For the second straight night, the Cavaliers came out extremely flat against a Central Division opponent.

Leading by just two at the half, the Cavs came out on fire and took a 17 point advantage midway through the third quarter.  They put themselves back in cruise control from there and took a comfortable 16 point edge into the final period.  But with LeBron James riding pine in the first part of the fourth quarter, the Cavs coughed up their lead and allowed Indiana to close the gap to just one point with 4:52 to play.

And his highness stepped up.  TheBron took over – hitting jumpshots, flushing powerhouse jams, blocking shots, assisting, making steals, rebounding, and the list goes on – and led his team to their fifth straight victory and tenth in their last eleven contests.  The King finished with a near triple-double tossing in 32 points to go along with nine assists, nine rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.

Antawn Jamison came up with a 17 point-9 rebound effort while Mo Williams contribute a solid 7 points and 7 assists.  However, he only shot the ball five times.  I’d like to see him get in a few more attempts because the Cavs are going to need him down the stretch.  JJ Hickson chipped in with 13 points but can somebody teach our starting center how to rebound the basketball.  He only managed two rebounds in more than 20 minutes of work – or as many rebounds as Leon Powe recorded in not even half the playing time with a bum knee.

Delonte West was back in action on Wednesday night and combined with Anderson Varejao to produce 22 points, snag eight rebounds and hand out four assists off the Cleveland bench.  Those two are absolutely incredible off the pine for the Cavs and have been two of the most effective members of the team since the All-Star break.

Though it wasn’t pretty and the Cavs nearly pulled a George Mason (who lost Tuesday night after being up 27 points with 15:00 remaining).  But a win is a win.  And a 54^th win is the division clincher!  They’ll have Thursday off before heading to Chicago to take on the banged-up Bulls.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day Everyone!

FOUR MORE DAYS UNTIL UNTIL BIG Z RETURNS!