CAVS TOP NETS FOR 9TH STRAIGHT WIN

It was ‘business as usual’ for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday.  LeBron James narrowly missed a ‘triple double’ as Cleveland ran their current winning streak to nine straight with a workmanlike 96-88 road victory over the New Jersey Nets.  The Cavs now hold a 4 ½ game lead over Boston for the top spot in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.

As has been their tendency of late, Cleveland opened up an early lead and coasted to victory.  The Cavs led 27-21 after the first quarter and stretched that lead to 48-38 at halftime.  LeBron James led Cleveland’s offensive attack with 30 points and 11 rebounds, along with 8 assists.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas contributed 18 points and mop top Brazilian Anderson Varejao posted a ‘double/double’ with 16 points and 11 boards.  New Jersey was led by Vince Carter’s 25 points, followed by Kenyon Dooling with 19 and Brook Lopez with 16. 

The Cavs also set a record for most regular season wins in franchise history, though it’s something of an afterthought in a season where they have much loftier ambitions.  LeBron James put it into perspective in his post game comments:

"It's not the main goal, but any time you get an opportunity to write your name or write your team into the record books, you should be proud. I think the franchise, the team, the coaches, everybody, everybody that's associated with the Cavaliers -- people that work the concession stands -- everybody, we should all be proud about this. Because it's not promised every year where you get a chance to set records, franchise records, or winning divisions, things like that. Great achievement by us."

New Jersey’s Carter said that the loss boiled down to his team’s inability to make big buckets down the stretch:

"It's tough. As bad as our shooting was, we still had an opportunity to get back into the game. We got it down to two points but missed some easy layups, i.e. myself. We had some great looks at some shots, but it was just unfortunate."

New Jersey will get a quick chance for revenge as they travel to Cleveland for the second half of a ‘home and home’ series against the Cavs on Wednesday night.  After that game New Jersey will return home to host the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night before traveling to Minnesota on Sunday.  Cleveland will remain at home, hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday and the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.