Preview: Cleveland vs. Dallas (Can the streak end tonight?)

When the Cavaliers started the season at 7-9 the city was talking about getting a final spot in the playoffs. Now at 8-43, Cleveland and its fans are looking more towards the draft.

It has been a nightmare for everyone in Cleveland: the fans, the players and the front office. The nightmare began as soon as Cleveland lost to Boston last year in the semi-finals and then LeBron bolted to South Beach.

The 7-9 start without the former King was promising, but the Cavaliers soon began to taste reality. That reality was injuries to starters, Mo Williams, Anderson Varejao, Anthoney Paker and other players such as Boobie Gibson and Leon Powe.

Now in the beginning of February, the Cavaliers have tied the longest losing streak in history (24) and will try and snap the streak against the hottest team in the league tonight Dallas, winners of 8 straight.

Cleveland lost 111-105 to Portland on Saturday to make it 24 losses in a row, and 34 in its past 35 games. On Monday night they will try to avoid becoming the only team to lose 25 in a row in one season.

Antawn Jamison will try to continue his strong play, he has averaged 20.7 points per game in this streak. Ramon Sessions will also look to continue his strong play, dishing out 45 assists and only 10 turnovers in his past 5 games.

Cleveland met Dallas earlier in the year on January 2nd, and lsot to the Mavericks 104-95. Dallas was without star player Dirk Nowitzki, and was able to overcome Antawn Jamison's 35 points and 10 rebound performance.

Dallas has won the past 14 out of 20 regular season games against our Cavaliers and 8 out of 10 have been won in Dallas.

Dirk is now fully recovered from a knee injury and Dallas has been able to get back in mid-season form. Dallas (35-14) is on an eight game winning streak and is now second in the Western Conference. Nowitzki is averaging 27.7 points on 59.2 percent shooting in his last three games.

Ironically, while Nowitzki is shooting well, he always has trouble against the Cavs. He averges only 20.7 points a game, which is his second-lowest scoring average against any team in the league.

The only team that Nowitzki averages less is Portland at 20.6 points a game. However, while the Cavs have their eyes on Nowitzki, they must pay attention to the big man in the middle.

Tyson Chandler is having an excellent season and is coming off back-to-back 15 rebound games.  He's averaging just over 16 points and 11 rebounds a game during the winning streak.

The Cavaliers must buckle down; lacking inside height and strength has been an issue containing the bigger centers. Hickson and Jamison must work as a team to slow down the tandem of Nowitzki and Chandler.

The Cavaliers have been playing hard the past couple of games and are looking to snap the streak tonight. Tip-off is at 8:30 at the American Airlines Center.