The Cavs End the Jazz’s Winning Streak

LeBron James was one assist away from a triple-double with 40 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

James, had 16 points in the third and 18 in the fourth. He tied Walt Wesley’s 1971 team record for most points in a half.

Ilgauskas had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavs.

Boozer received some booes every time he touched the ball, it wasn’t as loud as last year though. He led Utah with 26 points and 11 rebounds.

“It wasn’t anywhere close to the reaction I got last year,” Boozer said. “They have great fans and they were trying to distract me a little bit. It’s all part of sports, it’s all fun and games.”

Full Recap | Box Score

All Star Ballot

James is on the official All-Star ballot. James is joined by Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Larry Hughes for the Cavaliers. The All-Star Game will be at New Orleans Arena on Sunday, Feb. 17.   If Z keeps playing the way he is there could be an opportunity for him this year as well.

James led all players in votes received (2,516,049) during balloting for last year’s game.

Fans can vote for starters at each NBA arena, in 20 languages on NBA.com; at more than 1,500 T-Mobile-owned retail locations with custom T-Mobile All-Star ballots and ballot boxes; and through mobile phones at t-zones on T-Mobile phones or wap.nba.com for any wireless carrier.

Cavs come up Short in OT

Dwight Howard matched a career high with 35 points and Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu tied up LeBron James for a jump ball in the final second of overtime to help the Magic remain unbeaten on the road with a 117-116 win over the Cavaliers on Wednesday night.

James finished the night with a triple double, 39 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists including nailing 3 free throws with 2.7 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

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Isiah and Marbury

We obviously have all the ingredients for a complete freaking disaster in New York: Stephon Marbury is angry and perhaps AWOL, Isiah Thomas is covering his rump … and according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, Starbury has threatened to reveal some dark secrets about Zeke when told he’d be benched.
“Isiah has to start me,” Marbury fumed, according to the source. “I’ve got so much (stuff) on Isiah and he knows it. He thinks he can (get) me. But I’ll (get) him first. You have no idea what I know.”
And I’m not sure I want to know. Aww, who am I kidding? I guarantee at least a dozen reporters are staking out Steph as we speak type. (Seriously.) And with Starbury’s loose-lipped tendencies, this might actually happen. But the fact Zeke might have stuff on Steph? That actually frightens me. I mean, the stuff we know about Marbury is rather wild. There’s worse stuff Isiah knows about?!

The fact all these threats and everything happened on the team plane 10,000 feet above the breadbasket of America… man, this team needs a reality show. Ian O’Connor, a columnist for the Bergen Record, throws out an anonymously sourced claim that the mile-high argument came to blows! If you’re a Knicks fan, you have to believe this is going to get worse before it gets better.

Source:  AOL

Quicken Loans HQ to stay in Michigan

Dan Gilbert announced today that Quicken Loans, the nation’s largest online retail mortgage lender, will move its headquarters and 4,000 employees to downtown Detroit.

Quicken is currently headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Livonia, with operations scattered throughout that suburban area.

There had been faint hope among some Cleveland political leaders in March, 2006 that the move of 350 Quicken jobs to Cleveland could mean Gilbert was intereted in moving his entire operation here.

About the move to Detroit, Gilbert said, “We believe this is the right thing and best thing to do for our team members, our company, the city of Detroit, the region and the state of Michigan.

He made the announcment with Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick, who said the move is further proof of the “revolutionary transformation” taking place in downtown Detroit.

Quicken moved part of its operations to Cleveland’s M.K. Ferguson Plaza in early 2006, setting off some speculation that Gilbert might consider Cleveland for his planned move out of Livonia at the end of 2009.

Source:  WKYC

One writers view of the Nuggets Vs. Cavaliers

Cub Buenning from slam online doesn’t think too highly of the Cavaliers.  He goes on to say  “Monday nights game marked the 8th head-to-head match-up between the forever linked LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony (remember Melo missed one of last year’s games due to his inability to get along with Nate Robinson, Marty Collins, and the Knicks) Despite a statistical advantage belonging to LeBron, Melo’s team has now won 7 of the 9 games since the two came into the league. This difference can be widely attributed to the “hands’ dealt to both of the players.  Their NBA Finals appearance aside, this Cavs’ roster is just far inferior from top to bottom. Try and argue that Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, and Daniel Gibson are a stronger supporting cast than Allen Iverson (who is still the toughest defensive assignment in the league, eh Boobie?), Nene/Kenyon, and Marcus Camby?  I have to side with those “experts” that had Jake in knots the other day, when I say that the Cavs might not make the playoffs. Is the East that bad? Z moves like my 62-year-old father (who still has mad game, by the way.)
To his credit, LeBron battled hard tonight in front of a sellout crowd on his way to 27 points, but the game’s inability to be competitive rendered him to extra minutes on the bench.  To be honest, Ira Newble was Cleveland’s second best player Monday night in Denver. The Miami of Ohio product, who cut checks in the past from the IBL, CBA, and the pro league in Cyprus before sticking with Cleveland, finished with a solid 17 to go along with 8 boards. Little used Shannon Brown was the only other Cav in double figures, as he was able to get to 12 with extended garbage time minutes.”

Source:  Slam Online

Larry Hughes Ejection

Larry Hughes ejection last night with 5 minutes into the first quarter surprised most of us. He was asked about it after the game. It appeared Carmelo Anthony was hitting him on the arm whenever he took a jump shot and the referees were not responding

Here’s what he said:

“I said what I had to say and it’s over with. I got hit four straight times and I asked him to call a foul. Melo kept smacking my arm. He was trying to get away with it, on the first shot he fell and then smacked me on the leg and that started it off. It’s a good tactic if you can get away with it. You have to be allowed to say something about it. Any time you get ejected it’s over the top. You say what you have to say. I am not going to drag it on, I want to move on.”

Source: Brian Windhorst Blog