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Only San Antonio has been a tougher place than Seattle to play for the Wine and Gold. And a vastly-improved Clipper team took advantage of a Cleveland team that was still adjusting to a back-to-back. They showed them just how vast the improvement was in the first quarter, out-scoring the Cavs, 31-18. For the final three quarters, Cleveland held a one-point advantage.
“Everybody plays back-to-back so I’m not going to use that as an excuse,” said Head Coach Mike Brown following the loss in L.A. “We got into Seattle at 5 o’clock the night before and that didn’t help us. We gave up 50 percent shooting and 100-plus points.”
The Clippers were rested and ready, too. Cleveland went toe-to-toe with Seattle on Friday night and it obviously took them a quarter to get started on Saturday. The last time the Clippers played before meeting Cleveland on was a meeting with Cleveland the previous Wednesday night, an overtime loss.
In that overtime game, Zydrunas Ilgauskas got the best of Clippers center, Chris Kaman. But it was the other way around in the City of Angels. The former MAC Player of the Year – who looks like a really huge Tom Petty – went off for a game-high 19 boards, along with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Elton Brand went off for another 30-plus point game, his second against Cleveland in four days.
Kaman, Brand and the Clippers are definitely for real. They are at the top of the Pacific Division. The Lakers are a half-game from the bottom.
“Between Kaman and Brand, they had 42 points down low,” complained Brown. “They were 18 for 32 shooting and almost had 30 rebounds between the two of them. Our team defense allowed them to shoot 52 percent. We can be a good team if we understand that our defense needs to fuel our offense and not the other way around.”
Brown has to be disappointed with the Cavaliers defense this past weekend. Cleveland knuckled down in the final three quarters in L.A. But it took them the first five periods of the road trip to get there.
“I think (Brown) is more concerned with us getting defensive stops so we can get out and run,” said LeBron James on Saturday. “When we don’t get defensive stops we end up taking long shots then we are out of our comfort zone.”
Another tough matchup the mini-series between Cleveland and the ClipShow provided was the one between Corey Maggette and James. Two basketball players with football player bodies, Maggette and James did epic battle on Saturday night. LeBron netted 30 points, but again didn’t have his best night from the field, going 8-for-25.
The Cavaliers have one game left to salvage the early season West Coast trip and that comes on Tuesday night in California’s capital. The Kings were just jumped by Minnesota, but they’ll get up for the Cavaliers. For Cleveland, they’d like to bring some momentum back to the North Coast, where they’ll play five of the next six at The Q.
-- Joe Gabriele
cavs.com
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 December 5, 2005Damon Jones scored a season-high 16 points in this past Friday’s game at Seattle. He tied his season high in three-point field goals made with 5 and set a season high in 3 field goals attempted with 10. |
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Atlantic Yards: A rivalry may be beginning to heighten between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. In a Sunday matinee at Madison Square Garden, the two teams went toe to toe with the Celtics getting the best of the Knicks, 102-99. Paul Pierce continued his string of strong games with the stat line of the night (28 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals) while Stephon Marbury led the Knicks with 35 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds.
Around the League
California Love: Shaquille O’Neal will forever love Los Angeles and it showed as O'Neal dropped in on his former team, the Lakers. O'Neal created a stir when he strode to his courtside seat during a timeout late in the second quarter of Sunday’s Lakers-Bobcats game. The quiet crowd suddenly erupted when O'Neal's smiling face was shown on the overhead screen. He received a standing ovation, but left before his former teammate, Kobe Bryant, sunk two free throws with 7 seconds remaining for a 99-98 victory. O'Neal was in town ahead of Miami's game against the Clippers on Monday night and is on the cusp of possibly returning from an ankle injury this Wednesday.
New Orleans Party: The New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets are sitting at .500 at 8-8 and above the Houston Rockets in the Southwest Division. Rookie of the Year frontrunner Chris Paul has become an impact player, averaging 16.4 ppg, 6.8 apg and 5.5 rpg. P.J. Brown has remained a pillar of the team and has helped David West have a breakout season so far. With the continued development of J.R. Smith and Desmond Mason beginning to get more comfortable in his role, the Hornets will look to remain a young, up and coming team under the helm of Byron Scott.
| DECEMBER 2005 |
Tuesday, December 13th vs. Atlanta 7:00 p.m. Purchase Tickets
Tuesday, December 20th vs. Utah 7:00 p.m. Purchase Tickets
Friday, December 23rd vs. Indiana 8:00 p.m. Purchase Tickets
Saturday, December 31st vs. Detroit 1:30 p.m. Purchase Tickets
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