I wish I shared the optimism all of you seem to have. I DO still think the Cavs will prevail in this series, but I don't think it'll be as easy as the rest of you are making it out to be.
The Magic pose some legitamite matchup issues for the Cavs.
But then again, the Cavs pose some matchup issues for the Magic. I'll be doing an in depth position by position break-down of this upcoming ECF, to be posted shortly...
Here is my assesment:
PG: Rafer Alston vs. Mo Williams. MO is the better player, Alston has the more playoff experience. But experience is never the end all/be all deciding factor. Mo is average 6 more points but these teams do not use the traditional point guard setting up players...the use the POINT FOWARD setting up the offense. This will be big because Lebron will be guarding Turkoglu and will hamper the point forward offense of Orlando. IF it comes down to these guys having to QB their offenses, I give the edge to MO...if they play their tradional roles of shooting guard/point guard.....I give it to Rafer because he is better freeing himself for a shot than Mo is.
Edge: Slight edge to MO.
SG:
JJ Reddick vs. Delonte West. Reddick has come on his own since getting out of the Van Gundy's doghouse. He has better than average defense and when he is on....there is no better pure shooter on either team. Delonte is a good player and only has a slight edge in speed over JJ.
Edge: Reddick
SF:
Lebron James vs. Hedo Turkoglu. Man, on paper, this looks like such a huge edge to the Cavs. But because the Magic use the point foward system, similar to Cleveland....this is gonna pose a small problem for Cleveland. NOW Lebron will put his 'ALL NBA Defensive Team' status to the test guarding Hedo....WHY? Because Hedo sort of runs the offense. He will have to go through a hundred screens, not for Hedo to free upi for his shot, but to setup the rest of the team...which I think will be the key to the series. WHEN Lebron does that, which I think he will defend Hedo well....that means there is more pressure on the PG to run the show...and there like I listed before, to run the team....I gave the edge to MO...but he will now have to think pass 1st, shoot 2nd. Lebron SHOULD dominate Hedo.....should....
EDGE: BIG to Lebron
PF:
Rashard Lewis vs. Anderson Varejao: Well, here is one of Orlando's big advantages. Rashard is too quick in the dribble AND the step on Anderson. IF you were talking about JUST rebounding....I would give a good edge to Anderson, but that is not the case. I do not think Anderson can keep up with Rashard defensively nor offensively.
EDGE: Big to Rashard Lewis.
CENTER:
Dwight Howard vs. Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Here is the OTHER big advantage to Orlando. Almost the IDENTICAL advantages Rashard has over Anderson....The ONLY advantage that the Big Z has is weight and size advantage...and that would help if it was Sumo wrestling...not here.
EDGE: Big to Dwight Howard.
Bench: I would have to lean to Orlando ONLY because of the sudden emergence of JJ Riddick. He has not pushed the issue as far as his shot and played better than expected defense. Other than that, the benches are just about even.
EDGE: VERY small edge to Orlando.
COACHES: I think Brown has the distict edge here. He has been able to have every single player to believe in THEIR ROLE on the team. I mean really, out side of Lebron and Mo to a certain extent.....it's Michael Jackson and THEN the Jackson 5. But this is all due to how well Coach Brown has been able to sell his idea to his team. I am now convinced NO OTHER coach has sold his system better since Phil Jackson did when he coached the Bulls with Michael Jordan.
EDGE: Mike Brown big!
INTANGIBLES: Two words..... Lebron James. 'Nuff Said!
In the end, I think there are too many match-up issues with the Cavs. BUT, they have the BEST PLAYER in the world on their team...so that sort of nullifies almost everything. The issue is, what is stronger...Lebron's will to win or Orlando's match-up advantages.
I will go with Orlando.
