Game #22 - Cleveland Cavaliers at Houston Rockets Game Night Open Thread

2009/2010 NBA Regular Season
	VS
11-9		15-6
December 9, 2009
Toyota Center
8:30 PM et
Radio - WTAM 1100 / TV - FSOhio HD
Probable starters:
Aaron Brooks	PG	Mo Williams
Trevor Ariza	SG	Anthony Parker
Shane Battier	SF	LeBron James
Luis Scola	PF	J.J. Hickson
Chuck Hayes	C	Shaquille O'Neal

Anyone else still sick about last night's 111-109 OT loss to Memphis?  Sure, teams lose games during an 82 game season and sometimes those losses are ugly.  Last night seems different.  The Cavaliers were beaten at their own game in a lot of ways, by a team that looked hungrier.  

Luckily the Wine and Gold gets right back on the court tonight, though the Cavaliers have never really played that well in Houston.  No McGrady, no Yao Ming, no Ron Artest.

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Some more Game Notes after the Jump -- >

• Cleveland has won 12 of their last 15 games. In their last five games, the team has scored at least 101 points. With eight of thenext 12 games on the road, Cleveland is now 7-4 (.636) away from The Q. This marks the second straight season the team haswon seven of their first 11 games on the road. Over the next three games, which are all against Western teams, the Cavaliers will tryto build on their 5-1 (.833) record against opponents from the Western Conference.
• Against Memphis, LeBron James tallied season-highs of 43 points and 13 rebounds to go along with six assists. It was James' 35thcareer 40-point game and he became the first player since himself last March to record at least 40 points, 12 rebounds and sixassists in a game and just the 12th player since 2000 to do so. The game was also his fifth consecutive double-double and seventhoverall double-double this season. (Elias)
• While James ranks 6th in the NBA in assists at 8.2, he has dished out 38.6% of the Cavaliers' assists (173/448) this season, whichranks 2nd to S. Nash's mark of 46.6%. James has either scored or assisted on 152 of the team's 256 first-quarter baskets (59.4%).Overall, no other player in the league has assisted or scored on a higher percentage of his team's overall field goals this seasonthan James (352 combined field goals and assists on 793 team field goals, equaling 48.8%). He has led the Cavaliers in bothpoints and assists in 14 of the team's 21 games (NBA-best) and since the 2007-08 season, has also led the league with 118 games ofleading the team in both categories. From Nov. 28 - Dec. 6, James had four consecutive games of double-digit assists, the second-longest streak of his career and second time he strung together four straight games of 10+ assists.
• LeBron James has been very good against Western Conference teams over the last three seasons. Since the 2007-08 season, James istied for the highest scoring average at 28.2 ppg in 65 games with Kobe Bryant. (STATS, Inc.)
• Against Memphis, Mo Williams scored 20 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out a game-high eight assists and added a season-high five steals. Williams has elevated his defensive play over the last week, notching three games of at least four steals in the team'slast four. He had only two games of that many steals in his previous 132 games. Offensively, he ranks 11th in the NBA in three-point shooting at .473 and 3rd in free throw shooting at 52-57 (.912). Williams has made at least two three-pointers in each of hislast seven games, which is the second-longest active streak in the league only behind Sacramento's K. Martin at 8, and his 49 three-point field goals for the season are the fourth most in the league. (STATS, Inc.)
• Shaquille O'Neal had 16 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots in 30 minutes against the Grizzlies. In the six games sincereturning from injury, Shaquille O'Neal has averaged 11.0 points on .517 shooting and 6.2 rebounds in only 23.2 minutes.
• Over his last four games, Daniel Gibson is averaging 11.0 points on 17-27 (.630) shooting and 6-10 (.600) shooting from behind thearc. Gibson's 34 three-point field goals are tied for 3rd most off the bench this season. Since the 2008-09 season, he has 142three-pointers off the bench, which is 3rd best in the Eastern Conference (E. House, D. Cook) during that span.
• Cleveland is allowing only 34.3 points in the paint on the season, which is the NBA's lowest. The Rockets ranks 4th best in theleague for offensive points in the paint at 48.2 ppg. The team also ranks 5th in opponent offensive rebounds at only 10.0 per gameand is tied for 8th in total opponent rebounds per game at 39.8.
• The Cavaliers defensive triangle combines to be one of the best in the league. The team ranks 4th in defensive points allowed at 94.4ppg, ranks 3rd in overall defensive field goal percentage at .437 and ranks 7th in defensive three-point field goal percentage at .328.