Dallas at Cleveland (April 3) It was Dallas' 4th straight game on the road, and having won the previous 3, Dallas came out like a team too full of themselves and Cleveland came out like a team with something to prove and the Cavs had all the hustle and energy early. Cleveland used a 21-4 run to go up 29-10 with 2 minutes left and led 31-14 after 1. LeBron James had 15 points. Cleveland shot 55% FG and Dallas shot 36.5% FG. Cleveland was dominating the rebounding in out-rebounding Dallas 15-4. Dallas' shooting woes continued as they missed their first 10 shots of the 2nd quarter and didn't score until 3 minutes into the quarter. Cleveland joined Dallas in shooting poorly and only scored 3 points during the first 3 minutes of the quarter. Cleveland led 38-18 with 6:25 remaining and Dallas went on a 12-4 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Dirk Nowitzki, to pull within 30-42 with 1:45 left. Both teams stunk it up the rest of the quarter with neither team scoring [and they combined for just 2-11 FG in the last 3 minutes of the quarter]. Cleveland led 42-30 at the half. Cleveland shot 5-22 FG and Dallas shot 3-22 FG (but got to the line more) in the 2nd quarter as Dallas "out-scored" Cleveland 16-11 in the quarter. Dallas' 30 points in the half was by far the lowest point total for a half for the Mavs this season. Fortunately, both teams started finding the basket in the 2nd half. Cleveland still led in the low teens in the first half of the 3rd quarter. Cleveland led 51-38 with 6:40 to go and Dallas went on a 21-5 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Michael Finley, to take their only lead of the game at 59-56 with 10 seconds left. Finley's 3-pointer was proceeded by 4 free throws by Jerry Stackhouse when Robert Traylor was called for a questionable foul (looked like a clean block) and he over-reacted with profanity and throwing his armband and then Drew Gooden joined him with profanity and throwing his headband - new rules since the Detroit-Indiana brawl including 1-T ejections for players throwing anything into the stands. But Cleveland got to end the quarter with their own 4 free throws as James brought the ball up quickly and smartly went into a shooting motion well behind the arc, knowing Dallas had a foul to give, as Finley reached in to commit the foul. Finley's reaction to a shooting foul being call was assessed a technical [probably wouldn't had been a T if the other 2 ejections hadn't just occurred] and James hit all 4 free throws. So instead of Dallas up or tied after 3, Cleveland led 60-59 after 3. Stackhouse had 11 points in the 3rd quarter. Cleveland opened the 4th quarter with a 9-2 run to go up 69-61 with 9:30 to go. Cleveland's lead would be between 6 and 10 points over the next 5 minutes. Cleveland led 81-73 with 4:50 remaining and put the game away with an 18-3 run, capped by a 3-pointer by James, to go up 98-76 with 1:25 left. Cleveland won 100-80. It was an up-and-down game that Dallas did not deserve to win with their pathetic start. Dallas' shooting came and went during the came and included long cold stretches, but they never ever got their rebounding problems under control. Give them credit from coming back from being down so big in the 1st half, but give them grief for the pathetic rebounding. Cleveland out-rebounded Dallas 64-34, including 22-7 offensive - way too many offensive boards to give up and no where near enough Dallas offensive boards considering how poorly Dallas was shooting. Cleveland didn't shoot much better, but they had their board work going. Cleveland shot 41.5% (34-82) FG including 5-13 3-pointers and Dallas shot 35.4% (28-79) FG including 6-22 3-pointers. Cleveland shot 27-34 FT and Dallas shot 18-23 FT. Cleveland had 22 assists and Dallas had just 13 assists. Avery Johnson especially criticized Dallas' defense in giving up 40 points in the 4th quarter as Cleveland out-scored Dallas 40-21 in the 4th. 80 points tied the 2nd lowest scoring game for Dallas this season. Dallas now has a 4 game home stand - and only 1 more home game after that before the playoffs start. No question that LeBron James is a stud, but there was no need for him to play all 48 minutes in this game. The coach should have found some way to give him some rest during the game and he should have sat out the last 2 minutes - he may be young and the many minutes may not hurt him now, but it will in the long run and could in the short run with the playoffs just around the corner. In his last 5 games over just 7 days, James has played 239 minutes out of a possible 250 minutes (includes 2 complete overtime games). [End of my LeBron minutes gripe.] He was a stud in this game with a game high 37 points including a perfect 13-13 FT, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists in 48 minutes. His only knock was that he had 6 turnovers. 