LBJ’s 38 Leads Cavaliers to Win Over Pacers 103-95

Posted by Stephen Rhodes under Main

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James and the United States Postal Service have at least one thing in common: no matter what the weather is outside, both of them make their appointed rounds, and do it well.? Saturday’s game against the Indiana Pacers was one where the weather in Cleveland was horrible; it was bitter cold and drifting snow was all around Quicken Loans Arena, yet the “announced” crowd was 20,000 and change, in reality, it was closer to 11,000 brave souls that ventured out to see?James and the Cavs.? And as one would expect, James didn’t disappoint, scoring 38 points, leading Cleveland to the 103-95 win over Indiana.

One thing?that stood out more than anything else is that despite a poor shooting percentage for Cleveland (they shot only 41%), they made up for it by grabbing lots of offensive rebounds (23 vs. Indiana’s 8), which opened up lots of second-chance baskets.? The Cavaliers dominated the first half, cruising to a 34-17 first quarter lead while the Pacers struggled on offense; James closed the half with a highlight reel dunk with less than a second left to go in the second quarter, giving Cleveland a 51-37 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, the Cavaliers were ahead by as many as 21, with James scoring 18 points?in the period to put them up 77-64; but the Pacers made things a bit interesting with a 7-0 spurt to close to within 92-87 with 3:46 left in the game, but?Indiana’s Danny Granger fouled out of the game, and the Cavaliers had no difficulty maintaining their lead the rest of the way.? Cleveland’s leading scorer, as one would correctly assume, was James with 38 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and 2 blocked shots;?~~Sideshow Bob~~ Anderson Varejao?recorded a solid double-double, scoring 15 with 16 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals.? Delonte West added 14 with 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and a blocked shot.

Indiana was led by Granger with 19 points, 5 rebounds, an assist, a steal and a blocked shot, while Troy Murphy and reserve Marquis Daniels scored 17 apiece – with Murphy grabbing 7 rebounds, dishing out 2 assists and a steal.? Cleveland (36-27) now travels west to Portland to take on the Trail Blazers Monday, while Indiana (24-39) also goes to the Northwest to face the Seattle SuperSonics on Tuesday.

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