Pregame Warmup - Denver at Cleveland.

Year three of the "Phenom Rivalry". Melo vs. Bron Part 5 in Cleveland. Both Melo and Bron have been lighting up the scoreboard as of the passed few games. Lebron, scored 52 points on Saturday and 39 on Tuesday in losing efforts with a defense lacking Cleveland team. Carmelo on the other hand, had a career best 40 in the last game (which was a win) and 105 points in his last three, and has turned on the jets after coming back with a vengance after an ankle sprain.

Cleveland is definetly in a "funk" as King James put it after the loss to the Sadlanta Hawks. The defense is horrible and there is too much staring at Bron when he has the ball. This is a team lacking an actual identity and if the losing keeps up, rookie coach Mike Brown may be taking some finger pointing here soon. Lebron has been incredible but needs to step up and yell more at his fellow players. Its hard to fathom a team this talented to miss the playoffs, but if the D dosn't improve...and with the suprise teams in the east like, Philly and Milwaukee showing that they have alot more than what was expected....the Cleveland Cavs may be just missing the playoffs once again.....

Denver on the other hand has been up more than down all season. The surprise reincarnation of Bill Russell inside of Marcus Camby has been unreal. Although Marcus has calmed of late, he has the potential to blow up again when they face Cleveland. Carmelo is just playing great team ball. He's chasing down rebounds and scoring at will. George Karl and Kenyon Martin have discussed the limited roll that KMart will play because of the nagging knee injury. So hopefully Kenyon can put in some meaningful time and stay in the game in the latter stages. I expect Denver to be making some moves here soon (Veshon Leonard and maybe Earl Watson).....and I think that will only make them better.

My call: Cleveland stays close and its a shootout between Melo and Bron. Both post more than 25 points, but Denver holds off Cleveland and wins by more than 10.