Cavaliers’ Luke Jackson Breaks Wrist
forward Luke Jackson will be out for at least seven weeks after breaking his left wrist Saturday night during a loss to Philadelphia, another costly injury for Cleveland.
Jackson has gotten more playing time with starter Larry Hughes sidelined following finger surgery. But Jackson will be gone during a crucial stretch for the Cavs, who have lost two in a row following a seven-game winning streak.
The team sent out an injury report late Sunday saying that Jackson will need surgery. Jackson didn’t score in 11 minutes on the floor Saturday, missing three field-goal attempts in a 100-95 loss.
Jackson has struggled in his second season in the NBA after missing most of his rookie year with a back injury. The former first-round pick had surgery to fix a herniated disc last January.
He’s averaging just 2.6 points and 1.1 rebounds, but Jackson has played well in spurts and Cavs first-year coach Mike Brown said on Saturday that he would like to play the 6-foot-7 fan favorite more often.
The Cavs also said forward Ira Newble remains hospitalized with an infection in his face. Newble has been in the Cleveland Clinic since Tuesday with what the team has called a facial abscess.
Newble is being treated with antibiotics. Brown visited him on Saturday and said Newble’s face was still swollen but that his condition had improved.
With Hughes, Newble and now Jackson sidelined for an extensive period, the Cavaliers, who host Milwaukee on Monday, will have to sign a free agent or make a trade to get some depth off the bench. The league’s trading deadline is Feb. 23.
Hughes, who had surgery on his broken right middle finger on Jan. 6, was expected to miss at least eight weeks. But Hughes has been encouraged by his progress and will see a doctor on Tuesday.
Suns-Cavaliers
In 6 shining seconds, LeBron James made a block at one end, a dunk at the other and left a lasting memory of greatness.
“It was unbelievable,'’ said Phoenix guard Leandro Barbosa.
James scored 32 of his 44 points in the second half, and brought Cleveland back almost all by himself as the Cavaliers rallied for their fifth straight win, 113-106 over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.
James added 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Cavs, who trailed by 17 midway through the third quarter when their third-year superstar took control of the game.
And, in a stirring 6-second sequence of the fourth, James made one of the best plays of this NBA season - or any other.
First, he hustled back on defense and blocked a floating layup by the speedy Barbosa, whose shot would have tied it. Then, James quickly retrieved the ball, sped down the floor, eluded Boris Diaw with a head fake and delivered a vicious, right-handed dunk that gave the Cavaliers a 97-93 lead.
Two plays. Six seconds. Over 100 feet. Thousands of dropped jaws.
“I was like, ‘Holy Moley!”’ Cavs coach Mike Brown said. “That was one of the most athletic plays I’ve ever seen.'’
The Suns were stunned.
“He made a million highlights in a very short time,'’ said reigning league MVP Steve Nash, who led Phoenix with 24 points.
James scored 16 points in the third and added another 16 in the fourth when Cleveland’s defense finally slowed the Suns, holding the NBA’s highest-scoring team to 19 points on just 6-of-20 shooting.
During the Cavs’ winning streak, James is averaging 37.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.6 assists, and his 44-point, 11-rebound, 7-assist effort has only been matched by Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Hakeem Olajuwon since 1991-92.
But it was his game-changing block of Barbosa that stood out.
“That play was very key,'’ James said. “I just wanted to make a play to try and take the life out of them a little bit.'’
Even more than one-half hour following the game, Barbosa got wide-eyed as he tried to describe how James ran him down from behind.
“I never saw him,'’ said Barbosa, who started for the injured Raja Bell. “I asked coach, ‘How did he do that?’ My teammates said I was dribbling like crazy and he still caught me. All of a sudden, he’s at the other end.'’
Shawn Marion added 22 points and James Jones 20 for the Suns, who shot 66 percent from the field in the first half but only 37 percent in the second.
Sasha Pavlovic had 15 points, Donyell Marshall 14 and reserve Anderson Varejao six with seven rebounds in a season-high 19 minutes for Cleveland. The wild-haired Varejao, a Cavs fan favorite because of his hustle, missed the first two months of the season following shoulder surgery.
“We know what we are going to get out of Andy every night, that is hustle, rebounding and defense,'’ James said. “I know he feels good to be back playing with us. I know it’s good to see him.'’
Eddie House scored 16 points for Pacific Division-leading Phoenix, which dropped to 2-2 on a six-game road trip.
James single-handedly brought the Cavs back in the third quarter, scoring 14 of his 16 in the final 7:49 of the period as Cleveland trimmed a 72-55 deficit to 87-84 going into the fourth period.
