LBJ Gets Triple-Double And Takes Away Portland’s Blaze; Cavaliers Win 97-92

Playing their usual style of plodding half court offense and defense almost paid off Thursday night for the Portland Trail Blazers, but per usual LeBron James willed the Cavs to yet another home win, as the Cavs topped Portland 97-92 in overtime. James had another triple-double, putting up 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. He scored 6 of the Cavs 11 overtime points, pushing the team to 31-1 at home this season.

James almost had a shot to win it at the buzzer, as after the Blazers tied the game at 86 with Brandon Roy’s two free throws with 3 seconds left, James drove the lane, but was short on a bank shot that would have won it. He more than made up for it in OT, as he hit back-to-back shots, the second of which made it 95-89 with :41 seconds left that really iced the game.

Portland made it tough on the Cavs all night, as they led by as many as 11 in the first half as James and the Cavs really struggled from the field. It was like a pitchers duel on both sides, as the Cavs were able to come back, but never got their offense in motion as the teams went to the locker room with Portland ahead 36-34.

The Cavs, who have been known to sleepwalk through third quarters of games, came out swinging in the third quarter vs Portland. James scored 8 points in the frame and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 12 points as the Cavs outscored the Blazers 31-21 to go ahead 65-57 entering the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter though saw a furious flurry from Portland’s Travis Outlaw, who hit for 11 points including 6 in a row at one points as the Blazers never allowed the Cavs to pull away. Cleveland led 82-78 with 2:56 left after a James shot, but a jump shot by Outlaw, then two Roy free throws tied it at 82.

The Cavs got another big shot from James then a bank shot on the next possession to make it 86-82 with 0:36 seconds left. The Blazers responded with two Roy free throws to make it 86-84, then with :11 left James missed a jump shot, and Roy got James to jump into him for a foul with three seconds left. He made both, which sent the game into OT.

Cleveland committed only two turnovers, tying an NBA record, while setting a franchise record and marking the lowest total in the NBA this season. The win puts the Cavs still in the drivers seat in the East, as they are now 55-13 on the season. The Blazers are now 43-26 with the loss. Cleveland remains with the best record in the NBA.

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