Cavs-Magic Eastern Conference Finals Preview, TV Schedule, Tickets, and Prediction

Cleveland fans woke up to some good news on Monday, May 18th, 2009 and also to some (recurring) bad news on Monday, May 18th, 2009.

Since we’re Cleveland fans, let’s wallow in the bad news a bit first.

First, there are the Indians, who are only not the worst team in baseball thanks to the presence of the Washington Nationals. The Indians currently sit at 14-25, already 7.5 back in an AL Central that no one seems to want to take control of. And then there are the Browns, for whom bad news seems as inevitable as the sun rising each morning. Today the bad news revolved around fan favorite Joshua Cribbs, who has decided to skip Eric Mangini’s first voluntary full-team minicamp because of contract concerns.

But rejoice long-suffering fans of Cleveland! For there soon will be a return of city’s one shining beacon of sports hope: the lovable, entertaining Cleveland Cavaliers and their incomparable leader LeBron James.

The Cavs, who have already achieved the best record in the NBA, a regular season MVP, and a coach of the year award, will now be looking to add Eastern Conference Champions to the 2009 mantle of accomplishments.

And surprisingly, they will not be going through defending champion Boston to do so. The Celtics were upset on their home floor last night in Game 7 by the upstart Magic and their own Superman-like star Stan Van Gundy Dwight Howard.

Before we take a quick peek at the series, here are links to buy Cavs-Magic tickets to Eastern Conference Finals games in both Cleveland and Orlando from MSF’s official ticket supplier StubHub (plus a few others so that you can do some comparison shopping). After the Cavs-Magic ticket links, you’ll find the complete TV schedule for the series.

StubHub Tickets: Cavs-Magic Eastern Conference Finals Tickets

RazorGator Tickets: Cavs Home Games | Magic Home Games

TicketsNow Tickets: Cavaliers-Magic Eastern Conference Finals Tickets

TickCo Tickets: Cleveland-Orlando Eastern Confernce Finals Tickets

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Cavs-Magic Eastern Conference Finals TV Schedule, Dates, Times, Point Spreads and Results

Game	Matchup	Date	Time	Location	TV	Spread / Result
1	#3 Orlando def. #1 Cleveland	Wed, 5/20	8:30 ET	Cleveland	TNT	ORL leads 1-0
2	#1 Cleveland def. #3 Orlando 96-95	Fri, 5/22	8:30 ET	Cleveland	TNT	Tied 1-1
3	#3 Orlando def. #1 Cleveland 99-89	Sun, 5/24	8:30 ET	Orlando	TNT	ORL leads 2-1
4	#Orlando def. #1 Cleveland 116-114	Tue, 5/26	8:30 ET	Orlando	TNT	ORL leads 3-1
5*	#1 Cleveland v #3 Orlando	Thu, 5/28	8:30 ET	Cleveland	TNT	CLE -7.5
6*	#1 Cleveland v #3 Orlando	Sat, 5/30	8:30 ET	Orlando	TNT
7*	#1 Cleveland v #3 Orlando	Mon, 6/1	8:30 ET	Cleveland	TNT
	* - if necessary

Now let’s run down a few key stats heading into the Cavs-Magic series, courtesy of the extensive Cleveland v Orlando Eastern Conference Finals preview on ESPN.com:

• The Magic won the season series 2-1, twice beating the Cavs by double-digits (99-88 and 116-87) and losing once by four points. Not surprisingly, the Magic won twice at home and lost their one trip to Quicken Loans Arena.
• Neither the Magic nor the Cavs has ever won an NBA Championship.
• The Magic average 0.7 more points per game than the Cavs (101-100.3) but the Cavs have much better FG, FT, and 3Pt percentages on the season.
• The Cavs and Magic are the only two franchises in NBA history to have made the NBA Finals but to have never won a Finals game.
• All ten of the ESPN experts picked the Cavs to win the series. Four experts picked the Cavs to win in 5 games, five picked the Cavs to win in six, and Henry Abbott of True Hoop picked the Magic to extend the series all the way to seven games.

A quick look at the starting matchups suggests that the Cavs hold a significant advantage at the PG-SG-SF positions, where the trio of Mo Williams-Delonte West-LeBron James should have no trouble outplaying Rafer Alston-J.J. Redick-Hedo Turkoglu. Where the Magic will have to make hay is in the frontcourt, where the versatile Rashard Lewis and NBA Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard would seem to hold a significant advantage over Anderson Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

However, with Big Z’s ability to step out and make shots from the perimeter, Stan Van Gundy and the Magic will have to decide how far to let Dwight Howard roam from the basket. We all know how good LeBron is at getting to the hole. If Dwight Howard finds himself out on the perimeter more, his ability to control the paint could be neutralized, leaving more room from LeBron to operate for his patented driving and dunking/dishing.

I think this has a chance to be a competitive series, as the Cavs have not yet played anyone in the playoffs with anything even close to the Magic’s post presence. If Turkoglu and Lewis are making outside shots and Alston can play Mo Williams to a draw, the Magic will be able to compete and win their games at home. The worst case scenario I see for the Cavs though is having to win a Game 7 at home, which they will do unlike Boston. LeBron is too good, the Cavs are too rested, and they are too good at home for the Magic to steal this series.

If Orlando had homecourt, they might be a tempting upset pick. Considering LeBron’s brilliance and the Cavs’ ability to play a Game 7 at home, they will win the series and advance to the Finals. But I think they get it done at Orlando in Game 6.

And Cleveland fans will be one step closer to celebrating their first major professional sport championship since 1964.

What do you think?

Who will win the Eastern Conference finals?

• Orlando Magic (40%, 8 Votes)
• Cleveland Cavaliers (60%, 12 Votes)

Total Voters: 20

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Tags: 2009 NBA Playoffs, Cleveland Cavaliers, lebron james, NBA

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