Feb

12

Hughes Comes Up Huge In Cleveland Comeback Cavaliers Over Magic 118-111

Posted by Jeff Sack under Main 

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No NBA observer has ever questioned Larry Hughes ability, it’s his fragility that has limited his contributions in the Association. Monday night was one of those games when Hughes showed what he is able to do at full strength, scoring a season high 40 points, and leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a big comeback victory as they defeated the Orlando Magic 118-111. LeBron James even with a double-double had to take a back seat to Hughes in this game, as he was almost unstoppable.

This win was big for a lot of reasons for Cleveland. The team right now is desperately shorthanded, as they are playing without, ?Anderson Varejao, Sasha Pavlovic, and Daniel Gibson, all out with injuries. Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas was playing with a sore back, that he injured Sunday against the Denver Nuggets. Drew Gooden just was activated before the game. But as depleted as they were against one of the best teams in the East, Cleveland came through.

Orlando jumped out to a 28-20 first quarter lead, but Cleveland started to get their act together during the second period. Hughes tied the game at 47-47 with a 16 foot jumper with 3:00 left in the quarter.The Magic rallied though and carried a slim 55-52 advantage, as the two teams went to their locker rooms at the half.?Orlando went ahead early in the third leading 67-62, but Cleveland kept coming back, tying the game at 75-75 on a Hughes trey with 3:2o left in the period. Cavaliers took the lead briefly at 83-81 on a Hughes layup, but the game was knotted up at 86-86 at the end of three quarters. Donyell Marshall hit a trey to put Cleveland up 89-86 at the? beginning of the fourth, and the Cavaliers never trailed agin in the game.

Hughes had a game that he needed on a personal basis to?restore his confidence, and on a team basis to restore their confidence in him. Make no mistake about it, Larry Hughes is a leader in the Cleveland locker room, sometimes however actions speak louder than words.?Along with his 40 points,?Hughes had 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, LBJ scored 29 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 block. Devin Brown came off the bench scored 11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, Gooden back for the first time in a while scored 10 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist. Ira Newble also scored 10 points, 5 boards, 2 assists.

All five Orlando starters scored in double figures led by Hedo Turkoglu who scored 25 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists. Jameer Nelson scored 22 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, Dwight Howard scored 16 points, 9 boards, 1 assist. Rashard Lewis scored 15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, Maurice Evans scored 10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal. Cleveland improves to 29-22, Orlando’s record is now 32-21.

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