Despite big game from Hornets' Thornton, Cavs end slide

By Sam Amico, for NBA.com
Posted Tuesday February 23, 2010 11:19PM

CLEVELAND (NBA.com exclusive) -- The Cleveland Cavaliers were waiting for a game like Tuesday's 105-95 win over the visiting New Orleans Hornets.

The Cavs wanted to see how Antawn Jamison would fare as a starter, how the team as a whole would defend, how their reshaped lineup would come together.

Mostly, though, the Cavs just needed a win.

It wasn't perfect and it wasn't easy, but it snapped a three-game losing streak. And for the Cavs (44-14), that was good enough.

"We did some nice things tonight," said Cavs coach Mike Brown. "We gotta fight through whatever it is we're going through right now, and get this thing figured out."

Of course, the Hornets (30-27) deserve plenty of credit for making things difficult for the Cavs. They may have lost by 10, but they were in it the whole way, trailing just 92-89 with 4:00 left in the game.

One big reason was rookie guard Marcus Thornton, who looked more like LeBron James than LeBron James. Thornton came off the bench to score a career-high 37 points, including a franchise-record 23 in the second quarter.

So it's no surprise both Thornton and Hornets coach Jeff Bower were smiling widely after the game, looking like two guys who had just experienced a victory of sorts.

"We played extremely hard. I'm really proud of the effort," Bower said. "It was really just a case of [the Cavs] making a couple of big plays there at the end."

Thornton, a 6-foot-4 guard out of LSU, was selected in the second round (No. 43 overall) by Miami, then traded to New Orleans on draft night. With All-Star point guard Chris Paul (knee) sitting out, the Hornets are relying heavily on guys like Thornton and fellow rookie Darren Collison to keep them in the playoff hunt.

"[Thornton] was aggressive coming off screens and was confident when he went up to shoot the ball," Bower said. "He did a nice job balancing his perimeter shot with putting it on the floor to get to the rim."

And the kids definitely did all they could against the Cavs, as Collison added to Thornton's fine evening by scoring 22 points and passing for 10 assists.

"When you play against one of the great players, you know you had better bring your 'A' game," Thornton said. "That's what we tried to do tonight."

While that's all good news for the Hornets, this one meant even more to the Cavs.

They have a biggie in Boston on Thursday night and really couldn't afford to follow their long gone 13-game winning streak with yet another defeat.

That reality seemed to dawn on them late, when it became obvious the feisty Hornets simply couldn't be swatted away. So as is usually the case, James took command of the ball and took over the game.

He scored six of his 20 points in the final 1:36, providing the energy the Cavs needed and right when they needed it most. James also finished with a game-high 13 assists.

"The poise, size and penetration ability of LeBron does a lot of things for them," Bower said. "He puts them in position for a lot of easy baskets and dunks."

Shaquille O'Neal (20 points, 9-for-13 shooting) had another magnificent game for the Cavaliers, offering more proof that the self-proclaimed Man of Steel may be getting better with age -- and mostly, as he becomes more comfortable in the Cavs' offense.

Also, Jamison was strong in his debut as a Cavs starter, making seven of his 14 shots for 18 points. He also pulled down six boards and compiled two steals. Anderson Varejao added 14 points, and Delonte West and Anthony Parker scored 13 apiece.

Meanwhile, forward David West (17 points) had a solid outing for the Hornets, proving that it wasn't all about the young guys.

"I was really pleased with so many things for us," Bower said. "I thought the first quarter was a dangerous 12 minutes for us. But, the way we came back in the second quarter was a really good thing for us."