13 of his points came in the 4th quarter [though 5 came with Cleveland up by over 18 points in the last 1 1/2 minutes of the game]. 10 of Zydrunas Ilgauskas' 21 points came in the 4th quarter [not in garbage time]. He was king of the boards with 16 rebounds including 9 offensive. Ira Newble started and was the only other Cav in double-digits. He had 14 points and 9 rebounds. Drew Gooden had 6 points including 2-8 FG and 13 rebounds including 5 offensive in 28 minutes before his ejection. Eric Snow had 8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 turnovers. Anderson Varejao had 9 points including 3-4 FG and 8 rebounds in 20 minutes. No Mav had a stellar outing. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with 21 points including 8-19 FG and 3-4 3-pointers and 7 rebounds in 40 minutes. Michael Finley had 13 points including 4-12 FG, 4 rebounds, and no assists in 37 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse and Jason Terry were the only Mavs to shoot above 50% FG. Stackhouse had a nice performance off the bench with 16 points including 5-9 FG, 3 assists, and 2 nice steals in 22 minutes. The other bench players didn't give much. Terry had 13 points including 5-8 FG, no rebounds, just 1 assist, 3 seals, and 4 turnovers in 32 minutes. Josh Howard had just 2 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in 23 minutes and got yelled at and pulled for some defensive lapses in trying to defend James. Keith Van Horn had 6 points including 2-8 FG and 6 rebounds in 25 minutes. Erick Dampier came off the bench, but started the 2nd half. He had 2 points on 1-6 FG and 8 rebounds in 19 minutes. Devin Harris had 4 points including 1-8 FG and 0-4 3-pointers and 1 assist in 13 minutes. Shawn Bradley started, but played just 13 minutes and missed both shots he attempted and had 3 rebounds and 3 fouls. Quotes Brendan Malone: "We went into the game with a defensive game plan of switching everything, except for our 5 man, who had to stay with their man, and I thought that was effective. We out rebounded them by 30, 64-34. [Ilgauskas] was big going down the stretch. But LeBron, [playing] 48 [minutes]. We had great contribution from everybody and our defensive effort, we just held them down. This victory is sweet because a week ago it was an embarrassing defeat in Dallas. And we come back and at the end of the 1st quarter we outscored them - this is where we won the game - 31-14. And we continued to put the pressure on them. That 14 [points] was a result of us switching. But then we continued to attack. Then when Eric [Snow] was out we went with LeBron at the point. We got him in a double high pick-and-roll and that worked. We ran some basic sets to get him in the post. But we sustained a great effort for 48 minutes tonight. We beat a very good basketball team." Malone: "The crowd was big. I think in a lot of our wins this year, especially when we come back, like last game. In the 4th quarter, the crowd got excited because of the effort of the ace in the hole squad that we had. I think that the crowd came alive when Drew [Gooden] and Trac [Traylor] were ejected. We didn't lose our poise. We went to the 4th quarter with a 1 point lead. We scored the first couple of points. [Ilgauskas] was struggling throughout the game. It was in the 4th quarter when he came alive and he came up big for us." Malone: "It was a big win for us. We take them one game at a time. And it's a good feeling for us to go into the New Jersey game on a high note." Malone on keeping their poise: "LeBron said right after the technicals, 'I got it.' That's what he said, 'I got it.' So when you have a player of his caliber saying, 'I got it,' you got it." Malone on James playing 48 minutes: "He just doesn't want to come out. Just when you think he's tired, he does something amazing. Look at the 4th quarter." Malone on James: "This kid is developing into a great leader. When you get a guy like him buying into what you're doing, most of the others will follow." LeBron James on defense: "We know that they average around 103 points a game. They are one of the best shooting teams in the league and it's a tough cover. Defensive wise we wanted to switch everything. We came in with a great game plan and it helped us prevail to a win." James: "We established a tempo by coming out with a sense of urgency. Everyone came out wanting to get rebounds and push. That's what they wanted to do to us. We kind of killed them with their own poison early in the game when we went up 20." James on getting fouled at the end of the 3rd quarter: "I knew they had a foul to give. So I