What's up, Cavalier fans! It's AC - what's happening?

The Cavaliers are coming off a strange weekend - having their 13-game streak stopped in D.C. before getting killed in Orlando. Then they turned it around with a really nice win over the Spurs on Sunday.

A lot of people have suggested that maybe it was good for the Cavaliers to take their lumps on Thursday and Friday. I don't ever think it's good to get thrashed like they did, because it leaves a scar. But at the same time, they've been bouncing back all season. It shows that it's a consistent part of their makeup - that they're able to put whatever happened behind them and leave it back there.

This is Mike Brown's philosophy: One game, one day at a time.

And for all the naysayers of that particular philosophy, this is exactly why you do that. Because of games like the Orlando game. You have to be able to say, 'that was an aberration, we're going to just forget about it because we know we're better than that.' And you go from there; you bounce back.

What happens during a long win streak - a 13-game win streak - is that you start to think it can automatically happen - that you can just "turn it on" - instead of realizing that it's the hard work you put in each quarter that makes it happen.

After a while, you start expecting that you can turn it on. The Cavaliers, for the most part, don't have a tendency for that. They don't get too caught up in wins either. They stay pretty level-headed, and I think that's how they've managed the win streaks they've had. Basically they realize that each game is its own entity and you don't get caught up in 'what if we win five more' or 'what if we win two more.'

They only worry about winning this one.

For a lottery-bound team, Washington has given us a tough time this year. And Orlando has given us trouble for a while.

Against the Wizards, it's basically because of their interior. Washington has big, strong guys in the interior. Orlando has one guy, but he's a problem for the whole league. And Orlando has built their team to where they have good shooters on the perimeter. So what happens is, they spread you out and you can either guard Howard one-on-one and guard the perimeter, or you're going to double-team him, make the Magic make two or three passes and hope they miss.

It's pick your poison with Orlando, and that's the way it is.

As far as Washington, last Thursday was their playoff game. They decided that they were going to throw everything at us and we went in there with our regular, everyday approach. But what they're trying to do is sell the players and the fans on next year. They wanted to use that game to promote next season.

Coming back and getting that win over San Antonio was huge, because it did a couple things. First, it continued with that bounce-back mentality. (I still contend that this team has the built-in playoff mentality because of that - because of what we just saw between Orlando and San Antonio. That's what happens in the playoffs. You'll have a game where nobody can hit shots and you can't get anything together. But you regroup, make your adjustments, come back and compete.)

And secondly, it was a win against a quality opponent. I don't quite understand that argument: that they haven't beaten any quality opponents. They have. And you have to remember, this is the NBA. Any team can beat any other team - especially when you're the team with the big bull's-eye on your back.

Look at the Celtics - they had the big bull's eye on their back and they come and play with intensity every night because they know that. They don't fool around. They're out there for one thing, and that's to beat you. They know you're trying to beat them because they're the Champs. So, that's the mentality that we're developing. We're on top now. And when you're on top, everybody wants to knock you down. That's why they need to keep coming with that attitude. Because it's a fleeting moment.

It's a mindset you need to have. And you have to have that swagger about yourself, ready to go out there and prove to people that you are the best. Right now, with us being the new kid on the block, everybody wants to challenge us. We don't present that physical dominant aura to opponents, but we are the consummate team. And our strength is in the sum of our parts.

So when the Wizards roll in here on Wednesday night, I imagine that they're going to go at Washington pretty hard. That would be my mentality. After what they did and the way they acted, that would be the way I would approach it.

We're down to the final five games of the season. The magic number is 2 in the East and they might have to win out to get the top spot in the league. So that's the mentality going into this last week-and-a-half.

In that time, I'd like to see the Cavs get a little better at individual defense. There's been too much dribble-penetration. You can't allow that consistently. There's going to be some, because these are great players you're playing against. But Hedo Turkoglu, for example, would start at the top of the key and get all the way to the basket. Those are the kinds of things you have to stop in the playoffs.

You can't allow a guy to beat you off the dribble. Good defensive teams don't allow that. We have a great team defense concept with help on the weakside. But the first premise of defense is: Stop Your Man. You can rely on help after, but you must try to stop your man first.  

We're still not 100 percent right now. You want to get Ben back into the fold, you want to get Anderson straightened away. And you have to forge on; you can't afford to back off. You haven't achieved anything yet!

We have to get home court and keep pushing forward from there. Take care of business this Wednesday and take care of Philly on Friday and wrap up the East. At that point, you have a decision, but you only have three games left. So why back off then?

With those two recent losses, we've been "cooled off." After that 13-game streak, we've been cooled off. And now it's time to start heating back up, with solid defense and good execution on offense. And that should take us right into the playoffs.

And if we get that together, get healthy and go on a 13-game win streak in the playoffs, two months from now we'll be one game up in the NBA Finals.