This time its a good one.  Coming into Saturday night's game with the Mavericks, Delonte West had appeared in 8 games this season, and in those games he wasn't really all that productive.  West had totaled 11 turnovers in 17 mpg of action, while averaging 4.2 points, 2.3 assists during those appearances. Against Dallas, Delonte didn't turn it over at all, and was a huge spark off the bench while scoring 10 points, dishing out 10 assists, and grabbing 4 rebounds in 28 minutes of playing time.  Put simply, if he keeps this up, the Cavaliers are going to be a very good team. 

That said, the issue that arises - albeit a good one - for Mike Brown is minutes.  Specifically, if more playing time is to come for West, they will be at the expense of Daniel Gibson, who hasn't done all that much this season to 'lose' playing time.  Daniel's issues in season's past have been his consistency; he's shown up beyond huge at times, and at other times he hasn't shown up at all.  However, thus far this season, Boobie has demonstrated the ability to be a legit weapon off the bench, who can be counted on nightly.

If you have something to say about the Cavaliers or the NBA in general, LeBron James needs you to say it here on StepienRules.com.  Okay, that's not true about LeBron, but what is true is that we are looking to add a couple of bloggers to our staff here at StepienRules.  Experience is a plus but not necessary.  We are looking for someone who is passionate about what they write, and can submit a concise and interesting post on a semi-regular basis.  

 Topics include Cleveland Cavalier or NBA General related. 

 If interested, send an email to  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or get at me on Twitter @StepienRules.

LeBron James made an on-court statement in the early goings of the Cavaliers' win over the Mavericks last night.  That being,  just give me a few games, I'll get the Big Fella incorporated into the attack.  Right after Shaq backed the 'hair-patch-less' Drew Gooden in for an easy two to start the game, Mo Williams found LeBron inside, who then found Shaquille O'Neal cutting from the free throw line, to the basket, for a thunderous two.  Austin Carr found the play...exciting.  

AC on the call:

"LeBron James catches Optimus Prime, and he throoowss the hammmmer down!"

Two things I thought there: 

1. Optimus Prime, I like that one.  Didn't have it on our list of Shaq's nicknames.  Do now, that's 31.

2. When Shaq gets a head of steam towards the basket...holy ----!

Minutes later, after a LeBron James fadeaway fell short, Shaq grabbed the board, and then hit James in stride cutting from the top of the key, who banged home a thunderous slam of his own.  To which AC responded:

"And Shaq returns the favvoorrr to the Kiinngg, and the throoowsss the hammmer down!"  

We would have had one more comment from Carr on this subject if Jeff Phelps wasn't giving an in-game update on Zydrunas Ilgauskas coming out of a timeout later in the quarter.  Right out of that stoppage of play, LBJ threw another lob to Shaquille, who not so politely deposited it threw the iron for two.

The Cleveland Cavaliers dominated from the start and never looked back as they thump the streaking Dallas Mavericks, 111-95 at Quicken Loans Arena Saturday night. The Mavericks (12-5) entered the contest winning nine of their last eleven ball games and have beat the defending champion L.A. Lakers at Los Angeles earlier in the year. But the Cavaliers (12-5) looked to shake their lackadaisical performance against the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night. And they did just that.

MO WILLIAMS and LeBRON JAMES lead all scorers with 25 points, including Williams going a perfect 7 for 7 from 3 point range. ANDERSON VAREJAO and JAMARIO MOON provided sparks off the bench, combining for 28 points and 18 rebounds. But the most important stat of the night was the 10 assists by DELONTE WEST, who also chipped in 10 points off the bench. West played the way he performed last year and his ability to penetrate to the basket, opened up slashing teammates for easy baskets. As a whole, the Cavaliers had 33 assists.

Dallas were lead by DIRK NOWITZKI, who had 27 points to go with his 9 rebounds and JASON TERRY kept the game close with 25 points off the bench on 5 3 pointers.

