Photo: Scott Shaw/The Plain Dealer

With LeBron carrying the team on his broad shoulders for the last three games without Mo Williams, the Cavaliers hoped that tonight's contest against Minnesota would prove to be an easy one. They got what they wanted, largely because several key role players, led by J.J. Hickson, stepped up their game and allowed James to take only eight shots on a night where he only needed to play three quarters. The Cavaliers kept the win streak rolling along at six.

Forcing the issue: The Cavalier coaching staff understood quite clearly that they had an opportunity to take the pressure off LeBron for tonight at least. To accomplish that, they started off with multiple looks for J.J. Hickson and Anthony Parker. Parker is starting to take more shots off screen-and-curls, something that everyone expected more of at this point in all honesty. If A.P. can get his scoring up a bit, it's really going to help fill the void while Mo and Delonte are out. Hickson looked like the player who had a string of amazing games when he surged into the starting lineup at the start of the season. LeBron was able to find him repeatedly on the weakside for dunks and easy layups, and it wasn't all because the Timberwolves suddenly forgot that J.J. could creep in behind the defense. It was because Hickson worked a lot harder in getting open and finding the lanes through which he could get buckets. J.J. seems to be one of those players that you have to keep an eye on constantly, but games like tonight, where he shows the ability to put anything in around the basket, are why the Cavaliers are still high on him. Hickson posted a new career high in points with 23 on 8-of-10 shooting. J.J. also made all seven free throws attempts, where he hovers below 70 percent, and ripped off 8 rebounds and 1 block.

Tough first for the King: It's easy to over-analyze statistics, but one oddity from the last two games is that LeBron James finished each of those first quarters without a made field goal. While it was more of a case of struggling and a lack of aggressiveness in Miami, tonight it stemmed more from the effort to get Hickson, Parker, and even Shaq involved from the start. If the Cavaliers can avoid falling behind by a large margin in the first, this is actually a better strategy than the alternative. If LeBron goes off in scoring in the first, often times it has adverse effects on the role players' involvement and James's fatigue for the rest of the game. The other way around, it gets everybody feeling like they are a part of the offense, and it allows LBJ to lay in the weeds, waiting to throw a scoring burst when needed. Another reason for the tough first was a lack of foul calls, which prompted LeBron to get technical foul number three on the season from official Derrick Stafford. LeBron had a quiet, facilitating night all-around with just 8 shots taken. He made three of them, finishing with 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 11 assists in 31 minutes. That's right, LeBron avoided playing in the fourth with the monster lead that spawned from his ability to create for others tonight. It may not jump out on Sportscenter, but 23 still had a solid evening.

"PLAY HARD AS WE CAN!": The immortal words of ex-Cavalier Sasha Pavlovic in last year's Cavaliers commercial. Yes, "The Count" is done lacing them up for the wine and gold, but he'll always hold a special place in the hearts of the CofC crew, especially J.V. I still remember giving him the harsh news about Pavlovic being shipped to Phoenix in the Shaq trade, and I think he died a little inside. Okay, all kidding aside, Pavlovic is struggling with a reserve role in Minnesota, averaging a pedestrian 4 points and 2 rebounds per game. That continued tonight with Pavs missing all five shots from the floor and missing both free throw attempts, airballing the first, in his 14 minutes. I hold no hard feelings toward Pavlovic, and I hope he can turn things around for himself with the T-Wolves.

A third member of the broadcast booth?: Tonight, Mo Williams joined Fred and Austin in the FSN booth during the second quarter. Mo's always a good interview, and he did a nice job giving insight into a couple of things about the team. One of those was the gooseneck symbol the Cavs like to throw up, or "Goosie". It was coined by Jamario Moon for his exaggerated follow-through on shots, but "Goosie" is only permitted on three point attempts, according to Williams. Another great comment from Mo was his stance on confidence in himself. Basically, he tries to keep a short memory about good and bad plays, and he knows that he must be confident in himself since LeBron has so much confidence in him. That's part of what has truly made me admire Mo as a player, his fearlessness and unwillingness to back down from the moment. As for the broadcasting career, here's hoping that Mo will be too busy out on the floor before we know it.

Some BIG high-low action: With Kevin Love and Al Jefferson on the floor together, Mike Brown gave the Zydrunas Ilgauskas-Shaquille O'Neal duo another run. I've been a fan of keeping this lineup in storage to be pulled out mostly against Orlando and the Lakers, but it worked fairly well tonight. For one, it helps put more offensive scorers out there at once, which is a critical issue when LeBron rests with the current array of available players. One reason the lineup worked tonight was high-low passing. Shaq and Z each fed one another for a nice open dunk off high-low action that caught the guy moving down low. I tweeted earlier this evening that it had to be some of the tallest high-low action in the history of the game, 7'3" to 7'1" and vice versa... not bad.

Starting frontcourt sits, Minnesota rallies: Leading by 19 after three, the entire starting frontcourt of James, Hickson, and O'Neal were allowed to take the rest of the night off. That meant coach Brown went with a group for most of the fourth of Boobie, Danny Green, Jamario Moon, Anderson Varejao, and Z. The group had a rough time stopping the Timberwolves, who finally got things going a bit. Al Jefferson struggled the entire evening with Shaq defending him, but he snuck a couple of buckets in with left-handed moves on Ilgauskas. Ryan Gomes shot poorly most of the evening as well, but he found his shot late, scoring 10 in the fourth. The only T-Wolf (grammar escapes me in cases like this) who performed solid all night was Kevin Love. The former Bruin posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 boards in 33 minutes. Watching Love at UCLA, I wondered if his game could translate to the pros, but it seems that it has. Minnesota scored 29 points in the fourth, the most of any quarter, and while they only outscored the Cavs by five in the quarter, they used a 23-11 run to draw it to just 10 points with 1:50 left. Luckily for the Cavs, it was too little too late for the young Wolves.

Really, Rambis?: You don't see this too often in an NBA game, maybe a college or high school game, but not an NBA game. Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis ordered his team to foul the Cavaliers, who were up by 10 with under twenty seconds left, THREE times! I guess Kurt thought he should make his team stand out there and suffer a little while longer, or he was just trying to get them to play all the way to the finish line. Either way, it was certainly an odd sequence.

goes to: J.J. Hickson and Shaquille O'Neal. Hickson's career-high 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting, 8 rebounds, and 1 block were the driving force for the Cavs tonight. As for Shaq, he controlled borderline All-Star Al Jefferson for most of the evening, and he exploited him on the offensive end for 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting, and he added 4 rebounds and 4 assists. The Cavalier frontcourt, other than LeBron, has stepped up big time with the backcourt shorthanded, and has allowed the winning streak to last.

Team Grade: A-

I'm going to give the Cavs a bit of a pass here. Normally, that fourth quarter effort would have made it impossible for an A, but I'm going to take into account that the lead was truly never in danger given Minnesota's personnel. Also, the Cavaliers valued an ugly win where their starters got some extended rest over a pretty win where the Cavaliers would have had to unnecessarily exert themselves. The Cavs did shoot 55%, made 24-of-28 foul shots, held the T-Wolves to 39% shooting, and had 27 assists on their 40 field goals. All that sums up a pretty good overall evening for the Cavaliers.

Next, the Cavaliers take on a division foe in the Pacers Friday night in Indianapolis. CofC's Chris will be in attendance, making the trip with a group of people from Trine University. Represent the Cavalier faithful well, Chris.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

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