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For the second consecutive night, the Cavaliers recorded 20+ turnovers.  And for the second consecutive night, the Cavaliers lost to a very beatable team. 

Cleveland, who has now dropped four of their last five in Houston, went down 8 – 0 to start the game and were down by fourteen after just one quarter of play.  Frustrations mounted in the second quarter when Mike Brown got the boot for arguing a call and Delonte West was T’d up shortly thereafter.  The team cut their defecit to single digits on several occasions during the second half but could not shake their turnover woes and was stomped in the Lone Star state by a final of 95-85.

After a string of games in which every member of the Cavs contributed on offense, LeBron James got very little help on Wednesday night.  Harassed by Shane Battier for most of the evening, the King was 8 of 21 from the floor in a 27 point, 7 rebound, and 6 assist performance.  Both JJ Hickson and Shaquille O’Neal snagged 10 rebounds in the game but neither player was effective on the offensive end against a much smaller Rocket squad.  Anderson Varejao contributed a solid 10 points and 6 rebounds while Zydrunas Ilgauskas added an even 8 and 8.  Delonte West came off the bench to provide a 14 point effort for the the struggling Cavaliers.

After having his high school number retired earlier in the day and several impressive performances as of late, Daniel Gibson left the game in the second quarter with a right hand bruise and notched more fouls (3) than minutes played (1:50).

The Wine and Gold will have Thursday off before returning home to take on the Portland Trailblazers on ESPN on Friday night.  Tip off will be at 8 pm and, therefore, the Wine and Gold Podcast will begin at 7 pm.

Tune in to the Wine and Gold podcast an hour before tip-off!