anticipated the foul and got the shot off because I knew they were going to try to foul me. That put us back up and it helped us." James on playing a lot of minutes: "I have been saying that I'm not going to get tired. No matter how many minutes I play, I'm so determined to get to the playoffs right now, that I can't afford to get tired. If I am hurting my team out there playing 48 minutes a game, then I am going to come out, but if I'm not hurting them, then I'm going to stay in." James on playing point guard: "I'm not going to play there my whole career, but I played there during high school sometimes and the 1st half of the season last year. Anything for our team to help us win, I'm going to do it." Zydrunas Ilgauskas: "The 4th quarter was huge for us. We had 2 guys ejected and LeBron was at the point. We knew we had to win with the guys we had. We stepped it up on defense. We just ran a couple of plays the whole 4th quarter. LeBron was getting so much attention that everybody else was able to get open looks." Drew Gooden on his ejection for throwing his headband: "It's an automatic ejection once you throw anything into the stands. I guess that's a new rule; I didn't know about it at the time. I was just mad, that's it." Eric Snow on defense: "We switched a lot of their sets. When they came down we tried to make them run, and not give them open looks. Sometimes we help of certain guys other times we helped of other guys. The scheme was working. They missed some shots, but we kept them from getting easy shots and did a great job of getting rebounds. That pretty much hurt them from getting out and getting early breaks. When they made their run that's what they did - they made 3s and layups." Snow: "Guys want to win, and guys want to make it to the playoffs. One thing that the coach said in his speech was that the way that the guys have played in the 4th quarter the last 2 games is the way that we need to continue to try and play for 48 minutes. For the most part things don't always go perfect, but the effort and the energy was there." Robert Traylor on his ejection for throwing an armband: "I thought it was a clean block. I didn't know that was a rule. I've seen it done before and no one was tossed out. I guess that's one of the new rules. I'm just glad we were able to still pull it out." Ira Newble: "They stomped us the last time we played. We didn't play well at all in Dallas. We didn't play any defense and we didn't play with any toughness at all. We wanted to come out early with a statement and we did." Newble: "We played with a lot of toughness. We beat a good team that was playing well. It was one of the best games we've played." Avery Johnson: "This was a very disappointing game. You really have to give Cleveland some credit. This was their 5th game in 7 nights and they really played well. They were a hungry basketball team and it showed tonight with their offensive rebounding. They just killed us on the boards, and combined with us not being able to make a shot and not getting any rebounds, especially offensive rebounds, that was pretty much the game. We thought we had them at the end of the 3rd, but they got a little momentum change with the 4-point play. We were really disappointed, most of all, with our defense in the 1st and 4th quarters, especially in the 4th. I know at the end of the game, they got some baskets when the game was over, but still, 40 points in the 4th quarter is unacceptable. We'll go back and take a look at it, but we're playing some decent basketball. This was just a disappointing loss because these guys want to win so bad." Johnson on if he was proud of the team's comeback: "I was. We tried to come back and we took the lead with a big 3rd quarter. [The Mavericks] responded to what we were talked about at the half, but this is a game of momentum, and the game changed, I guess, with the ejections and with the swing at the end of the 3rd quarter." Johnson on James: "LeBron had an outstanding game. I think he made a conscious effort to try to get to the basket. For a while there, he was turning into being a jump shooter. But, he really made a conscious effort to get to the basket, and when that wasn't there, he tried to step back and shoot his shots. He put a lot of pressure on us. We just didn't have an answer. For him to get 7 assists also was big for them. He got other guys involved." Johnson on if James' first step is key: "I wouldn't say the first step, all of the steps. All of his steps were good tonight and we just couldn't really contain him and he put a lot of pressure on our defense." Johnson on the 3-1 road trip: "Our guys really competed. You don't have a chance to go 4-0 on a trip unless you get the first one. We had