LeBron James becomes the youngest player in NBA history to reach the 11,000 point mark en route to leading the Cavaliers over the Nets for their eight straight win of the season.
Cleveland 106, New Jersey 82 [box]
Tuesday night was more of the same for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and for once in this franchise’s history, that’s actually a good thing. A great thing, if you will. The Cavaliers walked through the first half only occasionally playing tough defense or running the offense, and found themselves trailing the Nets 52-49 at halftime.
Following the script, the Cavaliers came out and played lights out defense in the 2nd half and took care of the ball themselves and relied on clutch shooting from the backcourt to dominate the 2nd stage 57-30. You read that right. New Jersey had 28 points in the first quarter, and then the Cavaliers held them to just 30 points in the entire 2nd half.
LeBron paced the Cavaliers with 31 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. Mo Williams put in 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists while Delonte West showed off his shooting touch hitting on all 4 of his three-point attempts and ended up with 16 points of his own. Ben Wallace played great defense all game and ended up with 8 rebounds and 4 blocks. Anderson Varejao led the Cavaliers’ bench with 8 points and 5 rebounds.
As a team, the Cavaliers dominated the boards, 50-39, as they were able to get key 2nd chance opportunities and limited the Nets ability to sustain hardly any of their 2nd half possessions. The Cavaliers ended up with 8 blocks and 6 steals and forced 13 turnovers. The Cavaliers held the Nets to 36.7% shooting from the field and 14.3% from three and held the Nets to a negative assist-to-turnover ratio (12 assists, 13 turnovers).
Devin Harris played a good game for New Jersey, leading them with 23 points and 4 assists, but he committed 5 turnovers on his own. Rookie Brook Lopez held his ground against Wallace and Ilgauskas and he ended up with 15 points while Vince Carter chipped in 12. Yi Jianlian started out hot, hitting the Nets’ first 2 baskets, but ended up with just 9 points.
In the first half, the length of the Nets with Lopez and Jianlian seemed to both the Cavaliers a bit as they were struggling to find the passing lanes and couldn’t seem to get going on offense. In the 2nd quarter the Nets opened up a 9 point lead, their largest of the game, at 48-39 with just under 4 minutes left in the half. However, the Cavs would close out on a 10-4 run to narrow the deficit to 3 points at the half.
The 3rd quarter, which was once the bane of the Cavaliers, saw the Cavaliers catch fire from outside, as Mo Williams hit 2 three-pointers and Delonte West drilled 4 of them as the Cavaliers would outscore the Nets 28-13 in the third. LeBron James had 8 points in the third, 6 of them from the FT line, and then the reserves took over the 4th quarter as LeBron was able to rest for much of the final quarter with the game in hand.
This game sets up the first clash with the Pistons on Wednesday night in the Palace. It was key for LeBron to get the extra rest as the Cavaliers will need to muster up everything they can to beat a rested Pistons team, as the Cavaliers will be on the back end of back-to-back road games. The win tonight means that even with a loss on Wednesday night, the Cavaliers will still hang on to a half game lead in the Central.
At 9-2, we are seeing what looks like it could be the best team in Cavaliers history. It’s hard to go against the 2 Mark Price era Cavaliers teams that won 57 games, and it’s way too early to start making such comparisons, but it’s hard not to be encouraged by this team. A game like this, a pure trap game that in past years you would have expected the Cavaliers to struggle with and even possibly lose, the Cavaliers are putting them away with ease this year. They are taking care of business against teams they should beat.
A loss is a loss, but it would be easy to write off the Cavaliers only 2 losses this year. The first loss was opening night, ring ceremony, for the defending champs in Boston, and the 2nd loss was the home opener for the Hornets. Both losses came in the first 3 games of the season before this roster had figured each other out fully and before Mike Brown had his rotations figured out. The Pistons, though, will prove a good test of where this team is at. The Cavaliers are clicking right now, and there will be no excuses no matter what the outcome in this game will be. I don’t believe in statement games in the first quarter of the season, but this will be a good game for the Cavaliers to send a message to the Pistons that they’re here to compete for the Pistons’ Central Division crown. Either that, or the Pistons will not-so-kindly let the Cavaliers know that they still have much work to do.
Author: AndrewSchnitkey
Andrew Schnitkey is a founding editor of WaitingForNextYear. Though he has written about every Cleveland franchise over the years, his primary focus is the Cavaliers and NBA basketball in general.Andrew Schnitkey has written 448 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
I agree with the Pistons assestment. And I think its not too bold to call it a statement game. Cavs have got to win this if they want to be mentioned in every article henceforth as possible champions. Remember last year with the Celtics, the Lakers? I’ll also add that the following game will also be important. Atlanta may not be on top of things at the moment, but they are certainly a tougher team to be played against in what looks like a soft schedule ahead. How the next two games end….that will decide whether we should put the party hats and balloons away or pull some more out.
