Cavs shock Melo and Knicks

BOX SCORE

By SAM AMICO
FOXSportsOhio.com
Feb. 25, 2011

CLEVELAND — Maybe Chris Grant was on to something. Maybe he knew it was time to break up the Cavaliers.

After all, following Friday night’s 115-109 victory over visiting New York, the Cavs have won three of five. Most teams might not get excited about that, but before this recent spurt — well, you already know all about the Cavs’ 26-game losing streak.

Today, the Cavs look like a different team. And not just because Grant, the general manager, pulled off trades for the L.A. Clippers’ Baron Davis, plus Boston’s Semih Erden and Luke Harangody. In fact, those guys weren’t even in town Friday.

Instead, it was the usual suspects who got the job done. It was guys like Antawn Jamison (28 points, 13 rebounds), J.J. Hickson (24 and 15) and Ramon Sessions (22 and eight assists) who are starting to make you believe the Cavs may actually have something here.

Throw in Davis, who offered encouragement from his Twitter account, and this team with an 11-47 record may get to play a spoiler role down the stretch. And after a season like this, wouldn’t that just be fun?

Actually, win or lose, if the Cavs show the energy and determination displayed against the Knicks, quality entertainment won’t ever be a problem.

“Our guys are really starting to understand what we have to do on the defensive end,” said Cavs coach Byron Scott. “We wanted to be aggressive and have that focus and energy every single night, and lately, we have been doing that.”

Scott speaks the truth, as the Cavs embarrassed the Knicks on the boards by a 62-42 count. They also held the Knicks to 42 percent shooting — and more impressively, won a game in which they shot just better than 42 percent themselves.

There were several other highlights, including the fact Jamison outdueled Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks’ newest star who arrived in a trade at the beginning of the week.

Or how about Anthony Parker? The Cavs shooting guard had been at the center of trade talk since early December, but remained in Cleveland following the last day to make a deal Thursday.

Instead of angrily punching drywall and acting as a distraction (which has never been Parker’s style anyway), he made five of six shots and scored 16 points — and played like there is no place he would rather be than right here in Cleveland.

“That’s AP,” Scott said. “He is a veteran guy who has been out there for a while. He took what the defense gave them and he made them pay.”

That’s something new for the Cavs these days — making the other team pay. Granted, they are still learning how to finish games, but Friday was a good example that they don’t have to fold every time the other team makes a late run.

They really can finish the job.

“I think we controlled the tempo also,” Sessions said. “We weren’t really pushing the ball as fast. We were slowing it down and using the clock as our friend. We had a five-point lead at the end and we were just trying to run the clock as much as we could.”

Alonzo Gee added a surprising (and very welcome) 11 points off the bench, including an impressive baseline drive and dunk. That’s good news, as Gee is expected to become a regular part of the rotation now that Jamario Moon (and Mo Williams) have been traded to L.A.

“Again tonight we had great energy from our players and fans,” Scott said. “We just got a lot of contributions from a lot of different guys.”

Updated February 24, 2011