or ownership that stands pat. And I’m 100% sure that they won’t this time.  And in the next few days and weeks, we’ll see exactly what they have up their sleeves.

Hey Cavalier fans! It’s A.C., checking in. What’s happening?

Well, it’s become a best-of-three series now. And we’re about to see what both clubs are made of.

After Sunday’s performance, what I’m feeling is the Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde personality of the team. You saw a little bit of it during the regular season, but in the Playoffs, when you’re playing one team, and you have to continue to get yourself ratcheted up emotionally, I still see this team is having trouble seizing the moment. And that’s what kind of concerns me.

In Game 2 – coming off the MVP award ceremony, with all the electricity in the building – we came out flat, instead of attacking them. We could have taken complete control of the series. We go to Boston, play a great Game 3 and instead of holding on to that momentum – after getting off to a seven-point lead – we let it slip away. And from that point on, they beat us up.

I don’t understand how we can be so flat in the Playoffs. This is not the regular season, and nobody’s playing it that way. Right now, Boston understands the little nuances of the Playoffs better than we do. They bring their attitude, they come with that attitude. They may not play up to par that night, but they will bring that attitude and that energy. If you beat that energy, fine. But if you don’t, they’ll take over. And that concerns me.

I feel like the game plan is solid. We’re attacking their bigs and getting them into foul trouble. But we’re not exploiting that and it’s been really frustrating. Every game of the series, it seems like we’re getting their bigs into trouble, and come the second half, we’re not taking advantage of it.

In the games that we’ve won, our mindset has been to attack. In games we’ve lost, we’ve let them off the hook. Yesterday, I think they played four guys with at least four fouls in the fourth quarter and only one fouled out.

They’re a loose team, but I don’t think being a loose team is a problem – as long as you understand that now it’s time to use that energy towards intensity on the floor. For some reason, they’re not playing two straight games at a high-intensity level.

Again, they went through that 13-game win streak, but it wasn’t high-intensity throughout. They pulled several of those games out in the fourth quarter. But now, you’re playing the same team every night, and they know what’s getting ready to happen. So you can’t rely on that fourth quarter run all the time.

Both teams have already proven that they can win on the other team’s court, so Tuesday night is not a given. There has to be some mental adjustments.

In my opinion, if you’re going to beat this team, there needs to be more motion in the offense. I know LeBron is the spearhead of it, but you can’t just rely on him to be everything.

What the Celtics are doing – as soon as he receives the ball and Andy comes to set the pick, the other four guys drop into a zone and just slide towards him. As soon as LeBron beats one man, there’s another man waiting for him. That’s fine. But in order for the offense to work, guys have to move from the strong side to the weak side and the ball has to keep moving. If the defense isn’t moving, it’s sitting there waiting for LeBron.

We need to make them play faster than they want to play – right from the beginning. We have a deep roster, we have to use it.

I’d like to see more of what we saw from Antawn Jamison in the first half in his matchup with Garnett.

Yesterday was a perfect start. Jamison got Garnett away from the basket, kept him moving. But in the second half, only got five shots. They went away from that matchup. We have to use it right. In the first half it was perfect – he had KG out away from the basket, and one or two dribbles and he was past Garnett.

On the perimeter, Jamison against Garnett is a mismatch. And to me, you have to milk that situation. That’s what they’re doing to us. They’re milking Rondo until there’s no milk left! And if we find a matchup problem for them, we have to milk that also. We have to make them change what they’re doing. If we don’t, it’s going to be a grind it out battle, and that favors them, not us.

Shaq played a solid game on Sunday. People forget, he came at the start of the playoffs, cold turkey. And you can see him starting to get a feel for his game. He’s using his legs more, getting into the flow and he’s even making free throws. The big fella has his game face on.

It just seems to me the more active he is, the better we are. By the same token, we can’t sit around and wait for him. If we have an opportunity in the open court we need to GO and if it doesn’t work, he can come in behind the break and we can run the play through him then. But let’s see if we can get something good first in transition, because that’s our style.

