For the first 45 minutes of Saturday night’s contest with
the Clippers, the Cavaliers looked like a team playing the last game of an
extended road trip. The Clippers, on the other hand, looked like a team that was
still angry about losing to their cross-town rivals by 40 points the night
before.
But in the final three minutes, the Cavaliers looked
like the best road team in the NBA and the toughest team against the West. The
Clippers looked like a team that had just lost three straight.
Delonte West’s tip-in with 2:42 to play gave the
Cavaliers a one-point lead – after trailing by as many as 13 – and Cleveland
clamped down defensively after that, as the Wine and Gold closed out their
five-game roadie with a dramatic 102-101 win on Saturday night in Tinseltown.
Trying to avoid their second-straight heartbreaking
loss, the Cavaliers – clinging to that one-point lead – saw Baron Davis’
attempted game-winner fall short as Cleveland closed out their final West Coast
junket of the season at 3-2.
“Tonight it went our way and that’s the exciting thing
about basketball – on any night it can go either way. We just found a way to win
tonight.”
LeBron James followed up his heroic performance in Utah
with a team-high 32 points on Saturday – going 12-for-20 from the field with
four boards, four assists and a pair of steals. James scored 13 of his 32 points
in the fourth quarter.
“We did a great job rebounding and getting after loose
balls,” said James. “That’s the thing about our team, we enjoy playing
basketball. The chemistry we have on and off the court is the reason we are so
successful.”
Mo Williams finished just 7-of-17 from the floor and
1-of-7 from long-distance, but his 18-footer with just over five minutes to play
tied the game and his incredible out-of-bounds save – flying over the
courtside seats to preserve a possession with just under a minute to play –
might have been the difference in the ballgame.
Williams finished with 18 points, with Delonte West
following up with 14 off the bench. Shaquille O’Neal rounded out the Cavaliers
in double-figures with 11 points. Anderson Varejao came off the bench to lead
the squad with nine rebounds.
The Clippers got a career-high 33 points from Rasual
Butler and sophomore guard Eric Gordon notched 28. The Cavaliers allowed the
Clippers to shoot 60 percent from the floor and weathered a 30-point second
quarter.
Cleveland returns to the North Coast with the toughest
part of their road schedule in the rear view mirror, leading the East and
looking at a Tuesday night matchup with the Raptors and a Thursday night rematch
with the Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
