The Kings Court: Round One

Whoa Matty! Are you trying to jinx us?! You know, just because Lebron says it's over doesn't mean they're canceling Game 5 and booking tickets to Boston. Dan Gilbert still needs him some concession revenue!

First of all, I've not only referred to myself in the third person, but referred to myself as "Matty". Some dangerous line has been crossed.

Second, I know, I know... but 4 games in, we have to get some credit where some credit is due. Besides, we'll be looking ahead to Boston (or Atlanta - what a game tonight!) soon, so let's keep our eyes on this series while we can. See, I'm doing the opposite of getting ahead of myself. You just have to think it through.

Lebron has been playing well. Not out of his mind - there is more to come - but pretty darned good. Like 29.5, 8.5 and 6.5 good. Hell, 0.6 rebounds aside, that's worse than regular season Lebron. So something else must be going right.

Who's leading the King's Court this week?

Q: Zydrunas Ilgauskas
It's tough not to make Z the King's Queen. The last 2 games he hasn't even hit double digits, but he's still our second leading scorer. He's only hauled in 10+ boards once, and he's still our second leading rebounder. Without checking, I'll assume he's #2 in blocks (and assists for good measure). With checking, I'll confirm that his 1 block in 4 games (yikes) puts him tied for 5th with Boobie and his 1.8 assists per also have him in 5th. In other words, like Lebron, we haven't seen the best of Z-illa.

J: Delonte West
Most recent game sure sticks in your mind, huh? Delonte hasn't played great, but he's been big when it mattered. His 16, 5 and 5 in Game 1 and we'll be replaying his Game 4 game winner in 2 years when we beat the Wizards in the first round for the 5th consecutive year.

10: Ben Wallace
I wanted to put Boobie here, but jeez, why not just copy and paste the team stats by PPG and save myself half an hour? The Fros per game numbers definitely don't impress: 3.3 PPG, 30% from the line, 7.5 rebounds. But he's doing it all in 22.5 minutes per while also dealing admirably with the Wizards toughest matchup, Antawn Jamison, and holding 'Tawn to 4 points per game less than usual on 42% shooting. Plus when you extrapolate his rebounding out to 40 minutes, his 13+ look solid. Not to mention, his 56% shooting leads the team. Now, I haven't watch much, so I'll just assume those are all tough 18 footers.

9: Boobie Gibson
I typed Boobie's name out before switching to Andy, then switching back. Just shows how Boobie's big Game 4 and solid series have been overshadowed by Delonte. You just know that without Delonte, Game 4 would have come down to the same shot, but with Boobie as the trigger man. Across the board, he's just a bit worse this series. 2% better from the field, but 10% worse from 3 and 13% worse from the line. 1.3 fewer boards, .3 fewer assists, .75 fewer steals, .25 fewer blocks, same turnovers, and 1.3 fewer points. So Boobie is basically just Delonte light, and it works. He's just saving himself for the Pistons, anyway.

8: Anderson Varejao
So why did Andy slip down? The turnovers, the missed shots, the offensive ineptitude. At this point, Andy is Ben Wallace light, only he doesn't realize it. Wallace is actually a pretty good quick passer. When the ball comes to Andy, he freezes, dribbles, and gives you reason to cover your children's eye. Still, he's averaging the same 7.5 in fewer minutes than Wallace and despite an awful start to the postseason, isn't nearly the liability at the line late in games.

7: Joe Smith
I thought my hindsight didn't reach far enough with Delonte. For Joe Smith, this ranking is earned by going back 5 minutes into Game 4, to the point where Joe Smith decided he was getting every rebound over the Wizards. Aside from that streak that game him 5 huge offensive boards in the game, his series has been pretty awful. While being the steady hand late in the season, earning everybody's calls for increased minutes, Joe has been shaky. In Game 1 he was mostly invisible. In Game 2, he was solid while everybody else was dynamite. In Game 3 he got slap happy. Then in Game 4 he couldn't hit a thing. I credit Mike Brown for keeping his time limited, as we'll need his knees, rebounding and shooting more in the later rounds, and I still think we can count on him in crunch time.

6 and 5: Devin and Wally
Okay, Joe Smith was 7 because there was nobody to put above him, but I still feel like that's a credit to the solid play 6 of Lebron's 8 supporting cast. Wally and Devin will just give way to Boobie and Delonte more and more if their poor play keeps up. Wally already saw that happen in Game 4 and Devin can't earn more than 15 minutes unless he gets hot and the offense goes stagnant anyway. Nonetheless, if these 2 are the worst we have to offer, limited to 40 minutes, doing what's needed, shooting when necessary, I feel pretty good.

4: Billy Thomas
STAT SHEET STUFFER! B-Titty, as the kids are calling him, never thought he'd log such quality minutes in 3, count 'em, 3 playoff games. Plus, he's on fire from deep, shooting 50% (1-2) while contributing 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 5 steals per 40. With numbers like that, it's no surprise Damon Jones is stuck on the bench.

3 and 2: D. Jones squared
Can you demand a trade during the playoffs?

And for our ace of the week, let's take a moment to give credit to the true driving force of the Cavs success.

Tweedle Dee:


and Tweedle Dum:


Thanks guy! We'll get you some seats in the rafters next round!

Go Cavs!