The Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association (the NBA).  The Cleveland Cavaliers play in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference with four other teams: the Detroit Pistons, the Chicago Bulls, the Indiana Pacers and the Milwaukee Bucks.  Cavs tickets will surely be hard to come by during the 2010-2011 NBA schedule.

***Breaking News - Lebron James leaves hometown Cavaliers to join Dwayne Wade & Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat.***

Cavaliers 2009-2010 Outlook

The Cleveland Cavaliers finished the 2009-2010 NBA season with the best record in the NBA at 61-21.  But unfortunately, the best record didn't bring an NBA Championship to Cleveland as the team fell to the more experienced Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals.  Lebron James led the Cavs with his 29.7 points per game average and his 8.6 assists per game average.  Lebron showed his all-around abilities by ranking 2nd on the team in rebounding with a stellar 7.3 rebounds per game average (Anderson Varejao led the team with a 7.6 average).  Not surprisingly, James also led the team on the defensive end of the ball with 125 steals and 77 blocked shots.  Not bad for a team that had big men like Shaquille O'Neal, Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas playing on it just about every night. 

While the disappointing end to the season without a championship was tough to swallow, things went from bad to worse in July when Lebron announced that he would be leaving his hometown Akron/Cleveland fans behind to join Dwayne wade and Chris Bosh in Miami to play for the Heat.  Owner Dan Gilbert all but called Lebron a traitor for leaving Cleveland for Miami and was highly critical of his 2010 post-season play, especially in the Celtics series that the Cavs lost.

It looks like the weight of the world will fall on the shoulders of Varejao, Mo Williams, Antwan Jamison and J.J. Hickson to try to keep the Cavs competitive in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference.  It won't be easy as the Heat, Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic are all clearly better, and the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls have all improved through free agency in the off-season.  You'd hate to think a team with the best record in the NBA one year could fail to make the playoffs the following year, but that could be the case with the Cavs for the upcoming 2010-2011 NBA season.  In any event, get your Cavs NBA tickets at the Quicken Loans Arena before it's too late.

History

The Cleveland Cavaliers joined the ranks of the NBA as an expansion team in 1970.  The Cleveland Cavaliers won only 15 games in their first season in the league and their plan to build the franchise around Notre Dame great Austin Carr (the Cleveland Cavaliers’ #1 pick in the 1971 NBA draft) quickly crumbled after Carr was injured early in his pro career.  Because of the injury, Carr never became the truly great NBA player that most coaches and fans thought he would be.  During the mid-1970’s, the Cleveland Cavaliers played quality basketball under head coach Bill Fitch.  The Cleveland Cavaliers were led by talented players like Bingo Smith, Jim Chones, Jimmy Cleamons, Dick Snyder and Nate Thurmond.  During the 1975-1976 season, the Cleveland Cavaliers won 49 games en route to the franchise’s 1st division title and 1st playoff appearance.  But the Cleveland Cavaliers pursuit of a 1st ever NBA Championship came crashing to a halt after a close loss to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. 

From 1978 through 1986, the Cleveland Cavaliers only advanced to the NBA playoffs once.  From 1987 through 1996, however, the Cleveland Cavaliers turned things around and advanced to the NBA playoffs all but 1 year.  During that successful stretch, legendary head coach Lenny Wilkens utilized the varied talents of guards Mark Price and Ron Harper, forwards Larry Nance and Danny Ferry, and center Brad Daugherty, to record three 50-win seasons for the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise.  In the 8 playoff appearances during that stretch, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to either the Chicago Bulls or New York Knicks 7 times, and could only advance to the Eastern Conference Finals once.  That appearance occurred during the 1991-1992 season when the Cleveland Cavaliers won 57 games during the regular season, but lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls 4-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals. 

From 1993-2003, the team experienced another tough stretch of mediocre basketball.  But following a dreadful 2002-2003 season in which the Cleveland Cavaliers won only 17 games, the Cleveland Cavaliers secured the 1st overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft and selected hometown hero LeBron James.  LeBron James won the NBA Rookie of the Year award in his first season, and although the Cleveland Cavaliers did not advance to the playoffs in either of James’ 1st two seasons, the franchise was in good hands with “King” LeBron.  The Cleveland Cavaliers won 50 games during the 2005-2006 season and lost to the Detroit Pistons 4-3 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.  The following year, the Cleveland Cavaliers recorded another 50 win season, and were able to exact revenge on the Detroit Pistons with a 4-2 Eastern Conference Finals victory to advance to the franchise’s 1st ever BNA Finals.  The dream died quickly though as the San Antonio Spurs swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in 4 games to win its 3rd NBA Championship in 5 years.           

The Cleveland Cavaliers have retired the following players’ numbers:  Bingo Smith’s #7; Larry Nance’s #22; Mark Price’s #25; Austin Carr’s #34; Nate Thurmond’s #42; and Brad Daugherty’s #43.

Cavaliers TV/Radio

All Cleveland Cavaliers basketball games can be seen on the Fox Sportsnet television networks in the greater Ohio area.  Local television station WUAB 43 will also broadcast a limited number of home games each season.  NBC, ESPN and TNT may also televise Cleveland Cavaliers games based on the popularity of the game.  Tune into Newsradio 1100 WTAM on your AM dial to catch each Cleveland Cavaliers basketball game on the radio.

The Cleveland Cavaliers play their home games in the Quicken Loans Arena.  The Quicken Loans Arena opened in 1994, and until 2005 was known as the Gund Arena (named for a former owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Gordon Gund).  In addition to hosting Cleveland Cavaliers NBA home games, the Quicken Loans Arena also hosts all of the home professional hockey games for the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League and all of the home professional football games for the Cleveland Gladiators of the Arena Football League.  The Quicken Loans Arena holds a seating capacity of 20,562 devoted die-hard Cleveland Cavaliers fans.  The Quicken Loans Arena has also played host to numerous memorable and historic concerts and special events during its 14 year history, including the 1997 NBA All-Star Game and the 2007 Women’s NCAA College Basketball Final Four.

Stadium:              Quicken Loans Arena
                              One Center Court
                              Cleveland, Ohio 44115

www.nba.com/cavaliers
www.theqarena.com

2007-2008 Cavaliers
2009-2010 Cavaliers