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LeBron, Cavs restore order with first win of season
Oct 30, 2009
The Cleveland Cavaliers found a solution to their second-quarter jinx: schedule a team that can't capitalize on it. The Cavaliers' offense sputtered once more when LeBron James took his standard second-period breather, but this time, the bad habit didn't cost Cleveland a victory. Minnesota managed to take only a brief lead while the reigning MVP sat down, and James restored order quickly once he returned, powering the Cavaliers to their first victory of the season, 104-87 over the Timberwolves. "It's nice to finally get a win," understated Cavs coach Mike Brown, whose team avoided its first 0-3 start since 2004. "We got a lot of production from a lot of guys." James in particular, of course, though he didn't score a point over the game's final 17 1/2 minutes. The Cavs' signature player finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists, statistically his least-productive game of the season's first week. But it didn't matter, not with Mo Williams contributing 20 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas 15, Daniel Gibson 14 and Anderson Varejao 13.
Hmm, those five names seem familiar. Didn't that Fab Five once form a pretty potent starting lineup? Yeah, Brown felt a little déjà vu, too, particularly when he played that unit together on three separate occasions, mostly due to Shaquille O'Neal's foul problems. The quintet was responsible for a 15-9 run in the second quarter, and another fourth-quarter burst that put the game out of reach. "The one thing those guys have [is] a familiarity with one another," Brown said.
That's something the Timberwolves don't have, not with only five holdover players on their roster, and it showed against Cleveland. Minnesota hit only 41.9 percent of its shots, and committed 17 turnovers in allowing Cleveland to stretch its lead to 21 points, 93-72, with eight minutes remaining. Minnesota's only real threat to the Cavaliers' dominance came in -- as usual -- the second quarter. Cleveland had been outscored 60-34 in the period in its first two games, and Brown emphasized to his team the importance of maintaining their composure and intensity when James sat down to rest. "We just made a conscious effort to try to move the basketball," Brown said. "We haven't been scoring points." This time they did -- eventually. Former Cavs shooter Sasha Pavlovic opened the period with a 3-pointer and a spinning drive to the hoop, and Ryan Hollins got loose for a layup. Cleveland's seven-point lead to open the quarter had disappeared, and Brown called time out. "We have to do a better job defensively," Brown said he told his team. "We have to have a better mindset, so whether LeBron is on the floor or not, we can still get stops."
They got the message. Williams got free for four long jump shots to spark a Cavs' rally, the Wolves scored one basket over a three-minute span, and Cleveland had outscored Minnesota 32-22 by halftime. From there, the Cavs were able to pull away. "We came into this game saying, 'Hey, let's try to consistently play well from the beginning to the end and see what happens," James said. "We had a sense of urgency. Those first two games, we had spurts in those quarters, but we didn't sustain it." They did this time, even without a serious contribution from O'Neal, their big offseason pickup. O'Neal towered over Wolves center Al Jefferson, who gives up roughly 60 pounds and three inches in that matchup, but Jefferson used O'Neal's size against him. Shaq played only 18:54, thanks to foul trouble -- though Ilgauskas' big night negated the effect of O'Neal's six-point output. The Wolves, who dropped to 1-1 on the season, were led for a second straight game by rookie Jonny Flynn, who continually shook Williams' defense, getting to the basket for 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting. "He looked like he wanted to attack every time," Brown said. "He was impressive." Jefferson added 12 for the Wolves, but never looked comfortable with O'Neal or Ilgauskas shoving him underneath. "Going into the game, we were talking about double-teaming [Jefferson]," Brown said, "but we didn't have to double-team him at all. When he gets going, he's almost unstoppable." Same thing can be said for the Cavs. And they finally proved it on the floor.