Cavs are enjoying the view early

There were doubters coming from all angles this season regarding the Cavaliers.

Even though the Cavs were quite active in the offseason reshaping the roster, many observers wondered if the new pieces would fit.

After the 2009 portion of the season is over, many of those questions have been answered.

The Cavs (26-8) have won more games than any team in the league.

Once again, the Cavs are talking about winning a title.

But this time, teams are starting to take heed.

"One of the biggest things of winning a championship is the belief that you can do it," Cavs center Shaquille O'Neal said. "Once the guys have that belief, anything is possible."

The Cavs have vaulted to the top seed in the Eastern Conference. They've won six games in a row and 11 of their last 12.

They face the team with the worst record in the league, the New Jersey Nets (3-29), at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Izod Center.

The Cavs might not match last year's record-setting, 66-win campaign, but if they get a step further in the playoffs, no one would utter a peep. They were upset in the East finals last year by Orlando.

"I liked our team last year, but (I) felt we had some holes," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "It showed (in the playoffs). This year, it could be a little different."

The Cavs were very up and down early in the season. Once they totally bought into Brown's defensive mindset, they've become an absolute terror.

Heading into Thursday night's games, the Cavs had overtaken the league lead in opponents' field-goal accuracy (43.2 percent), are second in points allowed (93.8) and sixth in opponents' 3-point shooting (32.6 percent).

The Cavs haven't allowed a team to shoot 50 percent from the field in 24 games, the longest streak in the NBA.

They had problems with turnovers and giving up transition points a few weeks ago, but they've cleaned that up.

The Cavs are also limiting teams to one shot and controlling the boards.

Brown loves the way post players Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao and O'Neal protect the paint.

"It's been big having Shaq in that paint," he said. "Coach (Hank) Egan made a comment the other day. He said, 'Being able to play your minutes with Shaq and then coming in with Z, it makes Z that much more of an effective defender.'

"Z doesn't have to be that main guy. He has another guy over 7 feet who can do it. Then you throw Andy in the equation. We have three very big guys who don't have to play a ton of minutes. It makes it tough to score around that basket."

Varejao played great pick-and-roll defense against the Hawks on Wednesday. He was a main cog in the Cavs' come-from-behind win.

O'Neal's numbers have fallen off, but he definitely protects the rim. Players who venture near the basket are subject to being knocked on their rear end.

"We expected this from Shaq," Brown said. "As time goes on, he's going to get better. He's extremely intelligent, agile, big and strong. To have that kind of guy in the paint is a positive for us."

Brown said his post players are the reason why the Cavs are the league leader in fewest points in the paint.

Quick shots

-- As of 5 p.m. Thursday, the Hawks had not filed a protest with the league office over Wednesday's shot-clock snafu, a spokesman said. If they do file, it's a long process that takes at least two weeks.

The shot clock wasn't reset after a missed shot by the Cavs with less than 2 minutes to play. Hawks coach Mike Woodson said they were going to file a protest. Official Ken Mauer had no comment to a pool reporter after the game. That wasn't the only disputed call in Wednesday's game. The Cavs claim Daniel Gibson's field goal with 9:40 to play was a 3-pointer and not a two-pointer.

-- LeBron James remains the leading vote-getter in the Eastern Conference after the third returns of the All-Star balloting. Lakers guard Kobe Bryant is the overall leader with 1,606,032 votes, and James is the runner-up with 1,579,530.

-- In the fourth quarters of the back-to-back games against the Hawks, the Cavs held Atlanta to 26 points total, forced 10 turnovers and 29.4 percent shooting (11 of 37).