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Random Game Notes:

Cavs good, Lakers bad?

by Chad Ford

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Also Below: Is Raef LaFrentz permanently damaged? | Jerry West takes Lowe off the hot seat | Suns bench Joe Johnson | Peep Show

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Now that we're officially in Week 2 of the season, some surprising trends are already beginning to emerge. Armed with little more than a remote, a subscription to NBA League Pass and two TVs, Insider's Random Game Notes ponders the imponderable -- are the Cavs better than the Lakers?

What can you make of the Cavs' surprising upset of the Lakers Tuesday night? Are the Lakers that bad or are the Cavs that good? The answer to both questions is yes. Go figure. Maybe Jim Paxson knows what he's doing after all. The Cavs are 2-2, have already knocked off the up-start Clippers and World Champion Lakers, have the third-best defense in the NBA, and are getting surprising production from two players, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Tyrone Hill, everyone else assumed were washed up. After making a big deal about the acquisition of Darius Miles and the drafting of Dajuan Wagner this summer, it's the old Cavs who are getting the job done.

Ilgauskas finally looks like the guy the Cavs handed a max contract to four years ago. He's averaging 19.7 ppg, 13 rpg and 2.3 bpg. Better yet, his feet are showing no signs of wear and tear from the 35-plus minutes a night he's getting. With so few big men able to play with their backs to the basket these days, Ilgauskas gives the Cavs a big advantage down low. You hate to overstate things, but with Shaq out nursing his big toe, he's the best offensive true center I've seen play this season.

Hill will never put up the gaudy offensive numbers either, but his 13 boards a night plus his 12.5 ppg give the Cavs one of the best rebounding frontcourts in the NBA. Ricky Davis is giving the Cavs most of their offensive fire power (21.8 ppg) and his four assists a game lead the team. The only real disappointment has been Miles, who has struggled to find his offensive game with the Cavs. Apparently, that shot doctor Miles hired this summer didn't help much. He's getting the majority of his points on the break and on offensive put backs. If he's going to be the starter the Cavs envisioned, he's going to have to stick a J now and then.

Before I get too soft on Paxson though, I kept asking myself the same question during the Cavs-Lakers game. If Z, Hill and Davis played like this last season, would the Cavs have really traded Andre Miller? Had they drafted a small forward like Caron Butler, and held onto Miller, I think the Cavs would be right in the playoff hunt in the East.

As for the Lakers, Tuesday night was an embarrassment. The team shot a woeful 31 percent from the field and proved once again that if Kobe doesn't score 30 a night, the Lakers are fodder for anyone in the NBA. That's bad, but what was worse was Phil Jackson's decision to keep Kobe in the game late in the fourth with the outcome clearly decided. Kobe was obviously in there trying to get one last assist so he could claim his third triple double in three nights. Every possession, the Lakers let Kobe handle the ball and Kobe would dish to a teammate for an open jump shot. Doesn't that just fuel the selfishness that the Lakers have been complaining about all of those years? He wasn't handing out assists to make his teammates better, he was giving up the ball to fill out a stat sheet. That's sad.

Who says that Vin Baker can't make a difference? The Sonics are off to a 4-0 start without him and the Celtics are dragging along at a 1-2 pace with him. Tuesday night, the Sonics faced their biggest challenge of the season -- the Rockets -- and came away with a convincing 104-97 victory. Coach Nate McMillian is getting balanced scoring and rebounding from Gary Payton (21 ppg, 10.3 apg, 4.5 rpg), Brent Barry (15.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 67 percent shooting), Rashard Lewis (12.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg) and sixth man Desmond Mason (15.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg). When those four are in the lineup together, the Sonics have one of the most versatile, potent offenses in the NBA. If they can just continue to get solid play from Jerome James (13 points, 6 board, 5 blocks Tuesday night) in the middle, they'll be the proverbial team no one wants to play in the first round of the playoffs this year.

Yao Ming missed another dunk Tuesday. You've got to give the kid time to adjust, but I have to admit that I didn't think he'd stink this bad early on.

Grant Hill gave everyone a scare at the end of the first quarter on Tuesday when he left the bench for the locker room. Was his sore ankle acting up again? Hill returned momentarily and said after the game he just had to use the restroom. Whew. When he wasn't bolting for the john, Hill looked as explosive as ever in the Magic's win. When Hill, McGrady and Darrell Armstrong are on the court together, the Magic are as fun a team to watch as any in the NBA.

