Written by Rich Swerbinsky

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Fourth Quarter Rally By LeBron Falls Short, Winning Streak Halted

It was just one of those nights.

The second of back to back games after a late night flight out to the Big Apple. Cavs had won nine straight and were facing the worst team in the league. And they just came out flat.

The Knicks held off a furious late LeBron James rally, hanging on to knock off the Cavaliers 96-94 beind 37 points from Jamal Crawford, who also drilled the game winning jumper with six seconds left. The upset ended the Cavaliers nine game winning streak, and also halted the Knicks nine game losing streak.

LeBron James scored 21 of his 36 points in the final quarter, nearly bringing the Cavs back singlehandedly from a 19 point fourth quarter deficit. The Cavs managed to tie the game at 94-94 before Crawford's jumper gave the Knicks back the lead. After a time out, LeBron James drove into the lane, and kicked the ball out to a wide open Larry Hughes, who missed a three pointer as time expired.

With the Knicks missing Stephon Marbury, Jalen Rose, and Quentin Richardson due to injuries ... Crawford picked up the slack, punishing the Cavs all night on 13-24 shooting from the field and 8-9 from the line. The Cavs were without Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who the team called "day to day", yet left hope he would play Saturday night in New Jersey.

Larry Hughes still looked very rusty, making just 3-10 shots from the field in 24 minutes, and registering another 3 fouls and 3 turnovers in the process. The Cavs bench, which included Hughes, contributed next to nothing, making just 6 of their 22 field goal attempts, and just 1-12 from three point range. And a night after they had 30 assists versus the Sixers, they had just 13 on this night. The Cavs also missed 13 free throw attempts, which is always hard to swallow in a two point loss.

The Cavs have the next two nights off before traveling to Jersey to take on the Nets on Saturday night. They have seven games remaining in the regular season.