Hey, Cavs fans! It's A.C. , back in business on cavs.com. What's happening?

Before we get to the Cavaliers series with Atlanta, I wanted to congratulate LeBron on his MVP award and, recently, for being named to the All-Defensive First Team.

It's unbelievable to see how he has matured as a man and as a ballplayer. I did a lot of LeBron's state championship games. I even did the unfortunate game to Roger Bacon - the only one he lost. And I've watched him mature and watched him learn what it takes to win on the professional level.

He understood what it meant to win in high school, and it came very easy for him. Now, LeBron is starting to play like he did in high school on the professional level. He understands what it takes to dominate and win. And you can just see his maturation.

Each year, he's improved on something. Michael Jordan would do that - every year, he'd pick one part of his game and work on it.  And this year, LeBron has worked on his defense and it's really paid off for him - second in Defensive Player of the Year voting, First Team All-Defense.

When you start putting up those type of performances - where you're totally proficient on offense and defense - now, he has a clear vision of what it takes to win a championship. And he's driven. That's one of the things I love about LeBron: as talented as he is, he could just rest on his laurels and collect money. His focus is on winning the Championship.

And I understand exactly where he's coming from, because when I was raised in the game of basketball, every coach I had was all about winning. It was never about individual performances. If I happened to play well individually, it was because I was trying to win. I wanted to win the game and win the championship. And you can see that LeBron is completely locked in on both ends of the floor.

And LeBron's not about to let anybody else lose focus. All his teammates are locked in with him. How can you not be when the main man is locked in? I love seeing what I'm seeing.

I have to admit, I was really surprised that Delonte West didn't receive a single vote for the All-Defensive Team. But see - all that comes with winning. If we win this season, then all that will come - because people will recognize.

To win a championship, everybody knows it's going to take more than one guy. And so then the media starts to watch: 'Let's see what these other guys do to make this happen.' Because that's just how writers are. They get focused on one area and they don't comprehend the group accomplishment. And that's the biggest weapon the Cavaliers have.

The sum total of their parts is what makes the Cavs the best team in the league. Not just LeBron James or Mo Williams - the All-Stars. It's the whole collective unit - everybody playing their part and not trying to do more than they can do. That's what it's all about.

After a slow start, I was really pleased with the Cavaliers performance in Game 1 on Tuesday. We weren't as sluggish as I thought we'd be - shooting-wise. The sluggishness came in our movement.

In that first quarter, we didn't move well at all. And LeBron figured that out right away. And he sort of held us in there until the other starters caught up. When the second unit got in there, we started to play Cavaliers Basketball - moving bodies, moving the ball, hitting open shots and playing tough defense. And then from there on, the starters came back and got into a groove - and everybody was ready to roll.

People talk about the Cavaliers being off for nine days and how it would affect them. But I thought Atlanta was still in Miami - their minds were still in the first round. Mentally, they did not want to deal with another team and did not want to climb another mountain.

I'm expecting a different team tonight. They understand they're in it with the Cavaliers now. And they'll be ready to play.

I really like what the defense did against Josh Smith in the second half. He's going to have to make his own adjustments. The Cavaliers have already adjusted to him. What they did the second half was just keep him in front of them and make him shoot over the top, because that's something he doesn't do well. The more you make him do something he doesn't want to do, the more frustrated he becomes. And he loses a little bit of focus.

Aside from the Cavaliers-Hawks series, I love that things are heating up around the league.

In the Boston-Orlando series, first of all, Skip To My Lou is going to be suspended for slapping Eddie House. Luckily for Orlando, Courtney Lee is coming back. But Boston is displaying the heart of a champion right now. Even without Paul Pierce producing, they beat the Magic handily. Boston plays very well on their home floor and Orlando kind of drifted into a perimeter game and went through the motions.

Now, the series out West between the Lakers and Rockets - on the other hand - is about to get out of hand. If Kobe doesn't get suspended - (which he won't be) - if I was Dwight Howard, I would petition the league office. The rule book says if you throw and elbow above the shoulders, it's an automatic ejection and one-game suspension.

The inequities on things like this are starting to become a problem, I think, in this league. You've already had the referee scandal and now you're having the inequality of punishment from one player to another. It's got to be black and white.

Regardless, that's going to be a battle out West now. It's on. By getting Artest emotionally involved - oh baby! It's going to be fun! L.A.'s finding out how tough Houston is and that the playoffs are all about defense, defense, defense. Houston's rugged and tough-minded. That goes a long way in the postseason.

The Cavaliers will need some of that tough-mindedness when they return to Atlanta this weekend. I'm expecting a whole different team.

The Hawks are a little bit of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. At home, they'll play differently. Guys will start hitting shots they're not hitting here. They'll get on the boards after we killed them in terms of offensive rebounds in the first game. In Atlanta, they're a different team.

And the Cavaliers will just have to fight the adversity. That's something that LeBron has talked about. They haven't had any adversity - even in the offseason.

So, the key is: how do they handle things with their backs against the wall, knowing that it's going to be a hard-fought game?

I have confidence that the MVP will find a way to figure it out.