Nuggets 113, Cavs 83

–First things first, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Damon Jones should be able to play tomorrow. Z had his back tighten up and Damon tweaked his ankle. Drew Gooden lives in Orlando and has a lot of family and friends there, he may try it as well.
–Second, at the end of the third quarter LeBron James went over and sat my himself on the bench, away from the huddle. The Cavs were down 25 and had just lost Ilgauskas along with the four other players sitting in suits and he was upset. Damon Jones was not happy with his attitude and he spoke to him about it. LeBron ignored him. It was a heat of the moment thing, but because tomorrow is Monday and the news cycle starts and it involves LeBron showing angst I suspect it will be a topic on many shows because it’s nice fodder, especially in trade season. So here is what the parties said:
Damon: “I just think in those situations we have to stick together…Something had to be said at that point. No big thing.”
LeBron: “I didn’t feel like as a team or as an individual we played as hard as we could have. It was just tonight, it hasn’t been an ongoing thing. If it happens again, then you worry.”
–It was a horrible game and the Cavs looked like they knew they were going to get beat before it started. And they were right. The Nuggets looked like they knew they were going to get a blowout win. And they were right.
–One more thing before I go. I have been accused of defending Danny Ferry, especially today because I wrote a realist column in the paper that talks about the $30 million in expiring contracts the Cavs have next year to use in trades. What I attempt to do in stories in the paper and on this blog is to add perspective to the Cavs, which fans don’t have to worry about and that’s fine. When the Cavs made those signings in 2005, I agreed with all of them. I felt Larry Hughes’ contract was an overpay, especially the fact that there were $10 million in incentives on top of the $60 million guaranteed. I felt the contracts given to Jones, Donyell Marshall and Zydrunas Ilgauskas were also each one year longer than they had to be. But that is what the market dictated that summer.

But I didn’t disagree with any of their additions, they each gave the Cavs something they needed. To sit here today and criticize those signings would be hypocritical and not fair. At the time, Hughes was one of the most productive players in the NBA, Marshall was one of the best-shooting big men and Jones just hit 225 3-pointers and was coming to a team that was 29th in 3-point shooting. To help make it happen, as I have said many, many times, Z took a massive pay cut. He then even took less money when the Cavs screwed up his contract and accidentally renounced his rights, meaning he could only get 8 percent raises and not 10.5 percent raises. I didn’t like the David Wesley signing when they made it and therefore I felt I was fair when I ripped it all of last season. Also, before this season I said not getting a point guard, even an average one, was a mistake and it would hold them back. Which I also stand by.

The other signings I cannot in good faith say were terrible. No, they have not worked out as planned and have proven to be mistakes. But when I was covering them I felt they were grounded and I wrote it and said it. And those players helped the Cavs get to the playoffs the next year, which they had not done in eight years.

So rip away on Ferry and then me for not joining you, but I don’t have the luxury of being able to hit-and-run or write without perspective.

Recap:

Pregame

Nuggets: Anthony Carter, Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, Marcus Cambry
Cavs: Eric Snow, Larry Hughes, LeBron James, Ira Newble, Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Officials
Joe Crawford, Derrick Stafford, Sean Wright

–Daniel Gibson and Drew Gooden were unable to go. Drew seems close, but he is afraid to risk re-injuring it. He’ll try it again tomorrow.
–The Cavs are terrible against the Nuggets because they can’t play at their speed. The Cavs really need to run to score right now because of the guys they have hurt and that is not good. Just like the other night, other guys besides LeBron will need to have big offensive nights.
–The Cavs are going to have some matchup issues. Obviously Iverson is a handful, but the Cavs have an issue dealing with Martin and Anthony with how they are playing. Also, Linas Kleiza can play inside and outside and is hard to guard off the bench.

Halftime — Nuggets 63, Cavs 45

–The Cavs are living up to their contractual obligation and taking their whipping.
–By rule, Eric Snow’s missed layup when he used the wrong hand and bounced the ball off the left side of the backboard and missed the rim must be put in the David Wesley file.
–The Cavs have accepted they are going to lose this game and you can see it in the body language. The fans know it, too. It is dead here.

