LeBron, Shaq help Cavs to 102-93 win over Magic

By ANTONIO GONZALEZ, Associated Press Writer Nov 11, 11:55 pm EST

Preview | Box Score | Recap
  • Print

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)—LeBron James(notes) didn’t storm off the court this time. Instead, he shook hands with teammates and anyone who offered, walking to the locker room slowly with an ever-so small grin.

He also departed Orlando with the most important thing this time: a win.

James scored 36 points, Shaquille O’Neal(notes) provided an inside presence and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Orlando Magic 102-93 on Wednesday night in a rematch of the Eastern Conference finals.

Only this one had a different look.

O’Neal battled boos and bruises to score 10 points and keep Dwight Howard(notes) in foul trouble for most of the night, giving James and Co. all the inside strength they sorely lacked last season. Mo Williams(notes) added 28 points to help the Cavs take a 15-point halftime lead, go ahead by 20 after three quarters and roll to an easy victory.

“I think we just played with a sense of urgency,” James said. “We’re in attack mode. The whole game we put pressure on their defense. Shaq put pressure on (Howard). We were able to get him into some foul trouble.”

O’Neal did not speak with reporters after the game.

Vince Carter(notes) had 29 points, and Howard had only 11 points for the Magic. Orlando was without suspended All-Star forward Rashard Lewis(notes), and his replacement, Ryan Anderson(notes), who missed the game with a sprained right ankle.

The Magic didn’t want to offer any excuses.

“We’re not playing great basketball right now,” Carter said. “For us to win and be as good as we want to be, we have to want it. We have to go get it.”

Cleveland’s Delonte West(notes) was inactive for the game for what coach Mike Brown said afterward was an “internal matter.” West was indicted Tuesday on additional weapons and traffic charges stemming from his Sept. 17 arrest for speeding on a motorcycle and carrying multiple weapons. He also has been treated in the past for bipolar disorder

But this one had all the muscle and tussle.

O’Neal and Howard were banging bodies on the inside, their 500 pounds of combined weight jostling, their powerful elbows swinging large with every move. Each team even went with two centers on the floor—Howard and Marcin Gortat(notes), O’Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes)—at the same time for stretches that crowded the paint and made rebounds a physical punishment.

It was Superman vs. Superman. Past vs. Present.

Showered with boos on every touch, O’Neal gave glimpses that he could be Cleveland’s missing piece even though the 37-year-old is no longer the unstoppable force that put the Magic franchise on the map. But he helped put Howard in foul trouble for most of the first half, helping the Cavs build a 66-51 halftime lead.

Howard took the loss particularly tough. He dressed slowly in the locker room and didn’t speak with reporters until more than an hour after the game.

“I feel better than I did an hour ago,” he said.

“It’s tough,” Howard said. “You want to go at a guy like Shaq. But I understand it’s not all about individual stats. It’s about getting my team going.”

The former Magic big man soaked up all the attention, too. He had amped-up Amway Arena at his pulse, even leaving his hand up a little longer after making free throws and scoffing at the Superman anthem played after Howard’s dunks.

“I think Shaq always plays a big game when he’s matched up against one of the big centers,” Williams said.

Orlando fans have long considered O’Neal their biggest villain.

O’Neal helped the Magic to the 1995 NBA finals, returned them to the conference finals in ’96, then bolted for Los Angeles that offseason. He won three titles with the Lakers and another with the Miami Heat. Orlando was left in ruin.

O’Neal’s new team isn’t so dependent.

The Cavaliers made the move for O’Neal after the Magic eliminated them in six games in the conference finals last season. The loss was so demoralizing that James left without shaking hands with Orlando players and skipped his post-game news conference.

While O’Neal is no longer an unstoppable force, his presence allows the Cavs to guard Howard one-on-one. That alone helps Cleveland avoid those matchup problems on the perimeter that was last season’s downfall.

After the Lakers defeated Orlando in the finals, the Magic felt they also needed help. So they acquired Carter from New Jersey and parted ways with Hedo Turkoglu(notes).

But this one was just a sneak preview.

The Cavs and Magic don’t play again until Feb. 11 in Cleveland, perhaps the first time both will be at full strength and in their groove.

“It’s just one game,” James said. “We will see them later on this season.”

