LBJ Carries Cavaliers To Win Over Chicago 95-86

Posted by Jeff Sack under Main

LeBron James greeted former teammates Drew Gooden, and Larry Hughes with hugs in the pre-game, then? forgot all about their friendship during the game as he drove the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 95-86 victory over the Chicago Bulls Sunday. James led all scorers with 37 points, and showed no mercy to his former comrades in arms.

Tyson Chandler recently wrote a great piece on NBA.com about the players perspective of a trade. Chandler talked about the connections you make inside the NBA locker room. I certainly can relate to his sentiments, having covered Drew and Larry during their time with the Cavaliers. Beat?reporters always have certain “go-to-guys” in a locker room, that you know you can get to give you some quotes about the game, no matter how bad the loss. Gooden was one of those guys for me. But that is the nature of Sports, you never know where it can take you, as Hughes and Gooden found out about, again two weeks ago.

Cleveland had the upper hand at the end of the first quarter, as they held a 24-17 lead. The game tightened up during the second quarter, as Chicago would tie the game at 31-31 after Tyrus Thomas hit a 6 foot shot, with 4:48 left in the quarter. But the Bulls could never take the lead in the period, as the Cavaliers had a 42-39 advantage as the game reached the half. Cleveland would get the lead back up to five points,?several times in the third quarter, but Chicago grabbed the lead as Thomas hit another bucket to put his team up 66-65 with 37 seconds, left.?Ben Gordon hit a?13 foot shot with 2 seconds remaining, and the score was Chicago 68 Cleveland 65 as the teams went?into the final quarter. The Bulls came out charging at the beginning of the fourth,?and they grabbed a 86-78 lead as Larry Hughes hit an outside shot with 9:56 left in the game. But Cleveland answered the challenge as LBJ hit a 9 foot “J” to tie the game at 79-79, and after the two teams went back and forth through the next few possessions,?the Cavaliers jelled and were up 92-83 after Wally Szczerbiak hit a trey with 1:28?left in the game. That basically was it for Chicago who could not rally again.

Cleveland played without the services?of center Zydrunas Ilgauskas who missed the game with a sore back. Reports say that he will be out for at least a week. LBJ scored a game high 37 points, 6 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal in the victory. The only other member of the Cavaliers who scored in double figures was Wally Szczerbiak who came off the bench and scored 17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal.

Chicago was led by Larry Hughes who scored 23 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block. Tyrus Thomas came off the bench and scored 12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist, 1 steal, Drew Gooden recorded a double-double 11 points, 10 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.? Joakim Noah also scored 11 points,?8 rebounds, 2 blocks. Ben Gordon came off the bench and also scored 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists.?Cleveland with the win improves to 34-26,?Chicago is now 23-36.

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