It’s pretty simple:  When we don’t defend, we don’t play good offense. That’s just our M.O. That’s been the way it’s been for years now. If we defend, we score. And when we don’t defend, we seem to get bogged down on the offensive end.

I’ve heard all the talk about putting LeBron on Rondo. That’s only in spot situations. You can’t do that all the time.

LeBron has eliminated Paul Pierce from the series, and to me, that should be enough for us to beat this team.

I would do a tag team match on Rondo. I’d start him out with Parker. When Parker gets tired, I’d throw Moon at him. But I’d keep a fresh body on him and I’d continue to pick him up three-quarters court. Make him work to get into the offense. If he’s bringing the ball up the right side of the floor, force him left. You do different things and you keep tag-teaming him. You have to do something different than what we’re doing. Because they’re used to what we’re doing, and they’ve figured it out.

We have to figure out some way of keeping Rondo under control. Pick him up early and make him a shooter. Boston isn’t taking him out of the game, so you have to wear him down. You have two or three people that you can wear him down with.

Overall, again, we need to speed them up. They don’t want to play fast. We play well fast. We have to speed them up with our defense. If we do that, it will change the complexion of the game.

That’s what happened in Game 3. We came out aggressive and attacked them defensively. We were up on them, causing turnovers. Next thing you know, we’re running and everyone’s involved. That’s got to happen here.

We have to use the energy of the home crowd in this building and jump on them early. And when I say “jump on them” I don’t mean lay back and let them run their offense the way they want to run it. I mean attack them on defense. Get some turnovers, get some action going, get the crowd involved and get some energy.

You can’t sit back and wait for the fourth quarter anymore, because whether we play two or three more games in this series – none of them will be easy.

Hey Cavalier fans and CavFanatics! It’s A.C., checking in on Game 2. What’s happening?

Before we talk about Boston, I have to congratulate LeBron on his second straight MVP. It’s an incredible honor and, of course, he’s very deserving of the award.

There’s nobody in the NBA who plays the game like he does. Shooting, passing, rebounding, defense. He does all of it. He plays all facets of the game. And he’s not a selfish person. You look at some of the other guys: Durant, Kobe. They’re scorers. There’s nobody who does everything. Just LeBron.

And this year, he’s improved on every level. When you play a balanced game like LeBron plays, the improvement comes on a full scale. It’s just part of that balance. His assists are up, his rebounds are down maybe a tenth of a point and his scoring is right on par. But he does the same thing every year and that consistency is unreal. And he’s the only player in the league who could possibly average a triple-double.

Now, on to the Celtics …

In Game 1, I thought at the beginning, we sort of played at Boston’s level and played at their pace. And that sort of kept them in the ballgame. We walked the ball down the floor with them. We took a long time getting into our offense. We weren’t sharp. It took a long time for plays to develop and that’s not good because quick-hitting plays hurt the Celtics.

On the other hand, I liked when we picked up the pace of the game in the second half. You could tell Boston didn’t want to play fast. What they try to do is rebound well and beat you up. (And they’re going to try to beat us up tonight.)

It’s going to be one of those kinds of games on Monday. So the Cavaliers have to be ready. But, if the Cavaliers play a fast-paced game that won’t matter.

Rajon Rondo had his way in the first half on Saturday and that can’t happen again. When they put Parker on him in the second half, it slowed him down a little bit. The length and size bothered Rondo – it took him a little bit longer to get around him and through him. I would imagine we would do more of that.

In the Chicago series, we started off with Parker on Rose, and he did pretty well. But we went away from that in the next four games and Rose kind of went off. This time, I think they’ve learned a lesson and will have Parker on him before the first half is over.

Another way to slow down Rondo is the Shaq method. (I think that the Big Fella meant business went he went back in the game.) He did a good job of letting Rondo know that if you come into the paint, you’re going to have to pay the piper.

