Hey, Cavalier fans! It's AC, checking in. What's happening? 

First of all, congratulations to LeBron for being named Eastern Conference Player of the Week. He's really starting to turn up the heat now - and it's showing in the Cavaliers record.

I really think LeBron is starting to feel how he fits in with this new lineup that we have. He had a slow start because he was feeling his way around - to see how his talents fit in to the team concept. And you can see now that he understands how to keep the offensive flow going. 

He is definitely now understanding how he fits in, and I think by having the added talent that we have, we're now a more viable team, offensively and defensively. I think he's fresher in the fourth quarter where he can finish the game. And this weekend, we saw exactly what management had in mind when they brought in that extra talent.

In Chicago, you saw the difference. The Cavaliers had already begun their comeback when LeBron was at the scorer's table. That can be demoralizing. The good teams don't worry about it. But the average and below average teams, it has some effect on them. The good teams don't care, because they know you're going to have to deal with him either way. They're already set up to combat him.

Teams are now focused on the fact that they can't "sit on" LeBron - with us putting him in different places now. Instead of a steady diet of LeBron at the top of the key, they have to find him cutting off the baseline or coming around a screen. In the first three games, he would make cuts around the basket and the ball wasn't ready to be delivered. But now, the ball is ready to be delivered.

And now he's starting to use his little jump-hook shot. And nobody can stop him when he gets that close to the basket. Once he gets comfortable with the jump-hook, he'll be impossible to guard. He gets that position so well because he's so athletic and strong. He could shoot 15 of those a game and nobody could touch him.

You saw on Friday night how the "small lineup" can work. With the smaller lineup, the quickness is there. They don't allow as much dribble penetration as they used to in the past, and that's huge - especially from the top.

When they go to double-team out front now, very seldom do you see a guy break the double-team and get around the corner like they used to. Now, the Cavaliers send them back the way they came and that, to me, is such a key point.

In basketball, when you press a guy, the one thing you don't want is for that man to break the double-team. If a guy breaks a double-team, you make him break it up the middle because you send him into the teeth of your defense. But when he gets around the top guy and he turns the corner - then you're chasing. There's so many bad things that can happen in that situation. I'm glad to see that doesn't happen too much any more.

One of the most pleasant surprises this season has been Anderson Varejao. Andy's been huge on both ends of the floor.

Offensively, when he receives the ball in the middle, he's a good facilitator now. He's looking to pass the ball, and he's a good finisher when he receives the ball down low. He's playing well within the system.

And defensively, he just gives people fits. Players are always complaining to the referees because he's just an active guy - elbows flying everywhere. He's a key person for our defensive effort because he covers for everyone. And he's not a shot-blocker, but he covers a lot of ground. There's not a lot of passes into the basket.

Back when I played, I would have hated going against a guy like him. And back then, you could be much more physical. He could have bumped you more and put his hands on you and caused even more problems. But, back in my day, we'd have guys who'd try to hurt him because he'd get on your nerves so much. Of course, they don't allow that anymore, either.

Andy was huge in the two games the Cavs won this weekend. In fact, the two games we won this weekend are games I believe we would have lost last season. We just didn't have the firepower, first of all. And we didn't have the team unity to be able to deal with adversity.

Once we started downhill last year, there was a snowball effect. Now, the team is much more together. You can feel it. It is a true "All for One, One for All" mentality. These guys pull together and that means a lot.

What we've seen so far, they're shoring up the third-quarter lapses. You're not seeing that as much. And the fourth quarter is our quarter now. The first and the fourth quarter are ours now. We're scoring over 30 points a quarter and we're not allowing a lot of points. It's a good formula right now - to be able to get off strong and turn it up in the fourth quarter.

This is going to be a very interesting week for the Cavs. All three games are going to be tough because all three teams are better than they were last year. But we're better, as well. I think it's going to come down to getting off to good starts, getting the crowd involved and being able to sustain that level of play.

That's what we've been doing through the first six games - once we establish that level of play, it doesn't drop off with our bench. Milwaukee has a new team, but a talented team. Denver is going to be a tough match for us. Chauncey Billups gives them stability at the point guard, and that makes them even tougher. And Utah's always tough because they move the ball so well and they're disciplined. They have such a good offensive scheme that if you make one mistake - they're going to capitalize on it.

It's going to come down to that old equation, can we defend enough to win.

That's going to help us with all three games this week - even with Milwaukee, because they like to get out and run, too. Mo has a little incentive against Milwaukee, LeBron has incentive against Carmelo and everybody knows about Boozer. So these are games that will have some energy to them.

