Written by Rich Swerbinsky

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James, Pierce Sit This One Out

That’s the Larry we know and love.  

With LeBron James resting, and Paul Pierce out with a season ending elbow injury, Larry Hughes took a big step towards getting back to 100%, leading the Cavs to a 93-88 win that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score suggested.

Hughes, making his 3^rd straight start, scored 21 points and added 6 assists and 5 steals in 38 minutes.  Hughes gave Cavs fans a scare when he was banged on his injured hand late in the first quarter, and left the court to go back to the locker room to get x-rays, which were thankfully negative.  Hughes returned in the second, and continued to look more and more like the player the Cavs backed up the Brinks Truck for this off-season.

Regarding LeBron, his ankle is fine.  Coach Brown cited a preference to not play him in the second of back-to-backs, and said he had planned on resting James in this contest, with or without a sore ankle.  James is expected to play in the teams season finale on Wednesday at home against the Hawks.  While meaningless in the standings, the Cavaliers will be going for their 50^th win of the season in that game, a milestone that this team hasn’t achieved in 13 years, and a milestone that the players and coaches on this team want badly as they look to create positive momentum going into the playoffs.

It was a huge third quarter by the Cavs that busted this one wide open.  The Cavs outscored Boston 34-14 in that frame to seal the win, and complete the season sweep of the Celtics, who the team has developed a nice little rivalry with during the LeBron era … thanks mostly to the battles that LeBron and Pierce have waged in this series.

Eric Snow had a nice night for the good guys, scoring 12 points, dishing out 9 assists, and committing just 1 turnover.  And the Cavs got 12 from Damon Jones and 14 from Anderson Varejao, both of whom logged 29 minutes off the pine, helping to rest the Cavalier starters.

T-minus six days ‘till the playoffs.