It was nothing flagrant. It was clean. He just bodied him and that was it. But it sent a great message. And that’s the kind of stuff they are going to try to do to us.

In Game 1, the Cavs got Big Baby in early foul trouble, Perkins in foul trouble. We have to continue to attack. I thought our actual game plan was perfect in the first half. Even though we missed some shots we normally make, we attacked them. We got their big people in foul trouble early. And we need to that again on Monday. You can’t let them have freedom.

They’re going to try to get Ray Allen more involved. They’re going to try to get Pierce working more one-on-one with LeBron.

On Saturday, I thought Delonte did a super job on Allen. He really made him work for his shots because he came over the top of the pick. He was at least able to put a hand up. Allen likes to go up quick; you have to go over the top.

Another matchup to watch tonight is Antawn Jamison and Kevin Garnett. It’s a matchup Boston’s going to try to exploit. On our end, what we have to do is run some plays for Jamison; get Garnett moving his feet on defense, because that will wear him down as the game goes on. You can’t have Jamison running around with no rhyme or reason. Have some plays to get Garnett involved, have him run through some screens.

On the defensive end, Garnett likes to drift. Run plays at him. Get Jamison’s jumper going right away.

I’m also looking forward to a little more J.J. Hickson on the floor tonight. His energy was great, and the Celtics don’t have an answer for him. None of their big people can stay with J.J., so we’re going to have to use him more.

The first half of Game 2 is going to be a very physical half. They’re going to want to slow the game down, and if we fall into that trap, we’re going to have trouble with them. We’re going to have to push the ball up the floor and use our defense to get that going.

But they’re going to make it a physical battle because they don’t want to get in a running game with us. They’re going to try to beat us up, knock us down. And we’ll just have to fight fire with fire.

Hey, Cavalier fans and CavFanatics! It’s a beautiful day in Cleveland as we get ready for the Celtics. So, what’s happening?

The big story heading into the series is obviously LeBron’s elbow. I don’t think it’s too bad now. But my concern is if he takes constant contact on it or if he bangs it on the floor. That’s when you really have to be careful, because if it hits the floor, you can cause some damage.

The only thing that I’m concerned about is that it goes numb. If that happens, he can’t play. We won’t even go into that scenario.

He’s probably going to have to live with it until the season’s over. I don’t imagine it’ll require surgery. It’ll probably just take some rest to heal.

The Bulls series went about how I expected it to, with Chicago taking one at the United Center.

I liked most of what I saw in that series. The only thing I didn’t like were the spurts of uninterested play. I don’t know if it was because they were playing against the Bulls, but there were times that they seemed uninterested. And I’d like to see that stop, because you’re not going to get away with that against the Celtics.

They won’t be uninterested with the Celtics because that’s going to be a war. They’re going to play physical, they’re going to try to bully them, they’re going to do all the things necessary to beat the Cavs. They’ll try to get in their heads. Everything. (Especially if they think they can’t beat us.)

Unlike 2008, the Cavaliers have the Diesel, and he changes the whole dynamic. Because now Perkins has to step up and Big Baby will have to help out off the bench. (It’ll be interesting when Shaq and Big Baby lock horns.)

And Garnett’s going to have to step up because now he’s got to deal with Antawn Jamison taking him all over the floor. Jamison can bring him away from the basket. And I think we have an edge there. Between Pierce and LeBron, I think LeBron’s going to win that matchup.

It’s going to be a battle. But we have the wherewithal on our roster to deal with that type of game. We went from the Bulls, a speed team, to now playing the plow-horse Celtics.

Our toughest matchup is Mo, having to deal with Rondo. He can’t let Rondo control him, he has to control Rondo.

The one thing that can hurt us is if we let Rondo have his freedom. If we don’t allow him his freedom, then they’ll have a hard time getting untracked.