a lot of good things happen on this trip, especially defensively." Jerry Stackhouse: "We got back in the game, but it took a lot of energy to get back in the game. Then, we just kind of made a couple errors. I think that was a big play at the end of the 3rd. We had a lot of momentum, and I think if they go down mentally after being up so much at the end of the 3rd quarter, that it could have been a different game for us. Calls - good calls, bad calls - are part of the game. We can definitely take some positives from it, but we have to get back to doing the little things that made us good. Building our wall defensively and making sure we share the ball, moving the ball and getting people good shots. That's all we have to do - hopefully we'll do that on Tuesday." Stackhouse on his 2nd half performance: "I know Avery's focus is the playoffs and trying to keep my minutes low. But, it's kind of hard sometimes to find a rhythm, but tonight, for whatever reason, I got a little bit extended time out there and I was able to get into a pretty good little flow. I feel good about that, but at the same time, our ultimate thing is to come out here with Ws and not about playing well." Stackhouse on the foul called at the end of the 3rd quarter: "Refs know that. Guys throw the ball up like that all the time, especially when you're on the sideline and you hear the coach say, 'We've got 1 to give.' Come on man. You expect things like that when they just kicked, called a technical and ejected a guy. You've got to be careful then. At that point, we were going so well. I know it's an NBA thing where you foul like that, but I just like to see him have to make a tough shot. But, hindsight is what?" Stackhouse on the 3-1 road trip: "We would have loved to have swept it. It was like we had one foot in Cleveland and one foot back home already." Jason Terry on the 3-1 road trip: "I was looking at one game and that was tonight. They came out and they had payback on their mind and they came out and set the tone early. We finally got back into the game, and when you're fighting back from that far, it's always an uphill battle. In that 4th quarter, they continued to execute on their offensive end and we turned the ball over in the 4th quarter." Terry on the end of the 3rd quarter: "Oh, that was huge. We had the momentum, we go up 4 and that deflated them. But with less than 10 seconds, they came back and took the lead back. That was the first time that we had the lead all game. That was a huge momentum swing." Terry on if any change with James playing the point in the 4th quarter: "Not a big change. He pretty much handles the ball all game long, so not a big change. They've been doing that the last 2 games, they've been successful with it and I'm sure teams are going to scout it, but he handled it well." Cleveland Cavaliers 100, Dallas Mavericks 80 at Cleveland (April 3) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Cleveland 31 11 18 40 - 100 .420 .385 .415 .794 Dallas 14 16 29 21 - 80 .386 .273 .354 .783 Halftime: Cleveland 42-30 3rd Q: Cleveland 60-59 Technicals: Jerry Stackhouse 4:58 3rd, Robert Traylor (ejected) 0:53 3rd, Drew Gooden (ejected) 0:53 3rd, Michael Finley 0:04 3rd Refs: Scott Foster, Phil Robinson, Bennett Salvatore Attendance: 20,562 (sellout) Cleveland Cavaliers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Ira Newble 41 6-13 1-2 1-1 14 2-9 4 2 2 2 2 Eric Snow 31 4-7 0-0 0-1 8 1-4 3 4 5 1 0 LeBron James 48 10-23 4-8 13-13 37 2-10 7 6 3 2 1 Drew Gooden 28 2-8 0-0 2-2 6 5-13 3 1 0 3 0 Zydrunas Ilgauskas 37 8-18 0-0 5-8 21 9-16 4 3 4 1 2 Aleksandar Pavlovic 21 0-5 0-3 2-2 2 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 Anderson Varejao 20 3-4 0-0 3-5 9 2-8 0 1 1 0 1 Robert Traylor 8 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-4 0 0 3 0 0 Lucious Harris 6 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 34-82 5-13 27-34 100 22-64 22 17 21 9 6 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 37 4-12 3-7 2-2 13 0-4 0 2 1 0 0 Jason Terry 32 5-8 0-2 3-3 13 0-0 1 4 3 3 0 Dirk Nowitzki 40 8-19 3-4 2-2 21 1-7 3 2 2 0 2 Josh Howard 23 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-4 3 1 5 1 0 Shawn Bradley 13 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-3 0 0 3 0 0 Keith Van_Horn 25 2-8 0-2 2-4 6 2-6 1 2 4 1 1 Jerry Stackhouse 22 5-9 0-2 6-8 16 0-2 3 1 1 2 0 Erick Dampier 19 1-6 0-0 0-0 2 3-8 0 1 2 0 2 Devin Harris 13 1-8 0-4 2-2 4 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 Marquis Daniels 11 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 3 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 Alan Henderson 2 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 28-79 6-22 18-23 80 7-34 13 13 24 8 5 patricia