Anhueser-Busch

Cavaliers Clock the Clippers

November 11, 2007
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Cavaliers at Clippers

103
95
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    • Ira Newble goes up and under for the bucket in the Cavaliers' 103-95 win in Los Angeles . Listen

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    LeBron James soars to the hole for two of his 10 fourth-quarter points.
    Rocky Widner
    NBAE/Getty Images
    There were those who thought the Wine and Gold’s six-game sojourn through the Western Conference would be their early-season undoing. Instead, the Cavaliers have seemingly gotten stronger with each game – and victory – including Sunday night’s convincing 103-95 win over the Clippers in L.A.

    As usual, the Cavaliers got clutch performances from their formidable frontline of LeBron James, Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. But – as in Friday night’s win in Sacramento – it might have been one of their reserves that fueled the fire in the win.

    Chris Kaman and Sam Cassell keyed a Clippers’ run as L.A. bounced back from a 13-point second-half hole, taking a one-point lead – 83-82 – with 7:14 remaining. But Ira Newble went on a personal mission – tipping in a LeBron miss, blocking Quentin Ross’ lay-up attempt, snagging a key steal and scoring on a sweet reverse to jumpstart the Cavaliers, who turned a one-point deficit into nine-point lead in just over two minutes.

    The Clippers couldn’t get closer than within seven points for the rest of the night.

    “Ira came in the game and gave us some big minutes defensively,” praised Coach Mike Brown. “He was very active on the weak side, he was very active rebounding the basketball. And he hit two big shots for us in the second half to help us get the lead and increase the lead.”

    LeBron was his sensational self, filling the boxscore and the bucket with 22 points, eight dimes, five boards and a season-high six steals. James was 9-for-21from the floor and thrilled the Tinseltown crowd several times, including a massive breakaway dunk late in the first quarter.

    “We got stops and did the things we needed to do,” said James. “We were getting the ball up court, sharing the basketball. This is the best offensive performance we’ve had so far this year.”

    Zydrunas Ilgaukas continued his early season success, netting a team-high 25 points – going 8-for-10 from the field in the second half and adding six boards. LeBron seemed to find the Large Lithuanian off every high pick-and-roll, and Big Z obliged him by splashing home shot after shot.

    Drew Gooden did all of his damage in three quarters – setting a season-high in rebounds with 18 and adding 17 points on 6-for-16 shooting.

    Larry Hughes saw his first action in a week and responded with a gritty 12-point performance. Devin Brown was once again at his versatile best, tallying eight points while doing all the dirty work. And Damon Jones continue to impress, running the point with efficiency and netting nine points, all in the second half.

    The Cavaliers close out their longest roadie of the season on Monday night when they travel to the Mile High City to face the surging Nuggets.

    Notes

  • Some of the best “conversations” happen down on and around the court during pre-game. One interesting exchange came while the Cavaliers were shooting around before Sunday’s game in L.A. between some frisky fans and Eric Snow.

    Seated behind the basket while Snow was warming up, the fans hectored, “Hey, Eric you don’t have a jump shot!” Snow politely smiled, responding, “I never had a jump shot; ask me something else?” and proceeded to walk over to the demonstrative duo. By this point however, his smile had turned into the patented E-Snow glare.

    Sheepishly, one asked how it felt to lose in the Finals. Being a good sport, Snow smiled: “Like second place.”

  • Nearly every game on the six-game Western Conference trip has been tight and exciting. The Wine and Gold’s eight-point win over the Clippers was their biggest margin of victory this year.

  • The shot of the night – and the loudest ovation of the night – didn’t come from Sam Cassell, or even LeBron James. Instead it was a member of the Clippers dance team who electrified the 15,000 fans at Staples Center when she canned an absolutely incredible half-court behind-the-back shot from half-court.

    As part of a promotion between the third and fourth quarter, one of the Clippers Spirit will attempt the shot and someone from the crowd will try the heave straight on.

    She measured it, leaned back and unloaded. With a perfect arc and rotation, the ball touched nothing but the bottom of the net, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

  • The Cavaliers shot 50.6 percent from the floor on Sunday night, their best shooting performance of the season.

  • Although it’s in the same venue, a Clippers game and a Lakers game at Staples are vastly different. If not for the distinctive baritone of the P.A. announcer, it would be difficult to tell that it’s the same arena.

    Take the celebrity sightings. Whereas a Lakers game is a veritable Hollywood who’s who – plus Jack – a Clippers game’s collection of courtside stars on Sunday night included Michael Clarke Duncan, Michael Eisner, O.J. Mayo, Penny Marshall and, of course, Billy Crystal.

  • Sasha Pavlovic was limited to just under six minutes of action on Sunday night, suffering from back spasms that kept him on the exercise bike for most of the night and off the court for the entire second half.