NOTES: Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said he’s planning to continue to play O’Neal for about 28 to 32 minutes a game, not wanting to wear out the aging center. … Howard picked up his second foul with 9:42 remaining in the first quarter. After being fined $15,000 by the league a day earlier for comments critical of officials on his blog, Howard showed no signs of complaining about the call and walked quietly to the bench.

Updated Nov 11, 11:55 pm EST
digg del.icio.us
more

Next Opponents

Orlando at Toronto

Sun Nov 22, 2009, 12:30 pm EST

Cleveland at Detroit

Wed Nov 25, 2009, 8:00 pm EST

NBA

200 Comments

Post a Comment
  1. bobo42
    200. Posted by bobo42 Fri Nov 13 12:41am EST

    Report Abuse

    #187 Who the f gives a flying $hit? Did you win a spelling bee contest 30 years ago and to this day care about peoples spelling and grammar errors? We are on the internet and people post from all over the world. To some of these people English is their second or third language. But even if its not why does it bother you? They don't teach your kids English in school? They don't write novels you buy at a bookstore? SO WTF GIVE A CRAP? As long as you can understand what they are saying it makes no difference unless you have a need to make yourself feel better by putting others down.

    English is my third language but don't worry I won't put you down for speaking only one language and graduating high school with a lower math level I came to this country in 8th grade. Feel bad for sorry people like you that put down others to make themselves feel better. Must be your high self-esteem. lol onw taehc su smoe Egnlihs oyu prick.
  2. <i>jason.jin1</i>
    199. Posted by jason.jin1 Thu Nov 12 8:08pm EST

    Report Abuse

    At least someone on the Magic put up 20+ points. Jameer needs to step up already, looking like he's in the Finals again.
  3. <i>moneybankz101</i>
    197. Posted by moneybankz101 Thu Nov 12 7:00pm EST

    Report Abuse

    holy @#$% post 187 is funny
    he types all those stuff n no1 evn cares
  4. tony s
    196. Posted by tony s Thu Nov 12 6:43pm EST

    Report Abuse

    Talk about self centered, then article say's lebron shook hands after the game. duh, of course he did, he won. lebron is turning out to be worse than kobe when promoting the nba. the sad part is, is that stern loves it.
  5. tony s
    195. Posted by tony s Thu Nov 12 6:37pm EST

    Report Abuse

    Lebron looked like a retard standing with that stare. like he is so serious. the guy has no loyalty & yet he demands respect. he wants the cavs organization to spend well beyond the cap to make him happy but he has no loyalty back. a very self centered guy who only thinks of himself. i am just an nba fan so don't go l.a or any other team on me. it's got to suck to be a cav fan & a resident. last night only showed that orlando had a bad night, not seven in a row. or should i say best out of seven. i have never done it but i am starting to jump on the band wagon where stern will decide the outcome of the finals.
  6. tunit
    194. Posted by tunit Thu Nov 12 6:18pm EST

    Report Abuse

    SCSF- LA where repeats and 3-peats happen!.... i know that would be great if the cavs came in to the staple center under .500 and slapped the lakers in there faces on Christmas Morning... the silly part is the lakers havnt even play a good team yet and all the laker fans are talking repeat.. come on now.. play a good team like SA, Denver, Dallas ( oops they beat the lakers at home already!) or even in Portland..
  7. <i>juan.derrer</i>
    193. Posted by juan.derrer Thu Nov 12 5:21pm EST

    Report Abuse

    Go Ginebra Gin Kings!
  8. SCSF- LA where repeats and 3-peats happen!
    192. Posted by SCSF- LA where repeats and 3-peats happen! Thu Nov 12 4:59pm EST

    Report Abuse

    I wonder how long the Cavs can stay above .500
  9. Kevin H
    191. Posted by Kevin H Thu Nov 12 4:46pm EST

    Report Abuse

    Pretty sure the refs bailed out Shaq all night long. Also the Cavs did in fact still double down on Howard which will kill teams when Rashard Lewis is back. People keep trying to say that this isn't a big deal, but Lewis was the clutch player in every close game of the playoffs last year and may very well be the best player for this magic team. The magic are off to a bit of a slow start but I guarantee they'll turn it around and get the top seed in the east and there will be an NBA finals repeat. Lakers win again in 6.
  10. Tim K
    190. Posted by Tim K Thu Nov 12 4:13pm EST

