Snow hits high in win over Bulls
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
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[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]By Todd Porter REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER[/FONT]
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AP MARK DUNCAN LeBron James shoots over the Bulls’ Michael Sweetney during the second quarter Monday night at Quicken Loans Arena. James scored a game-high 32 points in the Cavs’ win.
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CLEVELAND - Still in the holiday spirit, the Cleveland Cavaliers let it Snow, let it Snow, let it Snow a day after Christmas.
That’s Eric Snow, of course. Who else?
The veteran point guard and McKinley graduate scored a season-high 12 points, his first in double figures this season, and the Cavaliers stayed hot with a 102-91 win over Chicago at Quicken Loans Arena on Monday.
Cleveland has won six straight overall, five straight at home and has four straight wins over the Bulls.
“I guess I’ll have to shoot it a little more often,” said Snow, who scored 8 of his 12 in the second quarter as Cleveland pulled out a 10-point halftime lead (55-45).
“All the time people are telling me to shoot more, to be more aggressive. My sister (Linda) was on me (Sunday) really bad. She said, ‘The queen has spoken,’ so I had to come in and shoot it. She’s supposed to be the best athlete in the family. I had to listen to her.
“She really got on me on Christmas Day. I guess that was my Christmas present.”
Snow, shooting near 50 percent from the field this season, hit on 6-of-9 shots, had six assists and two rebounds.
LeBron James, Snow and Larry Hughes combined for 17 assists and 63 points.
“That was a heck of a job with those three sharing the basketball,” Head Coach Mike Brown said.
Of course, James was the star of the show. He finished with a game-high 32 points. He had 22 of those in the second half and lit up Andres Nocioni in the fourth.
“He believes that his aggressiveness can make me do things I don’t do,” James said. “He believed he could guard me, I guess.”
“I tried to defend him,” said Nocioni, one of three Bulls to score 15 points. “It’s hard because he’s a great player. I think he’s the best offensive player in the league. It’s difficult for me, and everybody. We need help every time because he can make shots over you.”
Hughes added 19, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 10 points and 14 rebounds.
The Cavs take their winning streak to New Jersey tonight. The Nets beat Cleveland (109-100) earlier this month.
“We’re very confident,” James said. “We’re winning ballgames any kind of way. We’re holding teams to under 45 percent shooting, and we’re executing our offense. ... We got to try to keep it going.”
After tonight, Cleveland has three days off before Saturday’s game against division-leading Detroit at The Q.
Another positive sign from Monday’s win was the way Cleveland answered Chicago’s second-half start. The Bulls, with the worst record in the Central Division, cut Cleveland’s lead to a point in the third.
Kirk Hinrich drilled a 24-footer to make it 63-62. Cleveland closed the third with an 8-0 run.
“It was very key,” James said. “They made a run like we know all NBA teams are going to do. We’ve been able to sustain their run, make our own run and get back ahead.”
Late in the fourth, Drew Gooden hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 100-85. It was Gooden’s first trey this season.
“I just hope Drew finishes the season 1-of-1 on 3-pointers,” Brown said.
“I was able to do my Donyell Marshall impression,” Gooden said.
As impressive as the offensive balance was, Brown was pleased with his team’s aggressive defense. Chicago was the second straight opponent held below 45 percent shooting.
“I’ve been saying all along these past couple weeks that I’m starting to see good things on the defensive end of the floor,” Brown said. “... Even during some of the losses before this winning streak, I told you guys (media), guys were starting to do things the right way on the defensive end. The biggest thing we need to get (tonight) is effort. If we get effort, we’ll give ourselves a chance to win down the stretch.”
Effort, and Linda Snow will say, getting her brother more shots.
NOTEBOOK
A COACH’S CHRISTMAS Cavs Head Coach Mike Brown said his favorite Christmas gift came from his wife — a retro video game that included Ms. Pac Man. He openly challenged any of his players, who excel in the more current video game systems. “If they want to get busy we can go at it with the Ms. Pac Man,” Brown said. HITTING THEIR STRIDE? Cleveland had the second-best record in the Eastern Conference (17-9) coming into Monday night’s game. The Cavs are tied with Memphis for the fourth-best record in the NBA. Since going through a nine-game funk that began in late November, the Cavs have won six straight. “At the beginning of the year, when we won eight in a row, I wasn’t happy with how we were winning games,” Brown said. “I’m a little happier with how we’re winning now.” Reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail:
[email protected].
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