As a fan, you'll be seeing some good basketball this week.

 Hey Cavs fans! It's A.C. checking in. What's happening?

The Cavaliers have a big stretch coming up - five of the next six at home, with four of those games coming against the Central Division. I'm really hoping that they can carry the momentum from Monday night into the next few games.

To this point, the win in Dallas was the best game the Cavaliers have played on both ends of the floor. Defensively, if they come out like that every night, we could win 60 games this year. Every possible position that they needed to be in, they were there. And what really validates the Dallas win is that the Mavericks went out and beat San Antonio the next game. So, beating Dallas at home the way we beat them tells us what type of team we really have the potential to become.

I was worried that when they lost the lead in the third quarter, that would really damage them. But you could feel a relief at the end of the quarter when they withstood the run and got the lead back up. And then they returned to the intensity of the first quarter and put the game away. I loved how the entire team was up on the bench for most of the game, rooting on the guys on the floor.

It's an all for one, one for all team, now. It's not just a slogan.

It's so great to see Ben Wallace healthy again, because you're starting to see his dominance on the defensive end of the floor now. He makes you feel him, and Dirk Nowitzki wanted no part of it. And then Andy came in and just finished him off.

One concern that I do have, though - (and this is something that might hurt us because of our size in the backcourt) - is that we do a lot of switching positions where little guys are forced to guard big guys around the basket. And that could come back to bite us in the end. But right now, our defense on the ball is pretty good, so teams don't really get a good look at the guys who they're wanting to post up. So, that's something the Cavaliers will work on, moving through this.

Wally Szczerbiak is one of the players who's going through this right now. It's going to be tough for him, because he's guarding bigger players. But Wally's a strong guy, and what he's figuring out now is how he can be effective against guys who are larger than him.

That fourth-quarter baseline dunk was so nice to see, because I think he's realizing now that he can beat these bigger guys with his quickness, and that's something he's not really used to. Blocking out and putting a body on guys is going to be something he'll get used to, also.

Wally's a rugged guy, and he realizes that he's undersized. But our guards are undersized, too. So is Ben Wallace. You just go out and play the game. And I think he'll end up doing well at the position. His shooting around the basket is already better. His long-range shooting is still a little off, but around the basket, he's pretty efficient.

Right now, I'm really pleased that the Cavaliers are at 2-2, with three very tough road games already behind them. I actually was looking for 1-3, because I know how we usually start out. But their focus is on becoming a better team without losing focus on winning ballgames.

And it was good to see them finish the Dallas game because that's the only thing they were missing on the road. They were playing three-and-a-half good quarters, and they'd give the other six minutes away with turnovers and bad shots. But that Dallas game showed them how to get across the finish line. And I'm hoping that will give them the understanding of what it takes to cross the finish line on the road.

The big news while we were in Dallas was the Allen Iverson trade to our Division rivals in Detroit.

Iverson always wears us out. And his presence is going to change the Pistons in a profound way. They'll probably start him and bring Stuckey off the bench. But the Pistons are going to have to play to a difference cadence now. Chauncey Billups is more of a calculating guard, whereas Iverson is all over the place. They're going to have to figure out how to run the offense with A.I. at the one. Hamilton might be running off a screen and Iverson will be off doing his own thing. Billups would sit there and wait for the play to open up; I'm not sure Iverson will have the patience for that. They have some work to do.

I don't think he'll be any problem for Detroit. Players all have their issues with their hangers-on and posse and I don't think that'll be a problem. Iverson's been in the league long enough now where he knows how to deal with that stuff. Iverson's going to come in like an angel. He's getting close to the end of his career and he wants to win. I don't think he's going to disrupt anything.

As far as the Central Division, we'll get our first taste of it this week and into next. That why that win in Dallas was so big for the Cavaliers' confidence. Because now that we're home - with all the games coming up at The Q - we can establish our home dominance right now.

And even when you have a road game thrown in the middle of your homestretch - like we do on Saturday night in Chicago - that can be a good thing, IF you're winning. Because they can carry that momentum with them and come back home and keep it going.

If they play their cards right during this stretch, they can create some separation early in the season.

Hey, Cavs fans! It's AC - what's happening? 

Well, on Thursday night, things got back to normal a little bit. You could tell that the Cavs had a practice under their belt after the Boston game. Things were a lot smoother. You can see now, out of the three smaller guards, the two that are working the best together are going to get the floor time. That's the way it should be: if you're producing, fine, if you're not, you come off the bench.

