Feb

23

Cavaliers Skeleton Crew Tops Wizards in Thriller 90-89

Posted by Jeff Sack under Main 

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If you have ever been at a game that Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James played in you have to notice his routine that he goes through on a nightly basis. He takes the powder in his hands that NBA players use to keep their hands dry during a game, and then claps his giant hands together causing a cloud of?white dust to go billowing into the rafters. If a genie ever popped out of one of those clouds, I truly don’t think I would be that shocked. LBJ did it again in front of the home crowd at the Q, with a skeleton crew of the Association minimum eight players dressed, including two from the NBDL, and defeated the Washington Wizards in a roller coaster of a game 90-89.

Cleveland of course was playing extremely short handed?in the wake of the Mega-Trade that took place on Thursday involving , the Cavaliers, the Chicago Bulls, and the Seattle SuperSonics. Just to refresh your memory, the deal went down like this Cleveland acquired Chicago center Ben Wallace, Seattle swingman Wally Szczerbiak, Sonics point guard Delonte West Chicago?s Joe Smith and a future second round pick from the Bulls. Chicago got Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, and reserves Cedric Simmons, and Shannon Brown. Seattle received Ira Newble, and Donyell Marshall from Cleveland as well as Adrian Griffin from the Bulls.The new Cavaliers watched the game from a luxury suite.??The three remaining Cleveland players who are out with injuries, forward Anderson Varejao, and guards Daniel Gibson, and Sasha Pavlovic watched in street clothes at the end of the bench. The Cavaliers had signed two players Friday afternoon, from the NBDL franchise the Colorado 14ers (I have no idea what it signifies either) forward Kaniel Dickens and guard Billy Thomas to fill out the roster.

?This game was tight from start to finish, as the lead changed hands 30 times and the two teams were deadlocked 32 different times. Washington had?a razor thin lead at the end of the first quarter as they were up 24-23, and Cleveland returned the favor in the second quarter as they led 43-42 as the game hit the half. Cleveland was ahead by 9 points, with 6:28 left in the third quarter as Damon Jones hit a trey to put the Cavaliers up 58-49. But Washington got right back in the game, and at the end of three quarters Cleveland was ahead by just two points 67-65. The lead went back and forth throughout the entire fourth quarter, as neither team had a greater margin than 3 points the entire quarter. The last field goal was scored with 1:42 left in the game as Devin Brown Slam Dunked it through the cylinder giving Cleveland an 88-85 advantage. The game ended with shots at the line, as Washington took an 89-88 lead with 1:00 left in the game. with just 7 seconds left LBJ was fouled and sank both at the line putting Cleveland up 90-89. The Wizards took one final shot as DeShawn Stevenson missed a 6 foot two point shot at the buzzer.

LBJ recorded a double-double with 33 points, 15 boards, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block. Damon Jones had if not his best game in a Cleveland uniform, then at least his best in a long while, D-Jones scored 27?points, 4 assists, 1 steal, and Devin Brown had a?double-double, scoring?10 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals.

The Wizards were led by Darius Songaila who came off the bench and scored 19 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist. DeShawn Stevenson scored 18 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, Antawn Jamison scored 16 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists. Brendan Haywood scored 13 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, Andray Blatche scored 12 points, 7 boards, 4 blocks, 1 assist, 1 steal. Cleveland improves to 31-24, the Wizards are 25-29.

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