Gibson Pushes Wine And Gold Past Brown; Cavs Tame Bobcats 96-79

Posted by Jeff Sack under NBA Game Recap, NBA Regular Season Opener

The Cleveland Cavaliers spoiled the return of Larry Brown to the NBA coaching wars, as they defeated the Charlotte Bobcats at the “Q” in Cleveland 96-79 Thursday night. Cavaliers sixth man Daniel Gibson came off the pine to lead the team with 25 points in the home opener for Cleveland. The Cavaliers dominated the first half and survived a surge by the Bobcats in the third for the lopsided win.

Cleveland looked strong in the opening 12 minutes, while Charlotte looked rather lost. This combination led to the Cavaliers ending the first quarter on top 25-16. Second verse same as the first as the Cavaliers walked into the locker room at the half leading 50-33.

In the two contests that Cleveland has played thus far in the young NBA campaign, they seem to have gone back to coming out flat in the third quarter. It cost them the win in the season opener against Boston. Thursday night they had a large enough lead that they were ahead at the end of the third quarter 68-59. Cleveland scored the first basket of the fourth quarter, putting the lead back into double digits at 70-59. The Bobcats never got back to within striking distance the rest of the night.

Gibson showed why the Cavaliers gave him the long term contract extension during the off-season with his performance. Gibson is the perfect player to be Cleveland’s sixth man, because as with Manu Ginobili in San Antonio he is clearly better than the other team’s bench players. Gibson shot 10-14 from the floor including 4-6 from outside the arc, as he had a game high 25 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists.

Not too many nights that LeBron James is an after thought in a Cleveland game, but he was in this one. LBJ was actually on the bench when the Cavaliers took over the contest. However he just missed a triple-double, as he scored 22 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 block. It was another strong night for Mo Williams as he scored 17 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal. Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, Ben Wallace scored only 2 points, but did grab 10 boards, 5 blocks, 1 steal. The Cavaliers will take that kind of night from the veteran any time they can get it. Rookie J.J. Hickson made his NBA debut, and scored just 4 points, but 2 were on a vicious slam over Charlotte’s Emeka Okafor.

Charlotte’s one-two punch played up to the standards they had established last season. Jason Richardson scored a team high 24 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block. Gerald Wallace scored 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist, 1 block. D.J. Augustin came off the bench for the Bobcats and scored 12 points, 2 assists. Cleveland with the win is now 1-1, while Charlotte starts the season at 0-1.

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