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Written by Sam Amico

Sam Amico
The Cavaliers seem to have added a new wrinkle to their winning ways. Now, they're just downright annoying people. That could be evidenced in Friday's 101-87 win over Chicago, in which the talk of the evening wasn't the fact the Cavs have won 11 of 13 ... or six in a row at home. Instead, it was LeBron James' dancing and his teammates prancing, and the Cavs simply turning it on when the time called for it. Things got a little testy late in Friday's victory over the Bulls, and Sam Amico tells us about it in his recap of last night's contest.

CLEVELAND - The Cavaliers seem to have added a new wrinkle to their winning ways. Now, they're just downright annoying people.

That could be evidenced in Friday's 101-87 win over Chicago, in which the talk of the evening wasn't the fact the Cavs have won 11 of 13 ... or six in a row at home ... or seem to score 30 points as soon as someone says the words, "first quarter."

Instead, it was LeBron James' dancing and his teammates prancing, and the Cavs simply turning it on when the time called for it.

Are the Cavs invincible? Not even they would say yes. But they sure are enjoying themselves. They sure are feeling confident. They sure are making their opponents seethe with envy.

Just ask Bulls forward Joakim Noah.

After the teams' previous meeting, a Bulls win in Cleveland, Noah and his teammates laughed loudly and poked fun at James behind his back in the visitor's locker room. Or, at least, they thought it was behind his back.

It may or may not have gotten back to the King, but he seemed determined to treat the Bulls like court jesters on this night.

For two quarters, the Cavs looked like they could care less about this game -- while the Bulls treated it like the first game of the NBA Finals. Still, the Cavs kept things even until the middle of the third. Then, without any rhyme or reason, or anything really beyond simply taking better care of the ball, the Cavs went on a major roll. They did it with substance, they did it with style, they did it with behind-the-back passes and alley-oop dunks.

They became determined and defended and danced. They went on a 30-9 run, making the Bulls look dazed and confused, almost as if they were auditioning for a role as one of those famed misfits on the classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV special.

Eventually, it became more than the Bulls could stand.

So Noah gave James an earful from the bench. James was shooting free throws, walked over to Noah, and you saw what happened next. The answer is a whole lot of nothing (other than LeBron inexplicably being called for a technical, while Noah inexplicably was not.)

It was reported that someone on the Bulls said that if this were the NBA of the 1980s, James and his gang would "get their teeth knocked out" for all their hopping around and treating this like one big basketball party.

But this ain't the '80s, and the Cavs aren't the ones being whose lunch money you dare try to steal. They're the bullies in this fight. But the Cavs are the good kid of tough guys -- the ones who don't mess with you unless you start testing them.

Are the Cavs' shenanigans a little over the top? Possibly.

Are things going very well right now? Absolutely.

Should this city and its sports teams be allowed to celebrate their success once in a while? Oh, you got that right.

And let's face it, LeBron walks the walk. The man had another outstanding outing that was barely noticeable, scoring 23 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and passing for six assists. Sometimes, even as great as he is, you never really grasp how much he kills the opposition until you look at the stat sheet.

Even better, Daniel Gibson gave the team a much-needed lift, proving that when things are going well, this truly is an extremely versatile, deep bunch. Gibson scored 15 off the bench, and that alone was reason enough to cut a rug.

"The one thing I'm seeing from (Gibson) is the ability to score in a lot of different ways," said Cavs coach Mike Brown. "The book on him is to run him off his shot, and now he's getting to the rim, finishing in traffic or shooting his runner. With him doing that, he can become a tough cover coming off the bench."

Of course, perhaps the real (and best) story of this game is the fact the Cavs didn't commit a turnover in the second half after going for a whopping 11 in the first.

As James said, "We just made a conscious effort to take better care of the ball."

And when the Cavs are making a conscious effort, they can do just about anything they set their minds to these days.

That includes getting under their opponent's skin.

"It's nothing against the Bulls and it's nothing against Joakim or none of those guys," James said. "It's nothing about showboating on a team. I've seen it happen all last year."

Then, LeBron just smirked.

"I think (Noah) was more frustrated about the way he played as an individual," he said. "He didn't help his team win."


Sam Amico covers the Cavaliers and NBA for NBA.com, and is a regular contributor to SportsTime Ohio and The Cleveland Fan.

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