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GAME NOTES:
Dallas Mavericks Owner MARK CUBAN was in attendance at ‘The Q’,……I did get the chance to speak with Mark’s brother, BRIAN CUBAN before the game, you can listen to the interview here…….ZYDRUNAS ILLGAUSKAS did not play due to coaches decision, he stands tied with DANNY FERRY as the Cavaliers all time leader in games played

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But it’s alright Mark, you still have this to cheer you up:

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The Cavaliers lost to the Bobcats 94-87 last night and the game was awful for an assortment of reasons.   I hope they learn from it tonight when they tip off against the Mavericks at the Q.  But I also hope the Cavaliers aren't the only people in learning mode tonight.  Here's hoping that Mark Cuban can learn a lesson in coolness, class, and controlled rage from his Cavalier counterpart, Dan Gilbert. 

Cuban has the habit of making his ire for officials known by screaming at them all game long - while rocking a Dirk Nowitzki football Mavericks jersey, from as close to the court as the NBA will allow him to be - but Dan Gilbert takes another approach.  When Gilbert feels the need to take a swipe at the officials, he just hops on the television broadcast, and rips the them both in general, and in the game he's watching specifically, for as long as he wants to.  All the while joking about the possible fines that may emerge from his commentary.  

Case in point, when Dan Gilbert joined the telecast of the Cavaliers-Pistons game on Wednesday, he offered up gems like this:

"Anybody who says that LeBron James is getting superstar calls in this league, strong no.  That's an absurdity, its the exact and total opposite, and everybody knows it in Cleveland."

And also calculated an in-game tally at one point of fines he had probably racked up by then; estimating the damage to be at about 250K.

Below is a full transcript of Gilbert's commentary on the officials:

 

The Cavaliers and Dallas Mavericks square off tonight and with both teams starting off their seasons hot, it should be an entertaining matchup. And what better way to preview tonight's matchup, than to have BRIAN CUBAN, Attorney for Mark Cuban Companies and the brother of the Mavericks owner on for a quick interview.

You can listen to the whole interview here:

Brian Cuban Cavaliers/Mavericks Preview

 

You can catch Brian at his website and Twitter page.

The Cavs beat Coach Kuester's Pistons 98-88 in Detroit last night. LeBron had 34-8-7, Daniel Gibson threw in an extremely efficient 13, and Mo Williams had double digit points with 8 assists.  All that said, Dan Gilbert stole the show for me from the announcers' chair.

Dan Gilbert on Maverick Carter...

Dan Gilbert made a number of points during the broadcast last night that are worth expanding on at a later date - and one in particular that's worth expanding on this morning.  I thought Gilbert made it a point last night to publicly take up for LeBron James' business partners, specifically Maverick Carter, after some recent heat that's been directed towards their camp.  When LeBron sat down next to Carter late in the 4th quarter, Fred McLeod said that "LeBron has 31 points tonight as he takes a seat next to his good friend Maverick Carter."  To which Dan Gilbert responded, "LeBron has 31 points, but you know what, Maverick Carter has 362 emails during this game alone, and that's probably a new record."  My thoughts on that...just my speculation here - Mav Carter probably does get 300+ emails a game, and he probably gets somewhere around 1000 a day.  And if I got that many emails, its possible that I might miss one, from say a mom who can't wait to get some memorabilia up on ebay.  I am not referencing anyone specifically though, so don't get "mad." Back to references, this was the second time last night that Carter was referenced during the telecast.  Earlier in the game, the ball bounced into his hands courtside, and McLeod acknowledged Carter first by referencing him as a former gridiron star at St. V's.  Gilbert also added that he did play a couple of seasons of PG at Western Michigan.

 

More things I thought included...

LeBron James just put together what most NBA players would call a career week.  To James, its just the latest of his (21) player of the week awards.  He was named, yesterday, the NBA's Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday (11-16) through Sunday (11-22), a stretch in which he averaged 34-6-9.  

His nightly numbers, and video highlights are below:

LBJ went for 31 points and 12 assists in a win against Golden State (11-17).  And you might have heard, he kinda deflected one of Monta Ellis' shot attempts.

In the only loss of the 4-game stretch, LeBron scored a game high 34 points against the Wiz (11-18).  He also found Jamario "Moon-walking" above the rim.  

And then a season high 40 against the Pacers.  For fun, he also grabbed 9 boards and dished out 7 dimes in the 105-95 win (11-20) and then closed the week out at home by netting 32, grabbing 7, and dishing out 9.  And how about the old guy Z finding the young fella James...he does remind me a lot of Magic...Zydrunas that is (11-22).