Thursday, April 6
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Big Apple Bitten
by Joe Gabriele
cavs.com
LeBron James, who scored 21 in the fourth, drew a crowd all night on Wednesday.
Nathaniel S. Butler
NBAE/Getty Images
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April 6 -- Last night’s loss to the Knicks was a little bit good, a little bad and more than a little ugly.
The bad part is obvious. Cleveland lost to the league’s worst team. The Knicks had lost nine straight and, despite the win, are still a squad in utter disarray. Last night’s win was only their 20th of the season.
The Cavaliers were a team headed in a completely different direction heading into Wednesday’s matchup at Madison Square Garden. Cleveland had won nine straight – some in dramatic fashion, some in blowout fashion – including Tuesday’s drubbing of the Sixers at The Q.
The first three-quarters of the game were ugly. The Cavaliers shot poorly from the floor and without Z – who missed his second game of the season with a sprained left ankle – had no interior presence on either side of the floor. Anderson Varejao does a nice job bringing energy off the bench, but he’s not quite ready for prime time as a starting NBA center.
The Cavaliers don’t have any excuses for last night’s loss, but they can be forgiven the first three quarters. Despite the Knicks record, last night’s game was the road end of a back-to-back and was the Cavaliers’ fourth game in the last five nights. It had to be expected that the streak would end – it just happened three days earlier and on the other side of the Hudson compared to what might have been predicted.
The best thing that came out of last night’s game was that, despite the opponent, the Wine and Gold showed that they can tighten up on the road and make a run. They’ll have to have that mental toughness when the postseason tips off in a couple weeks.
Of course, LeBron James was his typical self, scoring 21 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter as the Cavaliers made their furious charge. He’ll get grief for passing up the final shot. But that’s what makes LBJ so special. He wanted to get Larry Hughes the game-winner after Jamal Crawford hit the shot that put New York up by two.
Hughes got 24 minutes off Mike Brown’s bench last night in the Big Apple. He didn’t look as fluent offensively as he did on Tuesday night at The Q, but just seeing him out there at the end of a game was a huge lift for the Cavaliers. He couldn’t have played any better defense on Crawford, who was simply on fire in the final three quarters at the Garden.
The Cavaliers now have to reload for a huge battle on Saturday afternoon in New Jersey. Assuming the red-hot Nets can top the Bobcats tonight in the Garden State, they’ll be riding a 14-game win streak when Cleveland comes to town.
Cleveland looks good for the fourth-seed but they want to keep playing well heading into the playoffs. Last night’s loss was painful, but a win over the scorching Nets would go a long way in easing that pain.
Be sure to tune in during every Cleveland Cavaliers' game for Joe Gabriele's IN-GAME LIVE quarterly updates.
| SCORING
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| LeBron James |
31.6 |
Zydrunas
Ilgauskas |
15.8 |
Larry
Hughes |
15.7 |
Flip
Murray |
13.3 |
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| REBOUNDS
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Drew
Gooden |
8.7 |
Zydrunas
Ilgauskas |
7.6 |
LeBron
James |
7.2 |
Donyell
Marshall |
6.1 |
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| ASSISTS
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LeBron
James |
6.7 |
Eric
Snow |
4.3 |
Larry
Hughes |
3.7 |
Flip
Murray |
2.8 |
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 April 6, 2006
Flip Murray is averaging 16.7 points in his last three games and has shot 19-30 (.633) in those games. He has connected on seven of his past nine three-point field goal attempts (.778) over the past four games.