Speaking of fun to watch, am I the only one wondering why the Kings gave all that money to Mike Bibby when Bobby Jackson is on the roster? Bibby is more of a pure point guard, but Jackson, with his explosiveness and ability to break down defenses, is a great fit in the Kings' offensive system. Chris Webber and Doug Christie do much of the ball handling anyway. The Kings, at 3-2, are off to a so-so start. They missed Vlade Divac terribly Tuesday night and have lacked any real inside game without Webber, but you can't really say they've missed Bibby all that much. Can you?

After Tuesday night's shooting clinic (they were 2-22 in the fourth quarter), the Wizards now rank 28th in three-point field goal percentage at 23 percent from the field. Jordan had his shot blocked twice in the closing minutes. "Those were two instances where I had good looks," Jordan said. "We've got to be in sync. Everybody's expecting me to take over in the fourth quarter, but a lot of times the defenses are focusing on me and I have to get the ball to the right people. We shot 2 for 22 in the fourth quarter, and you can't finish games like that." Said Kendall Gill of Jordan: "I wish I could see him the way he used to play. It seems like he's holding back a bit. Maybe he's trying to get the younger players involved. He wasn't pressing tonight. He could do more but he's being a big brother to his teammates."

Kendall Gill is another example of why luxury-tax madness has damaged NBA rosters this season. Gill, along with veterans like Voshon Lenard, has been pushed to the sidelines by second-round picks and undrafted rookies this summer. Gill, like Lenard, finally agreed to a one-year, veteran's minimum deal and is having an immediate impact on his team. His 22-point performance Tuesday night was the difference in the T-Wolves' victory over the Wizards. Guys like Adam Harrington and Juaquin Hawkins just can't do that for you.

I saw just enough of the Pacers-Heat game to come away with this nugget. Jamaal Tinsley must have been working out with Jacque Vaughn in Florida this summer. Tinsley couldn't hit the side of a barn with his jumper right now. He's made only four field goals all season and is shooting a woeful 18 percent from the field. His assists are also way down. The Pacers are winning, but if Tinsley doesn't get his act together, I'm taking back all of the nice things I said about the Pacers in the preseason.

Why are we subjected to a constant barrage of ads sporting David Stern in a towel (yes, my employer is partially to wholly to blame for this)? The temporary blindness the occurs after every airing can't be good for ratings. If you want guys to actually watch the NBA on ESPN, why aren't the Laker Girls in the towels?

For one night, it was all good

Bill Livingston / Cleveland Plain Dealer

Cavs rout leaves Lakers' Bryant fuming

Mary Schmitt Boyer / Cleveland Plain Dealer

Give Dr. McMillan credit for removing Sonics malignancy

David Locke / Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Francis covets what Payton possesses

Fran Blinebury / Houston Chronicle

Marketing Yao exercise in patience

Danny O'Neil / Seattle Post-Intelligencer

When the subject is Hill's ankle, it's hard to get relief from w

David Whitley / Orlando Sentinel

Wanted ASAP: A team identity

Tom Knott / Washington Times

Wolves look to Gill to provide leadership

Dan Barreiro / Minneapolis Star Tribune

Is Raef LaFrentz permanently damaged?

Raef LaFrentz's ankle injury seems to be scaring the [censored] out of folks in Dallas.

LaFrentz suffered what Mavericks team physician T.O. Souryal described as virtually the same injury to his right ankle as former Mavs star Jim Jackson had to his left.

"They are similar in both mechanism [how they happened] and degree [severity]," Souryal told the Dallas Morning News.

Of course, Jackson never really recovered from the injury. Though he was only 24, Jackson would never come close to matching the numbers he posted in the 51 games before the injury. He missed the remaining 31 games games of the season.

Ouch. Is LaFrentz doomed?

"The big difference is that it was Jim Jackson's first ankle injury in his life," Souryal said. "For Raef, he has sprained his ankles numerous times. And if there is a bright side, that's it. Raef has been through this before, and that's a positive for him. He knows what to expect. The disclaimer is that with any injury this severe, there's a chance it could have an impact on him [throughout his career]. But statistically, the odds are low on that. They very much are in favor of him getting healthy and being just like he was before."

With LaFrentz out, the weight to man the middle now falls squarely on the shoulders of Shawn Bradley. Coach Don Nelson talked Bradley up all summer and several Mavs players said they'd need a big contribution from Bradley to make it to the finals this season. Here's his chance.