    Report Abuse

    You may not win a championship in Nov but your regualr season seeds you in the playoffs.. and any ties will be dealt with in the head to head series records... so you keep losing reg season games and not caring and ill keep winning reg season games and care...
  11. tunit
    189. Posted by tunit Thu Nov 12 4:12pm EST

    Report Abuse

    ha ha ha... waht you do copy and paste that? for real through get off the blog if you dont like what you see!! no body really cares about grammer on a blog. ha ha ha and not everyone on here is cavs fans. some people just like to get on and talk @#$% about the game.. thats why its a blog!!!!
  12. !!LBJ!!
    188. Posted by !!LBJ!! Thu Nov 12 4:08pm EST

    Report Abuse

    Also if we're going to be grammar Nazis over an internet blog, you're butchering the use of its as opposed to it's.
  13. Com-Pee-Ta
    187. Posted by Com-Pee-Ta Thu Nov 12 4:06pm EST

    Report Abuse

    185. Posted by gocleve99 Thu Nov 12 3:46pm EST Report Abuse

    I don't usually post comments to these articles, I just read them. However, one thing I have noticed that is severely irritating is the horrible grammar and spelling in these posts. Cuz is not a word, its because..... its not loose, its lose, loose is another word entirely. Its you, not u, and are or our, not r. Are people becoming so dumb and lazy they cannot even be bothered to type out a whole 3 letter word, opting instead to use a single letter in its place? Its no wonder we have an out of control government if these posts are to be the benchmark of the collective intelligence of this nation!

    **********************************************************************************************************

    You should learn how to use "Contractions" before going around correcting others. Your "Its" should be "It's"... Since you don't know what a contraction is, it's the shortening of a word, syllable, or word group by omission of internal letters.

    An informal type of contraction occurs frequently in speech and writing, in which a syllable is substituted by an apostrophe and/or other mode of elision, e.g., can't for "cannot", won't for "will not". Such contractions are often either negations with not or combinations of pronouns with auxiliary verbs, e.g., I'll for "I will". Informal examples include ain't for "am not" or "is not", and wouldn't've or even wouldn've for "would not have". At least one study has sought to analyze the category of negative informal contractions as the attachment of an inflectional suffix.

    Without the contraction ( "Its..." as you wrote), is the possessive form of it (used as an attributive adjective): The book has lost its jacket. I'm sorry about its being so late.


    Your stupidity will be forgiven now that you see you're just as dumb as the rest of the people you thought you were better than! But there can be no forgiveness for you for being a Cavs fan! Typical idiotic Cleveland fans thinking they're so much smarter than everyone else! LOL!
  14. tunit
    186. Posted by tunit Thu Nov 12 4:04pm EST

    Report Abuse

    gocleve99... wtf??? last time i checked this was a blog about the magic and cavs game? not grammer school!!!! ha ha ha...
  15. !!LBJ!!
    185. Posted by !!LBJ!! Thu Nov 12 4:04pm EST

    Report Abuse

    gocleve99 post 185,

    I know! darn these kids with their new fangled interwebs!
  16. <i>fburgess13162g</i>
    184. Posted by fburgess13162g Thu Nov 12 3:58pm EST

    Report Abuse

    Shaq may not be unstoppable but he is DAMN sure immovable
  17. <i>gocleve99</i>
    183. Posted by gocleve99 Thu Nov 12 3:46pm EST

    Report Abuse

    I don't usually post comments to these articles, I just read them. However, one thing I have noticed that is severely irritating is the horrible grammar and spelling in these posts. Cuz is not a word, its because..... its not loose, its lose, loose is another word entirely. Its you, not u, and are or our, not r. Are people becoming so dumb and lazy they cannot even be bothered to type out a whole 3 letter word, opting instead to use a single letter in its place? Its no wonder we have an out of control government if these posts are to be the benchmark of the collective intelligence of this nation!
  18. Dr
    182. Posted by Dr Thu Nov 12 3:34pm EST

