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April 15, 2009: Sixers 111 Cavaliers 110
Box Score | Postgame Report | Postgame Quotes
Sixers stop Cavs in OT
Highlights
Up by one (111-110), Miller missed two from the charity stripe with 4.3 seconds remaining in overtime. Cleveland grabbed the rebound on the second free-throw and instantly called a timeout to draw up a final play. While Miller walked back to the team huddle shaking his head in disbelief, Royal Ivey kept his head held high and reassured his teammates everything will be ok.
With 76ers players swarming, Cleveland had trouble inbounding the ball but got it to Daniel Gibson with less than a second remaining on the five second count. Ivey jumped on Gibson, making him lose control of the ball. Both players dove on the floor, wrestling for the ball. Before either player could come up with it, time expired. Game, set, match. With the 111-110 overtime victory over the Cavaliers Wednesday night in Cleveland, Philadelphia assured a trip to Disney World and a first round matchup with the Orlando Magic.
The Sixers had five players in double figures, three of which had 20 or more. Andre Miller led all scorers with 30 to go along with eights assists. Andre Iguodala scored 24 while going 10-for-14 from the free-throw line.
LeBron James watched as the Cavaliers couldn’t quite make history. A win by the Cleveland on Wednesday would’ve tied the NBA record for best home mark, 40-1, set by the Boston Celtics in 1985-86.
With their superstar, All-Star guard Mo Williams and other regulars resting for the playoffs, Cleveland lost for just the second time on their home floor this season.
The Sixers, averaging 31.5 free-throw attempts over the past 14 games, went 32-for-43 (74.4%) from the line, while the Cavaliers made eight free-throws on only 12 attempts.
Coming into tonight’s contest with Cleveland, the 76ers have averaged 4.9 more free-throw attempts than the opposition this season; the highest differential in the league.
The date and time for Game 1 between Philadelphia and Orlando has yet to be determined.
Game Notes
• Cleveland finished the season with 66 wins, the most wins in franchise history. The Cavs became the 12th team in NBA history to win 66 or more games in a season. At 66-16, the Cavs finish the season with the best record in the NBA.
• Cleveland finished the season 39-2 at home, the best home record in the NBA. At home, Cleveland held opponents to 88.0 points on only .415 shooting while averaging 102.3 points and shooting .478. Their 39 home wins sets the franchise record for home wins in a season. The Cavs become the 6th team in league history to win 39 or more home games in a season and the first since the 1996-97 Bulls.
• Tonight marked the Cavs fourth overtime game this season (2-2) and first in the final game of the season since April 18, 2001 versus Indiana.
• Cleveland recorded 26 assists and are 10-1 when dishing out 25 or more assists.
• The Cavaliers had three players score 20 or more points for the fourth time this season and second time in six games.
• The Cavs shot .517 and have shot over .500 from the field for the 22 time this season (21-1).
• Sasha Pavlovic scored a season-high 20 points on 9-18 shooting and added three rebounds and two assists.
• Daniel Gibson scored a career-high 28 points, on 12-24 shooting (both career highs) and added a season-high tying seven assists and two steals in 38 minutes off the bench. Gibson has scored 20 or more points off the bench three times this season.
• In his second career start, Darnell Jackson scored a career-high 15 points and added a career-high tying eight rebounds in 42 minutes.
• Wally Szczerbiak scored a season-high 21 points on 8-11 shooting and added eight rebounds and a season-high eight assists.
• Jawad Williams scored a career-high eight points and added two rebounds.
• Cleveland sold out their franchise record 38th game of the season and set a franchise record for average attendance with an average of 20,512 fans per game.
• Thaddeus Young scored 20 points and added nine rebounds.
• Andre Miller scored a season-high tying 30 points and dished out a team-high eight assists.
• Louis Williams scored 19 points on 7-11 shooting in 32 minutes off the bench.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Tony DiLeo
On tonights game:
Well, obviously we are very happy with the way it ended. We just needed to get a win, and we got it in a dramatic fashion. We had a happy locker room in there. We definitely wanted to get a win before the playoffs started just to get back on the right track and end on a positive note going into the playoffs.
On Samuel Dalembert:
He should be okay. It's a strained shoulder. It will be a day to day thing, but we will have a couple of days before, so we don't anticipate it will be a long term thing.
On Thaddeus Young playing 37 minutes:
Yes, 20 points, nine rebounds. I'm sure he's going to need rest, because going back to back and playing that many minutes, I'm sure his body is going to need rest, like our other guys, too. I'm sure his ankle will be a little tender, a little sore. But, again, we have a couple of days. We can rest up, get everyone some good rest and be healthy coming into the playoffs.
Andre Miller
On playing another quarter:
They played hard. They played hard, you know. It was a good game, a good game overall by both teams. We just came out with the win. But that group played really well together.
On Orlando playoff match-up:
We just wanted to put ourselves in a position where we can try to do something in the playoffs, and we dropped six games in a row. Boston is a team that people try to have in the Conference Finals. So, you know, it's probably easier to try to go through Orlando the first round than to matchup with them, with them coming in with a lot of energy and probably trying to get through the first round as quick as they can.