LaFrentz's sprain not same as ex-Mav Jackson's

Eddie Sefko / Dallas Morning News

For better, worse, Mavs' hopes center on Bradley

Kevin Sherrington / Dallas Morning News

Jerry West takes Lowe off the hot seat

The Grizzlies' 0-4 start has ignited the first hot seat watch of the season. Clearly, based on the preseason enthusiasm coming out of Memphis, president Jerry West expected more from his team.

Is coach Sidney Lowe, who has already been criticized by players, on his way out? Speculation has been running rampant that West already has his heart set on Mike Dunleavy Sr. as the coach of the Grizzlies.

West held a closed-door meeting with Lowe after Monday's overtime loss. When later asked whether Lowe is on the hot seat, West's response was as direct as the question.

"No. Not at all," he told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "It's almost a question you wished no one would ever ask because there's no reason to think that [firing Lowe] is going to happen. Period."

"In my mind, I don't see anything that overly concerns me. I know [Lowe] is concerned about our play," West said. "The only thing we can do internally is try to find a way to figure that out. There's always going to be speculation when somebody is in the last year of a contract. I'm new here and nobody really knows me. But I don't always view [losing] as coaches contributing to these things. Players have to look in the mirror. A lot of times you read comments made and the players that are making the comments might be the ones who are the biggest offenders. We need to get away from blaming people and collectively look at ourselves objectively. If we do that and we start to play better, everyone will feel a lot more comfortable. I know I will."

Griz's West takes heat off Lowe after 0-4 start

Ronald Tillery / Memphis Commercial Appeal

Suns bench Joe Johnson

Coach Frank Johnson is trying to shake things up after the Suns' lackluster 1-3 start. The team is ranked last in offense.

Johnson said Monday that he's considering taking Joe Johnson out of the starting lineup and replacing him with either Penny Hardaway or rookie Casey Jacobsen. Hardaway has been pushing for the job behind the scenes, but Jacobsen got the call for the second half on Monday.

Johnson met with Johnson on Tuesday about coming off the bench.

"He played two years in college [Arkansas]," Frank Johnson told the Arizona Republic. "He came out after his sophomore year. I'm certainly not disappointed in him. . . Maybe that'll help. I don't know. He just said he was thinking too much, not playing off his instincts. He also said: 'I'd be lying to you if I told you that it didn't matter if I started.' That's good."

Suns consider changing lineup to help J. Johnson

Norm Frauenheim / Arizona Republic

Peep Show

T-Wolves: Wally Szczerbiak said after Tuesday's game he hopes to play Thursday against Milwaukee. Szczerbiak has been out since a preseason game Oct. 8, when he dislocated the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot, also against the Bucks.

Bulls: Why isn't Eddy Curry playing? "I thought I was making strides in the right direction, but I guess there are still things I need to improve on," Curry told the Chicago Tribune. Coach Bill Cartwright pointed to defense and rebounding. "I question myself and think about my rotations all the time," Cartwright said. "Should I have gone back with Eddy last night? No. The game was close and I wanted my most experienced guys in there. Corie [blount] is more stable. Eddy will get more and more minutes as he and we defend better."

Kings: Vlade Divac, who has a strained lower back, said he thought he might be able to play against the Knicks. "If I didn't play in Miami [last Sunday]," said Divac, who injured himself during a fall in Memphis last Saturday, "I would be good now. I probably made a mistake there. But there were too many guys out. And when I was playing and got loose, I was OK. But once I sat on the bench, [the back] was too tight."

Sixers: Although Derrick Coleman practiced and played in the spirited five-on-five scrimmages that conclude each workout, he likely will not play tonight, coach Larry Brown said. But Greg Buckner will be back in the lineup for his second game of the young season after spraining a knee ligament in early October. "He needs to start playing when he's comfortable and be able to say, 'I'm ready to go,' not 'I'm ready to play, sit out, then play [again],' " Eric Snow told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I don't think that accomplishes anything."

Spurs: Steve Smith's strained groin continues to improve, but he probably won't return until the middle of the month, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. . .The team learned Tuesday it will be without backup point guard Speedy Claxton for at least two to three months. Claxton will undergo surgery to repair a tear in his right labrum suffered when he dislocated his right shoulder near the end of Friday's win over Toronto. "Speedy's obviously real disappointed this has happened," Popovich told the San Antonio Express News. "He realized that we were going to play him and he wasn't going to just come in here and sit. He's just frustrated more than anything." The team doesn't have any immediate plans to sign a replacement. Erick Barkley, who was cut by Chicago after he was traded on Oct. 25, is living with Claxton, but the Spurs currently aren't interested in signing him. If the Spurs eventually decide to add another point guard, they likely will choose from a pool that includes Rafer Alston, John Crotty, Robert Pack and Anthony Goldwire, who played on their summer-league team.