I thought that, again, the only problem I saw was the third quarter lag, and mentally, for some reason, we can't seem to get over that hump. And against good teams, it hurts us, like it did against Boston. But other than that, everything looked smooth. If we could play three quarters and not four, we'd be in good shape.

We shot the ball much better. And I think Thursday's team is the team we can expect. It was good to see J.J. get some action and get his feet wet. That young man has potential. He can play - he just needs to understand how to play professional ball, and he'll be tough.

Defensively, being able to press, is really going to have an effect on other teams because, now, we can be proactive on the defensive end. Instead of always having to react to them, we can make them react to us. That's a big plus. 

We saw something last night we haven't seen in a while - if ever. One, LeBron played just 30 minutes and two, Mike Brown didn't put him right back in the minute the game got close. It was almost as if he was telling the guys: ‘OK, can you do it without him? Let me see.'

And it was good to see. Because, in my opinion, LeBron's ideal stats are around 20-10-10. Those should be his optimum stats, with the type of game he plays. I think he likes playing that type of game, too. It takes a lot of wear and tear off of him.

And what I've noticed is, defensively, it's hard to sit on us now. Because when LeBron's in the game with Delonte or Mo or Boobie in the corners, teams have to ‘hedge' more. Instead of just focusing on LeBron, you have to hedge more, and that takes a ½ of a defender off of him. And consequently, he can turn corners now and get to the basket. He can get that shot in the lane. It's just a little bit of daylight. And that's all the young man needs.

LeBron likes to orchestrate. That's his game. He gets more out of that than having to beat himself up getting 40 points a night for us to win.

Like I said after the Boston game, though: The Cavaliers are still a work in progress. This year, they're going to try to go small every now and then. And that'll take some work. Last night, I saw that when the smaller lineup is in, what you're going to have around the league is, guys are going to start posting our guards up. You could see it last night with Jason Richardson in the third quarter.

So what has to happen now is there has to be a defensive scheme set up so that when they do start posting up, we can bring help and the guy who's being posted up has to direct his guy into the teeth of the defense.

And that'll come. That just comes with understanding what's going around you, because you can already see - in just game no. 2 - teams are going to want to post up our smaller guards. But you can always bring Sasha in the game to defend those situations if things get out of hand. But I really think most teams don't have the patience to post up five or six times in a row. They just don't do it. 

So I think we can get by with a defensive set when this happens. That's Mike Brown's calling card, and I feel confident that he'll figure it out, moving forward.

Hey, Cleveland! It's AC - what's happening? 

I was impressed with the Cavaliers on Tuesday night in Boston, despite the loss. I saw some good things and some bad things, but overall, was very encouraged.

Regardless of what people say, there's a big difference between when the lights go on for real and preseason and practice. There's a whole different cadence to the game, a whole different pressure. And there's a tendency to fall back on what you're used to rather than what you're trying to do. And you could see on Tuesday night that - after a while - the Cavs were reverting to the things they used to  do. And that's where the problems set in.

In the first half, I thought they played real well; they moved the ball. And that's the way they're going to have to play, I'd say, 90 percent of the time. They can't have players dominating the ball like they did in the second half against Boston. Everybody wanted to do it themselves.

But you have to give Boston's defense a lot of credit, too. They came out in that third quarter ready to attack.

My dilemma right now is this: Was it Boston's defense or was it our third-quarter malaise that we've been showing over the last two or three years? The Cavaliers came out - I don't want to say "flat" - but with a lot less energy than Boston.

We don't shoot well at the beginning of the third quarter, it just doesn't happen. Teams take us right out of our offense. We need to overcome it. Because that's become a glaring situation and teams are going to start focusing on it - attacking us out of the locker room. I don't know if people need to get on the court quicker and get organized quicker. But something has to happen to get us ready. And I understand they do miss shots - but why is it always in that one little area, in the first few minutes of the third quarter?

In the first half I thought they moved the ball really well. They passed the ball well and a lot of guys got some good opportunities to score. And that's what we need. They need to translate that first half into a 48-minute game. We played a completely different game in the second half. We started pounding the ball and everybody wanted to be the hero. It doesn't work.

We lost our focus when the defense was up in our face. In the first half, when the Cavs defense was up in their face, we controlled them. When they got up in our face in the second half, they controlled us. It was a very simple game.

Individually, I thought Anderson Varejao's energy level was great - he's getting back to his old self. He's scoring around the basket, he's creating havoc, he's frustrating people. He grabbed some key offensive rebounds in the second half.