Ray Allen is a catch-and-shoot shooter, so he has to have someone deliver him the ball. We have to do a good job of following Allen over the pick. You cannot go under the pick, because he shoots too quickly. You go underneath and you’ll get killed. You saw in Round 1 what a slow-release guy like Kirk Hinrich did when we went under the pick.

You have to keep Ray aware that you’re coming because it takes him off his mark. To me, it’ll force him to make a quick decision – go straight up and release, or put the ball on the floor. But if you’re not there, he’s too good of a shooter and he’ll pick you apart.

Paul Pierce is the only one who can create his own shot, and sometimes the team will get stagnant when he’s operating.

The rest of their offense is about motion, and Rondo in the open floor, breaking people down, is what we have to be careful with. We cannot let them have a consistent run of Rondo breaking us down, because then you’re dealing with all the other guys getting involved. If we just have to deal with the Celtics waiting for the ball, getting it where they want it – with Allen coming off picks –  then we’re in for a different ballgame.

In the Bulls series, I don’t think the Cavs were expecting Chicago to play as long and as hard as they did. And the Cavs had to ratchet it up to stay with them. But they know what it’s going to be like with the Celtics. And going into the series as the favorite is also something they’re going to have to live up to.

It’s a great rivalry that began back in my days with the Cavs. They beat us in the Eastern Conference Finals. That was the year that we were favored and Jim Chones got hurt. Tommy Heinsohn got thrown out of two games and they let Red Auerbach come out of the stands and coach the team. It was crazy.

It was – and continues to be – a physical series. And just recently, the battle with LeBron and Piece – that shootout that they had a couple years ago just fueled the fire. It just seems like we always get connected in the second or third round of the Eastern Conference playoffs every few years.

It’s always been a fun rivalry and there’s nothing wrong with two teams disliking each other. We never liked them. They have a holier-than-thou attitude – they think they’re entitled to it. We’re more working class – we’re working to get it. We got the lunch pail.

In Game 1, because both teams will be rested. I think our homecourt edge will be really big, and we’ll get to use more of our roster against Boston. That should help us. Big Z and J.J. have to be ready to go, because we’re going to need those big bodies.

We just need to hold home court advantage, which puts the pressure on them to win two in Boston. And I think we can get one up there.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If we win the first two games of every series, we’ll win the NBA Championship.

Hello from the Windy City! It’s A.C., asking the question – what’s happening?

As they all are, tonight’s matchup in Chicago is a big one and could control the direction of the rest of the series.

Now that they’re back home, the Bulls will be a lot more energetic, and they’ll try to get on the fast break more. We’ll have to try to keep them out of the fast break situation because we’ve lost that battle in both games.

But mostly, what we cannot allow them to do is beat us up in the paint like they did in Game 2. That should not happen. In the first game, we controlled the paint. In the next game they did – mostly because of early foul trouble.  We have to stay out of early foul trouble. And a lot depends on the refs in that regard. Some refs don’t let Shaq play.

The Cavaliers have played pretty well. I’d just like to see them tighten up the individual defense a bit.

Derrick Rose is really tough to stay in front of. So you want to make him a jump-shooter. And as I’ve said before, both Rose and Hinrich – plus Murray – are not looking to pass the ball. They’re looking to shoot. So if you keep them under control, you can beat this team. The Bulls don’t seem to understand that yet.

They have an excellent backcourt, but neither player is a true point guard.

If we can tighten up the individual defense we’ll be ok. We’ve given up too many layups. And in the playoffs, you can’t have that.

Of course, for the Bulls, the star of the show so far has been Joakim Noah, who kept up the trash talking, even after Game 2.

He really should have let sleeping dogs lie. All he’s doing is giving the Cavaliers locker room stuff. Not that they need motivation, but he’s given them something to feed off of.

I think he believes he’s still playing in college. He’s playing with grown men now. So, those kinds of things you let lie. You said what you said and you’re having a pretty good series so far – let it go at that. Be a professional.

But some guys, that’s how they handle pressure and adversity – by running off at the mouth. He’ll learn from this experience.

