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LeBron goes to bench after playing just 17 minutes
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Thursday, Nov 27, 2008
CLEVELAND: What's easier than playing an undermanned New York Knicks team on a Tuesday night?
Playing the fully manned Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
It would be easy to see how anyone who watched both games on successive nights could believe that the Cavaliers (12-3) were actually playing the same team. Same garbage shooting. Same lackadaisical play overall and same dominating effort from the Cavs that led to a 117-82 victory.
The Thunder rolled into Quicken Loans Arena with a 1-14 record, while LeBron James and his crew looked as if they were
just hanging out having fun.
By the time it ended, everyone on the Cavs' roster had scored for the second straight game.
The Cavs led by as many as 40 points and the Thunder never came close to threatening them in any way.
Right now, the Cavs are hammering teams, a switch from the start of the season. Before game time, they owned the second highest point differential in the league.
''The first couple of games we didn't put the whole game together,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said. ''As of late, we've been putting the whole game together, so that's exciting to see. It's exciting to see us execute on both ends of the floor.''
The game went from the sublime to the ridiculous at 6:09 in the third quarter when the Cavs, who owned a 66-32 halftime lead, went ahead 79-41 on a 3-point shot by Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Yes, it got to be that good for the Cavs, so good that Brown sent James to the bench after playing only 17 minutes and scoring 14 points.
The way the Cavs have played the past two games, they could afford to give him a mini-vacation.
What it served to do is give Brown extended looks at rookies J.J. Hickson and Darnell Jackson. He offered guarded praise as a result — especially when it came to Hickson's performance.
Hickson, a first-round draft choice out of North Carolina State, played 31 minutes and made the most of them on 6-of-12 shooting for 14 points and added four rebounds. He played physically and challenged shots when he had the opportunity, blocking four shots in the process. Those blocks brought howls from the crowd.
''It's just part of defense and knowing my rotation,'' Hickson said. ''Coach preaches all the time, it's just a matter of me getting my rotation down and playing basketball — good basketball.''
Brown offered praise for his rookie, but said there's room for improvement.
''He continues to show me he's a young rookie — a young rookie with a lot of talent. He showed flashes where it was like, 'Wow,' with some of his blocks, some of his finishes and his patience with his moves,'' Brown said. ''Then there were times when he made the right play initially, but then he didn't play with multiple effort throughout the whole 24-second shot clock on the defensive end.''
The Cavs opened the game with a 13-0 run behind strong defense and rebounding. The Thunder never recovered as the Cavs began the game shooting at a 64 percent clip and maintained that pace for much of the game.
For the record books
The Cavs' performance against the Thunder on Wednesday night set a couple of team records. They set a franchise record when they took a 34-point halftime lead. The previous best was 32 against the Orlando Magic on April 10, 2001. The Cavs last scored 60 points in the first half in consecutive games in games Dec. 13-15 against Charlotte Bobcats (61 points) and the Seattle SuperSonics (64 points), respectively . . . All 12 players on the active roster scored for the second consecutive game. The last time that happened was Dec. 17-18, 1991.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read his blog at: http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/
CLEVELAND: What's easier than playing an undermanned New York Knicks team on a Tuesday night?
Playing the fully manned Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
It would be easy to see how anyone who watched both games on successive nights could believe that the Cavaliers (12-3) were actually playing the same team. Same garbage shooting. Same lackadaisical play overall and same dominating effort from the Cavs that led to a 117-82 victory.
The Thunder rolled into Quicken Loans Arena with a 1-14 record, while LeBron James and his crew looked as if they were
just hanging out having fun.
By the time it ended, everyone on the Cavs' roster had scored for the second straight game.
The Cavs led by as many as 40 points and the Thunder never came close to threatening them in any way.
Right now, the Cavs are hammering teams, a switch from the start of the season. Before game time, they owned the second highest point differential in the league.
''The first couple of games we didn't put the whole game together,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said. ''As of late, we've been putting the whole game together, so that's exciting to see. It's exciting to see us execute on both ends of the floor.''
The game went from the sublime to the ridiculous at 6:09 in the third quarter when the Cavs, who owned a 66-32 halftime lead, went ahead 79-41 on a 3-point shot by Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Yes, it got to be that good for the Cavs, so good that Brown sent James to the bench after playing only 17 minutes and scoring 14 points.
The way the Cavs have played the past two games, they could afford to give him a mini-vacation.
What it served to do is give Brown extended looks at rookies J.J. Hickson and Darnell Jackson. He offered guarded praise as a result — especially when it came to Hickson's performance.
Hickson, a first-round draft choice out of North Carolina State, played 31 minutes and made the most of them on 6-of-12 shooting for 14 points and added four rebounds. He played physically and challenged shots when he had the opportunity, blocking four shots in the process. Those blocks brought howls from the crowd.
''It's just part of defense and knowing my rotation,'' Hickson said. ''Coach preaches all the time, it's just a matter of me getting my rotation down and playing basketball — good basketball.''
Brown offered praise for his rookie, but said there's room for improvement.
''He continues to show me he's a young rookie — a young rookie with a lot of talent. He showed flashes where it was like, 'Wow,' with some of his blocks, some of his finishes and his patience with his moves,'' Brown said. ''Then there were times when he made the right play initially, but then he didn't play with multiple effort throughout the whole 24-second shot clock on the defensive end.''
The Cavs opened the game with a 13-0 run behind strong defense and rebounding. The Thunder never recovered as the Cavs began the game shooting at a 64 percent clip and maintained that pace for much of the game.
For the record books
The Cavs' performance against the Thunder on Wednesday night set a couple of team records. They set a franchise record when they took a 34-point halftime lead. The previous best was 32 against the Orlando Magic on April 10, 2001. The Cavs last scored 60 points in the first half in consecutive games in games Dec. 13-15 against Charlotte Bobcats (61 points) and the Seattle SuperSonics (64 points), respectively . . . All 12 players on the active roster scored for the second consecutive game. The last time that happened was Dec. 17-18, 1991.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read his blog at: http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/
Comments
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Naples, FL
Posted 10:37 AM, 11/27/2008
This is what we've been hoping for the past few years and it seems the Cavs have arrived! No more playing down to the competition. This is championship caliber basketball.
Posted 11:13 AM, 11/27/2008
Agreed. Against patsies, but impressive nonetheless.