Hey, everyone back in chilly Cleveland! It's AC -what's happening?

Well, it's good to be back in C-town, and even better to be back after going 3-1 on the road.

When we first started the trip, I said 2-2 would be a good barometer of where we were at this time. And especially because the last two teams on the trip, Atlanta and Miami, were two teams that beat us on their home floor. I figured we could split the first two against Houston and San Antonio.  (And really didn't think Tim Duncan would miss Friday night in San Antonio, so that was sort of a "gimme game.")

But what we did Sunday and Monday was perfect - because we beat teams that we had lost to on their floor and basically what that tells me is that we're a much better team than we were earlier in the year.

We didn't play our best game, especially against Atlanta, and we were still able to win the game. We played solid in the first half against Miami, but at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth, they pretty much dominated us. But it's a team game. And that fourth quarter was exactly what "team" is all about.

The coaching staff came up with a little adjustment in that fourth quarter - with the double-team on Dwyane Wade - and that changed everything. That changed the complexion of the ballgame. The Heat were ready to win that game, because everything was going their way and Dwyane Wade was having a ball. And all of a sudden, he couldn't penetrate anymore and that changed the course of the ballgame.

This last win shows you where the Cavaliers are mentally, because they could have folded - and it would have been acceptable. They're on the road, it's a back-to-back, they got into Miami at 6:30 in the morning. But they weren't going to go for that. And to me, once they sensed they could win the game, that's when they turned it up.

Once the coaching staff made that change and they realized defensively that they had a chance, that's when everything changed. There was blood in the water and the Cavaliers were on the attack. And I can't say enough about Anderson and Z around the basket. They were superb in that fourth quarter.  And then offensively, LeBron and Mo were off the charts.

Mo has been excellent on the trip and all season long. Everything that we needed in a point guard to make our team whole, Mo has been the answer. And I don't care what you say - he deserved to be a starter in the All-Star Game. And he's proving it every night.

The Cavaliers now have one thing that all good teams have, and that's the will to win. And, to me, that's how you win on the road. That's what we were like in the Miracle year and the year after. When we stepped on the court, if you let us have a chance to win in the fourth quarter, the will to win is what put us over the top. You can see it. You can feel it.

On Monday, we had the will to win. And they didn't. And a lot of it came down to the Heat are so used to having Dwyane Wade control the action at the end of the game - especially after the performance he had on Saturday night against New York - they're used to sitting back and watching him. All of sudden, our defense adjusts and he has to give the ball up. Now, he's giving it to guys who aren't used to the pressure at that time of the game. They lost their focus.

These road wins against two teams that we might face in the postseason is huge because of what we've developed at home. Every team in the league knows that when they come to Cleveland, it's going to be extremely tough to leave with a win. Now, they also know they're going to have a tough time beating us on their floor. So instead of it being a six- or seven-game series, it could be a five-game series. That's a big, big difference.

You get a sense about this team. It's the same sensation I felt during the Miracle year, I can feel it now. The team is together. Management is all focused in the same direction. They never get complacent; always trying to improve the team. You can just feel the confidence building as we move through the season.

Now, again, the rough patches are not over - we're still going to have some tough times. By the same token, we still have the mental and physical resolve to get through it, because - and people might think I'm crazy for saying this - this team is still in a developmental stage. Mike Brown's teams don't get where they want to be until the middle of April, heading into the playoffs. It's what he learned during his time in San Antonio.

He coaches them to be mentally and physically ready at that time. He wants the team to be into an upward tick - not downward or leveling off - because they still have another gear to get to. And I think the players understand that.

As good as the trip was, we have to get focused for the week ahead, including Friday's game at Boston. It's a huge game. We have a lead on Boston - now they have to climb back. Garnett might even be back for that game. But we don't want to stumble against Milwaukee. The first game back after a long road trip is always a tough one. So I want the crowd to get involved and give the team that extra push.

I'm pumped up for that game, but Coach Brown has me in that same mode of one game, one day at a time. I don't want to get ahead of myself. But I'm telling you right now - I'm going to be off the hook doing that game on Friday night in Beantown. 

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!  

Hey everyone back in Cleveland! It's AC - what is happening? 

The Cavaliers started the second half in style - getting a nice win over the Raptors on Wednesday night. We were playing like our old selves. We rebounded the ball well; we did a good job of controlling the game.

I think the only category we lost was fast break points. But it really was an up and down game and we only lost that by four or five points, so that's not too bad. And everything else - the rebounding, the points in the paint, the second-chance points - we were able to get back to controlling those parts of the game, and it played a big factor in winning the game.

You can see the Cavs getting back to playing like they were before the injuries hit. They started by establishing Z down low, which was something they knew they'd have to do against Toronto. They went away from it for a while, and then Coach Brown got them back into focusing down low. And you had Z passing out of double-teams, finding the open man for scores. Once they established that, it opened up the floor and they started working the pick-and-pop with Z.

So basically, everyone played off of Z last night.

