The AP reports: Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 20 points with 11 rebounds in his first game in exactly one month because of a broken left ankle and James added 25 points as the Cavaliers, frustrated in a loss at Orlando on Thursday, improved to 22-0 at home this season and tied the franchise record for the most consecutive home wins, set in the 1988-89 season… Rookie Eric Gordon scored 27 for the Clippers, who stayed close for nearly three quarters before dropping their eighth straight road game as they began a seven-game trip. Los Angeles has lost 18 of 20.
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Tarence Kinsey out 3-5 weeks
Cavaliers guard Tarence Kinsey left last night’s game at Orlando with 1:21 remaining in the fourth quarter with a right ankle sprain. He was re-evaluated at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health today. He is estimated to be out three to five weeks. His status will be updated as appropriate.
Teammates call Mo Williams an All-Star
Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Mo Williams is having a great season, but wasn’t named an NBA All-Star reserve.
Shooting 46.7% from the field, Williams is averaging 17.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.
Orlando Magic point guard Jameer Nelson, who did make the All-Star team, is shooting better than Mo Williams, getting more steals and dishing more assists.
Still, it’s somewhat close. And Mo’s teammates are outraged. The Cleveland Plain Dealer (Mary Schmitt Boyer) reports:
“It’s a tragedy,” Ben Wallace said. “I think it’s an injustice. It’s a fraud. We’ve got the best record in the league, and we’ve only got one guy going. You always make it the next year, after the year you were supposed to make it. It’s a travesty and a sham and a mockery. It’s a shamockery.” Said LeBron James: “It just shows the disrespect that basketball in Cleveland continues to get. I haven’t seen the All-Star list yet, so I can’t comment on who’s in it. But it’s definitely disrespectful that we continue to do work every year with nothing to show for it. They always say when you win, individual accolades will take care of itself. But sometimes it doesn’t happen.
I like that. A sham, and a mockery. A shamockery. I’m going to go outside now and start yelling those words at random strangers on the street here in NYC, while waving my arms around wildly. But not tell them what I’m actually outraged about. This has nothing to do with Mo or Jameer. It just sounds fun.
Magic beat Cavs 99-88
The AP reports: The Orlando Magic are looking more and more like a contender in the Eastern Conference. Dwight Howard had 22 points and 18 rebounds, Hedo Turkoglu added 19 points and 11 rebounds, and the Magic took advantage of LeBron James’ shooting struggles to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 99-88 on Thursday night… Orlando finished 11-of-31 from 3-point range—most of them open shots because Cleveland double- and triple-teamed Howard down low… Mo Williams, trying to prove he belonged in the All-Star game over Nelson, was 4-of-15 shooting and finished with 12 points. Wally Szczerbiak scored 14 points in his first 7 minutes on the floor, but he didn’t get another bucket the rest of the way.
Williams, James help Cavs beat Kings 117-110
The AP reports: Mo Williams scored a career-high 43 points with 11 assists and strengthened his argument to be in Phoenix among the NBA’s stars next month, and LeBron James recorded his 20th career triple-double as the Cleveland Cavaliers improved to 21-0 at home, beating the Sacramento Kings 117-110 on Tuesday night… LeBron James scored 23 points with 15 rebounds and 11 assists, his third triple-double this season. He picked up assist No. 10 in the third quarter with a pass to Williams, who knocked down three consecutive 3s—all off feeds from James—in a span of 1:05. Williams was so good, James only had to take 10 shots… Kevin Martin scored 35 points and John Salmons 21 for the Kings, who lost their sixth straight and dropped to 0-19 against the East with a date in Boston on Wednesday.
James leads Cavs over Jazz 102-97
The AP reports: LeBron James scored 33 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and was just one assist short of a triple-double while leading Cleveland to a 102-97 win over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night. Mo Williams added 25 points and four assists, including three alley-oops to James, as the Cavs closed out a four-game road trip with their third straight win… Cleveland’s Anderson Varejao finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, going 7-for-8 from the floor while filling in for injured center Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Deron Williams had a season-high 16 assists and scored 17 points for Utah, which had won seven straight at home. Paul Millsap finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds, but the Jazz could not keep up with the Cavs at the end despite Cleveland’s late night Friday in a 106-105 win at Golden State on James’ 19-foot jumper just before time expired.
James buzzer-beater lifts Cavs over Warriors
The AP reports: LeBron James tossed up a rare airball from the top of the 3-point arc that showed he’s human. Then he quickly returned to his typical self. James stepped back under pressure from Ronny Turiaf and knocked down a 19-footer to barely beat the final buzzer, lifting the Cleveland Cavaliers to a wild 106-105 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night… James finished with 32 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, three steals and two blocked shots, but also missed three second-half free throws and went 10-for-16 from the line… Stephen Jackson hit a go-ahead 22-foot jumper over James with 6.4 seconds left and finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for Golden State. The Warriors also lost at the buzzer Wednesday night against Oklahoma City. Golden State’s Monta Ellis scored 20 points in his season debut and return from an ankle injury. He did his best to upstage LeBron, but to no avail.
Official 2009 All-Star starters
Here are the official starters for the 2009 NBA All-Star game:
East: Dwyane Wade, Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard
West: Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire, Tim Duncan, Yao Ming.
Read basketball fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.
Cavaliers defending well
NBA.com (John Schuhmann) reports: The Cavs currently rank as the second-best defensive team in the league, just behind the Celtics, allowing 101.5 points per 100 possessions. Last season, they didn’t crank up the “D” until the postseason, but this year has been different. “Everybody bought into the system and everybody is committed to playing defense,” Ben Wallace said Monday in Los Angeles. “That was one of the things we stressed in training camp. “Defense has to start with the individuals. You can’t be a good team defense if you got five poor individual defensive players out on the floor, so it has to start with an individual. Everybody has to take it personal that they’re going to go out there and do whatever they can do to go out there to try to get stops. Once one, two, three players start it, it gets contagious and everybody buys into it.”
James and Williams lead Cavs over Blazers 104-98
The AP reports: LeBron James had 34 points and 14 assists, while Mo Williams added a season-high 33 points, including a career-high six 3-pointers. Cleveland made 11 of 19 3-point attempts in shooting 52.6 percent (41-of-78) from the field… Brandon Roy had 23 points for Portland. LaMarcus Aldridge had 21 and reserve center Joel Przybilla had 15 rebounds… Greg Oden had 10 points and eight rebounds, short of the success he had Monday in Portland’s 102-85 victory over Milwaukee when he had a season-high 24 points and 15 rebounds.