When his teammates are interviewed, they don’t say anything too crazy. But the Coach kind of endorsed it, saying that’s just how he gets motivated. And I understand that, but he’s playing with grown men right now.

I personally don’t mind if he keeps it up, anyway. I mean, after the final week-and-a-half of the season, the Cavaliers were a little flat and had lost some of that competitive edge. And he just supplied us with what we needed to snap us out of that funk.

Jamario Moon is having a nice series – parlaying a good late run in the regular season into minutes here in Round 1.

Moon is a really nice piece on this team. First of all, he’s very athletic and he’s long. He’s a great jumper and a decent rebounder. So he brings the total package to the game. He usually doesn’t try to do anything he can’t do. And he’s knocking the three-pointer down on a pretty consistent basis. He takes shots; he doesn’t look for shots.

He’s been great in a complimentary role. He’s a great piece of the puzzle.

In terms of Thursday night’s Game 3, we have to withstand the first quarter. The crowd’s going to have them all jacked up and they’re going to come at us strong. We just have to stay out of early foul trouble.

Once we weather the first quarter, the game will settle down. And then we can go to work on them.

Hey, Cavalier fans! It’s AC – checking in for Game 2. What’s happening?

I really enjoyed the way we came out in Game 1 on Saturday. We responded to the crowd, and even though the guys were having fun, you could tell it was a different kind of fun. It wasn’t like during the regular season. Everybody looked solid – even people who were struggling a bit in the last week or two look to be on point now.

The only thing I didn’t like was how often we turned the ball over. That kept Chicago in the game; otherwise we would have blown them out.

In that third quarter, we got a little stagnant on offense. I didn’t want to see that. But then again, this is the first meaningful game they’ve had in a while, and hopefully, they’ll get away from that.

When things start to go a little bad, they still need to remember how they got there – by moving the ball. That’s why they have all this talent. If you’re not going to move the ball, you might as well have LeBron and four guys from the playground out there.

LeBron’s optimum game is when he can play the passing game, the scoring game and the defensive game. When he can play all phases of the game without having to dominate a single one – you’re not going to beat the Cavs. He’s just that good of a player.

I really like how Shaq looked on Saturday. He was ready; he had that bounce in his step.

There wasn’t a lot of space down there in the post. You think about it: We’ve played without Shaq for so long that we forgot what it was like with him anchoring that middle. Defensively, the driving lanes show up and they disappear. The passing lanes disappear. There’s just so much ground he can cover out there.

It was also good to see Jamario come in and play well in his few minutes. That bodes well for the rest of the Playoffs. The bench players played very solidly; some really good minutes. And the better they are, the better we’ll be moving forward.

I talked last week about the mismatch against our guards, but I thought our guys did a nice job on Saturday. Rose had to work for those 28 points.

One key was putting Anthony Parker on Rose right away. That was a huge change right there. And I know the Bulls will try to counter that tonight.

Again, the Bulls guards are not passing guards. They’re shooting guards. So their frontcourt players have to get their offense off of rebounds and in transition. If you keep a body on their frontcourt and keep their guards from penetrating – make them shoot over the top – you have a good chance of beating Chicago.

Joakim Noah is their best frontcourt player, and he made more noise over the weekend. Like I said, he’s got diarrhea of the mouth and it’s getting worse. He needs some Kaopectate. I’m not sure what the young man’s problem is, but I like him as a player. I like his game. He reminds me a lot of Andy.

But if he wants to keep giving us more incentive to want to beat him – so be it.

Game 1 is always huge, especially when you have homecourt advantage. To me, that’s what it’s all about. Even though the pressure is on the home team to hold that advantage, once you win the first game, the chains come off. Now, it’s on the other team to make the adjustments. Now, you have to finish off the job.

As long as this team holds the homecourt advantage through each round, they will win the Championship.

