Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Blogs:
Akron Law Café:
College Football is Un-American
The Heldenfiles:
"Breaking Bad" Season 2 on March 8
Tribe Matters:
Time to extend Lee’s contract?
Patrick McManamon:
Heckert out? Good news on defensive coordinator
Browns Bulletin:
GM candidates out, Mangini needs to discipline and more
Cleveland Browns:
Mangini takes command
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Cleveland Cavaliers: Of Leprechauns and Losses
CavsHQ: A Fan's View:
Running Thoughts - Cavs v. Bobcats
Akron Zips:
Five things you should know about Miami
Varsity Letters:
Ignatius’ Kyle has busy offseason
Kent State Sports:
Volleyball players earn All-Academic honors
Car Chase:
January is auction time
See Jane Style:
Chicago Chic?
All Da King's Men:
Obama's Economic News Conference
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Trillion Dollar Deficits
HRLite House:
The Psychology Channel, Interesting Videos, Jobs in I-O, and Happy Birthday Elvis
Akron Gamer:
Games in '09: Resident Evil 5
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Does Ohio have an Andy Warhol Museum?
Sound Check:
Axl Rose speaks on Guns & Rose(s)
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Macy's to Close 11 Stores in 9 States
Guard comes through with 11 points in quarter to send Cavs toward win
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Sunday, Nov 16, 2008
CLEVELAND: With a six-game winning streak on the line, someone other than LeBron James stepped forward to give the Cavaliers that much-needed push against the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.
Say hello to Delonte West, starting shooting guard, who quietly plies his trade while those around him usually get the credit.
James gets his due in the victory with 38 points, five rebounds and seven assists, but it was West and his play in the third quarter that ultimately sparked the Cavs to a 105-93 win.
The Jazz, who took the lead in the second quarter, built it to as many as 10 points at moments in the third quarter, only to have the Cavs chip away at it with West's shooting.
West scored 11 points in the quarter. He went on a run of his own, as he made four-of-six shots in the quarter including, three 3-pointers, one of which tied the score 69-69 with 3:35 left in the quarter.
The game teetered back-and-forth, but the Cavs scraped out a four-point lead heading to the fourth quarter when Daniel Gibson made a 3-pointer to beat the buzzer and give the Cavs an 80-76 lead.
The third quarter turned the game as the Cavs shot close to 58 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Jazz 11-6.
The Cavs opened the game well. Ahead 25-14, the Cavs looked as if they were on their way to their seventh win in a row in easy fashion.
But the Jazz benefited from an unlikely and bizarre 7-0 run toward the end of the first quarter. Four of those points came courtesy of unimpressive passes and the last three points on a ''Hail Mary'' shot at the buzzer by Ronnie Price.
That carried over, as the Jazz extended the run, making it 14-0, into the second quarter, courtesy of some bad shooting by the Cavs and a Jazz team that suddenly found its tune.
The Jazz, behind the shooting of Paul Millsap, erased a four-point deficit and built a seven-point lead heading into halftime. The Jazz shot a blistering 65 percent from the floor, making 11-of-17 shots in the second quarter.
It was for naught, though, as the Cavs asserted themselves behind West in the third quarter, and it continued into the fourth when the Cavs began to put some space between themselves and the Jazz, going on a 9-0 run to take a 95-84 lead.
As much as the third quarter belonged to West, the fourth belonged to James.
He scored from inside and out. A pass from Mo Williams as he rolled to the basket for a jam?
No problem.
A 3-point shot to put the Cavs ahead 103-90 with 2:15 left in the quarter, giving his team a significant amount of breathing space?
Even less so.
He went on to score 11 in the quarter.
''The defense has been great,'' said Williams, who scored 20 points. ''We need to take 12 minutes out of that 48 and clean that up, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Because offensively, you're not going to play great for 48 minutes. We feel defensively, if we're just solid 48 minutes, it will make up for those 12 minutes or so we try to find ourselves on offense.''
Quick shots
The Cavs scored 100 points for the sixth time in seven games against the Jazz. Many apologies for an error in Thursday's game story that said the Cavs had scored 100 points in five consecutive games. It should have been five out of six games. . . . Give Northeast Ohioans credit for their ability to hold a grudge. Every time Jazz forward Carlos Boozer touched the ball, the crowd booed him without fail. . . . Canton's Kosta Koufos, who plays center for the Jazz, had a rough homecoming Saturday night against the Cavs, making just 2-of-7 shots and scoring five points. . . . Listed as questionable before the game started, Cavs forward Ben Wallace started the game and grabbed 10 rebounds.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read the Cavs blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/.
CLEVELAND: With a six-game winning streak on the line, someone other than LeBron James stepped forward to give the Cavaliers that much-needed push against the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