That said, fantastic win tonight! I am loving this team!
So the Warriors signed Jax to an extension today, Word round the campfire is that they could look to move Maggette…. Any thoughts/takers in a Wally, Sasha for Maggette deal going down?
*not sure about Maggette’s contract so don’t try and bash me on the numbers OK
Cavs off to a great start and trounce the Nets, but look at the “Lebron is leaving” spin they use here.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — With free agency awaiting him in
2010, LeBron James put on a show for the New York metropolitan area
and its deep-pocket teams highlighted by length-of-the court sprint
to block a dunk by Devin Harris.
James had 31 points, eight rebounds and four assists in another
dominating performance and the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled to their
eighth straight win with a 106-82 decision over the New Jersey Nets
on Tuesday night.
The play that everyone will remember is the block. The
23-year-old James came from 20 feet behind the track down the Nets
point guard, forcing him to rush a dunk that the high-flying James
touched.
“I just never gave up on the play,” James said. “That’s how
we all are. You never give up on plays no matter if a guy is in
front of you or what.”
Harris laughed when asked if he saw James coming at full
throttle.
“He’s 6-9 and 260,” Harris said. “You try to quick dunk him
if you can. If not, hey, he got a piece of it. He came back and he
played it. If I had a good ankle, now that would be something to
think about. You got to go for it. I had my shot at it and I missed
it, you move on.”
The question of moving on is a big part of James’ life. The
23-year-old is scheduled to become a free agent in 2010, and there
already has been speculation that the Nets and the New York Knicks
are already clearing salary cap room to make a run at the superstar
who on Tuesday became the youngest NBA player to reach the
11,000-point plateau.
Before the game, James said he would not hesitate to leave
Cleveland if another franchise offers him a better chance to win
multiple NBA titles.
“I think you do what is best for you and you do what is best
for your career,” James said when asked about his sense of loyalty
to the Cavaliers before they played the Nets in New Jersey.
After the game, he focused on his team, which is off to a 9-2
start.
“A-plus,” he said of the second-half effort. “The thing we
did was we stopped turning the ball over. We had only one turnover
in the second half.”
They also got big efforts from Mo Williams and Delonte West.
Williams had 8 of 16 points and five of his six assists in the
final 24 minutes, while West scored 14 of his 16 points, hitting
all four of his 3-pointers in the decisive third quarter when
Cleveland broke the game open.
“Mo and Delonte did a great job coming into the third quarter
and shooting lights out,” said James, who was 9 of 20 from the
field in posting his fourth 30-plus point game in five contests.
“We took that momentum and just ran.”
Harris, who was looking for his fourth straight 30-point game,
had 23 points to lead New Jersey. Vince Carter added 12, shooting
3-of-12 from the field as the Nets’ two-game winning streak was
snapped.
“It was a rough night and I wasn’t hitting my shots,” Carter
said.
James put on a show for the less than capacity crowd at the Izod
Center against a team partially owned by his friend, rapper Jay-Z.
He dunked, hit layups and faked Jarvis Hayes out of his socks on a
great cross-over dribble move that got him his 11,000th point, and
finally entertained the crowd with a late tap-in on an alley-oop
from Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the closing minutes.
“His strength and his quickness, at his size, is pretty unheard
of,” said Nets rookie forward Ryan Anderson, who got a chance to
face James. “The things he can do is pretty amazing. He is so
athletic, and he’s 6-9. He is an incredibly talented guy.”
Trailing most of the first half, Cleveland got within three
points at the half and then blew things open in the third quarter,
outscoring New Jersey 28-13.
Williams tied the game with a 3-pointer off an assist by James.
West put Cleveland ahead with a 3-pointer from Williams and
Williams nailed a 3-pointer off another James assist. West, who
scored 12 of his 16 points in the quarter, then capped the 12-0
spurt, hitting another 3-pointer off a Williams’ assist.
Cleveland led 77-65 at the end of the third quarter and Daniel
Gibson iced the game, converting a four-point play to open the
final quarter.
Notes: James (23 years, 323 days) replaced Kobe Bryant as the
youngest player to score 11,000 points when he hit a jump shot late
in the first quarter. Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers was 25
years, 99 days when he got 11,000. … Cavs coach Mike Brown seemed
to pull a hamstring retrieving a loose ball in the game …
Cleveland outrebounded New Jersey 50-39 and blocked eight shots.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APTV-11-18-08 2020PST
Sorry, shouldn’t have pasted the whole article.
