Cleveland Cavaliers win after 26 attempts: Memorable games of the 2010-11 regular NBA season – Pt-2
Antawn Jamison said after the game.
"It's a great feeling and great for the morale of this team, this city and these fans, it’s finally good to get it. We've been working so hard for this. We finally got it."
He wasn’t the lone man fighting this time though.
J.J. Hickson pitched up in the battle against Blake Griffin also turned on the heat big time. The 6ft-9in forward, scored 27 points on a 12-of-19 shooting. He also connected on all his 3, three point shots as he notched up a double-double
with 14 boards. Mo Williams sparked a comeback with 17 points, while dishing out 14 assists; Daniel Gibson also netted 17, including nine in overtime, while Ramon Sessions finished with 12 points.
On the Clippers front, Rookie Blake Griffin finished with 32 points and 13 rebounds to spearhead the offense. His endeavours though weren’t enough to hold off an impassioned Cavalier outfit. Baron Davis scored 26 points with seven
assists, and Randy Foye pitched in 23 points for the Clippers who five of their last six games.
In the high paced match, the Cleveland Cavaliers needed all the help they could get to salvage a win.
They had lots of it on Friday night.
In the dying moments of the fourth quarter, Baron Davis had a chance to finish the game. He was stopped short from doing so though as the Cavaliers centre J.J. Hickson committed a goaltending violation on his short jumper. The
officials, however, refused to give the deserved leverage to the Los Angeles Clippers, ruling Hickson's block legal and the teams headed to overtime tied at 110-110.
Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said afterwards.
"I thought it was goaltending," he said. "They (the officials) didn't think it was. They can't review it because it wasn't a call that was made. I'll have to look at the film. I couldn't see from that angle. It looked like it got
on the glass, but I'm guessing."
J.J. Hickson and Antawn Jamison were in the thick of things from the very start. The duo combined for the first 17 Cavaliers’ points in the first quarter as the teams’ maintained parity.
The Clippers though were the first one to break away. It all started with a DeAndre Jordan alley oop dunk shot with 5:36 to go. Griffin was quick to follow it with another signature stamp and the Clippers were off and running with
11-4 spurt that was capped by another jam from Jordan.
The Clippers carried a seven point lead into the last two minutes of the frame, but the Cavaliers managed to slash the deficit to one as they scored on four consecutive possession. The final outcome of the first phase though was
33-29 in the favour of the visitors as Griffin pulled off a buzzer beating trey.
The Cavaliers remained in touch with the Clippers in the early part of the second quarter, closing in on a two point gap thrice before Ike Diego scored 4 straight to again increase the Clippers advantage. The Cavaliers however
rallied back with an 8-0 run that handed them back the lead for the first time since the first five minutes of the game.
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