While everyone continue to assume the Celtics and Pistons will cruise to the Eastern Conference Finals this season, the Cleveland Cavaliers have different plans.

After taking out the Pistons 89-73 on Wednesday night, Cleveland is now 25-13 since the calendar turned 2008.

Apparently, the defending Eastern Champs aren't going to turn over their crown without a fight.

As per usual, the Cavs were led by the King, LeBron James, who scored 30 points as he moved within a couple of buckets of the franchise career mark.

A frontrunner to bag his first MVP award, LBJ filled the stat sheet to lead the Cavs to their eighth straight home win.

James now needs just five more points to knock Brad Daugherty off his perch as Cleveland's all-time leading scorer. Daugherty played his entire 548-game career in a Cav uni; James will likely break the mark in his 380th career game.

Sure, James led the way as always, but it was the D that drove this big win for the Cavs. This was the fewest points they've surrendered all season, and that's the kind of effort it's going to take to advance in the playoffs and earn a crack at defending their title.

While we mull the idea that the East might not be a two-horse race, let's tour the rest of the association…

• Turnabout is fair play, we guess. After it was reported earlier this week that Andrew Bynum was being shut down for the season, yesterday Coach Phil Jackson said that his young star will return from his knee injury before the regular season is over. The Lakers are now aiming towards April 6 as Bynum's return – probably too late to offer help for most fantasy leagues, but certainly in time to provide a boost for the Lakers in the postseason.



• Vince Carter, who has endured a disappointing season, is showing some signs of life in the past week. After struggling most of March, he's turned it on, with 28.7 PPG in his last three including a huge 39-point performance in 44 minutes of action Wednesday as the Nets downed Atlanta to take over the eighth spot in the East. VC sunk 17-of-26 including a pair of treys, while pulling down 10 boards and recording eight assists. He even had a block, his third in the past two games. Vince Carter blocking shots? Something crazy is going on, especially since Jason Kidd isn't even there to light a fire under Half Man, Half Amazingly Inconsistent. Carter's offense has suffered this year, especially his outside shooting, but if he can take charge and lead the Nets to the playoffs, that would help salvage the season. No one doubts that when the dude feels like it, he can be among the best in the biz.



• Raja Bell has been gaining some nice traction lately, and he was having a fantastic game Wednesday having sunk 7-of-9, including all six of his attempts from beyond the arc, for 20 points with a pair of steals. Then, just as quickly, Bell hurt his ankle and had to leave in the third quarter, suffering a sprain that it being termed at least Grade 1 if not Grade 2. X-rays were negative, but it looks like he'll miss at least Saturday's game – lousy timing just as the Suns (six straight) were starting to roll towards the playoffs. We'll know more after Bell is re-evaluated today. In the meantime, look for Leandro Barbosa to pick up the slack.

Injury Report

Seattle big man Chris Wilcox, who had put up a couple of big lines recently, looks like he's going to lose value again, coming out early last night with a sprained pinky finger. He managed a mere four points and two boards before getting hurt, and Nick Collison stepped up with a double-double in Wilcox's absence. Wilcox is being called questionable for the Sonics' upcoming two-game road trip, so it looks like the incessant big man shuffle in Seattle will continue. Advantage Collison.

