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Photo: Tracy Boulian/Cleveland.com
Halfway through this game, LeBron James had 35 points on a stunning 13-of-18 shooting, adding 3 rebounds and 6 assists, and the Cavaliers looked untouchable with a 20 point lead at the break after scoring a season-best for a half with 74 points. Surprisingly though, the Knicks didn't go away, and in their traditional D'Antoni track-meet style, they shot their way back into things and even incorporated a smidgen of defense, cutting the lead to just three in the fourth. The Cavaliers, however, did just enough to hold on for their 11th straight win, which ties Boston and the Lakers for the longest streak this year.
"Groundhog Day" for J.J.?: Groundhog Day was on Tuesday last week, but it seems like the holiday is truly being celebrated by the Cavaliers' young power forward the last few games. In repeat fashion of when he ascended into the starting lineup, teams are starting to forget about J.J. Hickson to help on LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal. In J.J.'s last 3 games, he is averaging 12.3 points and 6 rebounds on 59% shooting. Hickson got four early dunks in tonight's game as he was covered mostly by Danilo Gallinari with the Knicks small lineup. J.J. disappeared a bit after that, but the Cavaliers remain undefeated (21-0) when Hickson scores eight or more, and J.J. finished with 10 points and 5 boards.
LeBron's scorching shooting and sharing: LeBron got cooking early in this game in terms of both scoring and sharing. Sure, he poured on 23 first quarter points, his fifth 20 point quarter of the season, but he also provided 5 assists as the Cavaliers shot 65% in the first, and pretty much nobody could miss. The Knicks made the mistake of not double-teaming LeBron and letting him find his groove and pull up on semi-contested jumpshots. Sometimes, that strategy can work on LeBron, but not when he hits a string of them in a row. LeBron closed out the quarter with the team's last 16 points, and the Knicks were stunned, trailing by 20 after 12.
Lee keeping Knicks afloat: The only thing that kept the Knicks from being down 30+ after one quarter was David Lee's rapid scoring. Lee came up with 12 of the team's 24 points in the first. The All-Star snub sure looked like one in the early going as Shaq was pretty much letting him have elbow jumpers. In turn, Shaq proved to be unguardable for anybody on the Knicks 1-on-1. This helped setup the aforementioned scoring surge for J.J. Hickson.
24 straight for the King: LeBron wasn't done with his 16 straight to end the first. He stayed in the game as he often does after a rapid-fire first and extended it to 24 straight Cavalier points before Jawad Williams drilled a trey to end the streak. 24 points in about five and a half minutes... not bad. James had 31 points... in just over 16 minutes to start the game. He added four more before the end of the quarter to break the Cavaliers' franchise record for most points in a half, passing Walt Wesley's 34. The Cavaliers also scored a season-high for a half with 74 points and maintained their 20 point lead developed in the first quarter.
Zone, 3s allows Knicks to close in: The Cavaliers turned off the engines WAY too early in this one unfortunately. They did this against the Knicks, quite possibly the worst team to do so against in the NBA in some respects. Their ability to score lightning quick without a conscience toward the shot clock, their respective teammates, or any sort of defensive scheme is a dangerous combination. New York, however, had to employ some defense to get the Cavaliers cooled off. The Knicks zone defense invited the Cavs to shoot repeated jumpers, and they complied as their hot shooting diminished significantly. LeBron scored just 3 points in the third, spending most of the time trying to setup Anthony Parker and the big men, who he must have thought had better looks than him. Normally, I would be fine with this, but when you are standing on the threshold of dropping 50 or 60 on a team, you need to be more aggressive to get your shot. The Cavaliers and James stopped attacking the hoop, and it showed on the scoreboard.
Series of power blocks: The highlight of the night for me after the LeBron scoring showcase had to be Shaq's back-to-back fouls, I mean power blocks. Shaq threw himself into the middle of the paint and stopped the penetration of Nate Robinson and Chris Duhon in about a five second stretch. It's actually an incredibly wise technique that Shaq used, turning sideways and extending only his hand into the shooter's area, but most officials are going to call that a foul. Considering some of the things that the striped ones let go tonight, though, it was a wise choice for the Diesel. Shaq finished with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting in addition to 3 blocks.
Nate and Al come out of nowhere: The Knicks are full of guys who can throw a scoring spree at you like that. And that's exactly what both Nate Robinson and Al Harrington gave Coach Mike D'Antoni in the second half. Robinson scored just 3 points in the first half, but exploded for 23 second half points, while Harrington scored 12 of his 16 in the second half as well. Robinson is small, but he is lightning quick, and he absolutely abused Daniel Gibson for stretches in the second half. Harrington is just able to use his size to shoot over most defenders, and he is no stranger to lighting up the Cavaliers. These two almost single handedly mounted a tremendous comeback for the Knicks, cutting the Cavalier lead to just three with 2:19 left.
Doing just enough: The only thing that saved the Cavaliers was two big jump shots from LeBron. The Knicks simply ran out of gas coming back from 24 down, missing 5 of their last 6 shots. It was a startling finish for the Cavaliers, who just looked unfocused in the second half. With the exception of LeBron's last two jumpers, it was Shaq that was providing the only resemblance of solidly-run offense in the second half. The Cavaliers probably didn't go to Shaq enough, and they definitely didn't try to use LeBron's in-focus evening to their maximum advantage. Against better teams, they are going to pay for that type of play, so it's something to file away.
 goes to: LeBron James. Was there any doubt? LeBron looked poised to best his 49 point record in the Q, set earlier this year against Atlanta after a franchise-high 35 points in a half. He settled for 47 points on 17-of-31 shooting, adding 8 rebounds, 8 dimes, and 5 steals. LBJ also nailed two daggers when the team really was in danger of dropping this one.
Team Grade: C-
I started off thinking C+ or C territory, but J.V. told me I should make this the lowest-graded victory of the season, to which I agreed. I've given the wine and gold 5 C-minuses during victories, so that's what I settled on. The Cavs shot an impressive 55% and they hit 11-of-22 threes, but they allowed the Knicks to shoot 53% and 44% from deep (12-of-27). The Cavs matched the Knicks with 33 rebounds and had only 13 turnovers, but blowing a 24 point lead to just 3 with two minutes to go is just too much to overlook.
The Cavaliers look for an NBA-season-best 12th straight win Tuesday night when they take on the 4-46 New Jersey Nets. It should be a cakewalk, but in their two previous meetings this year, that has been anything but the case.
All for one. One for all.
Kirk
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