Cavs work overtime to slip by Warriors

Jan 21, 2007, 7:00 GMT

Oakland, CA - LeBron James posted 32 points and seven rebounds, as the Cleveland Cavaliers held off the new-look Golden State Warriors, 106-104, in overtime at ORACLE Arena.

Larry Hughes scored 15 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Aleksandar Pavlovic contributed 13 points and Anderson Varejao had 12 points and 12 boards off the bench.

Golden State made a blockbuster trade Wednesday, revamping their lineup by acquiring Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Josh Powell from the Indiana Pacers for Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Ike Diogu and Keith McLeod.

Jackson finished with 29 points and seven rebounds, but missed a game-winning three-point attempt at the buzzer, while Harrington posted 14 points and 12 boards. Jasikevicius scored 10 points in the Golden State debut for all three players.

Monta Ellis notched 16 points and eight assists for the Warriors, who have dropped five of six. Matt Barnes posted 12 points and seven boards off the bench.

Also playing shorthanded, however, Golden State's Baron Davis was suspended one game by the league on Saturday for swinging at Quinton Ross of the Clippers on Wednesday. The incident occurred in the fourth quarter of the Warriors' 115-109 loss to Los Angeles with 1:47 on the clock.

Cleveland got its largest lead of the night, 103-98, on a James layup with 3:40 to go in overtime.

Jasikevicius later drilled a trey with 8.2 seconds left to cut the Golden State deficit to just two. James then mistakenly bounced the inbound pass off his own knee to allow the Warriors another chance to win the game.

Barnes drove through the lane but had the ball stripped, turning it back over to Cleveland. David Wesley was immediately fouled, but missed both free throws.

Jackson then got a good look from just above the top of the key, but the shot fell just short along with Golden State's chances to pull out the win.

With the score deadlocked at 96, James missed a pair of free throws, but Varejao gathered the rebound and got fouled himself. He was successful on both for a two-point Cavs lead with 32.9 seconds left in regulation.

Ellis converted a pair of free throws with 27.9 seconds on the clock to tie the game again, and Pavlovic and James both missed on jumpers in the final seconds to send the game into overtime.

Golden State edged an early 27-25 first-quarter lead, but broke the game open in the second. With just a two-point lead, the Warriors exploded on a 20-4 burst ignited by a Jackson trey with five minutes left, and led 62-44 at halftime.

Cleveland was down, but not out. The Cavs came out of the locker room on a 16-3 run capped by an Eric Snow jumper with 7:46 to go, and cut their deficit to just five.

Golden State regtained control, however, closing the quarter on a 15-5 run capped by an Andris Biedrins layup with just under a minute left to lead 85-73 heading into the final stanza.

Cleveland rallied again down the fourth-quarter stretch. The Cavs went on a 16-2 run capped by a James slam with 2:34 left to take a three-point lead.

Game Notes

Harrington and Jackson, who were the second and third leading scorers for the Pacers this season, are the keys to the deal for the Warriors. Harrington, who can play all three frontcourt positions, averaged 15.9 points and 6.3 rebounds in 36 games for Indiana, while Jackson, a guard/forward, tallied 14.1 points in 37 games.

This was the first of two meetings between the squads this season.

Cleveland is scheduled to host the Warriors on January 30th.

Cleveland has lost four of its last six at Golden State.

The Warriors had a modest two-game winning streak in this series snapped.

© 2007 The Sports Network