a little respect?

[David A Wickerham <aw623@freenet.buffalo.edu> (by way of wickerhd@govt.co.saratoga.ny.us (Dave Wickerham))]

Heres a recap of the Cleveland game through the eyes of the Cavaliers.  Its
nice to see that we are looked upon as a much more difficult team to face
than Philadelphia and Charlotte.  The Cavs were delighted to escape with a
win and its clear that they are happy that they won't be seeing the Cs again
for a couple of months.

Pitino has already accomplished his first two goals of making the team fun
to watch and making all the other teams dread playing him.


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Cavs handle it

     Win 103-97, despite Celtics' pressure
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   By David Lee Morgan Jr.
   Beacon Journal staff writer
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   The Cavs did their best, given the circumstances.
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   They won two games (Philadelphia and Charlotte) without the services
   of starting point guard Brevin Knight, who is out with a bruised
   shoulder, but those teams were not nearly so strong defensively as the
   Boston Celtics.
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   Cavs rookie Derek Anderson had done a fine job of filling in for
   Knight, but last night's home game against the Celtics was the test to
   see if they could REALLY run the offense without Knight.
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   And they did -- kind of.
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   The Cavs defeated the Celtics 103-97 in front of 19,349 fans at Gund
   Arena, but it wasn't pretty. They never led by more than eight and
   committed a franchise-record 32 turnovers (it also tied an NBA
   season-high) that resulted in 39 points at the other end for Boston.
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   The turnovers were to be expected, especially with the Celtics
   applying full-court pressure on defense.
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   The run-and-jump type defense is the same that Pitino employed at
   Kentucky, but the Cavs (9-6) limited the turnovers down the stretch
   when the game was on the line -- and actually forced the Celtics (7-9)
   to turn the ball over late in the game.
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   Those turnovers killed Boston, which has lost three straight. The Cavs
   have won five in a row.
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   ``This was a hard earned victory for our guys,'' Fratello said. ``Both
   teams expended a lot of energy.''
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   Cavs forward Shawn Kemp disappeared from the offense in the first
   half, playing just 11 minutes because of foul trouble and scoring only
   seven points. But he came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring six
   points in three minutes.
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   He finished with a team-high-18 points, 11 of them in the final
   quarter, and came up with key defensive rebounds late in the game.
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   ``Shawn struggled early and didn't get into a rhythm, but after we sat
   him down and he got rested, he came back strong in the final quarter.
   He also did a nice job for us on the boards,'' said Coach Mike
   Fratello.
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   ``We got the ball to him in better positions during that stretch than
   we did in the first half and he made better decisions with the ball,''
   Fratello added. ``If you hold the ball too long against this team,
   they'll strangle you.''
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   Zydrunas Ilgauskas had another outstanding game, scoring 16 points.
   Cedric Henderson added 15, and Anderson scored 12 points and had nine
   assists.
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   Wesley Person, who tied a career high with 33 points against Charlotte
   on Friday, came up with two big shots last night to help the Cavs
   battle back from an 85-80 deficit late in the game.
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   He hit two straight 3-pointers to give the Cavs an 86-85 lead with
   6:35 left. He finished with 14 points.
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   ``Once we started taking care of the ball and breaking their press up
   front, we were able to get 3-on- and 2-on-1 situations at the other
   end,'' Person said. ``And when you do that against a tough-pressing
   team like Boston, you can set yourself up for open shots.''
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   Said Pitino: ``This is another dagger in our heart, with the
   three-point shot. It's the third time this year we've had momentum.
   We're working very hard and guys make 3's against us.''
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   Boston twice got to within four points (96-92, 99-95), but no closer.
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   Antoine Walker was on his game as usual. The Celtics leading scorer
   made sure he got his shots off against the Cavs. He played 22 minutes
   in the first half and took 16 shots. Boston's other four starters
   combined for just 13 shots.
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   Walked finished with a team-high 24 points, but you have to credit the
   Cavs' defense for making adjustments at halftime and taking Walker out
   of the game. He scored just eight points in the final two quarters.
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