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After their 102-92 loss in Game 2 on Tuesday night, the Nets have two days to practice — they were given yesterday off. That should give Frank enough time to come up with some schemes to improve their rebounding.

Cleveland is outrebounding them 39-12 on the offensive side and is plus-31 in total rebounds. Cleveland leads 37-19 in second-chance points. The Nets have turned the ball over 32 times.

The Nets gave the Cavaliers 30 extra possessions over the first two games of the series. But maybe their worst offense is in the endgame. The Nets shot just 31.6 percent in the fourth quarter of Game 1 and went 1-for-7 over the final 6:12 of Game 2.

“We’re disappointed in the way we lost. And you should be. Cleveland has beaten us and put together a very impressive streak over the last month and we know we’re going to have to play a significantly better game to get back in the series.” Lawrence Frank said.
Lawrence said that he might change his lineup according to Windhorst. There’s a chance Jason Collins, who has just five rebounds in 59 minutes in the two games, might see less time. Also, Mikki Moore has just six rebounds in 77 minutes.

“I think you have to evaluate everything,” Frank said. “You have to have an open mind and see if it’s a different player, different scheme. You have to consider all the options. If we can’t do it better or harder, do we need to do something different? Do we need to play somebody different.”

David Stern, the NBA commisioner watched the Cavaliers beat the Nets at the Q last night.

Stern has been making the rounds during the playoffs. He already has visited Utah, Golden State, Denver, Washington, Toronto, Detroit and New Jersey.

Stern sat down with reporters before the game started and answered questions.

“This is a great ownership group” he said. “the court, the building, the community, the practice facility. This is a great ownership group, and Cleveland is back. It’s very exciting for us.”
This year, after Golden Stated beat Dallas, some have suggested that the league re-seed after each round of the playoffs. But that idea was shot down by Stern.

“You’d have to stop and wait for all four series to be over,” he said. “The fans wouldn’t like it. The teams wouldn’t like it. But I’m positive [ESPN personality Tony] Kornheiser would like it.”

Finally it is know for sure who the Cavaliers will play in the Second Round. The NBA released the second round schedule and it will look like this:

Game 1 – Sunday, NJ at Cavs, 1 p.m., ABC
Game 2 – Tuesday, NJ at Cavs, 8 p.m., TNT
Game 3 – Saturday,  May 12, Cavs at NJ, 5 p.m., ESPN
Game 4 – Monday, May 14, Cavs at New Jersey, 7 p.m., TNT
Game 5 – Wednesday,  May 16, New Jersey at Cavs, TBD, TNT
Game 6 – Friday,  May 18, Cavs at New Jersey , TBD, ESPN
Game 7 – Sunday, May 20, NJ at Cavs, TBD, TNT

James’ appearance on American Idol, doing a take on the Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive.

That was a special segment to benefit relief programs for children in extreme poverty in the United States and in Africa. James, Miami Heal All-Star Shaquille O’Neal and others filmed brief segments while singing and dancing to the Bee Gees’ Staying Alive.
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Brendan Haywood was called for a technical foul with 46 seconds left in the 3rd quarter after
Anderson Varejao draw an offencive foul. He got in Varejao’s face and taunted him.

He was taken out of the game and made a hand gesture (flip off the crowd) to the crowd, fans booed him and chanted an obscenity back (A–Hole).

It was picked up by the jumbo-tron at The Q and was surprised that he was not ejected from the game.

It will be interesting to see what the NBA and David Stern will do about this.

According to ESPN, coach Eddie Jordan ruled out having injured Caron Butler back for the first-round playoff series against Cleveland.

“He is not in our plans, right now — not as a player,” Jordan said after practice Monday. “If we get deeper in the playoffs, possibly, but not in the first round.”

Asked whether there’s any chance Butler could face the Cavaliers, Jordan said: “To me? No. Not to me.”

Butler will have the cast removed today.

The Cavalier Girls, Moondog, the Scream Team, and in-arena host Ahmaad Crump will host a lunch time event at Tower City Center at the grand staircase on Friday, April 20th from noon to 1:00 p.m. The special event will officially tip off the beginning of the 2007 NBA Playoffs, which begin this weekend at The Q, and introduce the team’s playoff call to action: RISE UP!

The theme is intended to serve as a true call to action for fans, players and the entire community to come together and RISE UP! in support of the Cavaliers as they move onward and upward through the 2007 NBA Playoffs. RISE UP! is also a challenge to Cavs fans everywhere to take their encouragement and enthusiasm to new heights and play an active role in supporting the Cavaliers as the team itself, attempts to reach that same higher level.

Fans are invited to the festivities and will also have the chance to sign the 15’x 10’ giant Cavaliers jersey, courtesy of Adidas, that will be displayed at Tower City Center throughout the weekend. The Cavalier Girls and the Scream Team will perform, while Moondog and Ahmaad mix and mingle with the crowd to get their Cavs Fever temperture rising!

The playoffs are just a little over a week from today and teams are fighting for positioning. A lot of questions have been asked about the Cavaliers dropping to fifth spot when they are tied with Chicago and have better record than Miami who are in the fourth spot.

The playoff seeding system has been revised this season.

Now, the three division winners and top non-division winner are the recipients of the top four seeds based solely upon record. That assures a division winner will be no lower than a fourth seed.

Chicago own the tie breaker because they have better division record.

Can the Cavs get back to the number 2 spot?

This can happen in two ways:

1- We need to win the rest of the games and Chicago need to loose 1 game. That would earn us the second seed. Chicago have two road games and one of them with New Jersey who are fighting for a spot in the playoffs race. New Jersey are 2-1 against Chicago. They are also playing the Knicks tonight. Chicago lead the series 2-1.

2- The other way we can get back to the second seed is by piggybacking on Toronto. If there is 3 way tie (Chicago, Cleveland, and Toronto) according to the three-team tiebreaker we would get the second seed because we are 5-3 against Toronto and Chicago, while Chicago is 4-4 and Toronto is 3-5.

I would rather see the first scenario happen. We need to take care of our own business rather than piggybacking one other teams.

However, the best record will still determine home court. So if we are the number 5 seed and have better record than Miami, we will have home court.