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 It was exactly what they needed.
LeBron James scored 33 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter,
and the Cavaliers rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat the
Portland Trail Blazers 105-100 on Tuesday.
James added 10 rebounds and three assists while forward Kevin Love
scored 18 points and guard Matthew Dellavedova had 17 for the
Cavaliers, who ended their three-game slide.
Cavaliers coach David Blatt juggled his lineup to begin the third
quarter, pulling ineffective center Timofey Mozgov and replacing him
with guard Jared Cunningham. Love shifted to center and James moved
to power forward. The results were evident immediately.
Portland turned the ball over on five of its first eight possessions
of the quarter and ended the third with more turnovers (nine) than
it had in the entire first half (eight). Some of them were unforced,
but many seemed due to Cleveland's increased pressure.
"I don't think we (practiced) even once," with that lineup, Cavs
guard J.R. Smith said. "We've got one big in and LeBron knows every
position anyway. That helps us out."
Portland guard Damian Lillard scored 33 points and guard C.J.
McCollum had 24, but the Blazers lost for the second time in as many
nights in part because of their flurry of turnovers in the second
half.
"The turnovers were definitely a problem," Blazers coach Terry
Stotts said. "(The Cavs) got into us, no question. Some of the
turnovers were self-imposed, and some were because of their defense.
That gave them a lot of momentum and just kind of took away a little
bit of what we had going."
Richard Jefferson's 3-pointer with 4:32 left in the third gave the
Cavaliers a 65-63 lead, their first since the game's opening minute.
That aggression carried into the fourth. Dellavedova earned a
flagrant foul for flinging Mason Plumlee to the ground -- despite
giving up seven inches and about 50 pounds to Plumlee.
James soon followed with a 3-pointer to give Cleveland a 96-90 lead
with 2:53 left. James barked at the Blazers' bench on his way down
the floor, then stepped in front of Plumlee for a charge at the
other end. Plumlee fouled out as a result while James continued
hollering at anyone who would listen.
"That's what the best player on a team does," Lillard said. "It's
not about putting the team on your back. It's being responsible for
the quality of each possession. I thought LeBron did a great job of
making sure they got good possessions."
The Cavaliers had been prone to slow starts recently and James
seemed concerned Tuesday morning it could happen again, dismissing
any advantage they might have just because the Blazers were playing
the second night of a back-to-back after a last-second loss Monday
at the Milwaukee Bucks.
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"Sometimes the team coming off the back to back is in more rhythm,"
James said. "It's a 40-minute flight (from Milwaukee to Cleveland)
so it's not like they got in late."
He was right. Portland raced to an 18-6 lead in the first quarter
after McCollum and Lillard combined for 16 of the Blazers' points.
Cleveland ultimately fell behind by double figures for the fourth
straight game, including trailing by at least 18 for the second time
in as many home games. But this time they showed enough fight to
come all the way back.
James, however, left impressed by the Blazers' young backcourt of
Lillard and McCollum and compared them to the Washington Wizards'
duo of John Wall and Bradley Beal and even the Golden State
Warriors' combination of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
"The two-headed monster they have, there's only a couple backcourts
in our league like that," James said. "Off the top of my head you
have John Wall and Beal, you have Steph and Klay, you've got C.J.
and Lillard. Those guys are producing every single night and C.J.
used that playoff experience and the way he played last year and
just turned it up another notch."
NOTES: Blazers coach Terry Stotts flew to Istanbul in 2007 to meet
with current Cavs coach David Blatt while Stotts was out of a job.
Blatt was one of the top European coaches at the time and Stotts was
gauging a potential leap to coaching in Europe. ... G C.J. McCollum
has already set a new career-high for points in a season. He began
Tuesday with 425 after playing sporadically his first two years in
the league. ... F
LeBron James said he had no issue wearing the tight T-shirt jerseys
the Cavs wore for the second time Tuesday. James ripped open the
sleeves the previous time the Cavs wore them this season. ... G Mo
Williams had an MRI on his sore knee Monday, but it came back clean
and he was cleared to play. Williams has been bothered by the knee
for a couple of weeks and re-aggravated it in Saturday's loss at
Miami.
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