Wade and James star as Miami trounce the Cavaliers 117-90 – (Part 2)
For the Cleveland Cavaliers it appears that everything is going downhill. Antawn Jamison, the lone offensive threat that the Cavs have managed to put forward on a consistent basis this season, was reduced to 7-0f-20 shooting from the field. He however, still managed to score 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead his side.
Rookie Manny Harris who started in place of the injured Daniel Gibson had 20 points. J.J Hickson had 14 points and nine rebounds, while Ramon Session also made it to the starting line to notch up 11 points, and also dished out a team-high seven assists.
In a completely lopsided encounter, there weren’t too many occasions when the Cavaliers had the game flowing in their direction. On the night Miami completely called the shots, never allowing the Cavs to sneak ahead.
Dwyane wade started proceedings with a thunderous dunk shot to set the tone early and soon the rest of his team followed. The Cavs on the other hand, followed the same script that they so often do against the Eastern Conference giants. They slipped up early in the piece, allowing Miami one 10-4 spurt early and then another one midway through the frame. The Heat finally rounded up the first 12 minutes by reeling off a 7-0 run as they headed into the second quarter with a 35-20 lead.
Wade started the second break with a three-point play as the game was quickly slipping out of the Cavaliers’ grasp. Hickson and Anthony Parker sprung back for the Cavs with an 8-2 spurt but Wade was in an unforgiving mood. The shooting guard canned 13 straight points within a span of three minutes to extend Miami’s advantage to 54-37 with five minutes to go until the break.
Miami then went cold in the middle of the game. In the last four minutes of the first half, the Cavaliers started the assault with four fast break shots. Although they got a response on those attempts, their next nine possessions went unanswered as they zeroed in on the Miami lead, and went into the break with a deficit of only nine points.
The Cavs cashed in on their momentum to start the second half, and an Antawn Jamison jumper in the fourth minute of the third quarter pulled them to within three. However, that was the closest the Cavaliers got to the Heat all night. The two former Clevelanders James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas combined at that point to spur Miami to a 19-5 run that effectively sealed the game.
The Heat led 89-72 going into the fourth quarter, and they completely blew the visitors away in the final period, as they outscored them 27-11 in the first nine minutes. Carlos Arroyo capped the spurt with a jumper to spark Miami to a 116-83 advantage; their biggest of the match.
There was no coming back for the Cavs after that as they slumped to their franchise record 22ndstraight loss.
The subdued Cavaliers Coach Byron Scott said after the game, "We just keep fighting. That's all you can do. You've got two choices, either you're going to fight or you're going to lay down. I don't think we have any guys that will just lay down. We don't on the coaching staff. So we're just going to keep fighting and keep working every day."
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