Agencies/Cleveland, Ohio
LeBron James had another of those oh-no-he-didn’t-type plays. Shaquille O’Neal didn’t see it.
James scored 33 points and made an incredible, soaring block on Brandon Roy in the final seconds, and Anderson Varejao had a season-high 22 as the Cleveland Cavaliers rebounded from consecutive sloppy road losses with a 104-99 win over the hobbled Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.
James added seven assists, seven rebounds and swatted Roy’s shot with the Cavs holding on late. Portland’s star tried to drop in a floater, but James came across the lane and rejected his shot, his fingers going above the backboard square—12 feet off the floor—to send it into the seats.
What’s not so good is O’Neal leaving with a bruised left eye in the third quarter. Cleveland’s centre got poked by Portland’s Joel Przybilla while going up for a shot. He was taken to the Cleveland Clinic after the game for precautionary tests and is expected to travel with the team to Oklahoma City today.
O’Neal finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds and Varejao added 10 boards for Cleveland, which found itself trailing 54-45 after an uninspired first half. At the break, an angry coach Mike Brown laid into his players and they came out with much more intensity.
“It was much needed,” guard Mo Williams said of Brown’s fiery pep talk. “We were lackadaisical. We weren’t playing the way we should. He said the right things and got our motors going.”
Roy scored 23, LaMarcus Aldridge 22 and Andre Miller 20 for the Blazers, who dressed just nine players because of injuries and need to play better.
“We have to or we’ll get beat by 30,” Roy said. “We have no room for error. At the beginning of the season, we thought we did. Now if we relax for one quarter, we can get blown out by any team.”
Varejao and Williams, who added 10 assists, were game time decisions after suffering stomach-flu symptoms earlier in the day. And for a good portion of the first three quarters, the Cavaliers played sickly.
But with James on the bench, Cleveland opened the fourth with an 8-2 spurt that seemed to put the Cavaliers in control. Cleveland eventually opened a 93-87 lead on Anthony Parker’s 3-pointer, but the Trail Blazers wouldn’t go away.
Portland was within five when Roy tossed up his runner in the lane that James turned away with perhaps his defensive highlight of this season.
“I saw him coming at the last minute, but I thought I got it close enough to the rim,” said Roy, who didn’t contest if it was goaltending. “No call, so it was a good block.”
Blazers interim coach Dean Demopoulos wasn’t so sure James had gotten the ball on the way up.
“I’ll have to check the film,” he said, smiling. “I don’t make enough money get to fined, man.”
Even after James’ defensive gem, the Blazers closed to 101-97 on Aldridge’s 3-pointer and pulled within two when Roy sneaked behind James on the baseline, stole the ball and made a layup with 12.2 seconds remaining.
“It was just miscommunication,” James said.
The Blazers were forced to foul and Williams and James combined for three free throws in the last 10 seconds to ice it.
After giving up 31 points to Portland in the second quarter, the Cavs held the Blazers to 45 points in the second half.
James scored 14—matching his total for the first half—during a back-and-forth third quarter.
Early in the period, James was the only Cavaliers player doing much of anything on offence and the Blazers took a 10-point lead on Roy’s 3-pointer. But O’Neal began asserting himself down low like the Shaq of old and scored nine points during a 15-2 run that put Cleveland back in front.
Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant played through the pain of a broken finger to score 20 points and lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 104-92 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Bryant suffered a small break on the index finger of his right hand in the opening quarter when he was reaching for a pass. Doctors said the “avulsion fracture” is where bone fragments break away near a tendon or ligament.
Bryant still managed to score 20 points in 33 minutes of playing time with his finger heavily bandaged in the second half.
“It is painful, but I played through it,” Bryant said. “It is pretty numb, pretty sore.”
Bryant said he tried to choose shots and plays where he didn’t have to put too much stress on the broken digit.
“When things like this happen you have to be able to go to another weapon,” he said.
Bryant played briefly in the second quarter before going to the locker room at halftime to get more treatment.
He got back into the game after halftime hitting three baskets including a three pointer in the first few minutes of the third. |
