This is definitely a very different Cavs-Wiz series from the previous ones. New players on the Cavaliers and healthy ones on the Wizards change the complexion of this growing rivalry significantly.
LeBron James' sore back might indeed be the biggest X factor in this series, as he likely will have to play one or two superlative games to help the Cavs get to four wins. And Gilbert Arenas is the second big mystery: What kind of rhythm can he find after spending much of the season on the sideline?
Neither team loves to push the pace, though the Cavs showed in the playoffs last year that using LeBron on the break or in early offense is a powerful weapon. And now the Wiz have Arenas to change the tempo immediately when he is inserted into the game.
The Wizards are playing good defense, thanks to a mini-breakout season by center Brendan Haywood. They'll mix up their looks when LeBron gets into the paint, sometimes rushing the double-team, other times delaying it. Their main mission will be to dictate which Cavalier gets the open jumper, and they'll try to funnel that to a Cleveland big man.
The Cavs, one of the top defenses in basketball a season ago, are not close to that level anymore with Delonte West and Joe Smith replacing Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden. The recipe they used so successfully last postseason -- rebound and defend -- will not be an option this time around, though they are still a superior rebounding team.
Betting preview I think that line for this series potentially can have many mistakes because bookmakers before setting a line looks into H-2-H stats, season stats and key players form/injuries. Here everything is different. Lebron played only in 3 of 4 games, while Arenas was out for whole season. Cavs are different team from previous season after Hughes trade to Chicago. Wizards are hard to predict too because this team have huge offensive potential together with solid defense they can turn on when needed. First game of the series will tell us a lot about game tactics but before the game it's not easy to find good pick.
Prediction: I think that both teams after so many news and changes in reg. season should have some kind of surprises especially in first 2 games. One of such surprised area could offensive performance of each team. West & Lebron & Big Z against Daniels & Butler & Jamison & Arenas - each players from this list can score 15 points any given night and some of them can produce 25 points + add some points from reserve players. Looking into regular season games we should notice good Wizards offense in last 10 games, while in h-2-h games teams scored 190+ points in 3 of 4 games. So my prediction for Game 1 is that Wizards will try to offer their team offense against struggling Cavs team defense. This should force Cavs to score more points and make more mistakes. Really hard to predict who will this game because I feel that Wizards can provide suprise here but looking into back into history will find that Wizards can't win in Cleveland since their first playoff series on April 24 2006.
If you need to find some kind of advantage over the betting line here is key (in my opinion). 14 of 16 quarters between teams ended with total over 40 points, while 12 of 16 ended with total of 47-points and more. In other words 75% of playing time between these teams in regular season were working on Over 187.5, while only 25% were working on Under. Also after Hughes trend to Chicago Cavs got more offensive PG and both Lebron and Ilgauskas showed us a good form. Add to this that Washington offense working really well in April and you get advantage over the line. As for me Game 1 could end with 191-195 points total.
Predicted score: Cavs 98 - 93 WizardsPick#2: Over 187.5 @ 1.952 PinnacleSports 
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