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Retire the #11
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Cleveland Cavaliers (21-17) @ Indiana Pacers (21-19)
Tuedsay, January 24, 2006
7.00pm ET
TV: WTTV, FxOh
Quicken Loans Arena

Head Coaches
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Mike Brown / Rick Carlisle

Probable Starters
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Eric Snow / Jamaal Tinsley

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Sasha Pavlovic / Anthony Johnson

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LeBron James / Stephen Jackson

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Drew Gooden / Jermaine O'Neal

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Zydrunas Ilgauskas / David Harrison

Cleveland Cavaliers Bench
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Damon Jones / Luke Jackson / Ira Newble / Donyell Marshall / Alan Henderson

Indiana Pacers Bench
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Sarunas Jasikevicius / Fred Jones / Danny Granger / Austin Croshere / Jeff Foster​

Yahoo Game Preview

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are glad to be home.

James and the Cavaliers look to put aside disappointment from a six-game road trip when they take on the slumping Indiana Pacers.

Cleveland went 1-5 on the road trip, salvaging the finale and ending a six-game slide with a 108-90 win Saturday over the Utah Jazz.

James scored 51 points on 19-of-35 shooting after indicating that a sore right knee nearly kept him out of the game.

"I was just fighting through it," James said. "I was trying to fight through a cold, but I didn't want to make any excuses. I didn't want to be in the position where I wasn't there for my team tonight."

James' big effort came after a string of rough performances by the 21-year-old superstar, who shot less than 35 percent on the first five games of the trip.

He missed a potential game-winner late in a 99-98 loss Jan. 12 to the Los Angeles Lakers and missed a potential tying free throw in the final seconds of a 90-89 loss Wednesday to the Denver Nuggets.

James also went 5-of-22 from the field and matched a season low with 14 points in a 99-79 loss Friday to the Golden State Warriors, drawing plenty of blame for Cleveland's woes.

"The criticism he's taking is unfair," Cavaliers forward Donyell Marshall said. "We all need to take the blame."

The Cavaliers are 3-7 without starting guard Larry Hughes, who had surgery on a broken right middle finger Jan. 6.

Indiana dropped its third straight, 104-94 Monday to the Atlanta Hawks. Jermaine O'Neal had 24 points and eight rebounds for the Pacers, who led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter.

"I don't know what to think," O'Neal said. "There are the same questions every day. As a player, I don't know what to say. I don't know what's wrong with this team.

"It's the first time I don't know where my team is. Obviously, we don't have enough pride."

O'Neal's critical comments came after Indiana committed 17 turnovers and failed to reach the 100-point mark for the seventh straight game.

"We've got another tough one (tonight), so we can't hang our head," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "We have Cleveland waiting for us."

Indiana has defended James well this season, limiting him to an average of 16.5 points on 28 percent shooting in two games. James had never been held to less than 20 points against the Pacers until each of this season's two meetings.

Team Comparison

Indiana 21-19 4th Central / 6th East 93.8 91.5 Road 9-13 Lost 3 4-6
Cleveland 21-17 2nd Central / 4th East 99.0 95.9 Home 14-5 Won 1 3-7

Indiana Notes
Jan 24 All-Star C Jermaine O'Neal was so upset about the loss at Atlanta he was quoted saying. "For the first time in my career, I don't know where my team is, "I don't know what's wrong with this team. You think about it all day. Do we want to find a way? Do we want to win games? Do we want to be considered a team that could make the playoffs? "I don't care what anybody feels about being traded. In a while, (management is) not going to have a choice. It's a situation where we are not getting the job done."


Cleveland Notes
Jan 22 The Cavaliers snapped a six-game losing streak with Saturday's win. ... F LeBron James notched his third career 50-point game. It also was the first time Cleveland won when he scored 50. ... The Cavs were 10-of-22 from the arc. James and F Donyell Marshall both were 4-of-8. ... G Damon Jones, who had been in coach Mike Brown's doghouse of late, played 30 minutes off the bench and scored eight points, making 2-of-3 3-pointers. ... Third-year G Sasha Pavlovic scored nine points in a starting role against his former team. Pavlovic began his career with the Jazz in 2003.
 
