Photo: Ron Cortes/Philadelphia Inquirer

Coach Mike Brown won't save any space in his coaching memory book for this one, but the Cavaliers continued to do what they need to at this point in the season: beat teams that you are supposed to beat. Despite giving up a season-high 66 points in the paint, the Cavaliers clamped down to hold Philly to just 38 second-half points, and Mo Williams and the Cavalier bench led the second half charge. Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand played up to their salaries, but the wine and gold used 44 bench points to absorb the absence of Antawn Jamison.

One back, one out: LeBron James returned to the Cavalier lineup after two games of rest for a multitude of nagging injuries, including his right ankle. Meanwhile, Antawn Jamison took the night off to give his sore right knee some additional time to recover. Coach Mike Brown went with Leon Powe to fill the starting power forward slot. Well, he was there. That's about all you can say about Leon Powe's night as he was held scoreless with 3 rebounds in 15 minutes.

Big boys up front: With Powe and Hickson up front, the Cavaliers were incredibly small, and the Sixers captialized early. Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert, both monumental disappointments this season especially, were active on the offensive glass and bullied their way into early interior success for Philadelphia. Powe was absolutely no match for Brand and his strong post moves, and Hickson failed to check out Dalembert on several occasions. This led to neither one of these two playing a meaningful role in the game down the stretch. Instead, it was Anderson Varejao and Jamario Moon who saw exclusive action. Brand finished with 24 points and 9 rebounds, hitting 12 of 20 shots. Dalembert posted 9 points and 12 boards before fouling out with four and a half minutes left. The two starting Sixer bigs accounted for 7 of the team's 14 offensive rebounds.

Dunkapalooza: My comment earlier in the game in response to Brian Windhorst's tweet about where members of the Cavs were was, "Shaq's in Florida, Jamison's in Cleveland, Z's in New York, and the Cavaliers' defense is in some city other than Philly." Neither team seemed particularly interested in defending, although that's not an abnormality for the 76ers, who like to outrun their opponents with their extreme athleticism. In the first half alone, we saw highlight reel dunks from Andre Iguodala, J.J. Hickson, LeBron James, and Delonte West. I'm not sure which was best, but I might have to go with Delonte's slam over the top of Dalembert in transition. Iggy, however, got multiple rim-shattering slams with no resistance. On one occasion, Jamario Moon ran along side him for about 25 feet until the new AI elevated over top for the jam. This high-flying action at both ends created a lightning-quick pace that benefited the young Sixers, straying the Cavs from their defensive principles. It's no secret the Cavaliers often allow themselves to get caught up in the fast-paced style too much at times, especially against lesser teams that run the break well. The end result of the speediness was a 36-34 Cavalier lead after one.

Swagger back: I've been writing a lot about Mo Williams lately, but he is a key X-factor, if not THE X-factor for the wine and gold's ultimate success. Mo looked much more at home with LBJ back in the lineup, and he showed his appreciation by loading up on long distance swishes. Mo had 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-8 from deep, adding 2 assists against 0 turnovers in 32 minutes. Most importantly, Mo poured in 16 of those points in the second half and 10 in the third alone when the team was struggling to score. The Cavaliers are 15-3 when Mo scores 20+ points, and that tells you all you need to know about the linkage between Mo's success and the Cavs' success. I thought Mo also did a decent job against the quickster rookie Jrue Holiday (6 points, 8 assists in 41 minutes).

Changing paces: The second half was an entirely different ballgame in terms of style. The "outscore the other guy" motto was replaced with one of tougher defense and more physical play. The wine and gold outscored Philly 39-38 in the second half after they took a 61-57 lead into the break. Delonte West covered Andre Iguodala, who slowed down his scoring (just 4 of his 30 points came in the fourth), and Varejao along with Moon played a large role in covering Brand (4 of his 24 came in the final quarter). The Cavaliers still allowed a multitude of points in the paint, where they average only 35 points given up per contest. The Sixers had a stunning 40 in the first half, but followed that up with a still enormous effort with 26 in the second half. That led to a season high 66 given up in the key for the Cavaliers.

A different crunch five: As mentioned before, the starting frontcourt didn't factor much into the fourth quarter. Neither did Anthony Parker for that matter. AP continues to lose more fourth quarter minutes to Delonte West, who has been on a flatout tear of late. The KFC Master is averaging 14.1 points per game over his last 10 games, and he has reached double digits in 8 of those games. While West may still be on the bench, his role is increasing to near where it was last season, and Parker's is becoming more of a token starter's role. AP was brought in to come off the bench in my opinion, so I don't think this affects anything, because Parker has come in and done basically what he's been asked to do. Back to the crunch five tonight, which was Mo, Delonte, LeBron, Varejao, and Jamario Moon. Moon made some big plays off the bench in his 18 minutes, scoring 9 points, grabbing 4 rebounds, notching 3 assists, and forcing 2 steals. This is a big step for Moon, who has appeared to be falling behind Jawad Williams of late on the totem pole.

goes to: Mo Williams and Delonte West. This has been a reoccuring theme of late with Mo and Delonte taking game ball honors. They are worthy, however, because they helped fill the void left by Jamison's (and Shaq's) absence. Mo had the best plus/minus on the team tonight (+13), and totaled 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting (4-of-8 on 3s) in 32 minutes. Delonte had 17 points (7-of-12 shooting), 4 assists, and 2 steals in 31 minutes.

Team Grade: C+

It wasn't pretty, and the Cavaliers were frightfully friendly in giving up points in the paint, a season-high 66. Cleveland also jacked up 31 threes and missed 9 of 23 free throws, which is atrocious and gave up 14 Philly offensive rebounds, losing the rebounding count 44-36. They did, however, shoot 51% and had just 11 turnovers, giving it away just once in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers also assisted on 26 of 38 field goals and held Philly to 38 second half points.

The wine and gold have one of their biggest remaining tests on the regular season, a showdown with the Celtics in the Q on national television Sunday afternoon. They won in Boston last time without Shaq in the second half on the heels of clutch shooting from Mo Williams. They will likely have to follow a similar recipe to keep their two-game win streak going. Antawn Jamison hopes to return for the Sunday showdown.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

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