Make It 11: Cavs Notch 11th Straight Under James’ 47 Point Effort
Written by Russell Williams, Cavs 24/7 Staff
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Mid-way through the second quarter, when LeBron James is about to rest – Cavalier point guard Mo Williams could only sit and stare at his teammate and point in disbelief.
Now it’s no surprise when people are amazed with what LeBron James does on the basketball court, but he was hotter than an oven in the first half of the Cavaliers’ victory over the New York Knicks, 113-106 at The Q in downtown Cleveland. James’ efforts were jaw-dropping to the fullest. His repeatedly three point baskets made, the near half-court three point shot with the first quarter game clock coming to an end was near priceless as the look on the Kings’ teammates watching as it’s a video game.
LeBron poured in 47 points – 23 in the first quarter and 35 at the end of the first half. James also carried the Cavs’ offense for 24 straight points in the first half that was ended when Jawad Williams sunk in a three pointer in the second quarter. LeBron missed a triple double by two boards and two assist as he finished with 8 rebounds and 8 assist to go along with 5 steals as the Knicks were seeing James just about everywhere on the court.
“I was in amazement.” J.J Hickson said of James’ performance in the first half. “When the shot goes up and he’s in the zone, you just get back on defense because you know it’s going in.”
“It’s something that can’t be explained,” James said. “It’s a feeling I wish I could be in every game, but it’s not possible. But it was a great moment for myself individually and for our team the way we played to start the game.”
Outside of all the fantastic play by James, and even the Cavaliers’ team in general in the first half a lot of things the Cavs did right during their big first half they did wrong in the second half. After out-scoring the Knicks 74-54 in the first half, the Knicks found themselves back into the ballgame in the second half. After leading by as much as 24 in the game the Cavs led by only five with 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter when their scoring drought and defensive issues came into factor, and at one point had a 106-109 lead with 2 minutes remaining.
“We got a little lax,” Said James. “The momentum of the shooting … we can’t continue to make some of the shots that we did.”
The Knicks’ Nate Robinson led the Knicks’ comeback with his ability to get into a groove offensively. Robinson connected on 9 of 18 shots from the field and 5 of 7 from 3pt range to give the Knicks a chance to crawl back into the game as the Knicks out-scored the Cavaliers 52-39 in the second half.
Brown wasn’t too pleased with either halves of basketball, but knows when James is on you live with it.
“It wasn’t my type of half. It was fun to watch because LeBron went crazy knocking shots down. ” Brown said. “It’s always good to see from a fan’s standpoint or the media standpoint. … But, no that’s not my kind of half. Neither half was. But sometimes you live with it.”
Offensively the Cavs had Shaquille O’Neal put up 19 points with 3 blocked shots to support James’ 47 point effort. However, guard Daniel Gibson had his streak snapped of six games in a row in scoring double figures, but he did have a key three point bucket in the fourth quarter.
The Cavaliers will get back into action Tuesday night when they take on the New Jersey Nets in attempt to go for their 12th straight victory, and then take on the Orlando Magic Thursday night before they head into the all-star break.
Notes: Former Cavalier Larry Hughes got a DND(Did Not Dress) because of a strained left great toe…The Cavs shot 66 percent from 3pt range at the half, a season-high in one half…The Cavs’ Delonte West may return before the all-star break if all things going accordingly, but the Cavs wont rush him back.. The Cavs now lead the Lakers by 2 games after the Lakers suffered a loss to the Denver Nuggets a night ago in L.A.
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