I’m completely ignoring that LeBron-is-leaving bull, which is what it has become. What I’m not ignoring, though, is how surprisingly good this team is. Seriously, did anyone think that adding Mo Williams would make THIS much of a difference? And remember how many thought that getting Mo meant the end of the road for Delonte West? Well, this is – by far – the best backcourt this squad has had with LeBron. Before this, we all remember the Sasha/Laura backcourt of 2007, which was pretty effective, to be fair. It was a big, versatile backcourt, which is very different from Mo/Delonte, but this backcourt is still far and away better.
Just one low-post presence would make this far and away the most complete team in the league.
Dare we start thinking about potential, realistic targets?
A little early for that, isn’t it Scott? Shouldn’t we wait and see which teams will most likely raise the white flag in a month or so?
Ah hell. I wouldn’t mind seeing them move on Gerald Wallace. He’d fill a nice spot at 3 that we don’t really have right now (Besides Lebron that is), he’s 26 I believe, and would clearly be an upgrade to Wally. I’m just curious what Charlotte’s asking price would be.
Ha, I knew someone would bite. I actually mentioned Gerald Wallace last night with Craig and Rick. Mike Brown has to love his defense…
Off subject, did anyone see MSB’s “Interview” with Jay-Z??
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2008/11/the_q_with_rap_mogul_jayz.html
Well used bandwith, right there…
Not smart to get too geeked up about a team this early, but am loving certain things early on: 1) commitment to defense from the top down; 2)Mo Williams fitting in, creating offense when LeBron is out. Milwaukee press was very critical of his ball hog nature and big mouth when his team starts losing. But this looks like another team leader who drank the Mike Brown koolaid. Right now, who still thinks it would have been better if the Cavs could have signed Michael Redd? The stuff they are doing will translate well in the playoffs.
Hate Maggette and his game…
Look at the points scored in the 2nd half:
3rd quarter: CLE: 28 NJ: 13
4th quarter: CLE: 29 NJ: 17
that is how you win basketball games
Does anyone know what our 2nd half turnover differential is against opposing teams?
While I am a bit scared to get my hopes up too high this early, I will say I am as giddy as a schoolgirl watching the Cavs mow down opponents. Its actually to enjoyable to watch the team when Lebron’s out of the game now because everyone else steps up, and as far as the Lebron gone in 2010 crap, you can’t tell me he doesn’t look happy on the bench watching Mo Williams put up points. I think if the Cavs prove they can win (which they are) he won’t feel the need to go anywhere.
Who else is just loving Austin Carr right now? He’s been loving the Cavs play so much, he gets too excited during his sentences and either stops halfway thru them or just mumbles incoherently.
Non stop entertainment watching him do FSN, now if we can get Reghi back.
Two thoughts:
1. Provided the Cavs are unable to lure away McDyess, I’d have to think the Cavs use Wally’s contract for another big man (PF or C). They get really thin there if/when Ben or Z get hurt.
2. 57 wins like the Price-era teams is really impressive, that’s a .700 clip for 82 games. Those seasons are R-A-R-E and if the Cavs get a whiff of that I’d be impressed. They are looking capable now but 82 games is a long time for something to go sour.
Well, I don’t know how rare they are. I mean, every season the best teams in the NBA win more than 57 games. If the Cavaliers want to be one of the top 2-3 teams in the NBA, they’re going to have to win more than 57 games.
I still don’t know what the chances of McDyess are but I agree Wally would get traded for a big when that happens. Whoever suggested Maggette, uggh, no thanks. He is a ball hog and just signed a four year deal or something like that.
The Cavs have looked awesome so far and I agree with Rock, if they want to be in that range, they have to get close to 60. The East is better this year and they want to be right with the Celtics at the top in everyone’s rankings come playoff time.
With the age of Z and Big Ben becoming a real concern I would hate to move Wally’s contract for something other than a 4 or 5. The two of them and Wright are both on the wrong side of 30. Hickson and Jackson are both still x-factors so at this moment, with the youth and depth of the back court, we have to try to get a mid to late 20s big man. Big Ben goes down with back problems again and we’re starting Z and Varajao with a young Hickson and *shudder* Wright backing them up.
Still too early, but you have to be impressed with their production as a team so far.
Oh yeah, and that LeBron kid isn’t too bad either.
I’m a Jazz fan, and they certainly schooled Utah last week.
And like you said, no such thing as a statement game right now. But after the Iverson deal, I have no problem ranking Cleveland ahead of Detroit right now. And by the end of the year, that disparity could be even bigger. Cleveland is a solid team with players falling into their roles nicely.