Interesting numbers on those first rows. (via 82games.com)
 |
vs. |
 |
|---|---|---|
| 41-11 (17-10 road) |
27-30 (16-10 home) |
|
| February 20, 2009 - 7:30PM CT | ||
| Bradley Center |
||
|
Radio: 620 WTMJ TV: FS Wisconsin |
||
|
Probable starters: |
||
| Mo Williams |
PG | Ramon Sessions |
| Terance Kinsey |
SG | Luc Mbah a Moute |
| LeBron James |
SF | Richard Jefferson |
| Anderson Verejao |
PF | Charlie Villanueva |
| Zydrunas Ilgauskas |
C | Francisco Elson |
| 109.9 (3rd) |
Off | 104.5 (17th) |
| 98.5 (2nd) |
Def | 104.2 (13th) |
| 91.8 (25th) |
Pace | 94.4 (14th) |
| 27.8 (11th) |
OReb | 28.9 (6th) |
|
74.3 (11th) |
DReb | 74.3 (12th) |
08/09 Series:
Nov. 11: @Cavaliers 99 Bucks 93
Nov. 29: Cavaliers 97 @Bucks 85
Injuries
Cavaliers: Sasha Pavlovic (ankle) and Eric Snow (knee) are out. Ben Wallace (forearm) and Delonte West (wrist) did not play Wednesday versus Toronto.
Bucks: Michael Redd is out for the season with a torn ACL and MCL. Andrew Bogut is out with a stress fracture in his lower back. Luke Ridnour is questionable with a broken thumb.
Three Points
- On point. The Mo Williams All-Star Show swaggers into the Bradley Center tonight against his former team, injury-bug-bitten Luke Ridnour (who might be back tonight) and former backup Ramon Sessions. If you're into PER, check the tables at the top, which compare production for each team at each position overall. To clarify, that means the chart is totaling production for the team at each position, not for a specific player. The numbers are through Feb. 13, just a couple days after Mo was named an All-Star.
- Nothing. A trade deadline full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, for the Bucks. And Cavs. Richard Jefferson and Charlie Villanueva are indeed Bucks, while Shaquille O'Neal and Vince Carter are certainly not Cavs, as two of the most rumored-to-deal teams stayed still. Cleveland is absolutely good enough to contend for a championship despite not adding another piece, which Milwaukee is sure to find out quickly. The Bucks must stay close early to have a chance, which isn't easy to do: The Cavaliers averages +5.0 points in the first quarter of games. No team in the NBA plays better basketball than the Cavs do in the first quarter, and it's not really close.
- Hopeful at home. Tonight's matchup provides a shining example of how pronounced home court advantage is in the NBA. Cleveland, a legitimate title contender led by the best player in the world, is a very good 17-10 on the road. Not even a handful of teams are better away than the Cavs. The Bucks, meanwhile, are a playoff hopeful at best, unable to win more often than they lose. And yet. The Cavs sit just half a game better on the road than the Bucks (16-10) are at home. Players and observers have come up with many reasons to explain the phenomenon of teams playing much better at home, but it still boggles this mind.
Coverage: