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Cavaliers earn 11th straight victory, topple Knicks 106 - 113
February 6, 2010
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers have been playing near-flawless basketball, and that's awful news for the opposition. After all, the Cavs aren't too shabby when they're making mistakes. The Cavs are winners of 11 consecutive games, having scored a whopping 74 points in the first half on their way to a 113-106 victory Saturday over the visiting New York Knicks. Of course, the Cavs scored a miserable 39 in the second half, and looked dreadful doing it. Yet they still managed to get out alive. Moral of the story? Even when the Cavs are bad, they're still pretty good. And let's not forget that the Cavs have won 11 straight despite being without injured starting point guard Mo Williams (shoulder) for nine of those games. Also, key reserve guard Delonte West (finger) has missed the previous eight. Or how about this: In the last 20 quarters, the Cavs (41-11) have trailed just twice. So give the struggling Knicks (19-31) credit for trimming a 22-point deficit in the third quarter to three late in the game. They never took the lead, but these days, it's about as close as anyone can expect to get to the Cavs.
Then there's James. The reigning league MVP and Eastern Conference Player of the Month always seems to save his best for the Knicks. It was evident right from the start that Saturday would be no different, with James scoring 23 points in the first quarter and 35 for the half. During one stretch that spanned the first and second quarters, James scored 24 straight of his team's points. That's not all. The 23 points in a quarter matches a Quicken Loans Arena record, which James tied a mere week ago in a win over the L.A. Clippers. Meanwhile, his 35 points in a half are a team record. He finished with 47 for the game on 17-for-31 shooting and 6-for-12 on 3-pointers. During his career, James has scored 52, 50, 45 and now 47 against the poor Knicks. "It's nothing personal," James said afterward, smirking. "It's strictly business. I wish I could score like that against every team." But for the Cavs, it was far from high-fives and hugs after the first half. The Knicks scrapped their way back into it, displaying some nifty perimeter shooting and all-out guts in the final 14 minutes. They actually had an opportunity to tie the game with 3:11 left, when they trailed 107-104. But guard Chris Duhon missed a 3-pointer, and with James on the floor, you only get so many chances.
"I thought we played well after the initial shellshock from LeBron, where he just came out and hit everything," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "When you game plan, you say, 'We'll try to take his drives away, we'll help a lot on him and see if he settles for threes and hope he misses them.' But he hit them all." Sometimes, that's just the way it goes with the great ones. You can strategize all you want, and it still won't matter. "It can't be explained," James said of his first-quarter flurry. "It's not like it comes easy. I take some tough shots, I make some tough shots. I'm very confident in my abilities outside the 3-point line." Cavs center Shaquille O'Neal added 19 points and three blocked shots, continuing to look more comfortable in his first season in Cleveland. James also compiled eight assists, eight rebounds and five steals -- making him the first player to record at least 47 points, eight assists, eight rebounds and five steals since Golden State forward Rick Barry did it on March 26, 1974 (Barry had 64 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and five steals). Guard Nate Robinson paced the Knicks with 26 points, and center David Lee scored 20 on 10-for-14 shooting, grabbing eight boards in the process. Al Harrington added 16 points off the bench. The Knicks have now lost seven straight to the Cavs.
"We pretty much outplayed them after the first quarter," Duhon said. "It's tough. When a guy like LeBron gets going, there's really not much you can do." That's especially true since James has proven time and time again that he is so much more than just a scorer. "When I'm on fire, I can go for a lot of points," he said. "But getting my teammates involved is good for us in the long run. I can't do it by myself and I've always thought that way, ever since I was a little kid. As soon as I see the double-team coming or see a teammate open, I give the ball up."