Postgame

Stars
Melo, 27 points, eight rebounds
AI, 25 points, 13 assists, ZERO turnovers
LeBron, 30 points

Quotes:

Mike Brown: I thought we could’ve at least played hard or fought back. We didn’t try to embrace who are and try to get stops. If they hit 3s, great. If they score, great. But I’m going to knock somebody’s head off, I’m going to grab somebody, I’m going to set a hard screen, I’m going to knock somebody down. Everybody got an opportunity to play,” he said. “That’s about it.”
Larry Hughes: “Denver is a team we struggle against. They play a lot of freelance basketball, a lot of random basketball. There’s always one team, everybody in the league has one.”

Cavs 100, Hawks 95

–This is why you don’t bet pro sports games. That and the other night against the Celtics when James Posey hit that meaningless 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the lead from four to one and the Cavs were giving three.
–Ira Newble is having a great season by his standards and he may never play better than tonight. Him hitting the jumpers is a roll of the dice, but his activity around the glass and getting putbacks was difference-making. The Hawks are a pretty good rebounding team and tonight the Cavs won the battle in part because Ira was in there fighting for loose balls.
–Quick, who is the Cavs best free-throw shooter this season….thinking….thinking…he’s a starter…Ira, he’s 18-of-20.
–Larry Hughes has a “great toe jam.” Yes, that is what they called it. It was a non-contact injury unless you consider his foot hitting the floor contact. He said he thinks he’ll be able to play Sunday. By the way, he was playing off the ball tonight like he likes and he still took jumpers all night. He didn’t vary his game much, which is when he can be effective. He had a Shannon Brown-esque stat line: 15 points on 16 shots.
–LeBron looked tired in the fourth quarter and you can’t blame him. But it seemed like after Hughes left with the injury the whole team got an injection of energy because they were pissed another player had gone down. The game pretty much turned right there.
–Eric Snow was a train wreck on offense, he missed two layups and got another stuffed down his throat. But he had have five assists and five steals and help force Joe Johnson into eight turnovers. Johnson is in the top five in the NBA in fourth-quarter scoring and tonight he had just three. Snow was on him down the stretch and refused to let him drive. Eric is still an excellent situational defender and he should get some minutes in that role.
–Damon Jones has made a 3-pointer in 16 straight games. There’s a lot to complain about in his game, especially his one-on-one defense, but he’s been a clutch player in numerous wins. Tonight he got a couple of key baskets faking a 3 and driving to the rim or pulling up.
–I was sitting in the mid-deck of Philips Arena tonight and I dropped a T-shirt that came from the ceiling and totally whiffed on a T-shirt that was shot out of a cannon right at me, for which Joe Tait openly mocked me for on the air. I wouldn’t have kept either of them, I would’ve found a kid, but jeez, I suck.

Recap:

Pregame

Starting lineups

Cavs (anyone want to guess?……): Eric Snow, Larry Hughes, LeBron James, Ira Newble, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Hawks: Anthony Johnson, Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, Al Horford

–Drew Gooden, Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao are out and the Cavs are on a road-road back-to-back. Don’t like their chances tonight, fans. But it’s the NBA, you never know.
–LeBron’s thumb isn’t great, he has it tapped up but he’s going to play. He said he wasn’t sure how it would affect his shot.
–If the Cavs are going to win, of course LeBron will need a huge game but someone else has to score big. Either Hughes or Z probably, but Z played heavy minutes last night. Enjoy!

Postgame

Stars
LeBron, 26 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists
Ira Newble, 18 points, eight rebounds
Ilgauskas, 17 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks
Joe Johnson, 23 points, eight assists
Marvin Williams, 21 points, five rebounds

Quotes:
Newble: “I didn’t want to dunk it (at the end), I think I almost tore something. I don’t mind being the jack of all trades. If I can play the “2″, maybe the “3″ or the “4″ it is a way to get more minutes.”
LeBron: “This was a big win. We’ve got a real professional team. Everyone made an impact on the game, we needed everybody to step up.”

