Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Cavs Defeat the Warriors 108-104

The Cavs got their second win of the year last night in Oakland against the Warriors. The Warriors played better defense but were unable to make enough defensive stops in the fourth quarter. LeBron James was one assist short of a triple double. James ended the game with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Daniel Gibson both contributed 22 points for Cleveland. The Warriors were led by Baron Davis with 29 points but he needed 28 shots to get his points. Monta Ellis had 22 points and even made an impressive block on James in the second quarter when James was going for a layup.

Baron Davis played 46 minutes and fatigue was clearly a factor for him in the fourth quarter. Don Nelson must give Davis more rest and give Troy Hudson some minutes. Hudson and Ellis can play the point when Davis is on the bench. Andris Biedrins has not played well this season and he clearly misses Stephen Jackson. Jackson and Biedrins had great chemistry last year and were very effective on the pick-and-roll. Biedrins had four turnovers last night and missed two important free throws in the fourth quarter that could have given the Warriors the lead. Kelenna Azubuike was only 2-10 and Mickael Pietrus only played 19 minutes.

The Warriors were never able to stop the Cavs from penetrating and then dishing out to shooters on the wing. The Warriors never closed out on shooters like Gibson and Damon Jones as they buried three-pointers time after time. Gibson sealed the game with a three-pointer to give Cleveland a 106-102 lead near the end of the fourth quarter. Mike Brown made a excellent move in substituting Sasha Pavlovic for Damon Jones in the middle of the fourth quarter. Pavlovic was only 2-11 at the time and Jones came in to the game and made a three-pointer off a pass from James to give the Cavs more breathing room. The Warriors are now 0-4 as they await Dallas on Thursday night at home.


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