Posted on Mon, Jan. 30, 2006
James blocks out Suns
Scores 32 of 44 in second half, ignites Cavs rally
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter
<!-- begin body-content -->CLEVELAND - The game plan was in shambles, the scoreboard ``diff'' meter read a chilly -17, and the national television audience was flipping the channel.
Somewhere in that misery, the Cavaliers stared down the Phoenix Suns, their ringmaster and Most Valuable Player Steve Nash and decided to hold up a mirror.
After all, the Cavs have an similar player of their own, whom they fancy as a MVP-in-waiting, so why not just loosen the reigns and run free, too.
The results carried impact and were dramatic as the Cavs mounted a fierce second-half rally to stun the Suns 113-106 in front of a sellout Sunday at Quicken Loans Arena. It earned the Cavs their fifth consecutive win and once again featured the LeBron James' talent array.
No. 23 scored 32 of his 44 points in the second half to go along with 11 rebounds and seven assists.
``I wanted to make as many plays as I could to win the ballgame,'' James said. ``I wanted to take the life out of them a little bit.''
The Suns (28-16) thrive on Nash's explosiveness and savvy. They line up their scorers in a circle around him and let him dribble and scurry until the opposition is dizzy. Then he either dishes to a wide open teammate or handles the business himself.
When it's clicking, as it was for the entire evening two weeks ago in Phoenix and for the first 32 minutes Sunday, it is impressive.
At the moment the Cavs (25-17) mercifully signaled for timeout with eight minutes left in the third quarter behind by two touchdowns and a field goal, the Suns were sizzling. They were shooting 63 percent, most of them on wide-open jumpers or fast-breaks, and Nash had 17 points and six assists on his way to yet another big-time ballgame.
The Cavs' idea was to get Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Drew Gooden involved in the post, to slow the game and to take advantage of mismatches with the Suns' shorter speedsters.
It had failed, and the Cavs were searching. So they figured if they couldn't beat 'em, join 'em.
Cavs coach Mike Brown put the ball in James' hands and told him to run the point, then spread the rest of the floor with shooters to let him dribble and drive to his heart's content. In went energy man Anderson Varejao and Donyell Marshall, too, as the entire approach changed.
No more could the Suns pack the paint, stopping Ilgauskas, Gooden and even James, who had just 12 points at that juncture. It is not the way the Cavs want to play every night, but what an antidote for this one.
Without top defender Raja Bell (thigh) to spell him and out on an island with James, the Suns' Shawn Marion suddenly had his hands full. With space to move, James started attacking the rim and using his skills to change the game. He made twisting hoop after twisting hoop, victimizing the Suns whenever they tried to double-team by finding a teammate just like Nash usually does.
Sasha Pavlovic scored 15 points, Marshall scored 14 and Damon Jones added 11 with James' help. The momentum then changed when James came from behind to block Suns guard Leandro Barbosa's shot, then quickly got the ball back and raced to the other end for a thunderous dunk.
``That was an amazing play,'' Brown said. ``That was one time I caught myself in the same seat as my friends at the game. That was one of the most athletic plays I've ever seen.''
On defense, the Cavs decided to switch defenders on pick-and-rolls even if it meant matchup issues. It eliminated the Suns' stream of wide-open looks and Nash's effectiveness. He didn't get an assist in the final 20 minutes of the game, and the Suns shot just 37 percent in the second half to allow the Cavs to surge past.
Nash had 24 points, and Marion had 22, but their proclivity to fire up shots in rapid-fire backfired just as it did last year in Cleveland when they blew a 19-point fourth-quarter lead in a loss to the Cavs.
``We knew if we could put some stops together we could score on the other end,'' Jones said. ``A lot of guys stepped up and made plays.''