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The Playoff Picture
| Team |
Seed |
Record |
Upcoming-Recent Schedule |
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1 |
60-14 |
vs. NO/OK City 4/4 (W) | @ Miami 4/6 | @ Orlando 4/7 |
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2 |
49-25 |
vs. Milwaukee 4/4 (W) | vs. Detroit 4/6 | @ Washington 4/8 |
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3 |
45-28 |
vs. Atlanta 4/4 (W) | vs. Charlotte 4/6 | vs. Cleveland 4/8 |
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4 |
45-30 |
vs. Philadelphia 4/4 (W) | @ New York 4/5 (L) | @ New Jersey 4/8 |
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5 |
39-35 |
vs. New York 4/4 (W) | @ Boston 4/5 (W) | @ Atlanta 4/7 |
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6 |
37-38 |
@ Miami 4/4 (L) | @ Orlando 4/5 (L) | @ Memphis 4/7 |
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7 |
36-38 |
vs. Indiana 4/4 (W) | @ Philadelphia 4/5 (W) | @ Philadelphia 4/8 |
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8 |
35-40 |
@ Cleveland 4/4 (L) | vs. Chicago 4/5 (W) | vs. Boston 4/7 |
Upcoming Promotions
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APRIL 2006
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Thursday, April 13th vs. New York 8:00 p.m.
Cavaliers Fanbanas presented by Alltel Wireless
Kids Day - KeyBank Postgame Free Throws
 Purchase Tickets
Wednesday, April 19th vs. Atlanta 7:00 p.m.
Fan Appreciation Night presented by Cingular Wireless
Purchase Tickets
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In the Paint
Last Night's Action
Saturday Night Fight: Basketball usually isn’t built on rematches until the playoffs begin, but there will be a Saturday Night Fight in Chicago. Andres Nocioni and Ben Gordon each scored 21 points to lead the Bulls past the 76ers 99-92 and into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Allen Iverson did all he could by scoring 26 points and Chris Webber had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Sixers, who again got little offensive production from anyone else before it was too late. The Bulls (35-40) own a half-game lead on the slumping Sixers (34-40) and the rematch is Saturday night in Chicago. (AP)
Paul Revered: Rookie Chris Paul continues to shine for New Orleans as they cling to their playoff hopes. Paul’s second career triple-double came only two games after his first, and he had 17 points, 11 rebounds, 16 assists and six steals in the Hornets' overtime victory over the Warriors. Since 1973-74, when the NBA began keeping track of steals, only one other player (Magic Johnson) reached those levels in each of those four categories in the same game. Paul, who has won all five rookie of the month awards in the Western Conference, leads all rookies in scoring, assists, steals and minutes. He is also making his teammates better as six other Hornets were in double figures. The Warriors were led by Jason Richardson’s 24 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. (Elias)
Around the League
Sunset: Amare Stoudemire's full-time return will have to wait until next season. Stoudemire underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Wednesday morning. Team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Thomas Carter performed the procedure to remove debris caused by wear and tear of the knee cap. The resulting inflammation led to the development of a Baker’s cyst and associated pressure behind the joint. No isolated defect was found and the cyst was aspirated. The 23-year-old will be on crutches 7-10 days and his return to court activities is estimated to take six to eight weeks. He will not return this season.
THE DAILY POLL - Second-Most MVP
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Cavaliers Trivia
Think you know everything there is to know about the Cleveland Cavaliers? Well here's a chance to test your knowledge. Simply select your answer and check out the results. Good luck!
| Quote of the Day |
"I've been doing this forever, I haven't had trouble with getting guys to respond. Never. You bang heads for a little while, but eventually they know you care and you want to make them better."
--New York Knicks coach, Larry Brown, saying that players might be "tuning him out"
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The Optimist Archive
Check out some of the Optimist's collection of classics spanning three years (2003-05). The Optimist takes a lighthearted look at the bright side of the Cavaliers season. He predicted the Wine and Gold to go 82-0 at the beginning of the season and hasn't stopped since. The Optimist makes an appearance in every Game Preview.
Remember, all the Optimist ever asks of Cavaliers fans is two things...
One, is to ask yourself a simple question: WHY NOT? The second is to HAVE FAITH. Neither require manual labor.
And if you think the Optimist is right on, full of it, or just plain entertaining, you can contact the Optimist by clicking here.
CLICK HERE FOR THE OPTIMIST ARCHIVE
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