Leading 60-55, the Suns ran off 12 straight points early in the third and seemed on the verge of pulling away for good before James took it upon himself to carry the Cavs. He made a three-point play and two 3-pointers while scoring 14 of Cleveland’s final 20 points in the quarter.
Barbosa made his sixth start because Bell sat out with a sore calf. Bell, averaging 14.2 points in 38 minutes, strained his calf in practice on Saturday.
The lightning-quick Barbosa drove past Cleveland defenders and picked up five assists in the first six minutes of the first quarter as the Suns shot 70 percent (14-of-20) to open a 10-point lead.
Cavaliers-Nuggets
LeBron James grabbed the rebound but not the moment.
James pulled down his own missed free throw - which he purposely misfired with .6 seconds left - and drew another foul with Cleveland trailing Denver by two points.
After swishing his first foul shot, he missed his second and Alan Henderson’s tip-in bounced out at the buzzer, leaving the Nuggets to celebrate a 90-89 victory over the Cavaliers on Wednesday night.
“It just didn’t go down,'’ a crestfallen James said. “I shot it just like I shoot any other free throw, I just missed it. We have to move on. Everything that happened here tonight, I blame myself. When we win, I get the credit, when we lose I take the blame for it, it’s just another loss.
“I’m the leader of this team and I failed to make plays down the stretch. I’m the leader and I’m supposed to make plays down the stretch, and we lost. So put it on me.'’
James finished with 24 points but the Cavs lost their fifth straight, including the first four on their Western trip.
Carmelo Anthony and Earl Boykins led the Nuggets with 17 points each and Kenyon Martin and Eduardo Najera each scored 16. Martin also grabbed a season-best 17 rebounds.
Anthony was held to his lowest output in a full game since Nov. 23, but he sure was proud of his defense.
“The whole game my focus was to stop LeBron from getting 30 points out there,'’ Anthony said. “ It was a tough task, but overall I feel like I did a pretty decent job while I was in the game on him. The most important thing is that we came away with a victory.'’
Anthony did have one very huge basket, as usual.
He zipped past Ira Newble for a dunk that gave Denver an 89-87 lead with 21 seconds left. Eduardo Najera stole the ball at the other end and had a chance to seal it when he was fouled by Eric Snow with 4.6 seconds left, but he missed his second shot, leaving Cleveland down 90-87 with a chance to send the game into overtime with a 3-pointer.
Andre Miller fouled James before he could set up for a three, and James made his first shot, then purposefully misfired his second and grabbed his own rebound while Martin got whistled for the foul.
“It was a perfect miss,'’ James said. “That sounds crazy, but I missed it perfectly, and I followed it and got fouled, and we were in a position to go to OT, but I lost the game for us. I’ve never practiced that but I know how to hit the back of the rim and make it pop out.'’
Nuggets coach George Karl questioned how James could have gotten his own miss within the rules.
“My gut says he’s not allowed to break the plane until the ball hits the rim,'’ Karl said. “He’s pretty Superman-like if he could get where he got without him breaking the plane.'’
James swished the first shot to make it 90-89, then missed his second.
Henderson reached in for the tip and for a second felt like he had seized the moment.
“I got a hand on it and I really thought it was going to go in the basket,'’ Henderson said. “I thought it was good.'’
Henderson and Zydrunas Ilgauskas each added 16 points for Cleveland. Ilgauskas played despite a sore left knee but Cavs forward Drew Gooden sat out his second straight game with a strained right thigh.
James picked up a quick foul early on and was heading to the bench with his second at the 3:33 mark of the first quarter when official Joe Crawford corrected the call to a foul on Donyell Marshall instead.
James spun around and stayed in the game, no doubt pleasing ESPN, which was broadcasting the head-to-head matchup between James and Anthony, the first and third selections in the 2003 NBA draft, respectively, who have been compared to each other since their high school days.
The coaches had differing opinions on the marquee matchup, with Karl saying he resented the notion that this was a matchup of rising stars and not teams and Cleveland’s Mike Brown saying all the hype was good for the game.
Martin concurred with his coach: “It’s not the LeBron and Carmelo show, it’s the Nuggets and Cavaliers.'’
Indeed, although James came within an assist of a triple-double, neither he nor Anthony had an All-Star performance on this night.
“No we didn’t, but I won the game, so that’s the only thing I can keep saying,'’ Anthony said. “Regardless of how I played, how he played, I won the game. I think we both gave a good effort out there. I take my hat off to both of us.'’