The difference between the beginning of last season and the beginning of this season is that last year, we were trying to figure things out between injuries and hold-outs, and this year, we're trying to figure things out and start winning right out of the gate. That's what we're going to need if we want homecourt advantage right through to the Finals. The Cavaliers have to win while they're in transition. That's going to be the hard part: winning these tough early games while trying to figure out what kind of team they are.

It's a work in progress, but we have to make progress quickly.

Moving forward, I'm really encouraged. Offensively, they need to just continue to keep moving the basketball. On the defensive end, they need to take less chances right now. They still need to figure out when they can take chances and when they can't. There were a few times on Tuesday night, when Big Ben got caught out of position and Boston got some easy buckets on the backside.

With a smaller backcourt, another thing we have to do is turn up the defensive pressure on the ball. We need to pressure the ball so teams can't make the passes easily to whoever is posting up or the mismatch - wherever it is. The ball pressure has to improve. You can't let teams pass the ball around and let them get it to whoever they want to and put you in peril. 

Again, this comes with time.

But that's the Catch-22 - we have to win now if we're focused on winning a Championship. Waiting until you're 2-10 and getting it started is not going to work.

It was good to see Delonte get the start on Tuesday. He looked good in the first half, getting himself and his teammates good opportunities. Delonte can break you down, Mo can break you down, LeBron can break you down. That just creates opportunities and opens the floor up. But in the second half, there was too much pounding the ball.

It's a learning process, when you're playing for real and it's not practice or preseason, the whole dynamic changes. Everyone reverts to their comfort zone. And now we have to work our way out of the comfort zone and get into the things we have to do to win.

Hey, everyone! AC, checking in from Motown! What's happening?

The preseason is winding down and we're closing in on the season opener. I'm really excited for this team.

This is the best camaraderie that I've seen on a Cavaliers team in a long time. And you can tell that they feel confident about each other and they trust each other. To me, trust is the key.

One of the biggest question marks I had going into this year was: Will LeBron trust Mo (Williams) to run the show - to the point where he can just go out and play his game. LeBron is one of the best players in the league, not only with the ball, but without the ball. So if he can go out every night and do both - the sky's the limit.

And the way I'm seeing it so far this preseason, Mo sets it up - and LeBron's not coming back and getting the ball as much - and it all works. LeBron playing off the ball is awesome. If he can continue to play off the ball, that will make it almost impossible to stop him. It wears a defense down. Because there's no way they can play him 1-on-5 when he's without the ball. You can't continue to guard LeBron 1-on-5 when he's without the ball and in motion. And you have to guard against Mo breaking you down off the dribble. It's a solid situation.

Mo's going to get three assists per game, just working that pick-and-pop with Z. And he'll get at least three or four more with LeBron. I think he realizes, there will be a whole lot of opportunities for a good point guard on this team. 

I've been impressed with both rookies so far. It's a shame Darnell got hurt because he was really making nice progress.

J.J.'s going to realize that to stay on the floor, he's got to play well on the defensive end. And he's starting to do things instinctively on defense, like the blocked shot he had on Tuesday night in Philly. He's starting to do things that show that he's focused on the defensive end. Because offensively, all he needs is time to develop.

I love J.J.'s attitude. He wants to do his work in that painted area. He's not a finesse player, and we don't want that. Him and Darnell, I like both of them and both of their attitudes. Darnell's a horse - he'll get in your face and he's not going to back down. And he'll send your stuff back, too. He's not going to let you get in the paint on a free pass.

And, as rookies, those are great traits to have. Because as you develop and get more respect around the league, referees will start letting you get away with more contact and let you be more physical once you've established yourself.

So far, no player has truly stood out at the two. I think, in a perfect world, Sasha at the two - (producing  at the two) - would make us a devastating team, a much deeper team. Because then you can do a lot with a backcourt with Delonte, Boobie and Mo. But that's predicated on Sasha holding his own.

The two dynamic positions in the NBA are the two and the three. So if we have a two to go along with LeBron every night, now you're talking about the other three spots being incredibly productive. Sasha came into Camp in great shape, now let's see if he can translate that to production on the floor.

Another player who came to Camp in great shape is Anderson. And it has translated to production on the court. Andy's been playing very well and he's shooting the ball really well, too. If he can continue to do that and not play outside of himself, we'll be in business. He needs to continue to take the open shots, make the open shots, try to get to the basket and run the break.

Andy's already going to do well on the defensive end, because that's what he hangs his hat on. So, if he can do his thing defensively and keep proving he can do well on the offensive end, it's going to be a very interesting year for us.