Photo: Chris Young/AP

After a fantastic victory over the Celtics in Boston, where some of the best Cavalier defense all season was played to cool off the scorching Celtics, the defense took the night off north of the border in Toronto. Luckily for the Cavs, the Raptors' defensive fortitude was just as poor, and when the Cavaliers did play solid D in overtime, it was enough to propel them to their third straight victory. Six Cavaliers were in double digit scoring, and the Cavalier offense continues to incorporate Antawn Jamison more and more, making them stronger and more capable than ever before.

Deci-Z-ion?: A report surfaced earlier in the day from WKNR's Michael Reghi that a source informed him that Z had made his decision to sign with the Cavaliers after the mandatory 30-day wait following his trade to the Wizards. It's pretty much been a forgone conclusion that Z would return, and Shaq's significant thumb injury may have just wrapped that return up 100 percent. If Shaq requires surgery on the thumb, Z would be the team's starting center for the last three weeks of the regular season after his return.

Going into the post not required: Shaq missed his first game with the thumb injury, but the Cavaliers were fortunate that Toronto's Chris Bosh missed his fourth straight with an ankle sprain. Without the two post presences, there was not much need for post feeds and inside-out action. In fact, nearly the entire game was played on the perimeter on both sides. This lead to a lot of back-and-forth transition, the triple digit scores, and the tariff on defense.

Black and blue LBJ: LeBron James likely will sleep pretty sound tonight after the all-out beating he took in this contest. LBJ was slow to get up twice, once when banging his thigh into a Raptor knee and again when he seemed to lose traction and fall on his side. The thigh injury very clearly bothered James throughout the game, and he was limping around on dead balls for several minutes after it occurred. The last thing the Cavaliers need without Shaq in the forseeable future is a severely bruised King. LeBron said he would be fine for Monday's home game against New York.

Getting Jack'd up: Toronto's point guard Jarrett Jack got in line tonight with all the other point guards who have been flat out torching Mo Williams on the defensive end, joining Rajon Rondo and Darren Collison of games past. Mo's been reluctant to bump through high screens since his shoulder injury, and it's been killing the Cavaliers' defensive plan. The big men are picking up unnecessary fouls as a result of helping on defense and being out of position when Mo whiffs and puts zero resistance on the team's point. Mo's made himself into an adequate defender under Mike Brown's system, so I envision him ramping up the D a bit in the season's final weeks and into the postseason.

Making a mountain out of a molehill: Actually, it's more like "making an All-Star out of a one-dimensional player". Enter Reggie Evans, rebounding machine and below-average with everything else. But the shrunken Cavalier frontcourt had some serious issues with covering this bull in a china shop. The veteran power forward banged in 13 first half points. and he took advantage of the officials letting them play down low, flying over the top for rebounds and throwing his shoulder and elbows into the Cav bigs. Evans vanished in the second half, and posted 13 points and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes in all.

And the backup center is...: Leon Powe. Yep, the man who was playing in just his second game all season did so as the team's backup center. It's a tough call between Hickson, Powe, Darnell Jackson, LeBron, and Antawn Jamison because none are built for it with D-block having the best frame for a center. Powe, however, got those minutes in the first half as Anderson Varejao sat with foul trouble. Powe played well in 16 minutes, finishing with 4 points and 4 boards. With Shaq on the shelf, Powe could get some big minutes as the fourth big, and from what I've seen, I'm intrigued to see more of the former Celtic.

Awf-ficiating: I don't know what LeBron did to these three officials, but they were giving him absolutely NOTHING heading to the basket in the fourth quarter. Even worse than that was the fact that Anderson Varejao was saddled with a bunch of questionable calls, leading to him fouling out with 2:12 in regulation. Finally, the Raptors were allowed to bang down low more than the Cavaliers as Reggie Evans was a one-man wrecking crew in there at times. Andy's disqualification led to Antawn Jamison playing center for the final minutes of the fourth.

An old foe, say it ain't so!: The hideous creature known to most as Hedo Turkoglu, known to Clevelanders as "$%!*@!", began to show his vile self in the late stages of this helter-skelter three-ring act. Turkoglu had nine fourth quarter points and made multiple clutch plays for the Raps in the game's final moments, making a Cavalier victory looking increasingly difficult. Hedo made a big three with 1:11 left to it and his putback slam with 51 seconds left gave the Raptors a two point lead. His three point heave with 1.9 seconds remaining misfired and it set up the Cavaliers for the win with 1.0 seconds remaining.

For the win.....: The Cavaliers looked to set something up heading to the basket for LeBron much like the classic LBJ-Granger finish in Indiana last season, but the man who popped open proved to be Anthony Parker. AP rose and fired from the top of the key on a pretty clean look, but he drew the back of the iron as the teams played extra basketball. While the three did not go down, I personally felt lucky that the Cavs even got to overtime after the Toronto surge in the fourth.

Triple bonanza and a new backup center: The Cavaliers have done this before (see: Z's super swishing in Sacramento), but the wine and gold rained down the three pointers in overtime. Wasting no time, Mo Williams hit two triples on the first two possessions of OT, extending his clutch hot shooting. Then, Parker redeemed himself with a three of his own and a bank shot for two that gave Cleveland a nine point advantage with two and a half to go. It's hard to debate who was really playing center, but LeBron did take the jump ball and was guarding one of the two bigs, so I considered LeBron as the center in overtime. LBJ's done this before, and he did just fine. The Cavaliers look like they will be playing some significant small ball for the time being.

goes to: Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison. Mo proved to be the most clutch player on the court for the second straight evening. His two threes in OT and 11 points from the fourth quarter on were vital to the wine and gold win. Mo amassed 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting with 2 rebounds and 6 assists. Jamison had his best offensive game as a Cavalier thus far, starting off strong with 11 first quarter points. 'Tawn had 22 points on 8-of-14 from the floor with 11 rebounds and 3 assists.

Team Grade: B-

The defense was completely thrown out the window in this one, and that normally is not a great thing for the defensive-minded Cavaliers. However, their 29 assists on 42 field goals, 51% shooting, and 11 three pointers propelled them while they continue to expand their offense with Jamison and survive without Shaq. The Cavs also made 31-of-36 free throws for a fantastic 86%. The things that held them back were the three 29+ point quarters by the Raptors, the 48% shooting allowed, and the dribble penetration of Jack, coupled with Reggie Evans's energy and Turkoglu's clutch plays.

The wine and gold have two days off before taking on the Knicks at the Q Monday night. By then, they hope to know how long they will be without their main cog in the middle.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

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