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Suns make record 17 3-pointers, stop Cavs
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Saturday, Jan 26, 2008
CLEVELAND: As the 20,000-plus fans filed out of Quicken Loans Arena on Friday night, there was plenty of chatter about two moments fresh on their minds.
A LeBron James' layup that seemed to go all the way into the basket and come out and a finesse floater that Shawn Marion made with 1.1 seconds to go that gave the Phoenix Suns a 110-108 victory over the Cavaliers. It was a sour end to the Cavs' five-game winning streak and their six-game home winning streak.
For James, the miss was a blemish on another great game — 36 points and seven rebounds. For Marion, it was his only basket of what previously had been a forgettable evening.
In reality, those were merely the final details, not the crux of the evening. On the cusp of
another high-quality win in their run of solid play since Christmas, the Cavs (23-19) rested on their laurels in the second half, and it caught up with them against a marquee opponent like the Suns (31-13).
That probably will be the message the Cavs' coaching staff sends today after film review as the club prepares to head to the West Coast. In a departure from the trend that turned the season around in the past month, the Cavs regressed into a bygone era at crunch time, when they had been so dominant recently.
After sharing the ball well with their drive-and-kick offense, feeding their hard-to-defend big man to help control the tempo, and driving the ball to earn free throws, the Cavs had a flashback to last season down the stretch. Especially when it came to James, who spent most of the decisive fourth quarter dribbling and looking instead of moving and executing.
In the first half, the Cavs tied a season-high with 69 points. They shot better than 50 percent from the floor, got to the foul line 20 times and piled up 14 assists. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 17 points and was drawing double teams, freeing James to score at will as the Cavs built an 18-point lead.
In the second half, the Cavs scored only 39 points, shot 35 percent, earned only seven free throws and had only seven assists. Ilgauskas scored four points and James was crowded, especially in the fourth quarter, when he missed five shots, including two point-blank layups in traffic.
''We just were grittier in the second half,'' said Suns star point guard Steve Nash, who had 26 points and nine assists. ''We stopped giving up easy stuff and took them out of their rhythm.''
The Cavs hardly deserve a cold slap. It took a record-setting performance to end their streak. The Suns made 17 3-pointers, which was the most the Cavs have given up in a game. Nash and Raja Bell, who had 27 points, were particularly dynamite. They combined to go 13-of-19 from behind the arc.
Swinging the ball around the court, the Suns repeatedly were able to find an open shooter as the Cavs got caught in rotation. The Suns shot 33 3-pointers and 34 two-pointers. It's a risky way to play, but it is the Suns' way, and they played it well.
''We are a shrink-the-floor team, and they made us shrink the floor until we paid,'' James said. ''They had a counter for everything we threw at them.''
Still, the Cavs allowed a Suns team known for being soft on defense to be the more physical team down the stretch. Especially Bell, who held and grabbed James for much of the fourth quarter. As the Cavs set up for a desperate final shot attempt, Nash tackled Daniel Gibson.
''They are a smart team. They know how to hold, they know how to grab and they know how to get away with it,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said.'' That slowed us up a bit.''
It's not often an opposing coach praises the Suns' defense.
The loss also wasted one of the best performances of the season from Larry Hughes, who had 25 points and eight rebounds.
''We gave ourselves an opportunity to win,'' James said. ''They just made one more play.''
Brian Windhorst can be reached at bwindhor@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/.
CLEVELAND: As the 20,000-plus fans filed out of Quicken Loans Arena on Friday night, there was plenty of chatter about two moments fresh on their minds.
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