A Good Weekend for Cleveland Cavs Fans

After falling to the Tracy McGradyless Houston Rockets last Thursday, the Cavs finished up their road trip of the deep south on a very positive note by winning in San Antonio, Atlanta and Miami consecutively. 

At least for me, the victory in San Antonio was a little retribution for the ass raping the Cavs received from the Spurs in the 2007 NBA FINALS (…swept).  Cleveland absolutely dominated the first quarter.  With LeBron James himself scoring 15 in the first quarter, the Cavs went into the second quarter leading 27-13. 

But the Spurs, having won four NBA titles in the past 10 years, would not go quietly.  They came back to outscore the Cleveland in both the second and fourth quarters.  But having gained enough of a lead in the third (outscoring the Spurs 32-18), Cleveland held on for a 97-86 victory.

LeBron did what LeBron does best and dropped 30 points while grabbing 14 rebounds.  The newly active Delonte West was also very impressive.  After recently returning from a broken wrist that sidelined him, West scored 17 points, snagged seven rebounds, and had five assists. 

The Cavs also participated in a nail biter against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.  They narrowly defeated them 88-87.  The Cavs were ahead for the majority of the first half, but the Hawks were never out of it. 

Lead by Joe Johnson, who scored 21 in the game, the Hawks came back and took the lead in the third quarter after former Cavalier, Ronald Murray (apparently doesn’t go by the name “Flip” anymore), hit a tough, fade away jumper putting the Hawks up 68-67. 

The Hawks were ahead for almost the entire first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter, going up 82 to 72 with close to four minutes left to play.  But the Cavs would not go down quietly. 

After a few quick points from Anderson Varejao and LeBron James, the Cavs were down only 87-84.  With under a minute left to play, LeBron kicked a no look pass out to Mo Williams (he’s so clutch!) who hit a three pointer from the corner with 46 seconds left. 

With nobody in their seat and the entire Philips Arena on their feet, the Hawks missed the following shot(HAHA), giving the Cavaliers one possession to take the lead. 

Who do you go to? Who do you think?  LeBron James does two things when he drives to the hoop:  he gets fouled or “throws the hammer down” (thank you Austin Carr).  In accordance to this certainty, the Hawks fouled LeBron on his drive with 1.6 seconds left.  He split the pair and put the Cavs ahead 88-87.

With one remaining shot, Atlanta chose to go to Joe Johnson who ended up getting a good look but it wasn’t good enough.  Cleveland wins, Bitch!

To finish up their road trip on a positive note, LeBron and the Cavs would have to first go through Dwyane (spelling?) Wade’s Miami Heat.  The league’s top two scorers met Monday night in a sort of best of three match up since the two teams have each won one of their first two meetings. 

Neither team really dominated the first half.  The Cavs pulled away in the first quarter to an eight point lead but the Heat came back and pulled within two.  With 33 seconds left in the first half, D Wade got a steal and pulled ahead for a breakaway dunk (I apologize: my amateur writing skills don’t paint as cool of a picture as a TV) to tie the game up 55-55. 

But the Cavs would head into the locker rooms ahead 58-55 because of a LeBron James three-pointer.  Towards the end of the third quarter and the first half of the fourth, the Cavs decided not to play defense.  In a flurry of dunks, drives and wide open shots, the Heat easily pulled ahead to a comfortable 11 point lead. 

With seven minutes to play, the Cavs began double teaming Wade who has been carrying his team as of late.  With their fearless leader double guarded, the Heat were running around like chickens with their heads cut off (exhibit a: one of them heaving a half court shot with 20 seconds left on the shot clock). 

The Cavs would capitalize off the ridiculous loft with a LeBron to MO three pointer. James would go on to hit a pivotal three later in the game and thunderous dunk with under a minute left that put the Cavs up 100 to 95. They would never look back.

With the exception of Houston (screw the Rockets), Not a bad weekend for the Cavs!