Tonight’s game is just as big. The Cavaliers will try to take a little bit better care of the basketball. The Bulls will try to get out and run more. They’ll have to figure out a way to be more competitive in the paint, where they were totally dominated on Saturday. But if they do that, that keeps them out of the open floor and they won’t be able to run. They’ll have to pick their poison.

They could try to get us into a grind-out game, but I don’t think they can beat us in a grind-out game. They just don’t have the horses.

You could see that on Saturday. As soon as they focused on Shaq, Antawn was getting to the basket. When they focused on him, they either went back to Shaq or let LeBron start to attack them. And you had Mo playing a nice floor game. The bench looked good, too – Delonte, Z, Moon and especially Andy, who was off the charts again. He gives you so much more than scoring. (And he gives you that, too.)

So I’m really looking forward Game 2. I like to look for what happens after that first quarter – after adjustments have been made – and see how both teams react to those adjustments.

After that, let the chips fall where they may. 

Hello, Cavalier fans and CavFanatics! It’s A.C., checking in for the postseason. What’s happening?

Well, if the Cavalier fans were looking for the easy way out of the first round – it won’t be against Chicago. Toronto would have been the easy way out.

But because of the way we ended the season, we need a team that gets our attention. And Chicago will definitely get our attention. Joakim Noah’s already been talking trash and Chicago is a pretty brash team. They think they’re ready to roll. They have an All-Star in Derrick Rose.

This first round matchup with the Bulls is exactly what we need. We need to be tested right away to get our mental approach back.

They’ll come at us strong. And we have to put fear in their hearts.

That’s why this is a good team for us because it’ll shake us back into that killer instinct. Everyone knows about the bad blood between LeBron and Noah. And Noah has diarrhea of the mouth anyway. So it’s going to be a good situation for us. And it’s going to come down to how we handle their backcourt. It’s going to come down to their backcourt against our frontcourt.

I’ve said on the air that the key matchups are the guards: Kirk Hinrich and Rose against Mo Williams and Anthony Parker.

Chicago’s backcourt consists of scoring guards – they don’t really look for assists. They’re looking to score. The Bulls are similar to what the Pistons were when we broke through against them a few years ago. They’re a guard-oriented team. We have to have good defense on the perimeter and our big guys have to dominate on the offensive end.

Shaq will be returning and the Bulls will have to deal with that mismatch. They’ll try to do what Orlando does – try to double-team him with different guys to throw us off. But I can’t see them doing much more than that. If the Bulls try to do too much double-teaming, they’re going to expose their perimeter to LeBron and Jamison. And that will really hurt them.

The key on offense will be: Do we have the patience to establish our inside game? If we establish that inside game in the first quarter – and as long as we don’t let their guards run wild, where Rose has a 40-point night – we’ll be fine.

The playoffs couldn’t have come fast enough for the Cavaliers. They’re going to have to “flip the switch.” I think they can, but that’s a tough thing to do because basketball is such a rhythm, momentum-based game.

You want to be riding the crest going into the postseason. But that’s why it’s important that we play Chicago. If we played Toronto, we just wouldn’t have had the proper mental approach. Chicago will put the fear of losing into the Cavs – and we need to have that fear.

So, heading into the postseason, I have two major concerns: Can we win the first two games of every series to maintain homecourt advantage? And if we would happen to lose one of those two games, how do we bounce back to regain that advantage?

All season, the Cavaliers have dealt with adversity pretty well. Actually, over the past two seasons they’ve dealt with it very well – aside from the East Finals against Orlando. But it’s all about how you handle the ups and downs of the postseason.

If we win the first two games of every series, we win the Championship. I really believe that.

But let’s start with Saturday. Game 1 is going to be huge. If there’s going to be an upset in the series, Game 1 is the one you want to look out for.

What I’m looking for is at least a five-point win for the Cavs. They might get off to a little bit of a slow start and you have to watch out if the Bulls come out hot. If they come out hot, they could get us to start chasing their tails.

I feel like once we figure them out, we’ll have them under control. But we have to figure ourselves out in that first game. That’s the key.