Cleveland Cavaliers @ Miami Heat – 8:00 PM – TNT

Too bad Dwyane Wade isn’t playing the Wizards tonight. When he’s gone against Washington this season, he averages 40.5 points on 50.9% from the field. When he’s not, a measly 25.6 ppg on 42.1 FG%.

Lucky for Wade, he’s still pretty damn good … and when it comes to matching up against his fellow draft classmate, the wins and losses are just about even with LeBron holding the 10-9 advantage. The last time the Heat and the Cavs met, March 7, 2009, Mo Williams led all scorers with 29 points in a 99-89 Cleveland win. Williams has only scored over 27 points once since, one time being the 28 he dropped in Cleveland’s win against Orlando last night. The Cavs are 8-0 when Williams scores 27 or more points.

About Williams’ performance last night, John Krolik of Cavs: The Blog writes:

Mo was absolutely a man possessed in the first half, hitting all 8 of his field goal attempts (including 4 threes) in the first 24 minutes. When the Magic went under the screen, he pulled up from the left side and drained threes over Jameer Nelson. (A note here; Nelson’s defense was a factor in this. With Nelson’s short size and alligator arms, taller points who can flat-out shoot off the dribble like Mo are going to be problems for him.)

Of course, Williams won’t be going against Alligator Arms Nelson tonight … he’ll be up against the long arms of Mario Chalmers and his 2.43 steals per game, third best in the NBA.

Other Storylines:

• This will only be Shaq’s second trip back to Miami since winning a championship there. In the first meeting, Shaq’s Suns were bested by the Heat 135-129 — Dwyane Wade tied his career high of 16 assists, the only time he’s out-assisted Steve Nash, who had 10, in their seven meetings.
• LeBron no longer wants to talk about free agency because it’s “getting old.” Other people do. But really, what does the self-proclaimed King of Ohio expect when he passes the opportunity to re-up in his home state and continues to drape his brand in New York Yankees propaganda?
• Delonte West was inactive last night in Orlando, reportedly because he missed a team flight from Cleveland … but it could be because of his new math. No word on if he will be active against the Heat tonight.

In any case, both West and Miami’s Michael Beasley had events occur in their respective offseasons that they’d probably rather do-over. Thus, a Google search suggestion on each player might aptly suggest how good of a game they might have.

Well, all of these things except rehab seem like fun activities. I’m no tattoo person, but they seem to bring joy to plenty of people. West, on the other hand,  certainly has a diverse set of related terms … some “fun” things (kfc, hot sauce, donuts, rap, twitter), and several not so fun conditions to have.

So while this clearly indicates that Beasley will have 17 and 12, and West will have seven points, four turnovers, and quite possible a V.D., the Cavs will continue to gel and dominate the paint, only allowing Wade to get his on the perimeter.

Cleveland 94 – Miami 81

Phoenix Suns @ LA Lakers – 10:30 PM – TNT

You’re not going to find many people who aren’t surprised at Phoenix’s hot 6-1 start … especially with Amar’e Stoudemire still knocking off rust and eye snot (his PER and PPG are career lows, aside from his rookie year and the season in which he only played three games).

Which makes one wonder … at what point will Steve Nash be mentioned in the MVP conversation? And at what point can we start talking MVP in the first place? (It’s way too early IMO, but that hasn’t kept absurd fans from chanting it in arenas across the nation).

The Suns lead the NBA in FG% (.508), 3P% (47.4), and obviously points (112.3). With the NBA’s leading dime-dropper, the Suns are second to Boston in team assists per game (25.7) and third after the Celts and Clippers in assist-percentage (62.1). But curiously enough, despite leading the NBA with made 3-pointers (102), along with their league leading 3P%, the Suns are 24th in the NBA in Assist-% on three-pointers.

Nash is doing as good of a job as ever in getting his teammates involved and making them better … and especially Jason Richardson, who’s having a career-year in PER, FG% and 3P% by far (he also sat out the first two games due to a DUI arrest suspension).

Can the hot shooting continue? I doubt it against the Lakers … they matchup too well. Odom can checks Frye on the perimeter. And either Kobe or Artest gives Richardson trouble. Artest might actually fare better against Grant Hill, especially in keeping him off the boards. Hill hasn’t averaged over eight rebounds per game since Sweaty Pat Ewing was getting run with Orlando earlier this decade. Laker PGs still might have trouble keeping Nash contained, but still look for Phoenix’s shooting percentages to come back to reality tonight.

Lakers 118 – Phoenix 107

I’m Tired Dog.

{flickr/Keith Allison}