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In this amazing season, the Cavaliers have made the historic look routine, and they continued that style in New Jersey tonight.
- First, let's talk about the history. Zydrunas Ilgauskas became the Cavaliers' all-time leader in blocks, passing John "Hot Rod" Williams. Ilgauskas is now the franchise leader in rebounds and blocks and he is one of four members of the 10,000 point club for the Cavaliers. He will also pass Danny Ferry in the near future for the franchise record for games played. What a great list of accomplishments for number 11. Next, the Cavaliers won their 57th game of the season, tying the franchise record for wins with the '88-'89 and '91-'92 seasons. They have matched the franchise mark for wins with 12 games left to improve upon it.
- Speaking of Z, the Cavaliers kept on the right track by establishing the man in the middle early and often. Z had 8 quick ones for the wine and gold, and the Cavs have really been more solid on the offensive side of the ball when they get the bigs involved from the get-go. What is good to see is that the Cavs made only 4 three pointers tonight, and they were still able to be successful due to their inside game.
- This game resembled the Hawks game in the fact that the Cavaliers jumped all over their opponent right away. The Cavaliers held a 13-2 lead with the aid of some hot shooting. After that, the Cavaliers seemed to really coast through the rest of the game. Much like the Hawks game, I never felt worried about the outcome even though the Nets had closed the gap several times.
- The bench bunch was decent tonight, but the Nets were able to cut the lead to just 4 points while LeBron sat for six minutes in the second quarter. LeBron went to the role of facilitator in the first half as he looked primed for yet another triple double. Instead, LBJ picked up the scoring in the second half and came up two assists short of the triple double.
- The Cavalier D was solid in this one, until the fourth quarter that is. Delonte West did a solid job on Vince Carter for most of the game, but he was able to go on a bit of a scoring binge late in the game. The Nets were without Devin Harris, so the scoring load fell on Keyon Dooling and Brook Lopez. Lopez got multiple open looks off pick-and-rolls from the top of the key. This has been a reoccurring theme for the wine and gold over the last few weeks. They need to work on not showing on the pick-and-roll quite so early. When they do that, the big man can release and he has an easy dunk.
- Is it just me or does Anderson Varejao seemingly have the ability to disappear and reappear wide-open underneath the basket? Andy has been found so many times underneath the basket wide-open by LeBron in the last several games that I'm convinced that is the explanation.
- One more piece of history. For the second time this week, the Cavaliers tied the NBA record for fewest turnovers in a game with 2. The Nets had only 5 turnovers themselves. For these reasons and more, this was a pretty vanilla game by the Cavaliers' standards. I refuse to call a victory in Cleveland boring: NEVER.
 goes to: Zydrunas Ilgauskas,LeBron James, and Anderson Varejao. The frontcourt carried the scoring load today as the guards had a bit of an off night shooting the ball. While Mo and Delonte combined for just 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting, the starting frontcourt combined for 64 points and 28 rebounds. Varejao had 16 points and 11 rebounds. LeBron was 9-of-17 from the floor and 11-of-15 from the line for 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Ilgauskas had 18 points on 9-of-14 shooting with 6 rebounds and 4 blocks added in. A great game for the frontline all around as Joe Smith added 9 points in 19 minutes off the bench.
Team Grade: A-
The mark against the Cavaliers tonight was the 33 points surrenderred in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers have a tendency to turn off the engines just a little too early sometimes, and it is going to cost them one of these times. Against a better team, the Cavaliers might not be able to flip the switch back on. But, the wine and gold outrebounded the Nots, excuse me, Nets, 46-37 and had 25 assists. Don't forget about the 2 turnovers, that's just ridiculous.
The Cavaliers take on these same Nets Wednesday night in the Q after a couple of days off. Devin Harris could give it a go for that one, and if he does, the Cavaliers might have to kick it into the next gear to make it two in a row against the Nets.
Get PuMped!
Kirk
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