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 Kyrie Irving and LeBron James carried a sporadic offense but the
Cavaliers relied on their defensive might to beat the Rockets at
Toyota Center.
Cleveland (28-10) limited the Rockets to a season-low points total
while Houston (21-20) shot just 35.1 percent (26 for 74) from the
floor, including 6-for-25 shooting from behind the three-point arc.
James (19 points, seven rebounds, seven assists) and Irving (23
points) were efficient while Kevin Love chipped in 11 points and 13
rebounds, but Cleveland closed the trip 5-1 by digging in
defensively, especially against Rockets guard James Harden.
"We came in with the mindset that we had to defend, we had to cut
the head off the snake, and that's Harden, and then just try to
defend everyone else at the same time," James said. "And we did
that."
Harden scored just 11 points on two-of-10 shooting. He missed all
five of his three-point attempts and committed eight of the Rockets'
19 turnovers.
He seemed resigned to his fate, taking just three shots in 18
second-half minutes as Cleveland sent multiple bodies his direction
defensively.
Harden was not alone in his struggles. Excluding Patrick Beverley,
who shot five of eight, every member of the Rockets' starting lineup
missed more shots than they took.
"We stuck to the game plan," Irving said. "We didn't want a talented
guy like James Harden to beat us. We wanted their other guys to beat
us and we forced him to pass off to other guys and we trusted our
weakside rotation."
The Rockets, whose five-game winning streak came to a halt,
fashioned a hopeful start, opening the game with 5-of-6 shooting
while darting to a 13-4 lead.
But the Cavaliers answered with a trio of three's to whittle the
deficit to 16-13 before turning up the intensity defensively and
getting a boost from little-used veteran Anderson Varejao.
[to top of second column] |
Varejao finished a plus-15 in just seven minutes and his energy
proved infectious.
The Rockets, meanwhile, closed the period missing 15 of their final
17 shots and surrendered the lead for good when Matthew Dellavedova
beat the buzzer with a floating jump shot off a Harden turnover for
a 23-21 lead entering the second.
The Cavaliers did not relinquish that advantage.
Following a quiet six-minute stretch in the first quarter, Irving
came alive with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting in the second.
He opened with a pull-up jumper before adding seven consecutive
points to extend the Cleveland lead to 36-28 with 6:35 remaining in
the half.
"Their defense was active, it was tight, it was together," Rockets
interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of the Cavaliers.
"We got opportunities I thought; we didn't make shots. Shots that I
thought were open and good shots for us. We didn't knock them down,
and I think if we make some of those shots, it changes the way they
have to defend you."
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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reserved.]
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