Hey, everyone! A.C. here - what's happening?
That was quite a weekend for the Wine and Gold. Before we get to Delonte's return and squashing the Pistons on Sunday, I have to mention that 55-point game LeBron had on Friday in Milwaukee.
I've never seen anything like that. And the thing to remember is that we needed it. He's had seven 50-point games on the road, and none of them have been blowouts. Those are always points that we've needed. That, to me, shows the brilliance of LeBron - he knows what he has to do to help his team win.
But I've never seen a three-minute stretch like that. It was unreal. And I was having so much fun on TV, I don't even know what I said! I was just talking, having a good time. LeBron just kept going back further and further. If Scott Skiles wouldn't have called timeout, LeBron would've shot one from halfcourt.
The Cavs followed up that win in Milwaukee with a really satisfying win over the Pistons on Sunday.
Delonte's return obviously made a huge difference. The biggest advantage to his return is that everyone's in their normal spots in the lineup now, and you could just see that the energy came back last night.
Defensively, everybody's back into their right frame of mind right now. It's as if the team said: "OK, we're ready to go now!" You could see everybody was up in the passing lanes, getting out on the fast break. And having that extra guy that can beat you off the dribble is so important.
Now you have Mo on one side, LeBron on the other side and both of them are capable of hitting two or three shots in a row - and that changes the complexion of a game. Now, if teams cheat towards Mo and LeBron on the same side of the floor, you have Delonte open on the other. If you have Delonte and LeBron on one side, you can swing it to Mo, who's great on the catch and dribble or can stick the jumper. It really causes a world of trouble for defenses now.
And I really didn't realize how important Mo and Delonte are as a unit. Those two guys together really complement each other.
Delonte was lights out from the floor last night, but he brings so much more than just offense and scoring. Delonte brings a toughness. He's tough - he doesn't take no mess. And that encourages the other guys to play that way. Ben is that way - he don't take any mess. So now you have two tough guys. And LeBron is very aggressive. Z is becoming more aggressive. Everybody is becoming more aggressive, and I love to see it! Because that toughness is what the Celtics have.
The Cavs will have to be tough in the next couple weeks. Because this is one of the toughest road stretches of the season.
You have two back-to-backs with a day off in the middle and all four teams are playoff teams. That's tough, but it's good that we're relatively healthy going into this stretch. It's very important to come through this 2-2, although 3-1 would be spectacular.
First of all, the Cavaliers need to take care of Memphis on Tuesday night at home. It's simple: we just have to beat them. It's a game we should win and, so far this year, we've been winning the games we should win. We've only had one slip-up - that game against the Wizards. And that's pretty consistent basketball. We have to beat the Grizzlies. Then we have to go on this road trip and have at it.
The Rockets are going to be a tough matchup down in Houston, and San Antonio is obviously tough, even without Ginobili. Houston won't have T-Mac. But, really, these teams have been playing without their key guys long enough that they've made the adjustment.
Then we get one day off and we have to tussle with Atlanta and Miami. We always have a tough time in Atlanta and Dwyane Wade always gets fired up to play LeBron. So, it won't be easy.
After that trip, the Cavs have to come right back and play the Bucks - (who I think we could match up with in the first round) - and then head right back to Boston.
It's a tough two-week stretch, and I'm glad we're relatively healthy to go through it. We'll get a good measure of where we are after the Boston game on March 6 (and the Heat at home the next night). When the smoke clears after that weekend, we'll know what kind of team we really are.
If we come out clean on the other end of that, batten down the hatches, we're headed for the Promised Land!


Insightful as always AC! It's such a pleasure to see all the starters healthy. I'm only gonna say this once, the NBA should be scared of Delonte West. Mark my words.
Slopster53(Believer)04:07 PM EST