Rockets 92, Cavs 77

–First things first, Daniel Gibson has a right hamstring issue. He told me he never popped it, it was just very sore and then he started getting spasms. He was holding it in the third quarter and in the fourth he left the court. He was uncomfortable after the game and the thought of playing tomorrow was not in his head, he was more concerned with getting the leg to quiet down.
–Second, LeBron hurt his right thumb. He said he jammed it going to the basket. He played through it but he wasn’t sure how it would fell to today. When I asked him about the giant ice bag on his hand, he looked down at the bucket of ice his right ankle was in and just shrugged.
–Wrong team to play down two power forwards. Rockets are a tough team and they are excellent on the glass. When you lose the rebounding battle by 20, as the Cavs did tonight, you cannot win.
–The Cavs were on the officials all night about defensive three seconds (the Rockets just stood in the lane when LeBron had the ball) and were upset about the lack of free throws. But they have to look in the mirror. They did not attack the paint at all with the exception of James. They was no drive-and-kick offense. Obviously Yao Ming is a major factor, but they never tested him. He didn’t have a single foul tonight.
–This game reminded me a lot of last year here. The Cavs were on a back-to-back and they just chucked jumpers all night long and barely cracked 70 points. Tonight they were down four rotation players by the end of the night and they did much of the same. They took 27 3-pointers, which was more than a third of their shot attempts. That’s out of whack.
–This was the first game where not having Varejao really showed up. It was a game when an energy player could’ve made a difference, especially with as many loose balls as the Rocket got.
–Houston is hot, they have won 14 of 17. It was going to be a tough one no matter what. We’ll see just how mentally tough the Cavs are tomorrow in Atlanta against a struggling Hawks team. With the Nuggets, Magic and Spurs before the break, that is a pretty important game to win.

Recap:

Pregame

Starting lineups

Cavs: Larry Hughes, Ira Newble, LeBron James, Donyell Marshall, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Rockets: Rafer Alston, Tracy McGrady (maybe), Shane Battier, Luis Scola, Yao Ming

Officials
Dan Crawford, James Capers, Tommy Nunez

–So, weird stuff going on with McGrady. He has a sinus infection and didn’t come to shootaround and wasn’t going to play. He wasn’t here at the Toyota Center an hour before the game. But now they are saying he is coming and they have him on the active roster. We’ll all find out together what happens.
–Drew Gooden is out, Mike Brown wants to see how Donyell does in there but chances are you will see Newble playing some 4 and Cedric Simmons. Dwayne Jones will be used to foul Yao.
–Rockets are playing great, they have won 13 of 16 and eight of nine. Good test for the Cavs, but being down three rotation players is a tall order.
–So who is the official health care provider of the Houston Rockets? The Roger Clemens Institute for Sports Medicine and Human Performance. Hmmmmm, wonder if that will be undergoing a name change? Then again, he does know human performance.

Halftime — Rockets 40, Cavs 39

–Cavs have done a pretty good job of hanging in there. The Rockets are just pounding it into Yao, who has 13 shots already. The Cavs actually tried a little zone in the first half to deal with it. Houston would be ahead by more if they weren’t so bad from 3-point range at 1-of-11. Also, T-Mac shouldn’t be playing, he’s not well and is not good right now.
–Donyell Marshall is filling in pretty well all things considered, he has six points and four rebounds. Dwayne Jones is working hard but getting his behind kicked. The Rockets are soundly winning the rebound battle as not having Drew Gooden and Anderson Varejao is showing up.
–Yao is neutralizing Z, he needs to look for more pick and pops to get jumpers. Also the Cavs have just one offensive rebound. The Cavs also need to challenge Yao at the rim instead of trying so many 3s. He will commit fouls if you go right at him.
–The Rockets are letting LeBron have wide open jumpers by going under pick-and-rolls, he’s just not hitting them. If the Cavs are going to win, he needs to force them to be more honest like he did with the Trail Blazers.

Postgame

Stars
Yao, 22 points, 12 rebounds
Skip to my Lou, 17 points, nine assists
Bonzi Wells, 13 points, 10 rebounds
LeBron, 32 points, seven rebounds, six assists

Quotes

Mike Brown: “We’ve got to have other guys step up, tonight we didn’t rebound as a team. That’s a very big team and a good offensive rebounding team and they took advantage of us in that area.”
LeBron: “We miss some of our bigs, we are a better rebounding team than that. When you have 20 rebounds (on average) sitting on the sideline it hurts.”

