Watch the highlights of last night from Shaq’s Cavalier debut to the Lakers getting their bling!
The Phoenix experiment did not work and Shaq is on the move again. It should be very interesting to see how he meshes with LeBron! Read more from TSN.ca:
After coming up short in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers brought in Shaquille O’Neal to complement LeBron James.
Numbers Game examines the Big Aristotle’s arrival in Cleveland.
The Cavaliers Get: C Shaquille O’Neal.
O’Neal, 37, is coming off his best year since 2005-2006, averaging 17.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, while shooting a stellar 60.9% from the field and his 59.5% from the free throw line was the second-best percentage of his career (behind 62.2 in 2002-2003).
At this stage of his career, O’Neal doesn’t need to dominate the ball and, with LeBron running the show in Cleveland, O’Neal shouldn’t have any trouble deferring to the reigning MVP.
Shaq’s not a dominant defender, and can be exploited by centres that can move away from the basket, but he’s still an upgrade on Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the veteran Lithuanian centre who was abused by the Magic’s Dwight Howard in the Conference Finals.
Ilgauskas has a player option for next season and the prospect of being Shaq’s backup would figure to be enough reason for the 34-year-old to seek out a better opportunity elsewhere.
While his mobility isn’t what it once was, O’Neal was much better in Phoenix than he’d been in his later days with the Miami Heat, so there is every reason to think he’ll be a productive player next season, the final year of a contract which pays him $20-million in 2009-2010.
With LeBron and Shaq going into the final years of their contracts, 2009-2010 shapes up as the Cavaliers’ best chance to contend for a title.
The Suns Get: PF Ben Wallace, SF Sasha Pavlovic and a second-round pick.
34-year-old Ben Wallace is a long way from the energetic, dominant defender that he was in his championship days with the Detroit Pistons. He’s never been an offensive player and last year’s 3.0 points per game was his lowest total since his rookie season.
Even with all that taken into consideration, Wallace is still a capable defender who can block shots and crash the boards, only he does it in more limited minutes.
Due $14-million next season, in the final year of his contract, Wallace’s future is uncertain. He could get flipped to another team or it’s possible that he’ll take on a role with the Suns next season.
Pavlovic, 25, hasn’t been able to rise above reserve swingman in five years with the Cavaliers, though some of the reason for that may be attributed to injuries — Pavlovic hasn’t played in more than 67 games in a season since playing 79 in his rookie season with Utah in 2003-2004.
While he’s not going to be any better than a reserve in Phoenix, Pavlovic does shoot well enough — 41.0% on three-pointers last season — to fit into the Suns’ rotation at either of the wing spots.
The second-round pick, 46th overall, actually has some value. Since 2001, 12 players taken in the 46-50 range have become NBA rotation players — a success rate of 30% — with the best of the bunch being Cavs PG Mo Williams and Jazz PF Paul Millsap. No, it’s not likely to yield a star, but a serviceable rotation player is possible.
All indications are that the Suns aren’t done, either; that an Amar’e Stoudemire trade is on the way, so it’s hard to gauge just what the Suns are going to look like until the dust settles and they actually have someone available to play in the paint.
Ouch… from ESPN.com:
NEW YORK — LeBron James lost his latest triple-double Friday when the NBA determined that one of his rebounds should have been credited to Cleveland teammate Ben Wallace.
James scored a season-high 52 points and had 11 assists Wednesday in the Cavaliers’ 107-102 victory at New York. He was believed to have a triple-double when he grabbed what went down as a 10th rebound with less than 2 seconds left.
However, the league reviewed the game and ruled that a rebound given to James with 39.3 seconds remaining should have been credited to Wallace. The corrected statistics now have James with nine rebounds and Wallace with two.
James’ performance came two nights after Kobe Bryant set a record at the present Madison Square Garden by scoring 61 points in the Lakers’ 126-117 victory over the Knicks.
“I don’t go out there for the numbers, I just play my game,” James said after Wednesday’s game when he was still thought to have recorded a triple-double. “You guys seen every phase of my game tonight, the scoring, the rebounding, the assists and defensively just trying to attack the opposing team.
“I never thought you could look at the box score and see somebody with 50 with a triple-double, but it’s happened.”
James will get a chance to faceoff against Bryant when the Lakers visit Cleveland on Sunday.
A release from the league said: “All NBA games are reviewed to ensure the accuracy of the game statistics.”
Had the triple-double stood, it would have been the first 50-point game in a triple-double since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975.
James now remains with three triple-doubles this season and 20 for his career.
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