The AP reports: LeBron James had 30 points and 11 rebounds, and the Cavaliers won their ninth straight game, beating the New Jersey Nets 96-88 on Sunday night to tie a franchise record with their 57th victory. Ilgauskas added 18 points as the Cavaliers improved the NBA’s best record to 57-13… Vince Carter had 25 points and nine rebounds, but without injured All-Star point guard Devin Harris the Nets simply lacked the firepower to hang with the NBA’s toughest defensive team. .. James finished two assists shy of a fifth triple-double during the winning streak on a night where he was content to let his big men handle the scoring load early. Anderson Varejao finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, helping Cleveland outrebound New Jersey 46-37.
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LeBron James talks of playing with Dwyane Wade
Sunday evening in New Jersey the Nets are hosting LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Before the game, LeBron spoke with InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner and other reporters.
Dwyane Wade was brought up and it was mentioned (by our main man Ken Berger of CBS) to LeBron that as long as both he and Wade are in the Eastern conference the two can never meet in the Finals.
“I don’t know… it doesn’t matter,” said James. “Whatever happens, we go against each other. Maybe… we’ll play against each other in practice. I don’t know. That’d be fun, wouldn’t it?”
Now, LeBron paused after that “maybe” before the practice statement, as if he was thinking carefully about what he was going to say next, knowing full well media members lik me would relay it back to the entire fan world aned cause about a billion discussions to break out.
After the interview was over, LeBron yelled over to an inquisitive reporter that he did not say that he said he is headed for Miami, but then said that he is not saying Wade is coming to Cleveland.
Then, he left.
Enjoy discussing this, NBA fan world.
More Cavs stuff late tonight here on InsideHoops.com.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas rises on Cavs scoring list
The Akron Beacon Journal (Marla Ridenour) reports: With his fifth point of the game, the first of two made free throws this afternoon in a 102-96 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, Zydrunas Ilgauskas became the fourth player in Cavs history to score 10,000 points. A 10-year veteran from Lithuania whose career almost ended before it began because of fractures in both feet, Ilgauskas joined LeBron James, Austin Carr and Brad Daugherty in that exclusive club. During the next timeout, the Cavs saluted Ilgauskas and the sellout crowd of 20,562, which included Browns quarterback Brady Quinn, rose to its feet. Ilgauskas stepped onto the court at Quicken Loans Arena and raised his index finger, perhaps to salute back.
Cavs win 8th straight, beat Hawks 102-96
The AP reports: LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled to a 24-point lead early in the second period in winning their eighth straight game, 102-96 over the Hawks. “That’s what we wanted to do,” said James, who scored 22 points as the Cavaliers upped their home record to 32-1. “We wanted to first protect home court like we’ve been able to do. We had a lot of energy.” … Mo Williams led the Cavaliers (56-13) with 24 points. He was 8-for-14 from the field, including 3-for-4 on 3-pointers, and made all five of his foul shots… Joe Johnson led Atlanta with 24 points, while Flip Murray added 22. Maurice Evans scored 15. The Hawks have lost three straight road games and are 14-22 away from home.
James leads Cavaliers past Trail Blazers in OT
The AP reports: Despite getting his 24th career triple-double, LeBron James was more impressed by the Cleveland Cavaliers tying the NBA record for fewest turnovers. James had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Cavaliers to a 97-92 overtime victory against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night. Cleveland committed only two turnovers, setting a franchise record and matching the mark set by Milwaukee against Indiana on April 1, 2006… Ilgauskas finished with 21 points… James scored twice late in regulation to give Cleveland an 86-82 lead, but Brandon Roy, who led Portland with 24 points, hit four free throws in the final 34 seconds—the last two coming with 3.4 seconds left—to tie the game.
Wally Szczerbiak out 2-3 weeks
Cleveland Cavaliers guard/forward Wally Szczerbiak experienced a left knee sprain (MCL) during the third quarter of the Cavaliers game last night at The Q in Cleveland vs. Orlando.
He received an MRI this morning at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health and is currently projected to be Out for two to three weeks.
For the season, Szczerbiak is averaging 7.1 points and 3.0 rebounds on 44.7% shooting in 21.0 minutes per game.
Cavaliers assign Darnell Jackson to D-League
The Cleveland Cavaliers have assigned forward Darnell Jackson to the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.
Jackson has played in 37 games for the Cavaliers this season and has averaged 1.0 point and 1.2 rebounds in 6.3 minutes per game. This is the second time Jackson has been assigned to the BayHawks this season. In his only appearance in Erie, Jackson scored a game-high 24 points on 10-14 shooting (.714) and grabbed six rebounds in 26 minutes in the BayHawks’ 101-89 victory over the Utah Flash on February 9th.
He will be available to play tonight for the BayHawks in their game versus the Austin Toros at 7 p.m. at the Tullio Arena in Erie.
The BayHawks are the D-League affiliate of the Cavaliers and the Philadelphia 76ers.
LeBron scores 43, Cavaliers edge Magic 97-93
The AP reports: LeBron James finished with 43 points, including a long 3-pointer with 47.4 seconds left and two clutch free throws with 8.7 seconds to go, as Cleveland avoided just its second loss at home with a 97-93 win over Orlando on Tuesday night… James, who scored 15 in the fourth, added 12 rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Mo Williams added 21 points for Cleveland, which held the Magic to 18 points in the fourth quarter and won its sixth straight. The Cavs are a league-best 14-2 since the All-Star break. Howard had 13 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks for the Magic. But Orlando’s big man attempted just eight shots, none in the fourth quarter as the Magic chose to attack from outside.
LeBron James is a Nate Robinson fan
New York Newsday (Alan Hahn) reports: Count LeBron James among the many stars in the NBA who admire Nate Robinson and what he brings to a game. “Love him,” James said before Robinson and the Knicks faced LeBron’s Cavaliers last night at Quicken Loans Arena. “One thing about Nate, there are certain players in this league that you know what you’re going to get out of them every night,” James said of Robinson’s boundless energy. “We have one like that in Anderson [Varejao]. Every night, you know you’re going to get high energy and they’re going to compete every night. “They’re going to make mistakes, but they play hard and they give it their all every night and you can live with that,” James added. “You can live with those type of players, and Nate is one of those players.”
Mo Williams scores 23, Cavs beat Knicks 98-93
The AP reports: Mo Williams scored 23 points, making all five of his 3-pointers, and James added 19 as the Cavaliers opened a crucial stretch of home games by beating the New York Knicks 98-93 on Sunday night… LeBron James, who came in with three triple-doubles in his last four games, flirted with another one but finished with 10 assists and eight rebounds. Al Harrington made five 3-pointers and scored 26 points for New York, which had its three-game winning streak stopped.The 5-foot-9 Robinson, the league’s dunk champion who James called a “physical freak” before the game, had 20. Lee had 14 rebounds.