| 2009/2010 NBA Regular Season | ||
|---|---|---|
 | VS |  |
| 18-12 | 23-8 | |
| December 27, 2009 | ||
| Quicken Loans Arena | ||
| 6:00 PM et | ||
| Radio - WTAM 1100 / FOXSports 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 |
Can the Cavaliers keep it going? After 3 straight impressive wins on the road, the Cavaliers head home for a meeting with the surprising Houston Rockets. The Cavaliers lost to the Rockets earlier this season, their annual crapper at the Toyota Center. Houston is coming off a 98-93 win in New Jersey yesterday, while the Cavaliers are still enjoying the Christmas Day feast over the Lakers.
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GAME NOTES -->
- Cleveland has won eight of their last nine games and in that span averaged 102.3 ppg while holding opponents to 93.8 (+8.5), while shooting .503 from the field compared to .427 for opponents. After defeating the Lakers 102-87, the Cavaliers are 13-3 (.813) against teams that had at least a .500-record the day of the game and 10-3 (.769) against the Western Conference, including winning five of their last six games. No team has been better or has less than 10 losses against the opposite conference since the beginning of last season than the Cavaliers, who have gone 36-7 (.837). The next best team is the Lakers at 31-10 (.756). (Elias)
- The Cavaliers have now won six of their last eight meetings with the Lakers, including three of the last four at Staples Center. The Cavaliers dropped the Lakers to just 3-7 on Christmas this decade, while Cleveland is now 6-4 (.600) in franchise history and winners of three straight games on Christmas Day. In 12 career head-to-head meetings with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, LeBron James and the Cavaliers have won seven of those games. (STATS, Inc.)
- The Cavaliers win over the Lakers featured two of the elite defensive teams in the NBA. In the game, Cleveland shot .543 percentfrom the floor, while the Lakers hit on only .365 percent of their shots. This was the widest disadvantage in field-goal percentagefor the Lakers ever in a home game at Staples Center and overall widest since a 113-84 loss to Denver on Nov. 12, 1993, whenthey were still playing home games at the Great Western Forum. (Elias)
- With the win over the Lakers, the Cavaliers are now joined by the Celtics as the only teams that rank in the Top 5 in the threemajor defensive categories. The Cavaliers are 4th in points allowed at 94.2 ppg, rank 2nd in defensive field goal percentage at .433and rank 5th in defensive three-point field goal percentage at .321. The team hasn't allowed an opponent to shoot at or above .500 percent from the field in 21 games, the NBA's longest active streak and has held six of the last eight opponents under .300 from behind the arc. Cleveland also allows an NBA-low of only 35.0 points in the paint. (STATS, Inc.)
- As the Cavaliers return home, they have won nine consecutive games at The Q and are 11-2 (.846), which is tied for 3rd best in theNBA. This streak is the longest home winning streak in the NBA as the Cavaliers defeated both Phoenix (19 games) and L.A.(10 games) on their Western road trip. In those nine games, the team has averaged 102.8 ppg on .522 shooting while opponentshave only scored 93.8 ppg on .434 shooting. Since the 2005-06 season, the Cavaliers are 138-39 (.780) at home and only the Dallas Mavericks at 147-33 (.817) have a better home record in that span.
- Against Sacramento, Mo Williams scored 27 points on 10-19 (.526) from the field and made three three-pointers. Against the Lakers,Williams scored a team-high 28 points on 8-13 (.615) shooting from the field and 3-3 from behind the arc to go along with six rebounds and seven assists. Williams has made three three-pointers in three consecutive games and is shooting 9-15 (.600) in his last three games. He ranks 7th in three-point accuracy at .449 and 3rd in three-point field goals made with 71. Cleveland is the second best three-point shooting team at .422 (Phoenix - .425) and ranks 5th in the NBA in field goal percentage at .482. The Cavaliers have shot above .500 from the field in each of their last four games and are 21-2 (.913) when they shoot at least .450 from the field,14-0 when shooting at least .420 from the behind the arc and 19-1 (.950) when hitting the century mark.
- Against the Lakers, LeBron James tallied 26 points and a team-high nine assists. James has been the league's best scorer against Western Conference teams over the last three seasons. Since the 2007-08 season, James is tied with Kobe Bryant for the highest scoring average at 28.5 ppg (2,054 points in 72 games). Over his last 11 games, James is averaging 31.5 points on .480 shooting,7.6 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks and during the Cavs nine-game winning streak at The Q, James has averaged 25.1 points on .512 shooting, 6.7 rebounds and 9.4 assists. (STATS, Inc./Elias)
- The Cavaliers also lead the league in first quarter scoring at 28.8 ppg and shoot an NBA-high .561 from the field in firstquarters. The team has won a league-high 23 out of 31 overall first quarters by a league-best average margin of +3.9. The Cavaliers have topped the 30-point first quarter plateau in 15 games this season and scored at least 60 points in six first halves this season,which has led to Cleveland being 19-2 (.905) when tied or leading at halftime. (STATS, Inc.)