By Zac Jackson
FOX Sports Ohio
November 9, 2010
Tonight, seven games into the Cavaliers' season, seems a good time to talk about strengths.
We know the Cavaliers' primary strength -- in multiple criteria and categories -- went south last summer.
We also know the Nets have few strengths.
But Tuesday night, the new Cavaliers played at full strength for the first time this season. It was not one for the ages, but it was a very big one for now.
Thanks to some clutch shots and big-time contributions from the bench, the Cavaliers beat New Jersey, 93-91. That's three straight, all won in the fourth quarter, by a team that currently occupies first place in the Central Division at 4-3.
It's a long way from a half-empty arena in Newark to some of the challenges that lie ahead. But just seven days after the Hawks basically jogged to a win in Cleveland that dropped the Cavs to 1-3, we now see some strengths from a team that's biggest strength might be playing like a real, full, total team.
Among them...
**Three straight road wins, even against teams in the NBA's bottom tier, is an accomplishment.
**They're in great physical shape, as their fourth-quarter success and coach Byron Scott's smile would attest. Scott ran the shoes right off of them in early October. It's paying dividends in early November.
**Winning twice over the weekend with Mo Williams leading the way, in retrospect, was a sign that last Tuesday and the losses before it could at least partly be attributed to learning a new coach and new system and playing shorthanded. Winning this one, with Williams playing but struggling, was a sign the Cavaliers' roster is better than most outsiders believe.
**Williams watched the fourth quarter from the bench. He watched Ramon Sessions (15 points, 5 assists) create off the dribble drive for Daniel Gibson (14 points), who's having a career best season and hit three clutch shots, two from beyond the arc, in the fourth quarter. Antawn Jamison, who'd missed the previous three games with knee swelling, had 15 points, a trio of 3-pointers and 8 rebounds in 28 minutes.
**The Cavaliers' bench outscored the Nets' bench, 52-15. "(Coming into the season) I thought our bench would be one of our strong points and guard play would be one of strong points," Scott said.
**Another strength: The head coach has a pretty good feel for what he's working with.
**And another: Making 12 of 22 3-pointers -- Jamison early, Gibson and Jawad Williams late -- will keep you in just about any game.
**Winning teams communicate. With just over 90 seconds left and the Cavs up by 4, Gibson got blocked under the basket by Brook Lopez. He gathered the ball and kicked it out to Anthony Parker at the top of key, who was hearing from the bench that the shot clock was about to expire. Parker put a very high-arching shot up, just over the outstretched arm of Travis Outlaw, and two seconds later it fell in the net. The Cavaliers led by 7.
"We gutted it out," Parker said.
"I thought rain was going to come down," Scott said.
Instead it just rained on the Nets, who are 2-5 after a 2-0 start.
**Williams was 0-for-7 shooting at half but still had 5 assists. The Cavaliers had assists on 21 of their first 26 field goals, and almost all their big baskets down the stretch came after an extra pass.
**J.J. Hickson had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Hickson and Anderson Varejao met their athletic match against a Nets frontcourt of Lopez, Troy Murphy and Derrick Favors but more than held their own. Hickson was smooth around the basket. Varejao made Lopez earn every one of his 16 points.
"We're trying to go one game at a time," Scott said. "We try to get better each week. At the end of this week we'll be better."
"I think we had to re-learn how to win," Parker said. "We're figuring it out."
