CavsNews.com

Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon Journal brings us up-to-date.
Cavs General Manager Danny Ferry just returned from a European scouting trip, where he might have seen the Cavs’ next first-round draft pick. Ferry comes from the San Antonio Spurs’ school, which teaches the value of international talent. The Spurs have plucked gems from Europe for years. They haven’t drafted an American in any of the past three drafts. Ferry’s first draft produced an international player, Martynas Andriuskevicius, and Ferry attempted to sign fellow Lithuanian Saranus Jasikevicius during the summer.
• Veteran NBA referee Joe Crawford is known for being a good official and for getting testy when his calls are questioned. It seems Crawford and Cavs coach Mike Brown are off on the wrong foot and Eric Snow is in the middle. Crawford has gotten into it twice with Brown in the past two weeks, and twice Snow has gotten involved, too. In a game in Cleveland against the Milwaukee Bucks on Jan. 7, Crawford got tired of listening to Brown and barked at him before an out-of-bounds play. Snow, who was set to inbound the ball, slapped it out of Crawford’s hand and told him not to talk to his coach that way. Later in the game, both Snow and Brown were hit with technical fouls.
Wednesday in Denver, Brown was on Crawford again and was hit with a technical again when he drifted onto the court in the fourth quarter. Moments later, Crawford called a technical on Snow for chirping from the bench. Snow, the team captain, frequently speaks to officials about calls, but perhaps both Cavs should steer clear of Crawford in the near future.
• Despite his frequent statements that it doesn’t bother him, one school of thought is that James’ recent late-game struggles are due to fatigue. James is third in the NBA in minutes played. He averages fewer points in the fourth quarter, 6.8, than in any other quarter, and his free-throw and shooting percentages are lower than his overall averages down the stretch of close games.
• The early returns on Anderson Varejao haven’t been great. He’s shown some of the energy he displayed last year, but he’s been vulnerable on defense, especially when trying to keep his man in front of him. He appears to still have a long way to go physically and mentally.
• Damon Jones was upset he wasn’t invited to take part in the 3-point shootout in the All-Star Game last year and is hoping to be invited to take part this year in Houston next month. Jones is from Galveston and played at the University of Houston. But after shooting 43 percent from 3-point range last season, he’s down to 36 percent this season, weakening his case.
• A story in the Camden (N.J) Courier-Post this week revealed former Cav Dajuan Wagner recently had surgery to remove his colon. He battled an internal illness for years, though he hopes to be well enough to return to the NBA next season.

DOUG ALDEN AP Sports Writer: “LeBron James’ sore right knee didn’t throw off his shot much. James scored 51 Saturday night, becoming the youngest player in NBA history with 5,000 points in his career, and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Utah Jazz 108-90 to snap a six-game losing streak. The Cavaliers avoided going winless on a six-game road trip and were assured that James, who had X-rays on his knee earlier Saturday, should be fine.
“I was just fighting through it,” said James, who decided shortly before the game to test the knee by starting. “I didn’t want to be in the position where I wasn’t there for my team tonight.”
James, who turned 21 on Dec. 30, needed 45 points to pass Kobe Bryant as the youngest player to reach 5,000. Bryant was 22 when he reached 5,000. James was one point off his season high and eight from his career high. By the end, he had won over the Utah fans and left to a standing ovation with 1:35 remaining.
“He was terrific. He made his shots and he’s just a wonderful player,” Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. “I think we’re intimidated by him a great deal.”
The Jazz fell to 20-21, the first time it has had a losing record since falling to 16-17 with an 87-65 loss at Memphis on Jan. 6. Mehmet Okur scored 20 and pulled down 13 rebounds and Andrei Kirilenko had 19 points for the Jazz, which struggled against James all night. James apparently wasn’t affected by the knee, on which he expects to have an MRI exam after he returns to Cleveland, or the arrest of his mother, Gloria, on suspicion of drunken driving back in Akron, Ohio.
James, who also had eight assists, was 19 for 35 from the floor and made 9 of 11 free throws, and the Cavs won for the first time since beating Milwaukee 96-88 on Jan. 7. “He just did everything he wants,” Kirilenko said. “He drives, he shoots, he scores, he goes to the line, he rebounds the ball.”