Cavs 114, Celtics 113

–Ever since that spat with the Paul Pierce spit in that preseason game in 2004, LeBron seems to take games against the Celtics personally. This is the ninth straight time he’s scored more than 30 points against them and you could just tell he’s been thinking about it for days. When I talked to him about his ankle after the Seattle game he told me all he cared about was getting back to play Boston. He also doesn’t like how the new Celtics run their mouth so much and put them in the Pistons category. He’s what he said:

“The Celtics and Pistons, they both can get fly with the mouth. It’s in a competitive way, but sometimes it can get annoying. That’s not what I do, that is not what our team is about. You go out there and win ballgames and you can do what you want to.”

–No one could’ve expected this to be such a high-scoring game, it is not the way either team wants to play. Nonetheless, it was an exciting game with 28 lead changes and 23 ties. I maintain this would be a great playoff series.
–You have to give the Cavs credit for the different ways they are winning and with the different lineups. As along as LeBron is playing, of course. For as well as the supporting cast played tonight, it was -11 when LeBron was on the bench.
–Drew Gooden tweaked his right groin muscle. He is prone to pulling upper leg muscles, this is the third straight season he’s had an adductor or groin injury. Usually it causes him to miss a game or two but he said to me after the game he was hoping to play Thursday.
–Not having Garnett seemed to affect the Celtics rebounding more than anything else. They certainly got plenty of offense without him and got into the paint a lot. But the Cavs won the rebounding battle, 39-29 and had 17 offensive rebounds.
–If the Cavs were to play these guys in the playoffs they would really have to work on a better way to deal with Rondo. When he plays well it seems like he can really unlock the Cavs’ defense. Then again, having Anderson Varejao (which they have not had against Boston yet this year) makes a difference on how they can play the pick-and-roll.
–I hope all the Zydrunas Ilgauskas haters are paying attention to how well he’s played over the last month. He had another double-double tonight even though his shot was off. There are a lot of people that complain about Larry Hughes, who is also playing well, not living up to his contract. Well, Ilgauskas is earning his $10 million and re-signing him when he took a $6 million pay cut in 2005 was a very smart move. There may be some regret about giving him a fifth year, but that was the tradeoff to getting him to take the reduction in pay. I’ve said it before and I will keep saying it, someday No. 11 will be in the rafters. Tonight he passed one of the men up there, Larry Nance, in career blocks.
–By the way, LeBron plead no contest to driving 101 miles an hour in court today and was fined $259. Tonight his game check was worth $118,500.00.

Recap:

Pregame

Celtics: Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Brian Scalabrine, Kendrick Perkins
Cavs: Larry Hughes, Ira Newble, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydruans Ilgauskas

–The Celtics are an excellent halfcourt defense team and we know the Cavs are not a good halfcourt offensive team. Thus, pushing the ball will be important tonight. Especially off rebounds, which the Cavs should get more of with Kevin Garnett out.
–The X-factor tonight could be Glen Davis, who is quick and burly. The Cavs don’t have Andy Varejao to counteract him so it may fall to Dwayne Jones to bang with him. But he is very effecitve on pick-and-rolls.
–Biggest key for Cavs maybe keeping Rondo out of driving in the paint. Allen and Perkins get open shots when teams get out of rotation. Rondo has hurt the Cavs with this before. Considering he can’t shoot, the Cavs should give him space.

Halftime — Celtics 66, Cavs 64

–The Cavs have given up 62 percent shooting and are down just two points, which is the good news. The bad news is their defense has been terrible. Their rotations and pick-and-roll coverage have been lax all night. They are going to have to be much more active.
–Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo are a combined 18-of-23 from the floor. Rondo is the real issue because he’s totally got the Cavs on their heels. They’ve followed the scouting report and let him shoot from the outside and he’s made them and now they are struggling dealing with his drives. That includes LeBron. You still have to make him take jumpers, I think, if he makes them he makes them.
–The Cavs have done a great job of pushing the ball, they have 16 fastbreak points, which has kept them in the game with the Celtics scoring so much. LeBron has 21 points, which is tremendous, but he’s also got seven assists already. He wants to win this game badly.
–Drew Gooden may be playing his worst game of the year. He’s been totally out of it. Which hurts doubly when Varejao is out.

