Two games down, two impressive wins in the books.After winning their opener at home against the Wizards on Wednesday night, the Cavs flew out to San Antonio and ruined the Spurs home opener on Friday night in a 88-81 win. The Cavs led the game from wire to wire, and were led by some guy named James, who had 35 points on 14-26 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds and 4 assists. LeBron was dominant early and clutch late in an all around thorough performance. James scored 12 of the Cavs first 18 points, and had his way with perennial first team All-Defensive team member Bruce Bowen all night.
After running their lead up to 13 points early in the fourth quarter, the Cavs had to fend off a late Spurs rally led by Tim Duncan - who at one point scored 14 straight Spur points to chop the Cleveland lead down to four points. Not helping matters for the Cavs was shoddy free throw shooting. After making just 15-30 from the charity stripe in the opener, the Cavs were just 18-30 from the line on this night. Luckily for the Cavs, the Spurs shot their free throws even worse, making just 18 of their 34 attempts.
Duncan was quiet all night for San Antonio before his fourth quarter explosion made the game tight late. But once again, led by LeBron, the Cavs outexecuted their foe down the stretch. With the Cleveland lead at 83-79, James made a sensational baseline layup, then immediately drew an offensive foul from Robert Horry. On the Spurs next possesion, James grabbed an outlet pass for a breakaway situation that forced Manu Ginobili to foul him. James made the second free throw to make the game 86-79. After a Spurs bucket, Donyell Marshall drew a foul with the Cavs up five and with 45 seconds left. Marshall missed both, and a Ginobili three ball that would have made it a two point game rattled in and out. The Cavs grabbed the rebound, and a breakaway dunk by Larry Hughes sealed the win for the good guys.
The Cavs have been one of the best rebounding teams in the NBA the last two seasons, and ruled the boards in this contest as well. The Cavs finished with a 49-40 edge on the glass, and held the Spurs to just five offensive rebounds all night. Defensively, the Cavs neutralized Duncan for the first three quarters, and allowed no production from anyone besides the vaunted Spur trio of Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker. The rest of the Spurs team had just 21 of their 81 points on 8-28 shooting.
Now at 2-0 on the young season, the Cavs will remain on the road for a game tomorrow night in Charlotte against the Bobcats. The game will be the second of a back to back for both teams as the Bobcats lost 96-83 at Memphis Friday night. Charlotte is 0-2 on the year, also losing their home opener to the Pacers on Wednesday.
Nov 03, 2006 7:00 PM