In front of a national television audience, and against one of the best teams in the NBA, the Cavaliers stunned the Phoenix Suns with a spectacular second half comeback to run their winning streak to five games.
The comeback was led by the amazing LeBron James, who had perhaps the best half of his career, scoring 32 second half points, and leading the Cavs back almost singlehandedly from a seventeen point third quarter deficit. James scored 44 points in all, and also had 11 rebounds, and 7 assists.
The Cavs trailed 72-55 halfway through third quarter when James began to take over. They outscored the Suns 29-15 over the final six minutes of that frame, with James scoring 14 of his 16 3rd quarter points during that run. James continued to sizzle the rest of the way, bringing the crows to its feet during a spectacular sequence that saw him swat a Lehandrino Barbosa shot from behind, corral the ball, and go coast to coast rocking the rim with a thunderous dunk that gave the Cavs a 97-93 lead that they would not relinquish.
The Cavs held the Suns to 15-41 shooting in the second half after being scorched for 60 first half points on 66% (25-38) shooting. Phoenix looked dominant early, killing the Cavs in transition, and creating open look after open look. Steve Nash and Shawn Marion had big first quarters for Phoenix, and bench players Eddie House and James Jones combined to shoot 9-13 for 22 second quarter points. The Cavs trailed 60-51 at the half, and also got off to a very poor start to the third quarter.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas played just 18 minutes, as Mike Brown realized Z was a poor matchup for the up tempo Suns. Anderson Varejao saw a season high 19 minutes, and was very effective ... scoring 6 points and corralling 7 rebounds. Brown went with a lineup of Damon Jones, Sasha Pavlovic, James, Donyell Marshall, and Varejao for the lions share of the second half rally.
Pavlovic also had another nice game, scoring 15 points, and playing well defensively down the stretch. The Cavs are 5-0 since moving Pavlovic into the starting lineup, and are now 7-7 in the absence of Larry Hughes. Donyell Marshall also chimed in with 14 points for the Cavs, most of which coming down the stretch as he replaced a largely ineffective Drew Gooden.
The win moved the Cavs to 25-17 on the season. They travel to Charlotte to take on the Bobcats tomorrow night.