Brian Windhorst from the ABJ writes “The Cleveland Cavaliers found a way to keep from failing again in the clutch. Avoid it all together.
The one thing that allowed them to retain some dignity during their mounting string of losses was they gave effort and had a legitimate chance to win every game. Now that’s out the window, too.
The Golden State Warriors whipped the malaised Cavs, 99-79, on Friday night to extend their losing streak to six games, the last five on this West Coast trip. The descent continues, as they’ve dropped seven of the nine games they’ve played without Larry Hughes.
With the Warriors going without the suspended Baron Davis and the Cavs coming off a series of bitter, close losses, one would assume they would’ve smelled blood.
Instead, it was mud.
The Warriors (19-19) bettered the Cavs (20-17) in every phase of the game, leading by as many as 22 points in a rout.
Gone was the defensive intensity shown in Denver; lost was the offensive spirit and creativeness. And execution wasn’t a part of the game plan.
The fourth-largest crowd in Warriors history, 20,205, showed up at the Arena in Oakland with LeBron James making his only visit to town, and they promptly saw him play his worst game of the season.
James kept releasing the ball and having it not hit anything or anybody, be it jumpers, layups or passes. He went an uncharacteristic 5-of-22 shooting and scored a season-low 14 points. He also turned the ball over six times, several of them bizarrely unforced.
With the current state of the Cavs, they simply cannot afford for James to have such an off night and stand much of a shot.
The Cavs turned the ball over like they were chasing a record, 17 times in the first three quarters and 20 overall. They also allowed the Warriors to get out and run. They raced to 18 fast-break points.
Every year, every team lays a few eggs on the road, especially in the midst of a long trip. But using that excuse while on such a losing streak rings quite hollow.
Drew Gooden, coming back after missing two games with a pulled thigh muscle, was the only Cav who seemed to play with any fire, and that was perhaps because he was playing in his hometown. He had 16 points and 10 rebounds in 22 minutes.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, but he was far from a difference-maker.
The rest of the Cavs combined to shoot 38 percent, making just 2-of-17 3-pointers.
Meanwhile, the Warriors had an enjoyable Friday night, moving and pushing the ball on offense, challenging every James drive on defense while letting the Cavs’ long-slumping shooters to bang away.
Jason Richardson scored 22 points on his birthday. Mike Dunleavy looked like the best small forward in the building, putting up 22 points.
The Warriors, who had lost five out of six games coming in, also made 8-of-14 3-pointers.”
Source: Akron Beacon Journal – Brian Windhorst

Detroit Pistons head man Flip Saunders was named the coach of the Eastern Conference All-Stars on Thursday.
Saunders and his staff earned that right after Detroit defeated the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday. The win combined with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ loss to Denver Nuggets clinched the best possible winning percentage in the conference for the Pistons through February 5.

Source LA TIMES.COM
The AP writes: “LeBron James missed a free throw with six-tenths of a second left and Alan Henderson’s tip-in bounced out at the buzzer, leaving the Nuggets to celebrate a 90-89 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night at Denver.
James finished with 24 points, but the Cavaliers lost their fifth straight, including the first four on their Western trip. Carmelo Anthony and Earl Boykins led the Nuggets with 17 points apiece.
Anthony drove past Ira Newble for a dunk that gave Denver an 89-87 lead with 21 seconds left. He then fouled Sasha Pavlovic with 11 seconds left.
Pavlovic missed both shots, but Eric Snow got the rebound. Eduardo Najera stole the ball under the basket and was fouled by Snow with 4.6 seconds left.
With a chance to seal it, Najera made his first shot but missed his second, leaving the Cavaliers down, 90-87, with a chance to send the game into overtime with a three-point basket.
Andre Miller fouled James before he could set up for a three-pointer, and James made his first shot, then purposefully misfired his second and grabbed his own rebound while getting fouled by Kenyon Martin. James made the first shot to make it 90-89, then missed his second. For complete Box Scores CLICK HERE.

According to Michael Reghi from FSN Ohio, Drew Gooden and Z will start tonight.

Mike Brown will bring Damon Jones off the bench and start Ira Newble hoping that he will be able to slow Carmelo in tonight’s game against the Nuggets.

Brian Windhorst of the Beacon Journal has a nice article summarizing the last seven games since Hughes went down.

“The Cavs have averaged 92 points, 10 below their average in the first 28 games, and all five losses have been by nine points or less.

The starting backcourt of Eric Snow and Damon Jones has averaged just 10.3 points combined, and Jones is shooting 24 percent from the field.

Backups Ira Newble, Luke Jackson and Mike Wilks have failed to bring much relief. The foot injury Newble suffered seems to have robbed him of what he had left of his shot. Since returning, he’s 1-of-20 on jump shots and just 5-of-29 overall. Jackson is shooting 35 percent for the season, 33 percent in the last seven games. Wilks is shooting 29 percent on the season, 35 percent in the last seven.
The Cavs’ bench players have been outscored 131-58 during the losing streak, including 40-9 Sunday night in Portland.

Sure James hasn’t been able to come through in a couple of late-game spots, but the above numbers indicate it often has been a one- or two-man show.

“We just need a couple of more plays made; that will turn this thing around,” he said. “Guys are going to have to prepare themselves to step up, including myself.”