Cleveland Cavaliers Blog – Page 97 – NBA Blog

Cavaliers assign Danny Green, Darnell Jackson to D-League

The Cleveland Cavaliers have assigned guard/forward Danny Green and forward Darnell Jackson to the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.

Green has played in 13 games for the Cavaliers this season and has averaged 2.5 points on .480 shooting and 0.7 rebounds in 5.2 minutes per game. Jackson has averaged 0.8 points on .348 shooting and 0.8 rebounds in 4.0 minutes per game in 23 games. In two games with the BayHawks during the 2008-09 season, Jackson averaged 19.5 points on .652 shooting and 6.0 rebounds in 25.5 minutes per game. Both Green and Jackson will be available to play tomorrow night for Erie in their game versus the Dakota Wizards at 7 p.m. at the Tullio Arena in Erie.

The BayHawks are the D-League affiliate of the Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors.

Marcus Thornton scores 37 in loss

John Reid of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:

In front of a crowd used to seeing LeBron James dominate opponents at Quicken Loans Arena, New Orleans Hornets rookie shooting guard Marcus Thornton upstaged the reigning league MVP and current scoring leader Tuesday night.

Thornton set a franchise record with a 23-point second quarter before finishing with a game- and career-high 37 on 15-of-22 shooting. Despite his career night, Thornton still ended up on the losing end as the Cleveland Cavaliers closed out the fourth quarter with a flurry to defeat the Hornets 105-95 before 20,562.

The loss snapped New Orleans’ two-game winning streak. The Hornets (30-27) entered trailing the Portland Trail Blazers by a game for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Cleveland ended a three-game losing streak.

Cavs investor buys into Chinese basketball league

The AP reports:

After becoming part-owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jianhua ‘Kenny’ Huang’s next goal is to transform pro basketball in his homeland of China.

As an investor in China’s National Basketball League, Huang says he’ll introduce cutting-edge management practices adopted from England’s Premier League and the NFL.

“This is the first time private enterprise has been given the chance to reform a Chinese league,” Huang told The Associated Press Tuesday by telephone from Cleveland.

The new NBL also plans to promote homegrown talent, distinguishing itself from the dominant Chinese Basketball Association, where 19 of the 20 top scorers last year were foreigners.

Antawn Jamison shoots 0-for-12 in Cavaliers debut

Forward Antawn Jamison struggled mightily in his Cleveland Cavaliers debut, coming off the bench to shoot 0-for-12 as the team lost 110-93 to the Bobcats in Charlotte.

Playing 26 minutes, Jamison finished with two points, seven rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Stephen Jackson (9-of-17) played well for the Bobcats, finishing with 29 points, eight rebounds and four assists (though, five turnovers). Boris Diaw had 18 points and nine rebounds. And All-Star Gerald Wallace contributed 18 points, five rebounds and an impressive nine assists.

For the Cavs, LeBron James had an extremely quiet night with 22 points, three assists, nine rebounds and four steals.

As a team, the Cavs shot just 39.0%. They amazingly shot better from three-point range than overall, hitting 12-of-29 (41.4%) from outside the arc.

Charlotte had 10 more rebounds than Cleveland, and had 27 assists compared to just 15 for Cleveland.

Jamison is obviously a better player than he showed today, so this is a fluke, but it’s worth keeping an eye on Cavs team chemistry over the next 1-2 weeks.

Shaq snowed out of his own All-Star party

I hate to keep talking about snow and slush at Dallas NBA All-Star weekend — and don’t worry, the actual events start tonight, and then everything will probably be all about basketball and fun — but here’s another All-Start party story of note.

TMZ reports:

Shaquille O’Neal was supposed to host a party last night in Dallas for NBA All-Star Weekend — that is, until the biggest blizzard in the city’s history got in the way.

TMZ spoke to a manager of Aura Nightclub in uptown Dallas who told us that before Shaq arrived at the club, the record-setting snowfall blew out some electrical transformers … leaving everyone standing in the dark.

Sounds like this happened to lots of people.

But, that was just Thursday. The weekend really kicks into gear tonight (Friday). And while there’s slush all over Dallas, it’s done snowing, so all should go well for everyone from now on.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas loves his orthotics

Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:

Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who has become a bit of a foot expert because of the troubles he had earlier in his career, practically could be a spokesman for orthotics. Most of the Cavs’ big men use them, including Shaquille O’Neal and Anderson Varejao, because their feet take extra abuse.

Ilgauskas swears by his orthotics, and he wears them in all of his shoes, even when he’s not playing. He has encouraged teammates over the years to use them.

“Forget athletes, I think everyone should have them just to walk around,” Ilgauskas said. “All your problems start with your feet. The first ones I had years ago were hard plastic and not very good, but they’ve evolved and become better. Now without my orthotics, I couldn’t play.”

Cavaliers sign Cedric Jackson to second 10-day contract

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed guard Cedric Jackson to a second 10-day contract, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.

Jackson (6-3, 190 pounds) has played in four games this season with the Cavaliers. In seven total minutes, he has scored one point and recorded one rebound. He signed his first 10-day contract on January 23rd.

NBA fines LeBron James for kicking water bottle

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James has been fined $25,000 for kicking a water bottle during last night’s game vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred with 12.4 seconds remaining in the first quarter of Cleveland’s 109-95 victory over the Timberwolves at Quicken Loans Arena.

LeBron James signs multiyear agreement with McDonald’s

The AP reports:

LeBron James is now shooting with a Golden Arch.

The NBA superstar has agreed to a multiyear partnership with McDonald’s Corp., adding the global fast-food giant to his list of corporate sponsors.

Financial terms were not immediately known.

James will support several McDonald’s programs and promotions as well as Ronald McDonald House Charities, which provides housing to the families of seriously ill children. He has already filmed his first commercial with McDonald’s. It will debut during the Super Bowl on Feb. 7.

James, a six-time All-Star with the Cleveland Cavaliers and reigning league MVP, has other partnerships with Nike, State Farm and Coca-Cola.

Cavaliers sign Cedric Jackson to 10-day contract

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed guard Cedric Jackson from the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today. The signing of Jackson marks the ninth Call-Up of the 2009-10 D-League season. Jackson will wear No. 9 for the Cavaliers.

During 10 games during the month of January with Erie, he increased his averages to 21.5 points on .407 shooting, 4.7 rebounds, 7.8 assists and 2.4 steals in 35.0 minutes per game and led the BayHawks to a 6-4 record, including a four-game winning streak from Jan. 10-17. The point guard posted game highs of 34 points on 9-21 (.429) shooting and 13 assists in his most recent game with the BayHawks on Jan. 19th versus the Austin Toros. In his 14 starts this season, he is averaging 16.5 points on .369 shooting, 4.7 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 1.8 steals in 35.4 minutes per game and in 23 games (14 starts) overall, Jackson has averaged 14.7 points on .397 shooting, 4.6 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 1.9 steals in 31.3 minutes per game.

As a senior at Cleveland State in 2009, the 6-foot-3, 190-pounder was named 2009 Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year and to the All-Horizon League Second Team for the second consecutive season. In two seasons with the Vikings, he had career averages of 12.3 points on .405 shooting, 5.3 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.8 steals in 32.2 minutes per game. He is only the second Cleveland State alumnus (Darren Tillis, 1982-83) to ever play for the Cavaliers.