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Do IT this week: Layering
LeBron, Z and Gooden post statistics similar to Pierce, Allen, Garnett
By Brian Windhorst Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Monday, Nov 19, 2007
CLEVELAND: When you say ''Big Three'' around the NBA these days, most assume you're talking about the Boston Celtics' newly assembled core of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett.
Why not? The Celtics have played great and those three are filling the stat sheet every night.
But the Cavaliers have their own impressive trio performing at a high level and against overall much better competition than the Celtics have faced.
Heading into Sunday's games, LeBron James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Drew Gooden were combining to average 59.5 points, 30 rebounds and 10.3 assists. Almost as good as the Celtics' Big Three, who put their numbers together to average 62 points, 22.6 rebounds and 13.3 assists.
So the Celtics' trio might still have the edge, but the point should be taken. The Cavs' frontcourt has carried the load early in the season.
''LeBron has been great for us,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said. ''He provides everything we need. Both Drew and Z have worked hard and really battled every night.''
As the Cavs' 5-5 record suggests, the output of those three has been desperately needed. With the exception of a couple of good games by Daniel Gibson, there's been very little positive to discuss about the guard play.
There have been significant injuries to Larry Hughes and Eric Snow, the holdout of Sasha Pavlovic was a distraction during training camp, and out on the floor the production has been spotty at best. None of that covers the inability to acquire a point guard during the offseason.
Yet the Cavs have not suffered too greatly because the others have picked them up.
''We can't focus on anything outside,'' James said. ''We know what we have and we have to make the best of it. I think we've done a great job so far.''
Gooden, getting increased minutes with Anderson Varejao still out, has put up his best numbers in his four years with the Cavs. Ilgauskas is off to his most prolific start in four seasons. James' numbers are up across the board from last season.
They've also combined for 15 double-doubles. Ilgauskas has seven. The last time he had seven double-doubles in the course of 10 games was in the 1998-99 season.
''With the guys that we have out we knew that some of the starters were going to have to step up,'' Ilgauskas said. ''We have confidence in ourselves that we can do it.''
Dribbles
James needs three assists to move past Clarence ''Foots'' Walker for fourth place in team history. He currently has 2,113. . . . The Cavs are 15-4 all-time when James has 40 points or more, including 2-0 this season. . . . Three of the Cavs' next five games are against teams with losing records.
Brian Windhorst can be reached at bwindhor@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/.
CLEVELAND: When you say ''Big Three'' around the NBA these days, most assume you're talking about the Boston Celtics' newly assembled core of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett.
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