Postgame

Stars
LeBron, 33 points, 12 assists, nine rebounds
Ilgauskas, 21 points, 10 rebounds
Hughes, 18 points, six assists
Allen, 24 points, five assists
Pierce, 19 points
Rondo, 20 points, seven rebounds

Quotes:
Mike Brown: “It’s great to have other guys go out there and perform, to keep having bodies go down is tough. I have to give the guys in that locker room credit because they found a way to win and did it with lineups that haven’t been out on the floor together in a long time and did it against a good team.”
Doc Rivers: “We can’t use not having (Garnett) as an excuse. We’re good enough with what we’ve got to win basketball games.”
Gooden: “I’m hoping to be back Thursday. I heal fast, I’m a superhero.”

Cavs 98, Clippers 84

–As you would expect without their two best players and playing on a back-to-back, the Clips crashed down the stretch. Their legs got heavy and it showed when they tried to jump. On the other end, the Cavs seemed to warm up as the game went on. As a result the natural order of things was restored.
–LeBron said his ankle isn’t feeling that well but he felt he had to play because if the Cavs lost to the Sonics and then the Clippers it would’ve negated the wins in L.A. and Portland. He didn’t seem to show too many ill effects, but he was hopefully he’d be much better by Tuesday’s game.
–The Cavs won the second half rebounding battle 32-11. Which is closer to what you’d expect with Chris Kaman out and Josh Powell playing center.
–Funny moment after the game. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is being interviewed on the P.A. system and Mike Snyder says “Z, this was your 20th double-double.” Then Z says, “21st actually.” He was right, it is 21. Who says these guys don’t care about their stats.

Recap:

Pregame

Starting lineup

Clippers: Sam Cassell, Cuttino Mobley, Quinton Ross, Tim Thomas, Josh Powell
Cavs: Larry Hughes, Ira Newble, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Officials
Joe DeRosa, Matt Boland, David Jones

–LeBron worked out before the game and determined he could go. He doesn’t look like he’ll be 100 percent, but he shouldn’t have to be to win tonight.
–Chris Kaman and Corey Maggette have been out with injuries. Both are on the active roster, but it doesn’t look like either are going to play. There’s not much there for the Clippers considering Elton Brand is also out. Thornton has been playing well of late, too.
–Clippers are hurt and tired coming off a loss last night in Minnesota, so the Cavs would be wise to try to jump on them early.

Halftime — Clippers 47, Cavs 45

–Can you imagine if LeBron wasn’t playing?
–Not a whole lot of energy being shown by the Cavs in this one, which is somewhat typical coming back from the West Coast. But, folks, the Clippers have nine guys in uniform and one of them is Dan Dickau. The Cavs are being outrebounded, which tells you all you need to know. Also, they have just two second-chance points. Not their usual effort level, especially against the likes of Aaron Williams and Josh Powell.
–LeBron attacked the basket in the first quarter and got eight free throws, then in the second he started hoisting up 3s. In fact, all the Cavs are. The other night in Seattle they shot them because they were way behind. Tonight they’ve taken 14 already. They are below .500 when they take more than 20 3s on the season. This is especially stupid because Z and Drew are actually making headway working out of the post.
–Damon Jones played a very productive 10 minutes, he hit a 3 and had four assists. He is the closest thing to a true point guard the Cavs have in their rotation.
–Al Thornton is pretty talented at scoring the ball, and he’s upset about not being named to the rookie game. It is showing.

Postgame

Stars
LeBron 28 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists
Z, 22 points, 13 rebounds
Al Thornton, 23 points, seven rebounds

Quotes
LeBron: “This was a tough game, it was almost like a road game because we had some jet lag. We just had to get some energy and we were able to pull it out.”
Mike Brown: “They had some guys out and it was human nature to let down a bit. They are in a tough situation, they were missing a lot of guys and they did what they were supposed to, they fought.”