Hey, a win's a win

The Cavaliers sleepwalked a bit through last night's 104-97 win against the NBA's worst team, the 4-47 New Jersey Nets. The Cavs have the association's best record, at 42-11, and Tuesday's win was their 12th straight. The Nets have a chance to put up the worst record in NBA history, a record currently held by the '72-73 76ers, who went 9-73. You'd hope the NBA's best team would beat what could be the NBA's all-time worst team by more than seven at home. But hey, they came out with a W, and broke 100 to get everybody in attendance a free chalupa from Taco Bell. As the kids say (or at least did 10 years or so ago), it's all good. But if they hope to win their 13th straight on Thursday against the Orlando Magic, they'll have to play better than they did last night.

It's worth noting that the Cavaliers' winning streak has been achieved mostly without Mo Williams, who has missed the last nine games; or Delonte West, who has missed the last eight. Their absence has given Boobie Gibson a chance to start for a while, and he's done pretty well in that role. We've also seen more playing time for Cleveland native Jawad Williams, who hasn't disappointed. His 17 points off the bench last night were a career-high. If he can keep that kind of performance going, he'll be a key contributor to what could be Cleveland's first championship in my lifetime.

Moon those Nets

I'm not sure how the New Jersey Nets, a team that came into the game with a 2-22 record, managed to stay within 10 points of the Cavaliers last night at the Q. It was a lethargic effort by what is supposed to be one of the NBA's elite teams. The Cavs led by eight after one quarter, and then pretty much coasted the rest of the way. LeBron had an un-LeBron-like 23, though he did lead all scorers. The twin towers, Shaq and Z, each had 16, which was pretty big.

But the thing that stands out about this game was Devin Harris' mugging of Jamario Moon while Moon tried to go in for a layup on a fast break, after Shaq stole the ball from Harris on the other end of the court. Harris says he was going for the ball, and that may be true, but what he got was Moon's head. He clotheslined him down to the floor and was immediately grabbed by LeBron, with Shaq coming in from behind to join the fray. The officials called it a flagrant-2, which is an automatic ejection, then spent the better part of 10 minutes looking at the tape to make sure they were justified in tossing Harris. I can't imagine why it took so long — I mean, the guy tackled someone by the head, which isn't even legal in the NFL — but they did eventually make the right decision. By all accounts, Harris isn't considered a dirty player, but that was just plain ugly.

In any case, the Cavs have the 6-18 Philadelphia 76ers tonight. Five of the Cavs' seven losses this year have been to sub-.500 teams, so let's hope they don't sleepwalk through another one.

Nice comeback

The Cavaliers took a nice step toward home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs last night, beating the Nets for the first time all year. And it took a great second-half comeback to do it -- spurred by suffocating defense. Not bad, considering they weren't sure LeBron was going to play until the last minute.

The Cavs were down 14, 67-53, with 6:44 left in the third quarter, after former Cavalier DeSagana Diop hit a shot. Enter Boobie Gibson, who came in for Devin Brown. Boobie didn't immediately start draining shots, but he did help key the defensive effort the rest of the way. By the end of the third quarter, the Cavs were up 76-74, and they were just warming up.

The Nets took the lead back on a Bostjan Nachbar 3-pointer 30 seconds into the fourth quarter. Unbelievably, they didn't hit a field goal the entire rest of the way. The Cavs actually kept the Nets from making a single basket the last 11:30. They hit six foul shots, but nothing else. Final score: 103-84. Our boys outscored their boys 27-9 in the fourth quarter.

I have my doubts about the Cavaliers in the playoffs, but if they can keep up that defensive intensity, they can hang in there with just about anyone.

The King passes AC

The following conversation took place on Fox Sports Ohio, from just after LeBron James was fouled in the closing seconds of tonight's game against the New Jersey Nets, through the time-out that followed his foul shots. The second make pulled the Cavaliers within one, at 99-98, after they came back from 19 points down in the third quarter. It also put James at second on the Cavs' all-time scoring list, passing Fox Sports Ohio color commentator Austin Carr.

And by the way, whoever invented the digital video recorder, I'd like to buy you a beer. OK, here we go:

Fred McLeod: And that stops the clock with 16.7 to go.

Austin Carr: Cavaliers coming back in the ballgame, the L-Train turns the corner with that dropped-down shoulder, almost (as the replay is shown) WHOA, second bounce, couldn't get it in. He goes strong to the basket, goes to the line for two shots.

FM: Looking for points 40 and 41. Here comes the first. ... Got it.

AC: Good shot.

FM: So now to pass AC in Cavaliers scoring annals, and more significantly, to draw them within one. ... He's got 41.

AC: All right! The L-Train, number-two all-time Cavaliers scorer. Congratulations, LeBron!

FM: But he'd trade it in, that's for sure, if he can pick up a W, somehow, some way. As LeBron James, now 124 away from passing Brad Daugherty, taking over all time ... (as a clip montage of Austin Carr is shown) Once upon a time, 34 out of Notre Dame, a prolific scorer, especially before the knee injuries -- we all thought, of course, you were going to set scoring marks that would never be broken as a Cavalier, and LeBron has come along in less than five full years to move into the number-two spot, and soon will pass Brad Daugherty.

AC: Well, you know, I've been approached about seven times today about this particular moment, and you know, records are made to be broken, and if I'm going to be in a Fab Five, I'd rather go and be in LeBron's Fab Five, and so far I'm number three now, so that's a good situation, but I congratulate LeBron. LeBron's ceiling is going to be, I think, 30,000 or more. He's got a long way to go. The young man is a great player and a great person. That, to me, makes me feel good that I'm in that company.

FM: And he does it in 374 games.

AC: Wow.

FM: Compared to 635 for you. You know, hey, it's a different era, obviously, but you're talking about a once-in-a-generation kind of talent.

AC: Well, you talk about scoring, and the kind of talent LeBron is, and when I came to the league that I was projected to be, 10,000's not a lot of points. You know, so, you know, I'm looking at LeBron around the 30 mark, I mean, (as a graphic flashes that says "King surpasses AC for 2nd in all-time scoring" and "All-time leader: Brad Daugherty (10,389)," accompanied by a table showing LeBron's 10,266 vs. Carr's 10,265) but you see how many games, only 375, the young man is just awesome. I mean, so all I can say, is, take my hat off to LeBron and say, right on.

FM: So Brad Daugherty next, but up next right now: this possession by the Nets.

AC: Exactly.

FM: Nachbar on the inbound ...

I took the trouble of transcribing that because it's not very often you get to hear a former player comment about being passed on some all-time list at the exact same time as it's happening, and while Austin Carr is not the world's most silver-tongued speaker, he's an all-time Cavalier great, and he has been one of my main recent influences in composing run-on sentences, particularly as regards basketball, as played by the Cleveland Cavaliers, for whom LeBron James is the star.

(Just teasing, AC, if by some chance you're reading this. You have a tough job, and you do it pretty well.)

The Cavs failed to complete the comeback, losing 104-99 -- and the great thing about LeBron James is that he cares a lot more about that than he does about passing Austin Carr.

My quick armchair analysis on the game: We missed big men Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, both of whom are out with back trouble. Sasha came back in this game, but he didn't contribute much; and the Cavs were sloppy with the ball throughout. The Nets are not a good team, and we should have been able to beat them.