It's been said that the Cavs were a team in need of the All-Star Break. If they play like that again tomorrow night, I would say that's true. Because going into Milwaukee is going to be tough. They've won three of their last four. Jefferson's playing well, Villanueva is playing well, Sessions is playing well. If the Cavaliers play well tomorrow, then I would say that they needed the Break - because the energy level is back.

In those last three quarters in Toronto, they looked like the old Cavs - and it was good to see. So maybe they needed that Break to catch their breath and regroup.

Right now, the biggest thing swirling around is the Trade Deadline. As a former player, I can tell you that it can be a distraction. All players will tell you that it's not. But it is.

The Deadline does have an effect on you - especially players who are established, players who have homes in the area. It has an effect on everyone. Even a player like LeBron, who knows he's not going anywhere; he has friendships that he's developed on the team and this team has become very close.

So it does have some effect, but I wouldn't say it has a large one on a team like ours. But teams that aren't doing as well - the Bulls and teams like that - it has a huge effect on. You're like playing on eggshells and you're constantly looking over your shoulder.

One player that has no worries about the Deadline is Delonte West, who the Cavaliers could get back as early as this week. Getting him back is HUGE, because now they are back to themselves.

Delonte brings a certain toughness and consistency to the team that will make Cleveland even more dangerous and harder to deal with. As a team that has been as successful as the Cavs have been, you always want to get back to that situation when you were "whole" - with everyone on the floor together. Now, you have that feeling - not of invincibility - but that feeling that you have the opportunity to win every ballgame you play. And sometimes that knowledge, that confidence is enough to get you over the hump. 

The guys have great respect for each other, and Delonte commands so much love and respect and they know what he brings to the team. And they're looking forward to having their team 100% healthy and back, ready for the run.

It's a perfect time to get Delonte back, too. This is an important part of the year - we're right at the end of the "dog days."

When February is over, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. You get a certain energy boost from that. Sometimes in February, you can't see the beginning or the end of the season. You don't go through the motions, but you also feel like there's no end to it.

You want to get as many road wins as possible right here, because teams are beginning to have trouble and will start falling off the radar. That's where you want to jump them. If they can get through this little stretch here in February, and get into March with a decent situation, then they'll really be able to make a great run to close the season. 

And from there, it's anybody's game!

Hey everyone! It's AC, checking in - what's happening?

The big news right now is Mo Williams getting left off the All-Star Team, with David Stern picking Ray Allen.

I know the Cavs are going to use it as a motivational tool - which they should - because it was a slap in the face, as LeBron said.

I mean, there was always talk about the Cavaliers needing a point guard, needing a point guard, needing a point guard. And our record completely changes - (we won 45 games last year and we could have as much as 42 by the All-Star Break) - and the biggest change has been Mo. Naturally, LeBron has taken his game to another level, but the biggest difference has been Mo Williams.

Everything fit in the Cavaliers' universe when we got Mo, and he's been better than advertised. So I don't understand why they don't give him credit for that. Especially the coaches. I can see the fans not voting him in, because - in terms of All-Star voting - you know that they don't know what they're doing. They put Iverson in there and he really doesn't deserve to be starting on that team. You could almost say the same thing about Garnett.

The fans vote them in because it's a popularity contest. But the coaches know the value of Mo on this team. And to snub him like that, that doesn't sit well with me.

But again, it's Cleveland, and they did the same thing to us. We went through the Miracle year with no All-Stars. For a three-year period, we were one of the best teams in the league. And we rarely got any All-Star love.

If you listen to Mo and LeBron and the team talk about it, you can see that they've almost developed a bunker mentality: Us against the World. And that's what I see in this team, now. They're going out to prove that they have more than one All-Star on this team. But they're such a team-oriented bunch of guys that the sum of their parts is greater than one or two players. And I think that's what their true strength is.

Now that Zydrunas is back, everything in the universe fits now. And once Delonte comes back, the universe will be whole again. There won't be any black holes; there won't be anything missing.

Z has brought back the flow - it's opened up again. And every time the offense has a breakdown, they can fall back on the pick-and-pop with Z. Because they know that the opponent's big man doesn't want to go out there and guard Z. When he does, that whole side of the floor opens up.

The Cavaliers have learned to get the pick-and-pop back as a weapon. They were so good at that before Z got hurt. The offense would never bog down because they could always use him as a safety net. And when the offense wasn't functioning properly, you knew Z would come out and set that little pick and BOOM - everything opens up.

It's so important to have floor spacing - it creates so many opportunities, especially for LeBron and the guards trying to penetrate into the paint.

LeBron's performance the other night in New York was simply amazing. The stage manager who I sat next to during the broadcast at Madison Square Garden said LeBron alone is worth the price of admission. And this is a guy who's seen every game that's been played in, what they call the "Mecca of Basketball."

The difference between LeBron and Kobe is that Kobe got three assists and zero rebounds on the night he scored 61. LeBron played both ends of the floor. He's so well-rounded as a player and now that he's turned it up defensively, pound-for-pound, he's easily the best player in the league.

