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Photo: Lynn Ischay/The Plain Dealer
What a difference of change of scenery and a couple of weeks makes. This time, the Cavaliers were on their turf, and they did a much better job of using their distinct size advantage against the Rockets, who handed the Cavaliers a loss in Houston earlier this month. After an early Houston surge, it was all Cavaliers as the wine and gold continued their momentum from the 3-1 west coast trip.
Sleepwalk start, then the tables turn: The Cavaliers early on looked like a team that barely had time to unpack their bags from out west. Houston nailed 6-of-8 shots, and before you knew it, the Cavaliers were standing in a 16-4 hole just five minutes in. Young budding star point guard Aaron Brooks had 7 points in the blink of an eye, and the Cavaliers looked to be in for another rough game with this gritty Western Conference team. Then, the Rocket fuel hit E on the guage, and Houston shot a eye-popping 28 percent for the rest of the game! In the last 43 minutes, Houston managed just 19 field goals. The Rockets shot just 33 percent for the game, a defensive best of the Cavaliers this season. The Cavaliers did it by simply doing what they've done the last several weeks for the most part: protect the paint with physical play from the bigs and force a lot of contested perimeter jumpshots. The Rockets tried the pick-and-roll with some success when attacking both Shaq and Z, as most teams get, but the Cavaliers are doing a fantastic job of minimizing those favorable opportunities lately. What looked like a shockingly pedestrian defense in the first 15-20 games this season has now shifted back to one of the best 2 or 3 defenses in the NBA.
The second time around: It may not have been obvious from the statline, but Shaquille O'Neal really set the Cavaliers up to succeed in this one. Last time these two tangoed, O'Neal played 23 minutes while shooting just 2-for-8, scoring 7 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while dishing out 3 assists. The Cavaliers were -12 with him on the floor, and he battled foul trouble, picking up five in the game. I was pretty hard on him that night for his failure to take advantage of the 6'6" Chuck Hayes. Tonight, he did exactly what he should have while staying within the game plan. Instead, of bogging down the offense too much with slow, deliberate post feeds, the Cavaliers tried to catch on quick posts and re-posts along with getting him the ball on the move at times. He still didn't have a great shooting night, but he drew two first quarter fouls on Hayes, three on backup center David Andersen in the first half, and six total in the first half. Shaq made 5-of-12 shots for 13 points, grabbed 11 rebounds for his 4th double-double as a Cavalier, and handed out 4 assists in just 22 minutes. Shaq may not have more than a couple of 20 point games for the Cavs this year (he has not had one yet), but if you can avoid the comparisons to the old Shaq, you can appreciate what Shaq can and will provide for this team.
Post feeds for everybody!: It wasn't just Shaq taking advantage of favorable matchups in the post. LeBron spent a good chunk of time posting up Shane Battier in the second and third quarters, and the past few games Mo Williams has been using that to his advantage as well. We already knew Delonte was capable of this, so adding more guys capable of posting points in the paint is vital to the team's versatility. LeBron in the last two games has gotten past an apparent block against two of his defender nemeses, Ron Artest and Shane Battier. It's no coincidence that the Cavaliers struggled against Houston with these two as teammates, because they were allowed to trade off on LeBron and give him different styles of defense. Now, LeBron has picked them apart in seperate games, and hopefully it will give him motivation for future showdowns with them. The Cavaliers won the paint battle an astonishing 52-16. They've had about that many points in the paint before, but to give up just 16 points in the paint is a true sign of interior defensive prowess.
23...2...BLASTOFF!: After taking just a three point lead into the break on a Mo buzzer-beating three (the team's first trey of the game), the Cavaliers used that as fuel for the third quarter explosion. The dynamic duo came out firing bullets at the Rockets. LeBron's 13 and Mo's 12 points in the quarter accounted for 25 of the team's 32 points in the quarter. In fact, the two of them felt like ripping off the points in three point bunches. Mo had three triples and one three point play, while James had two triples and one three point play. These two are proving to be one of the most potent combos in the league, and Mo has been playing like a perennial All-Star in the last four games, averaging nearly 25 points.
Boobie the spectator: Mike Brown admitted after the game that he is going to go back to a 9-man rotation instead of trying to fit 10 pegs into 9 holes. It's nothing that Gibson has done wrong (after all, he is second in the league in three point shooting), but something has to give to keep Mo's minutes up. It could rotate between Boobie and Moon by matchup, and of course, when Delonte is not in the right frame of mind, he will sit. I think it's probably the right move, although I hope that no one gets relegated to the bench long enough to make them feel like they aren't a key member of the team. For now, Boobie draws the shortest straw and will have to watch from the sidelines a little more.
 goes to: Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron James, and Mo Williams. Shaq drew fouls in bunches and his 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists started the Cavaliers off right. LeBron and Mo's third quarter blew the Rockets out of the water and extended the lead from 3 to 20. LeBron's 29 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals on 12-of-20 shooting came in just 29 minutes as LeBron sat out the entire fourth quarter for the first time all season. Mo's 7-of-13 shooting for 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists continued Mo's hot stretch of basketball.
Team Grade: A-
The wine and gold won the paint battle a whopping 52-16 and held Houston to just 33% from the floor. They also had 10 steals, 10 blocks, only 11 turnovers, just five offensive rebounds given up and 34 bench points. The early start for Houston and the penetration Aaron Brooks was allowed to get at times were enough to keep the Cavaliers shy of an A.
The wine and gold conclude possibly their roughest stretch of the season with a pair of games against the much-improved Atlanta Hawks. The first game is Tuesday in Atlanta, followed by a Wednesday rematch in the Q.
All for one. One for all.
Kirk
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