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Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

Notable: This is third game in the teams' four-game season series. Each team has won once. . . . The Cavs' (21-17) LeBron James has had a tough time against the Pacers, averaging 16.5 points and shooting 28 percent (10-of-36) from the field in two games. . . . Indiana (21-19) has been without All-Star Ron Artest, suspended in December after asking to be traded. . . . Another Pacers All-Star, Jermaine O'Neal, is back after missing three games with a sprained left ankle.

Late news : Artest traded for Stojakovic.
 
Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

Notebook: At 14-5, the Cavs have the fourth-best home record in the NBA and are 9-1 vs. teams over .500 at home.... With a win, the Cavs would have two wins against the Pacers for the second time in eight seasons.... In the past five games against the Pacers, Zydrunas Ilgauskas is averaging 18 points, 10.8 rebounds and three blocks.... The Cavs and Pacers close the season series Friday in Indianapolis.
 
Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

The Optimist
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Bonjour, rejuvenated young Cavaliers and Cavalettes! It’s just me: O-to-the-P-to-the-T-to-the-ahh, hell with it. I’m the Optimist, checking in on an unseasonably warm day in beautiful Cleveland, Ohio, America – home of the chocolate river.
And why shouldn’t it be warm? And why shouldn’t the river be chocolaty? Our beloved Cavaliers have returned from a grueling two-week foray through the darkest recesses of the West Coast and they’re no worse for the wear. Sure, they dropped a couple of tough losses. Sure, they laid an egg in Oakland.

But they bounced back behind TheBron’s massive 51-point effort on Saturday and dismantled the AK-47 and his Jazz band before heading home.

So let’s all relax, take a deep breath and get our gird on for tonight’s eminent smoting of Indy at The Q.

Let’s enjoy the Cavaliers while we have them – because after tonight’s win, the Wine and Gold get right back on the road for a Wednesday night affair in Atlanta and the same Pacemakers, seeking revenge on Friday night in Indiana.

The Cavaliers will have just about enough time to grab some clean boxers, eat a meal, kiss loved ones, drop Indy and do it all over again. And that’s just about enough time for PR drone, John “The Nuse” Manuszak, to hose out the Team Bus from two weeks and nearly 10,000 miles of Western Conference funk before re-stocking the team cooler and cleaning the heads on the cassette deck.

I have no choice – with apologies to Uncle Dave – but to blame this sheer buffoonery on the schedulemakers at NBA headquarters in New York. I know they’re laboring under sweatshop-like conditions, but this is shoddy workmanship, fellows.

That’s not to assail the Association’s entire infrastructure. The NBA does a lot of good things – the recently-ratified Collective Bargaining Agreement being one of them.

That Agreement recently allowed the Cavaliers to assign seldom-used – in fact never-used – center, Martynas Andriuskevicious, to the NBDL’s Arkansas RimRockers.

And, in my opinion, if you call yourself a Cavalier fan, you’ll call yourself a RimRocker fan, too. Because little Marty could one day be Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ heir to the Cavaliers post. And his development down in Razorback country is crucial.

The RimRockers just dropped a 107-106 overtime heartbreaker to the hated Fort Worth Flyers and, at 11-11, have a huge weekend series with the 13-10 Austin Toros coming up. Arkansas has sweet uniforms, their president is Otis Birdsong and their dance team is extra-fine. So I ask: What’s not to love?

You’ll be back in the Show one day soon, Marty. Until then, the Optimist can honestly say, as a free man, I take pride in the words: "Ich bin ein RimRocker!"

You’ll forgive me if I’ve got bigger fish to fry than the despised Austin Toros right now, however. And that’s the Cavaliers’ Central Division rivals – Jermaine O’Neal and the Indiana Pacemakers.

