Cavs record against teams from New York? 3-0. Cavs record against teams not from New York? 9-49. The Cavalier traveled to Madison Square Garden for Baron Davis' debut and came away with more than they bargained for... a win.
On a night when the team shot 57% from behind the arc and chose not to play defense (NYK shot 55% overall), JJ Hickson led 7 Cavaliers in double figures with 23. Davis added 18 & 5 (assists) and Luke Harangody(?) put in 18 of his own as the Knicks were felled 119-115.
The Cavs trailed 104-92 with under 7 minutes to play, but Boom Dizzle turned on the magic. He netted half of the team's tally during a 14-2 run to tie the game at 106 and dropped an around the world dime that left all of Manahttan wondering what had happened to the ball. Baron and Anthony Parker both canned treys inside the final minute and Samardo Samuels (they haven't released him yet?) drew a charge on Carmelo Anthony with 2 seconds left to seal the Cavs 11th victory over the Knicks and first road win since November.
The wine and gold are playing with an energy that no one could imagine the league's worst team possessing in March. Some of that is the charismatic new #85 and some of it is leaving the streak behind (4-4 since), but, most of all, Byron Scott seems to have taken the team to Hell and back for the better. I could take or leave defense anyway, I'd rather see 250 points on the board every night. If they can supplement the core with 2 successful lottery picks, the future may be closer on the horizon than we could have dared to hope.
Also, the Heat lost to the Spurs. They lost their second in a row and 4th of 5. They lost by 30. And it might have been 40 if both teams hadn't cleared their benches halfway through the final quarter. As Mike Breen was fond of saying tonight it was "a good old fashioned NBA blowout."
Cheers.