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Do IT this week: Layering
Mo Williams gets offense off to quick start in win before showdown with Celtics
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Thursday, Jan 08, 2009
CLEVELAND: So much for looking past the Charlotte Bobcats.
Instead, the Cavaliers just ran them over 111-81 en route to their biggest game of the season on Friday against the Boston Celtics.
The Cavs opened the game on a 6-0 run to signal to the Bobcats just exactly how things were going to be.
To put an exclamation point on it, the Cavs conjured up a 28-3 run from the end of the first quarter into the second.
In the first half, the Cavaliers led 43-14 and looked well on their way to embarrassing the Bobcats, who came in winners of two consecutive games, the last one coming against the Celtics.
''Mo [Williams] did a really good job of getting us into the offense fast,'' LeBron James said. ''We attacked them. We attacked them in the paint and we made our shots.''
Indeed, the Cavs scored 54 points in the paint and outrebounded the Bobcats 41-33.
The Cavs shot 60 percent and held the Bobcats to 39 percent.
The Bobcats closed the gap to 60-42 at the half and took the momentum into the locker room.
Relying on their solid defense, the Cavs put the game away in the third quarter. With the score 67-48, the Cavaliers went on a 9-0 run to take a 28-point lead and the Bobcats never seriously threatened after that.
The Cavs appeared to be using the Bobcats as a tuneup for their game with the Celtics.
''Tonight was our next opponent and we needed to come out and beat them,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said. ''We did that and we feel good about the win.''
There was no peering into the future as far as James was concerned.
''We never look past a team and we showed it tonight,'' he said.
The Cavs showed better ball movement and shot the ball with consistency on offense. With center Zydrunas Ilgauskas out, scoring and rebounding has to come from elsewhere, and the Cavs were up to the challenge.
James made his presence known early with 17 first-half points, but after the Cavs took control of the game, he went to the bench for some rest and finished with 21 points, four rebounds and four assists.
The rest of the points came relatively easy as forward Anderson Varejao continued his tear and the bench players awakened to join the party.
Varejao, who came into the game averaging 15.4 points and 8.8 rebounds in five starts this season, continued to fill in admirably for Ilgauskas.
Varejao brought his frenetic energy to the starting role, tossing in 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and added six rebounds.
Guard Daniel ''Boobie'' Gibson hadn't looked in sync since returning from a toe injury but that changed in Wednesday's game.
Gibson, who the Cavs honored with a bobblehead night, made 6-of-8 shots to finish with 15 points.
He also found his 3-point shot, making 3-of-4.
Rookie J.J. Hickson got into the act as well, delivering a 13-point, six-rebound performance, and Wally Szczerbiak added 15 points.
Quick shots
The Cavs' 28-6 records ranks as the best in the NBA right now, a feat the team hasn't achieved since March 21, 1989 when they were 48-17. . . . The 30-point win was the third-largest margin of victory this season and largest margin of victory ever against the Bobcats. . . . The Cavs are now 15-3 against the Bobcats all-time and 9-0 at Quicken Loans Arena.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read the Cavs blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/.
CLEVELAND: So much for looking past the Charlotte Bobcats.
Get the full article here.
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