Warriors: Bob Sura, who is eligible to come off the injured list for Friday's game in New Orleans, is considered doubtful for the remaining three games of the road trip, a Warriors official told the San Francisco Chronicle. The Warriors have felt Sura's absence already, with starting point guard Gilbert Arenas averaging 39.2 minutes a game out of necessity. General manager Garry St. Jean said he would consider bringing in another point guard if he determined that Sura will not return for a few more weeks. Remember, the Warriors dumped Alston right before the season in an effort to save around $100,000.

Nuggets: Chris Whitney suffered a moderate ankle sprain Tuesday with 5 minutes, 42 seconds remaining when Atlanta forward Glenn Robinson landed on his foot after Whitney shot a three-pointer. X-rays on Whitney's left ankle were negative, and the team should know today how much time he will miss."I've sprained my ankle before and never had problems with swelling, but this one swelled up on me," Whitney told the Denver Post. Kenny Satterfield and rookie Junior Harrington will have to fill in in Whitney's absence. "Kenny and Junior have had enough experience where they are able to hold down the fort," Vandeweghe said. "They played a lot in the preseason, which was very beneficial to them in the possibility that someone gets hurt. They got a lot of good out of [the preseason], so hopefully they can build on that."

Celtics: Boston is the only team in the NBA with just 11 active players. With Kedrick Brown out with a severe ankle sprain, management refuses to add another minimum player to the roster. Coach Jim O'Brien has made no secret of his desire for reinforcements. Tuesday, he said, "I've made my position known to Paul and he has made his known to me. Paul has been very clear. He wants the roster at 12. Obviously, we're going to try to get a little more depth and level the playing field. But he explained it to me and that's all you can ask. So this is what we have, and to have a `woe is me' attitude sends a bad message."

Jordan shows flashes of brilliance

La Velle E. Neal III and Steve Aschburner / Minneapolis Star Tribune

Curry waiting for 1st big-minute game

K.C. Johnson / Chicago Tribune

Most of Kings' bench was in the locker room

Martin McNeal / Sacramento Bee

Sixers take offensive on injury front

Ashley McGeachy Fox / Philadelphia Inquirer

Smith on the mend

Johnny Ludden / San Antonio Express-News

Surgery will keep Claxton sidelined

Johnny Ludden / San Antonio Express-News

Injured Sura still isn't ready to return

Brad Weinstein / San Francisco Chronicle

Whitney tumbles in loss

Marc J. Spears / Denver Post

A cheaper-by-the-dozen special

Peter May / Boston Globe

[Diesel]

IF Big Z, stays healthy, the Cavs are contenders.

All during the cavs best stints, the force propelling them was Big Z. When he's healthy, they win. When he's not, they lose.

What happens if he stays healthy?

The cavs. can lineup:

Coles, Davis, Miles, Hill, and Big Z

The good news is that Hill is old and probably will run out of gas soon... But that still leaves Jones and Boozer. They have a good squad if you catch them at the wrong time.

[Traceman]

Big Z looked like the next dominant Center before his feet betrayed him. If he can stay healthy, he's the best all around Center in the EC. If Z stays healthy and the Cavs had kept Miller and drafted Butler as Ford suggested, I think they would have been a lock for a playoff spot. Big Z's health is a BIF IF though which is why they made the move.

As for Ty Hill, I think I might be the only guy who felt Philly screwed up big time by trading him and Jones for Harpring but I always thought he brought more to Philly's team than he got credit for. He had a HORRIBLE playoffs the year Philly made it to the Finals but he was very good for the entire regular season.

[Diesel]

Actually, I agree that Hill brought a lot to Philly, but I would probably have made the trade too. Here's why.

I think what Philly lacked most was Outside Shooting. With Hill being so injury prone and Philly having went out and signed Dalembert, Jones Jr., and other prospect, I would have did that trade just to get the tough defense and shooting ability of Harpring.

BUT.. I think their real bad mistake was trading for Coleman. That trade sucked. And I can't remember if they traded for Coleman first or second... But I know that Brown had it in his mind that he would get DC? Anyway, they lost Lynch in that trade. He was a very capable player. Tough minded. It was the total destruction of their defensive personality. They only had Deke, Iverson, and Snow to rely on after that because DC drags butt.

They're doing much better now because Brown has changed the Philosophy and now they are an offensive team!!