    Report Abuse

    A long time Magic fan and former season-ticket hold. Watching Dwight Howard waste his physical attributes has been totally frustrating for me. He has been in the league long enough to develop an understanding of the overall game and his role as a post-man. Forget this Superman garbage, just be a good post-man. Once he gets the ball in the low post he is totally predictable. Most of the time, he turns to face his defender and at least 99% of the time his next move is into the middle where the traffic is. Rarely, does he ever back his defender down or spin to the baseline and avoid double teams and power the ball in the basket. The spin move is always there and he never tries it. He is either very dumb or has not been coached at all. Shaq knows this tendency and can easily neutralize Dwight without a double team. Dwight would be unstoppable if he just added the spin move and it's hard to foul him when he moves away from the middle and the help. Please, Dwight wake up and see what's possible. I played basketball in high school and college and various city leagues in later years. I know what I'm talking about and I frequently change channels than to see him play without any appreciation of the strategies around the game.
  19. Magician44
    181. Posted by Magician44 Thu Nov 12 3:32pm EST

    Report Abuse

    Everyone's numbers in Orlando are down from last year... that includes Dwight Howard's. I don't know if missing a 3pt-shooting PF is the problem is the problem (after all the team looked ok, until Ryan Anderson went down with an injury). Thankfully Rashard Lewis' suspension ends on Monday. Still, it's not the offense that worries me, but the defense... and that means that D12 and Jameer need to step up their game on that side of the court. Have nothing to say against the Cavs, they wanted the win, and the Magic didn't even bother to show up.
  20. D-House
    180. Posted by D-House Thu Nov 12 3:14pm EST

    Report Abuse

    As a magic fan congrats to cleveland on a well played game. They out played orlando last night. but u cant read to much into this b/c whether u like it or not orlando was short handed. Shaq did contain howard but they still doubled him which will hurt when anderson and lewis are there. and that was howard worse free throw shooting night since the 2nd game of the season he had been shooting around 80% for the past 5 games o they had to double VC when he posted. they never had to double hedo b/c he had no post game. You cannot say hedo is better the VC b/c the only advantage hedo had is he could shoot over the top of ppl but he couldnt take advantage of his size on smaller players inside. u cant sit there and say that VC didnt impress u last night cuz cleveland did not have an answer for him. Orlando will b better as the year goes along and they r the deepest team in the league and u cant deny that. We'll c how the rest of the season goes.
  21. <i>cavslandrocks</i>
    179. Posted by cavslandrocks Thu Nov 12 2:50pm EST

    Report Abuse

    WHY do ORL "fans" keep making excuses (missing players, back to back, refs are cheating) for losing if the game means nothing?? and why all the caps?...got something tiny you're trying to make up for?
    ORL "fans" = crybabies
  22. ray
    178. Posted by ray Thu Nov 12 2:48pm EST

    Report Abuse

    Don't hold back so .. pump kin head

    how was hollow ween
  23. tunit
    177. Posted by tunit Thu Nov 12 2:16pm EST

    Report Abuse

    seeing alot of hating on this one.. it was only one game and it is early in the season. Tru.. but if the cavs keep gellin they can become a beast. LeBron was out of his mind last night and with Mo hittin from down town.. it was really good to see them play good together and it can only get better.

    Magic Fans!?!? what happened to Superman? Did shaq really shut him down last night? you got 5 all-stars starting form you.. step your game up please.. and you still have no answer for LeBron!!!

    Last year was a fluk you and all of you know it!!!
  24. <i>nsew2003</i>
    176. Posted by nsew2003 Thu Nov 12 1:57pm EST

    Report Abuse

    Dumb fans=Cavs fans...... Your last season to try and win something doesnt that suck!!!! Say bye bye to LaCrybaby LMFAO!!!!!!!
Sign in to post a comment, or sign up for a free account

Top Performers

 Top Performers
 Cleveland
L. James LeBron James
13-23,  36 Pts
8 Rebs, 4 Assists
 Orlando
V. Carter Vince Carter
11-23,  29 Pts
5 Rebs, 1 Assists

Team Stat Leaders

Points
Rebounds
Assists

Scoreboard

Wednesday, Nov 11

YAHOO! SPORTS

ALSO ON YAHOO!

THINGS YOU CAN DO

- Site Map

Copyright © 2009 2009 STATS LLC and The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the STATS/AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of STATS LLC and The Associated Press.