Reggie Miller

Reggie Miller told Dan Patrick last week, that while everyone swoons over the LeBron-Kobe showdowns, the matchup he wants to see is when the Rockets host the Cavs. Why? "I can't wait to see LeBron James, at 260 pounds, go against the beast, Ron Artest," Miller said of Houston's 260-pounder. He thinks Shane Battier will start the game on James to keep Artest out of foul trouble, but that down the stretch Artest will pick up James a thought that had Miller raving like Don King. "Ron will get really ticked off when LeBron starts going crazy," Miller told me. "Then late, this will be like a heavyweight fight. Like Tim Witherspoon against John Mugabi. This is beautiful!"

Reggie was right as last night was a battle between the two. The "Tru Warrior" got the best of James, who was visibly upset and agitated all night long. In fact, LeBron didn't even register an assist in the scorebook last night.

"I'm not happy with that at all," James said. "I can't remember the last time I didn't have an assist, but as a team, we didn't move the ball at all. We'll just move on to the next game."

The great ones usually dial it up an extra notch for nationally televised games, so to have a poor game in front of that type of audience stings a bit more than normal. That's the last meeting between the Rockets and Cavs this season (save for a possible Finals match up). LeBron won't have the chance to redeem himself against Artest, but it'll be interesting to see how the Cavs bounce back from a loss like this tonight at San Antonio who has another "LeBron stopper" in Bruce Bowen. Vegas says Cavs win this game by a point, its sure to be a close one.