ORLANDO, Fla. — Tinted sunglasses concealing the cuts and bandages framing his puffy left eye, struggling Cleveland guard Mo Williams plopped down on a table inside a ritzy hotel ballroom yesterday and quickly proclaimed the Cavaliers were not in any trouble.

Far from it.

"We're the best team in basketball," he said.

Really? The Cavaliers, winners of 66 regular-season games and their first eight in the playoffs, certainly haven't looked superior to the Orlando Magic.

They can't stop Dwight Howard inside. They can't contain Orlando's squadron of outside shooters. They are missing easy, open shots. They're not giving LeBron James enough support, and they trail 2-1 in the Eastern Conference finals.

Williams remains confident.

"They deserve respect," he said. "They are a good team. But we are the best team in basketball. I don't feel that they've had to adjust to us one time in the series."

So, Mo. You're sure the Cavaliers will win Game 4 tonight and rally to win the best-of-seven series. Willing to guarantee it?

"Guarantee we're going to win the series? Yeah, yeah," he said. "We are down 2-1. But there is nobody on this team and definitely not myself that says we are not going to win this series. Yeah, it is going to be tough. We know that. We get this game tomorrow, go home, still got home-court advantage.

"We don't see ourselves losing two out of three at home."

The Magic brushed off Williams' boast.

"We just got to go out there and play," Howard said. "We can't worry about what other guys are saying."

James didn't flinch when told Williams had guaranteed the Cavaliers would advance.

"He should. There's no other reason why we should be here," he said.

James has been doing his part for Cleveland. His teammates have not.

The league's MVP is averaging 41.7 points in the series. But there have been extended periods when it's LeBron and only LeBron vs. the Magic.

Williams (32.1 percent), Zydrunas Ilgauskas (38.2) and Delonte West (41.9) are not shooting up to their standards.

Orlando, relishing the underdog role in its first conference finals appearance since 1995, won 99-89 on Sunday night in a disjointed Game 3 that included personal fouls, technicals and a flagrant on Magic reserve guard Anthony Johnson for his elbow to Williams' face in the second quarter.

The blow opened cuts above and below Williams' eye, and Cleveland's point guard said he was still feeling a little woozy from an unexpected shot he felt was intentional.

"My head's still ringing," said Williams, who refused to take off his shades to show the wounds. "The game of basketball is not played with throwing punches, throwing elbows."

Johnson refused to get drawn into a verbal war with Williams, who was called for a block on the play that bloodied him.

"I was trying to get to the rim and make a play and I drew a foul," Johnson said. "Elbows are a part of the game — good and bad. Sometimes it turns out in a bad manner as last night. Elbows are a part of the game, as it is in hockey, as it is in other sports."