On Sunday, I don't think LeBron will start out on Kobe, but by the fourth quarter, they'll be going nose-to-nose. I'm anxious to see how we match up against the Lakers now that we have Z back - even though they're missing Bynum.

People talk about Kobe and the year he's having. But they sometimes forget about Gasol, who's been playing pretty well himself. He's a tough guard around that basket. But now he's going to have some trouble on his hands because he has to be conscious of Z. And that puts Ben at his natural position - the power forward spot.

Again, you have to keep Kobe under control. You can't let him just go haywire out there. He's going to get his points. Gasol's going to get his points. It's the other guys that you need to watch - you don't want them to go off, too.

The intensity is going to be palpable at The Q on Sunday afternoon - you'll be able to cut it with a knife. And I can't wait.

Hey, Cleveland! We just rolled in from the West Coast and it's good to be back. What's happening? 

The Cavaliers have to feel good about themselves after the way they closed out the four-game trip. Especially the way it started out.

I really thought that the Laker situation caught us by surprise, because I don't think we realized they were that big, because we didn't play against Bynum last season. And it's obvious Gasol has been getting in the weight room. They really attacked us differently than other teams have. They went at us with their bigs right away. Kobe even backed off to establish that. And we got into a scramble mode.

You could tell that the Cavs did not like being treated that way, because the next game in Portland, they were not going to have any of it. Ben, LeBron, Wally, Anderson - they behaved like someone had ticked them off. The Lakers challenged their manhood and they were not going to take it again on this trip. It was good to see them bounce back from a loss like that against another good team. They are actually, mentally in playoff form already.

The fact that the Cavaliers haven't lost two straight tells me where their mental focus is. They don't like to lose. And that's a good sign, and it's a tribute to Coach Brown's coaching style - because they don't get too down after a loss or too high after a win.

When you have two-fifths of your starting unit out, you can't win with just one or two guys. It has to be a total team effort. Just look at what Ben has done, what Anderson has done without the big man in the middle. Look at what Mo has done, what Sasha has done with Delonte out. Look at Tarence Kinsey coming in and giving us quality minutes. J.J. is stepping up his game. Wally has been tremendous - guarding guys six, seven inches taller than him.

It's just a great effort, seeing everyone contribute. And that all helps the camaraderie of the team, and everyone now feels that they have a piece of it. You come forth with a much stronger resolve to win, because everybody takes ownership.

I have a term that I got from Mark "Cobra" Cashman - our equipment manager - he says the Cavaliers are "battle tested" by having Delonte and Z out. That term is perfect. Because now, the Cavaliers are able to play two or three different ways against any team and any set of personnel. It just shows how deep they are.

Big Z's been out a while, but we mustn't forget how the flow will open up when he returns. That changes everything. Right now, they've learned to play in a congested area. Whatever kind of defense you play against them, they have confidence that they can beat you. When Z comes back, when Delonte comes back - you'll see how difficult it'll be to beat this team in a seven-game series.

Mo Williams showed me so much on this road trip. It's easy to get up at home, with the crowd behind you. When you're on the road and all you have are your teammates, that's where you separate the men from the boys. In the second half against the Warriors and the Jazz, he was awesome. The second half is money time - that's when it's time to win the game. And I would say he is an All-Star.

The Cavaliers are now able to win a game without LeBron having the ball in his hands the entire time. They've been doing that all year. When they went through their early season run, they proved they could do that. You're talking about the best basketball player in the world.

He's taking a little bit more of punishment now that we're somewhat depleted. But when you take the ball out of his hands and you get other guys involved - it frees him up. LeBron's not only the best player in the world with the ball, he's the best without the ball.

Now, teams can't play 1-on-5 with him. Now, he's able to run through the offense and, by the time he receives the ball, there's only one guy to beat. And there's not one guy on the planet who can stop him by himself.

The Cavs are now 8-2 against the West on the road. What that tells you is that they don't lose any focus away from home. They stay focused even in adverse situations. And that's something that all Championship teams have - they can win anywhere.

We still have some tough road games ahead of us - San Antonio, Houston - but the key is to play a good game. If you play a good, competitive game and get beat, that's life in professional basketball. As long as you put forth a good effort and do things the right way, you have to feel good about yourself. And so far, this team has had only one stinker and that was the Washington Wizards game.

The bigs had to step up on this trip because the rotation was different. What a lot of people don't understand is that when you're playing 10-15 minutes a game and that increases to 20-25 minutes a game, that puts a lot of pressure on your consistency level. Now, you're playing minutes that are vital to the win or loss. If a player can succeed with a heavier workload, that just builds your confidence.

But the Cavs can't live off one successful trip. They have a big week ahead of them - most notably against the Magic. It's a huge game because Orlando has stepped to the forefront of the Eastern Conference - they're rolling with the big boys now. The players and coaches will tell you that it's just another game, but you can bet that it'll have an extra edge to it.

We had a tough situation in L.A. on the road, now we just have to see if we can turn that around when we travel to Orlando.