Cavs Roll In To New Year

Jesse D. Garrabrant /NBAE/Getty Images

Cleveland hit the road for the league-leading 20^th time to take on the New Jersey Nets in the Garden State on Sunday evening. 

The Cavaliers trailed early in the first half but held a one point lead at the break.  They clamped down on the defensive end to hold the Nets to 18 points in the third period and took an eight point advantage at the start of the fourth.

New Jersey cut the lead to as few as four in the final period but a LeBron dunk and Boobie Gibson three-pointer gave Cleveland some breathing room.  The Cavs then rolled themselves out to a comfortable 12 point lead.  After knocking the ball away from Brook Lopez, Anthony Parker hit the floor after the loose ball.  As he was falling, Parked rolled an outlet pass down the floor to a streaking LeBron James who took the hoop and the harm and lifted Cleveland to a 94-86 victory.

Fresh off a 48 birthday performance, the King led all scorers with 28 points and added 9 rebounds and 7 assists in a near triple double.  LeBron James became the fastest player to reach 14,000 points (25 years, 3 days) by nearly a year and a half.

New Jersey native Shaquille O’Neal added 12 points and 9 boards in front of his home crowd and Mo Williams connected on 7 of 14 attempts for 18 points.

Anderson Varejao stopped short of canning a desperation three-pointer but was spectacular nonetheless.  The Wild Thing, who leads the NBA in plus/minus ratio, chipped in with 15 points and 12 rebounds.  The Cavs outscored the Nets by 14 points with the Brazilian big man on the floor.  Varejao contributed to the Wine and Gold’s front court advantage as the Cavaliers outrebounded and outscored their opponents by margins of 52-38 and 52-32 respectively.

The Cavs will take their league-best seven game winning streak back to the Q to take on the Charlotte Bobcats on Sunday evening.