ducks
03-22-2005, 12:11 PM
Detroit (42-23) at Cleveland (34-30)
Preview - Box Score - Recap
Game Info: 7:00 pm EST Tue Mar 22, 2005
TV: TNT Add to Calendar
Buy Tickets
LeBron James' success wasn't enough to save Paul Silas' job.
One day after Silas was fired as coach, the Cavaliers look to start the Brendan Malone era with a win as they take on the rival Detroit Pistons.
Silas was fired Monday, with Cleveland having lost nine of 12 and fighting for a playoff spot after leading its division earlier in the season. Malone, a longtime NBA assistant, was appointed interim coach.
The dismissal came with 18 games left and the team clinging to the fifth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. James seems to have been the only player who saw the move coming.
``You could kind of tell the way the air was, how things were going around here, there was going to have to be a change,'' said James, who scored a franchise-record 56 points in a 105-98 loss at Toronto on Sunday. ``I didn't know it was going to be this soon.''
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Malone acknowledged he's in a tough situation, taking over a team late in the season that is expected to reach the playoffs.
``I'm still in a state of shock about what happened,'' Malone said after Monday's morning practice.
Malone, in his first season with the Cavaliers, was the first coach of the expansion Toronto Raptors, spending one season with the team. He's been an assistant with New York, Indiana, Seattle and Detroit in 19 years of NBA coaching.
With his effort Sunday, James became the youngest player to score 50 points in an NBA game. At 20 years, 80 days old, he eclipsed the previous mark set by Rick Barry, who was 21 years, 261 days old when he scored 57, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
``I probably played the best game of my life, but it means nothing when it comes with a loss,'' James said.
He surpassed his previous best of 43 points, set Nov. 24 against the Pistons, but committed a key turnover with 16 seconds left and missed a pair of 3-point attempts in the final seconds.
James shot 18-for-36 from the field and 14-for-15 from the line and also had six 3-pointers, 10 rebounds and five assists. But Toronto's reserves outscored their Cleveland counterparts 34-1.
``I don't care about individual stats, especially when you lose,'' said James, who bested the previous Cavs mark of 50 set by Walt Wesley on Feb. 19, 1971.
Drew Gooden added 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavs, who lost their third straight. Cleveland is 24-9 at Gund Arena but just 10-21 away from home.
After James hit 15 of 22 shots from the floor and 11 of 12 free throws in Cleveland's 92-76 win over Detroit on Nov. 24, the Pistons held him to a then season-low 11 points on 4-of-21 shooting in an 81-69 victory on Dec. 16.
``He got whatever he wanted in the last game,'' Rasheed Wallace said after the December win. ``Not this time.''
The Cavs won't have time to get comfortable at home with a three-game road trip kicking off Thursday at Houston.
The Pistons won their fifth straight overall and 12th consecutive at home -- their longest home win streak since 1990-91 -- with a 110-101 victory over San Antonio on Sunday.
Chauncey Billups scored 25 points to lead the Pistons, who took advantage of the absence of Tim Duncan -- who left the game with an ankle sprain shortly after tipoff.
Detroit, which hasn't lost at home since Jan. 22 against Chicago, owns the third-best home record in the NBA behind San Antonio and Miami.
``You want to establish home dominance and we've done that,'' Billups said.
Tayshaun Prince scored 22 points, Rasheed Wallace had 15 and Richard Hamilton, playing on a sprained left ankle, added 11 for the defending NBA champions -- who visit Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Preview - Box Score - Recap
Game Info: 7:00 pm EST Tue Mar 22, 2005
TV: TNT Add to Calendar
Buy Tickets
LeBron James' success wasn't enough to save Paul Silas' job.
One day after Silas was fired as coach, the Cavaliers look to start the Brendan Malone era with a win as they take on the rival Detroit Pistons.
Silas was fired Monday, with Cleveland having lost nine of 12 and fighting for a playoff spot after leading its division earlier in the season. Malone, a longtime NBA assistant, was appointed interim coach.
The dismissal came with 18 games left and the team clinging to the fifth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. James seems to have been the only player who saw the move coming.
``You could kind of tell the way the air was, how things were going around here, there was going to have to be a change,'' said James, who scored a franchise-record 56 points in a 105-98 loss at Toronto on Sunday. ``I didn't know it was going to be this soon.''
ADVERTISEMENT
Malone acknowledged he's in a tough situation, taking over a team late in the season that is expected to reach the playoffs.
``I'm still in a state of shock about what happened,'' Malone said after Monday's morning practice.
Malone, in his first season with the Cavaliers, was the first coach of the expansion Toronto Raptors, spending one season with the team. He's been an assistant with New York, Indiana, Seattle and Detroit in 19 years of NBA coaching.
With his effort Sunday, James became the youngest player to score 50 points in an NBA game. At 20 years, 80 days old, he eclipsed the previous mark set by Rick Barry, who was 21 years, 261 days old when he scored 57, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
``I probably played the best game of my life, but it means nothing when it comes with a loss,'' James said.
He surpassed his previous best of 43 points, set Nov. 24 against the Pistons, but committed a key turnover with 16 seconds left and missed a pair of 3-point attempts in the final seconds.
James shot 18-for-36 from the field and 14-for-15 from the line and also had six 3-pointers, 10 rebounds and five assists. But Toronto's reserves outscored their Cleveland counterparts 34-1.
``I don't care about individual stats, especially when you lose,'' said James, who bested the previous Cavs mark of 50 set by Walt Wesley on Feb. 19, 1971.
Drew Gooden added 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavs, who lost their third straight. Cleveland is 24-9 at Gund Arena but just 10-21 away from home.
After James hit 15 of 22 shots from the floor and 11 of 12 free throws in Cleveland's 92-76 win over Detroit on Nov. 24, the Pistons held him to a then season-low 11 points on 4-of-21 shooting in an 81-69 victory on Dec. 16.
``He got whatever he wanted in the last game,'' Rasheed Wallace said after the December win. ``Not this time.''
The Cavs won't have time to get comfortable at home with a three-game road trip kicking off Thursday at Houston.
The Pistons won their fifth straight overall and 12th consecutive at home -- their longest home win streak since 1990-91 -- with a 110-101 victory over San Antonio on Sunday.
Chauncey Billups scored 25 points to lead the Pistons, who took advantage of the absence of Tim Duncan -- who left the game with an ankle sprain shortly after tipoff.
Detroit, which hasn't lost at home since Jan. 22 against Chicago, owns the third-best home record in the NBA behind San Antonio and Miami.
``You want to establish home dominance and we've done that,'' Billups said.
Tayshaun Prince scored 22 points, Rasheed Wallace had 15 and Richard Hamilton, playing on a sprained left ankle, added 11 for the defending NBA champions -- who visit Philadelphia on Wednesday.