Cleveland Barons return ... well, one of them

OK, that was a bad pun, and probably nobody reading this even remembers the Cleveland Barons. For those who do not, they were an NHL team that played here from 1976 to 1978. Still ...

The Cavaliers have traded Mo Williams and Jamario Moon to the Clippers for Baron Davis and a first-round draft pick. My initial impression was, gee, I hate to lose Mo, and Baron Davis is definitely on the far side of the hill.

But then I thought about it a little more. The Clippers currently have the eighth-worst record in the NBA, which means the Cavs will have two lottery picks. If they use them wisely, this could be the way to build another contender down the road. Remember how Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Hot Rod Williams and Ron Harper were all rookies at the same time for the Cavs? They don't necessarily have to have four super rookies to build a good team, but stockpiling draft picks sure can't hurt.

So yeah, I like the move. Good job, Cavs.

We need mo' Mo

In a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavaliers took the Orlando Magic to the woodshed last night, in a game that was never as close as the final score indicated. The Cavs' lead was in the 20s all night, until the Magic outscored them 25-14 in garbage time, aka the fourth quarter.

We were all anxious to see how Shaquille O'Neal would do against Dwight Howard, who manhandled the Cavs in the aforementioned series last spring, and he did not disappoint. Though Howard did not miss a shot from the floor, he only took three, and finished with 11 points. He was also in foul trouble for much of the contest. (As was Shaq, I might add.) Shaq only scored 10, but his job is no longer to be the offensive force he used to be — not on a team with LeBron James.

Speaking of the King, he was his usual self, pouring in 36 points to go with eight rebounds. And Mo Williams was just phenomenal in leading the Cavs to their big first-half lead — they were up 15 at the half, led by Mo's 22 points on 9-for-9 shooting, including four three-pointers. Mo cooled off in the second half, but still wound up with 28 on the night.

And J.J. Hickson, starting at power forward, made a real positive conribution. Hickson had nine points and six rebounds in just 23 minutes, and always seemed to be around the ball. Hickson's plus-minus for the game was +13, which was tops on the team.

Next up, the Cavs have Dwyane Wade and the Heat tonight. It'll be a tough assignment, coming on the second day of a back-to-back, but I look forward to seeing it.

Cavs continue to hum

Watching from my window as the snow continues to fall ...

The Cavaliers sleepwalked through a lot of that game last night against the Kings, but two guys who didn't sleepwalk at all were (of course) LeBron James and Mo Williams. Mo scored 43, which is the most a LeBron teammate has ever scored; and they came within two Williams rebounds of being the third set of teammates since 1989 to each have a triple-double in the same NBA game. Mo was a huge addition to this team, and is the main reason why a team that struggled to stay above .500 last year now has the NBA's best record. The All-Star reserves are about to be announced, and I admit I haven't looked at the stats of players Williams might be up against for one of those spots, but it sure seems to me like he deserves to go. It's hard to believe all Danny Ferry gave up for him was Joe Smith and Damon Jones.

The Cavs are now 21-0 at home, the fifth team in NBA history to stay undefeated after more than half the season's home schedule. Of the other four, only the '95-96 Bulls (who started an NBA-record 37-0 at home) went on to win the title. Interestingly, the second-longest season-starting home winning streak belonged to another team in the same conference, the same year. Shaquille O'Neal's Magic, who lost to those Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals, went 36-0 before losing their first home game in '95-96, a year after starting 21-0 at home and losing in the NBA Finals. The other team to start 21-0 at home was the '77-78 Trail Blazers, who won their first 26 home games and went on to lose in the Western Conference Finals. We are students of sporting history here at Of Fair Hooker.

As mentioned here earlier this week, Zydrunas Ilgauskas hopes to return tomorrow night in Orlando. Whether he makes it back for that marquee matchup or not, he'll be playing again soon. Delonte West will take a little longer, but should be back around mid- to late February. If this team can stay healthy after that, I'm really not sure anybody can stop them.