Tip-ins: Wally Szczerbiak, who has become persona non grata from a fantasy perspective since arriving in Cleveland, showed some signs of life last night, scoring 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting in 15 minutes. It's not much, but it was Wally World's first double-digit scoring game in over a week and a half. He had been shooting just 31 percent since the trade and has barely gotten off the bench recently…Zydrunas Ilgauskas, a hot pickup since returning from a back injury, bounced back from an off game in which he was in foul trouble, scoring 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting with a steal on Wednesday…Rasheed Wallace, who has stepped up his offense the past couple of months, sunk just 6-of-17 last night, but scored 16 points and added three blocks. He has nine treys in his past three games…Richard Hamilton continues to be inconsistent, managing just 14 points, but he did pitch in with seven assists and four rebounds…Ben Wallace continues to lose steam as a Cav. He did have four assists and two blocks Wednesday, but managed just two points, eight rebounds and a steal. Even in mid-sized leagues, there are probably better options out there…Inconsistent Delonte West is not showing enough since arriving in Cleveland to be valuable for fantasy owners. While he dropped six dimes and had four rebounds and a 3-pointer last night, he sunk a woeful 3-of-13 for just seven points. Time to dump him if you haven't already…Since the return of Big Z, Anderson Vajerao's limited value has plummeted…Tayshaun Prince, who has played well of late, managed just 5-of-14, but he dropped another four dimes and is averaging almost six per game in his last four contests…Chauncey Billups also struggled with his shot, sinking just 4-of-12, and he's been in a funk with just 12.4 PPG and 5.8 APG in his last five…Hedo Turkoglu's career year reached new heights yesterday when he canned seven treys on his way to a career-high 39 points…Troy Murphy has been hot lately, and kept up his fine pace with a second straight double-double last night, recording three blocks with three assists as well…David West, out another two games because of his ankle, came back last night and enjoyed a double-double. Chris Paul turned the trick as well as the Hornets are rolling at home…Dwight Howard, dealing with foul trouble, sunk just 1-of-6 for three points. He did manage 14 boards, but this was his first single-digit scoring effort in a month…It looks like Devin Harris' ankle is just fine, thank you very much. He poured in a career-best 26 points while dropping nine dimes, canning a trio of treys and picking up three steals…Allen Iverson shone in his return to Philly with 32 points, eight assists, three steals and three 3-pointers, but the blazing Sixers got the last laugh with the win…Bonzi Wells tied his season high with 25 points. If you've been hanging on to Morris Peterson, go ahead and make the switch…Toronto, coming off a nightmare 0-5 Western road swing, came home last night and received just the tonic it needed – a visit by the woeful Miami Heat. Miami mustered a mere 54 points as the Raps snapped their skid…Struggling Al Harrington was sent back to the bench last night and Mickael Pietrus started and responded with 15 points, 12 boards, a block and a trey…Houston has lost two straight. What's wrong with this team? Well, you can finger Skip to my Lou, as it appears Rafer Alston is going into one of his funks, managing just 8-of-26 in the past two games…As bad as Stephen Jackson was Tuesday (3-for-15), he looked pretty darned good last night (10-for-18, 29 points).

Team Report

We have some great news for you Knicks' fans. Your team hasn't lost since getting wiped out in Indy on Monday. What's that? You don't play this week until tomorrow night? Oh. Well, never mind.

Still, the Knicks have an easy schedule coming up over the next week with games at home against Memphis, New Jersey and Miami and road dates in Minnesota and Toronto. I smell a .500 week!

Of course, the Knicks have only won one of their past 10 games, cementing their status as a bottom three team in the East. There's still hope, however. If the Knicks merely win their final 15 games, they will improve upon last year's 33-49 finish by one game. I'm taking action on that happening, by the way.

Judging by his action's last game when he emptied the bench early, it appears Coach Isiah Thomas (before he gets fired, that is) is going to let some the youngsters like Renaldo Balkman and Mardy Collins see more PT down the stretch.

That means the minutes of starters like Jamal Crawford could be squeezed. Crawford has been a rare must-own commodity on the Knicks this season, but he's just 6-for-20 in the last two games combined. Crawford has carried a heavy load in his first season being used exclusively as a starter, but he has responded with a career year, arriving as a bona fide star.

Zach Randolph shot poorly in his last game (7-for-18), but he drained a shocking three 3-pointers on his way to 21 points with 14 rebounds and two steals. Unfortunately, flashes of offense like that have been too rare for Z-Bo as he struggles through his worst season as an NBA starter. A big reason why his offense has plummeted is the fact that he's getting to the line just 4.5 times per game after averaging 7.1 trips per game a year ago.

One player who could surprise down the stretch is Wilson Chandler. The rook has had a chance to start recently, and while he hadn't done much, on Monday he came through with 15 points, eight boards, two steals, a block and a 3-pointer. Keep an eye on this kid as he could become waiver-wire worthy over the last couple of weeks of the season.

Now that Eddy Curry is officially out for the season after undergoing surgery Monday, perhaps Morris Randolph will get a longer look as well. He played a season-high 18 minutes on Sunday, but is still not even someone to get remotely excited about.

Fred Jones struggled against his former team on Monday, but he has been putting up some decent offensive totals lately, having hit double figures in points in five straight prior to that.

Rob Blackstien runs www.RotoRob.com, a site featuring daily fantasy sports analysis. In addition to his baseball work on the site, he contributes to Rotoworld’s basketball coverage. Rob also writes for CREATiVESPORTS.com, BaseballNotebook.com and has contributed to Rotoman’s Fantasy Baseball Guide and Fantasy Football Guide.

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