TheBron is coming off his second-biggest night of the season. On Saturday night, the young King netted 51 points and eight assists and willed the Cavaliers past Jerry Sloan’s squad in Salt Lake City. Late in the game, TheBron passed Kobe Bryant as the youngest player to reach 5,000 points in a career. Upon hearing the news, the uber-competitive Bryant responded by dropping 5,001 points on the Toronto Raptors the very next night at the STAPLES Center.

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RimRockers coach, Joe Harge and team president, Otis Birdsong have assured Cavaliers GM, Dan Ferry, that little Martynas Andriuskevicius will be allowed to sleep with his basketball in Arkansas.

TheBron’s effort was noble, yes. But our hero can’t be expected to go for half-a-hundred every night. It’s up to the supporting cast to assist the Chosen One, and that’s what I see tonight at The Q.

In fact, TheBron has – by his standards – a rather pedestrian outing on Tuesday night in Cleveland: 29 points, nine assists and seven boards. He does snag three steals that each lead to Cavalier fastbreaks.

But the big stars tonight are a trio of unlikely heroes. One is a crowd favorite. One is a prodigal son. And one is a young star in the making.

The Wild Thing was just getting warmed up out West. But tonight, he’s going to let his hair down for the homefolks. I see Anderson Varejao going off for 14 points, nine boards and a pair of steals. I also see him diving into the stands for loose balls not once, not twice, but thrice!

The crowd will go berserk for the Wild Thing like they always do. But tonight, they will learn to love again. And on Tuesday, the often-tempestuous love affair between Damon Jones and Cleveland will be rekindled as the DJ explodes with five three-pointers off Mike Brown’s bench. He finishes with 18 points and five assists.

Finally, Splasha Pavlovic shows why he deserves the starting spot and delivers in a major way, penetrating to the rim and draining treys en route to a career-high 22-point effort. Splasha may clank a few. He may miss everything. But he’s young and aggressive. He can shoot and he can score. And those of you who have read this column will find yourselves saying “Splasha!” – maybe even under your breath – as he scores on Rick Carlisle’s unsuspecting squad.

All of this adds up to a 114-110 thriller at The Q, and I know you know who’s coming out on the business end of that prediction. Eric Snow's clutch free throw shooting helps the Cavaliers stave off a late Indiana rally.

The Cavaliers take their second straight after the six-game losing skein. And this time they leave The Q with a win and Big Mo on the road.

I want all you lowlife gamblers and fantasy nerds to know that these numbers are completely free of charge. But I don’t do it for you. I do it for the common Cavalier fan. And all I ask in return is that through thick and thin, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, you will remember to …

Keep the faith, Arkansas

Your pal,
The Optimist
 
Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

I see this game as a blowout, I'm just not sure who is going to be getting the ass kicking. The Pacers might come out with an us against the world attitude and destroy the Cavs after Artest shafted them yet again. Or they might just give up totally and roll over like a scalded dog.
 
Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

Zydrunas flat out owns the Pacers, if the Cavs don't go to him early and often I'll be pissed.
 
Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

Ugly basketball allround, but hey we have the lead.
 
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Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

Game opening up a little. LeBron still poor at the line, but he is being aggressive.
 
Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

Austin Croshere : Cavalier Killer
 
Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

Good finish to the quarter by LeBron. His shot isn't falling, but he causing problems all the same. Keep feeding Z, they have little answer for him.
 
Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

Cavs getting outhustled on the boards. Outside of this we look the better team.
 
Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

Nice work there by Damon. LeBron just picking them apart. Up 6 early in the 2nd.
 
Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

Damon is really finding his role of late. Not just gunning for the sake of it. Shooting within the offense. He hasn't been scoring a great deal, but that hasn't hurt us overly. I dont like the guy, but I'll give props where due.
 
Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

Z loving having shooters around him lately!
 
Re: Indiana @ Cleveland

Stephen Jackson is such a talented player. Just lacks a brain at times. Always plays tough on us.
 

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Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

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