NBA Playoff Preview - Cleveland vs. Washington

By Shawn Clarke, NBA analyst

Cleveland Cavaliers: 2nd Seed, East (50-32)

Washington Wizards: 7th Seed, East (41-41)

The Cleveland Cavaliers needed the entire regular season to capture the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, and will take on the Washington Wizards in the opening round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs.

Game 1 of the best-of-seven series is slated for Sunday from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

This matchup should be deja-vu for almost every player in this series, as the Cavaliers eliminated Washington in six games in the first round of last year's conference playoffs. Cleveland was then ousted by Detroit in the next round.

LeBron James led the Cavs down the stretch and helped them claim the second seed in the East after battling Chicago for the spot for quite some time. After the Bulls lost to New Jersey and Cleveland ended the regular season with its fourth straight win over Milwaukee, Chicago moved to the No. 5 spot.

Now the Cavaliers get a shot at packing Washington's bags again. They won the season series by a 2-1 margin and will take on a short-handed Wizards squad. Washington will not have stars Gilbert Arenas (knee) and Caron Butler (hand) for the entire playoffs after both were lost for the season due to injury.

And that pretty much sums up the kind of luck Washington will have in this playoff series. With the Wizards without their top two guns, Cavs superstar LeBron James will have nobody to exchange baskets with.

James, who led the Cavs in scoring (27.3 ppg) and assists (6.0) this season, averaged 30.8 points in 13 playoff games last season. One of the most dominating figures in the NBA today, James averaged 27 points, six rebounds and six assists for the third consecutive year.

The Wizards are left with forward Antawn Jamison to be their Moses. Whether he can lead his team into the second round of the playoffs remains to be seen.

Washington is in the postseason for a third consecutive year and is meeting Cleveland in the playoffs for the fourth time. The only time Washington defeated the Cavaliers in the postseason was when it took two of three games in the first round of the 1977 NBA Playoffs.

The Cavs lead the all-time playoff series by a 9-7 count and have won six of the eight home games against Washington in the playoffs.

Head coach Eddie Jordan, an early pick for coach of the year, will have to devise a defensive plan to shut down James, Larry Hughes and the inside force of Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

STARTING FRONTCOURT: Cleveland's frontcourt will be no match for what the Wizards have to offer. James is a force at the small forward spot. The superstar James is what makes this team tick and head coach Mike Brown understands that. James averaged 23.6 points in three games against the Wizards this season, and averaged 35.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.7 assists in the six playoff games against the Wizards last spring. Joining James in the frontcourt will be forward Drew Gooden and center Ilgauskas. Gooden averaged 11.1 points and a team-high 8.5 rebounds during the regular season, while Ilgauskas posted 11.9 ppg and 7.7 apg. Ilgauskas is a dominating presence in the middle and his game has improved over the past few years. The veteran big man will go to battle mainly against Wizards center Etan Thomas. Along with Thomas, Washington forward Jarvis Hayes and power forward Jamison will do most of the scoring with guard/forward Butler done for the season. Jamison is the best Jordan has to offer and the lanky forward finished second in scoring (19.8 ppg) and first in rebounds (8.0 rpg). Cleveland certainly has the edge in this department solely because of James and his ability to change the outcome of a game.

EDGE: CAVALIERS

STARTING BACKCOURT: Cavaliers point guard Hughes plays in the shadows of James, so his performances usually get swept under the rug. And Hughes probably enjoys it that way because it gives him the chance to show the NBA nation what he can do. Hughes finished second on the team in scoring with 14.9 points per game, and helped Cleveland finish with at least 50 wins for a second consecutive season. Hughes had five assists in the win and the team collected 30 assists on the night. The Cavs are 16-2 this season when they record 25 or more assists. While Hughes is finding the open man, fellow guard Sasha Pavlovic does the rest of the work. Pavlovic doesn't fill up a scoring sheet with impressive numbers, but plays his role perfectly for Mike Brown. Washington's backcourt of guards Antonio Daniels and DeShawn Stevenson is a far cry of what it would have looked like had Arenas not went down with a freaky knee injury. Arenas ended the season tops on the team in scoring (28.5 ppg) and assists (6.0). But those stats are moot since Arenas will not be joining his teammates for quite some time. That's why Daniels must improve on his 7.1 ppg and 3.6 apg. If he can get his teammates involved more instead of worrying about scoring the basketball, Washington will have a chance to win the backcourt battle. It would have been a no-brainer had Arenas been healthy. Washington shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson averaged 11.2 points per game this season. Both he and Daniels will be forced to play better defense before the opening tip-off

EDGE: EVEN

BENCH: The Cavs' bench players could start for possibly any other team in the NBA, and definitely have the advantage on the bench. With three-point threat Donyell Marshall, savvy guard Eric Snow and center Anderson Varejao will be no match for what Jordan has on his bench. Marshall came up big in Cleveland's season finale against Milwaukee with 14 points and seven rebounds. Varejao added 12 boards and nine points in the win over the Bucks. Snow will back up Hughes, but it's apparent he is a gritty and special player for Brown. The most notable players on Washington's bench are center Brendan Haywood, forward Darius Songaila and guard Roger Mason. Haywood finished third on the Wizards in rebounding with 6.2 rpg. When the time comes for both head coaches to give their starters a breather or find a replacement because of injury, Cleveland's reserves are more capable of getting the job done and keeping their respective squads in the lead.

EDGE: CAVALIERS

PREDICTION: Cleveland played hard towards the end of the regular season with four straight wins and a 17-7 mark over the last 24 contests. James led the team to the No. 2 seed after battling Chicago for quite some time for playoff positioning. And it's pretty clear the Cavaliers would rather square off with an injury-plagued Wizards squad than take on Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade and the defending NBA champion Miami Heat. This matchup heavily favors Cleveland simply because Arenas and Butler are nursing their injuries at home. James enjoys playing under the spotlight and now he has another chance to do so. Whether it will be good enough for an NBA title is a different story. The Cavs want another crack at the Detroit Pistons, who eliminated Cleveland in seven games in last year's Eastern Conference semifinals. The only way Brown and Co. will get a chance for redemption is if the Cavs and Detroit both reach the East finals. Cleveland has as good a shot as any of the eight seeds, but first work must be taken care of versus the Wizards. Washington will prove to the nation that it will not survive in the playoffs without either one of its star players.

CAVALIERS IN FIVE

2007 NBA Playoffs