Larry Hughes? Hughes started at point guard and responded with one of his best games of the year. The 27 points is good, but the 11-17 shooting is great. If Hughes can play at a level close to this, Cavs fans will be very, very happy. I'd like to point out that Hughes scored in a variety of way that didn't make use of his patented 'contested 20 footer' move. When Hughes shoots mid-range jumpers, goes inside and takes decent shots, he (and the Cavs) are that much better.
LeBron looks like LeBron. Sure, he had 33 points, 6 assists and 5 boards (and those are nice) but his effort and hustle plays (3 blocks!) is what really stood out. When LeBron is diving for loose balls and crashing the offensive boards, the rest of the team can't help but follow suit. Oh ya, LeBron was 15-17 from the foul line- fantastic.
120 points! How the hell did that happen? They had 93 after three periods (and they average 96). Shooting 55% from 3pt range sure helps (as does hitting 82% of the freebies). FYI- the 120th point? An Ira Newble 3-ball. Ya, it was that kind of night.
The bench pitched in. Shannon Brown and Anderson Varejao each had 14 and Donyell Marshall had 12. Varejao and Marshall also contributed 20 rebounds (11 and 9 respectively). They sure look good when they get contributions from Hughes and the bench...
No Gibson, but we did see Shannon Brown. With Gibson out with a toe injury, Brown got some extended minutes and showed some things. Specific things, you ask? Not being David Wesley or Ira Newble. Brown ran the floor, hustled and (most importantly) made baskets. Scoring 14 points in 13 minutes ain't bad.
Good thing the bench showed up, because the rest of the starters sure didn't. Z had 9 boards and 2 blocks, but only 4 points on 2-7 shooting. Gooden had 4 boards and 3 points (1-5 shooting) and Pavlovic shoot a woeful 1-9 and never seemed to get over early foul trouble. They won this game without the help, but you'd like to see one of those three bounce back with a good game against the Rockets.
Blow out win, but it was close for 3 quarters. It was a 10 point game at halftime, but for the bulk of the game, the score between 5-9 points. The Cavs led by nine with 4:30 left in the third (74-65) and ended the quarter with a 93-74 lead. The game was a laugher for most of the fourth.
and finally...
Yo. Yao makes his return to the Rockets Monday night in Cleveland. I'm interested to see the Cavaliers face Houston again; the Rockets whooped the Cavs earlier in the season and it'd be nice to see them get some revenge.
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