After a sluggish start to the 2009 season, the Cavaliers seemed to have turned their luck around with three straight wins, all on the road. The biggest of the wins have come up against Eastern Conference playoff teams and Team USA members along with LeBron James.

Cleveland has ridden the hot hand of Mo Williams, who started perfect against Orlando in the first half, to a convincing win over Dwight Howard and the Eastern Conference Champion Magic and a win over Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat.

Williams has put up 53 points in the past two games, and shot 75% from three-point range, to go along with the 70 points that James put up in the same span. Shaquille O’Neal also has been able to contribute effectively as well, shooting 50% from the field and scoring in double figures while playing only 41 minutes in the two wins.

Mike Brown has been effective at keeping O’Neal’s minutes down to keep him fresh and all the while still letting his full impact be felt on a nightly basis. He has slowly started to fill into his role and been effective while playing very few minutes, which should keep him fresher for the stretch run and into the playoffs next April.

One surprising factor with the recent winning streak for the Cavaliers is Brown starting second-year PF J.J. Hickson over Anderson Varejao. The young big man from N.C. State has been effective playing with the first unit, and drawing more minutes over a very short time.

The surprising figure was a season-high 18 points against Miami shooting 7-9 from the field. What has worked well for the young man? An improved jumper which opens up his low post offensive game can give the athletic big man with speed and long arms a more profound effect in the paint.

Hickson came into the NBA very raw a year ago, and he took a year of being a sponge and having spot duty a year ago. Now with one of the greatest big men in NBA history mentoring the 21-year old, and a summer of lifting and training with James, Hickson’s improvements are showing on the court, and Brown has shown great confidence in the young man by extending his playing time in great doses.

If he continues to improve defensively and box out more, Hickson could be a big surprise which will give the Cavaliers an added dimension of versatility when Leon Powe returns around the All-Star break to the bench.

The real test for the young man will be to see how long he can play this well and how long it takes for consistency to settle in. And how he deals with adversity could help Hickson become a valuable role player and potentially a star in this league.

Tweet This Post

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.