Links To The Present: March 12, 2010

“Leon Powe to start at power forward in place of Antawn Jamison at Philly tonight.” [Brian Windhorst Twitter]  From DNP to starting, the life of a Cavs bench player.  See: Boobie Gibson, JJ Hickson, and now Leon Powe.

“I got a lot of treatment and exercise to where I can definitely close out the season,” he said. [Bob Finnan – News Herald]

“I think I’ve matured a lot,” concluded Hickson. “Not just on the court but off the court – even in terms of simple things, like getting to the gym early and prioritizing things. And I think it’s showing in my game.” [Joe Gabriele – Cavs.com]

50: For the first time in franchise history, Cleveland was the season’s first team to reach 50 wins. The first team to win 50 games in each of the past two seasons (Celtics in 2008, Lakers in 2009) won the championship. [ESPN]

Neil Paine’s updated rankings have the Cavs at #1.

Ben (Boston): What about Nuggets Cavs for a Finals matchup…LeBron v Melo actually covering each other.
J.A. Adande: That’d be good too. Series I most want to watch is Cavs-Heat, Bron-Wade, which we could get in the first round. It’s possible we’d have the best series of the playoffs in the first round 2 years in a row. Even if the Cavs swept Miami I bet the two stars would still put on a great show [Adande’s Sportsnation Chat]

“Debate among Cavs players right now: Who was better New Edition or Boyz II Men?” [George Thomas Twitter]