Cavaliers Notebook: Paul standing tall

CHRIS BEAVEN
Canton Repository

March 25, 2008 11:01 pm

— INDEPENDENCE — The ever-evolving Cavaliers get a chance to see how they match up with one of the NBA’s elite tonight.
The New Orleans Hornets, who entered Tuesday with the Western Conference’s top winning percentage, come to Cleveland for a 7 p.m. game. The Hornets have won eight of their last 10 and feature the league’s premier point guard, Chris Paul.
“They have a great floor general in Chris Paul, and he gets their team going,” Cavaliers point guard Delonte West said. “Everybody kind of feeds off the energy. And there’s been so much talk in the West with all the teams fighting for the top spot and all the trades, you tend to forget teams like New Orleans. They always end up coming up with big wins.”
In the last two weeks alone, the Hornets have beaten the Celtics, Rockets, Lakers and Spurs.
“They’re not like a team that went on a quick little run and then faded out,” West said. “They’ve been strong all year.”
The Cavaliers have had their moments this season, but injuries and their blockbuster trade last month have kept things challenging. They have won nine straight at home to offset five straight losses on the road. With 11 games left, they are pretty much locked in as the fourth seed for the playoffs.
“We’ve got to figure out a rotation with the guys that are in uniform, and we’ve got to just keep trying to work on the little things that will make us better come playoff time,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said.
The Cavaliers will be without forward-center Ben Wallace tonight, but they could get a boost from Daniel Gibson. The team’s top shooter could return from a sprained left ankle that cost him the last 17 games.
“I’m ready to play,” Gibson said after practicing for the first time since suffering the injury Feb. 20. If he gets cleared by the medical staff, he will play tonight.
The Cavaliers guards know they will have their hands full with Paul, who averages 21.5 points, 11.2 assists and 2.71 steals. He is trying to become the first NBA player ever to average at least 20 points, 10 assists and three steals.
“He’s extremely good in a lot of different areas,” Brown said. “He does so much for that team in terms of getting guys easy shots, controlling the tempo of the game and defensively setting the tone, whether it is getting steals or making a big play here or there.”
It’s not all Paul, though. Forward David West, a former All-American at Xavier, averages 20.0 points and 9.1 rebounds. Peja Stojakovic averages 16 points and shoots 45.3 percent from 3-point range. Tyson Chandler averages 11.6 points and 12.3 rebounds. And the trio of Bonzi Wells, Jannero Pargo and Morris Peterson average 26.1 points between them.
“They’ve found some of the right pieces to fit around (Paul),” Brown said.
“They’ve got a lot of underrated players,” West said.
The Hornets are closing in on their franchise record of 54 wins set in 1996-97. They headed into a Tuesday night game at Indiana with a 47-21 record.
“We’ve got to take advantage that they’re coming off a back-to-back, and we’ve been playing so well at home,” West said.
The Cavaliers also should be well rested. Brown gave them Sunday and Monday off before they returned to the practice floor Tuesday at Cleveland Clinic Courts.
“It’s back to business,” West said. “We got a couple of days off. Now we’ve got to finish out this last stretch of games.”
n READY TO GO — After sitting out the last 17 games with a sprained left ankle, Gibson is “10 levels past anxious” to return to action. That return could come tonight if the Cavaliers’ medical staff clears him. He went through his first full practice Tuesday and had no problems. “I’m looking forward to just being able to play basketball,” Gibson said. He thinks the remaining 11 games “give me an opportunity to get back into the flow of things ... (and) let the other guys get used to me out there on the floor, so we’ll be where we need to be when the playoffs roll around.”
n FINALLY — Tuesday’s practice was Gibson’s first chance to play with Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak, Wallace and West. The four were traded to the Cavaliers on Feb. 21, the day after Gibson suffered his injury. “It was just exciting ... a new burst of energy, that’s how I felt being able to play with those guys for the first time,” Gibson said. Before his injury, Gibson was a cornerstone of the Cavaliers’ second unit, which he said looked real strong in practice.
n NO BIG BEN — Brown said Wallace is out for tonight’s game with New Orleans. This will be the second game he’s missed since suffering back spasms Friday and third overall in the last two weeks. “We just got to make sure going down the stretch,” Brown said, “that he gets enough rest with that back so that we can limit the effects going into the playoffs.”
n ALLRED STICKS AROUND — The Cavaliers signed center Lance Allred to a second 10-day contract. Allred has played in two games since signing his first 10-day contract March 13.
n MR. 3,000 — Joe Tait, the radio “Voice of the Cavaliers” for 36 seasons, will call his 3,000th game tonight and will be saluted throughout the night by the team. “Joe is an incomparable one-man show. Generations of fans have experienced Cavaliers basketball as Joe narrates every nuance of action from left to right on their radio dials,” Cavaliers and Quicken Loans Arena President Len Komoroski said in a press release. All fans will receive a “Way to Go, Joe” cheer card courtesy of Time Warner Cable.
Tait will be honored in a halftime tribute that will include several special guests. He also will call the game courtside. As part of the halftime ceremony, his permanent broadcast location in section C126 will be dedicated as the “Joe Tait Perch.” Tait was the franchise’s original play-by-play man in 1970, and except for a brief hiatus from 1981-83, he has been ever since. An eight-time Ohio Sportscaster of the Year, Tait is in numerous halls of fame. In January, Tait was honored with the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission for his career dedication and achievements to advance sports in Cleveland.

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