Cleveland Cavaliers
Zydrunas Ilgauskas celebrated his second trip to the All-Star squad in style on Tuesday night, tearing up the interior defense of the Raptors in a lopsided 104-91 win that was not as close as the final score might indicate.
Earlier in the afternoon, Ilgauskas was given the nod as an Eastern Conference reserve and will head for the mountains with his teammate, LeBron James, who was voted into the mid-season classic in Denver by the fans. Z certainly had earned it; the big Lithuanian has been averaging nearly 21 points and just under 11 boards over the past seven games.
“It feels great," said Z after the victory. "It's a great honor not only for me, but for my team. This acknowledges everyone, two guys going from Cleveland, so I’m going to go in there to enjoy myself."
On Tuesday night, Z led all scorers with 23 points in only 35 minutes of play. Ilgauskas notched 15 in the first half on 6-of-8 shooting. Overall, the seven-year veteran went 8-for-14 from the floor to go with seven boards and three blocked shots. James showed why he is starting on the East squad, narrowly missing his third career triple-double with 15 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. LeBron didn’t look to score as much on Tuesday night, opting instead to get his teammates involved.
"We knew that we were able to get inside and we just went to work," said James. "We're the league leader in points in the paint, so that's just our game.”
The Cavaliers jumped out to a 32-23 lead after one quarter and had pushed their bulge to 24 points early in the fourth. Toronto was without the services of point guard Rafer Alston in the second half. The former And-1 Tour star never came out of the locker room after intermission for undisclosed reasons.
"Rafer is struggling with some basketball things and I wasn’t planning on playing him in the second half," said Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell. "And, that’s it. It’s just some things that he and I have to work out."
It wasn’t simply the Cavaliers starters who did the damage against Toronto. Tractor Traylor had another sensational game off Coach Silas’ bench, doubling-up with 15 points and 14 boards. The second-time Cavalier went 7-for-8 from the field and added four assists to his big night.
"I'm just having a lot of fun out there," said Tractor. "When you like the guys you're playing with, it makes it a lot easier to go out and work hard and win."
Jeff McInnis also had a strong evening for Cleveland. The hyperkinetic point man scored 17 points and dished six dimes and looked to have regained his shooting stroke. J-Mac shot 8-for-12 from the field and, if you’re sensing a trend, it’s because the Wine and Gold shot a gaudy 58 percent.
Lucious Harris netted 11 points off the Cavaliers bench and Ira Newble made his return to the lineup after missing the last five games with an Achilles’ injury. Newble notched four points in 16 minutes of play. Even Jerome Moiso got in on the act, scoring four points and turning in a massive third-quarter blocked shot that sent 17,000 fans into a frenzy.
Drew Gooden’s string of consecutive games with a double-double ended at seven. The former Jayhawk got in early foul trouble, but still managed to notch eight points and six boards.
The Raptors were led by Cavalier-killer Jalen Rose, who tallied 21 points to lead Toronto. Morris Peterson added 16 points, Donyell Marshall contributed 14 and Matt Bonner, 13.
Toronto had overcome two big deficits in a pair of wins last week and looked hungry for one more at the Gund. The Raptors cut Cleveland’s lead to 11 with just over three minutes remaining, but Cleveland was able to fight off their charge. Sam Mitchell’s club never broke the Cavaliers double-digit lead in the second half.
The Cavaliers will face a pair of Western Conference opponents this weekend after getting a couple days off. Carmelo Anthony and the underachieving Nuggets roll into town on Friday night and Cleveland meets the Kobe-less Lakers in a matinee on Sunday afternoon at the Gund.