Minus LeBron, Cavs fall to Sonics

Published 11:21 pm Thursday, January 31, 2008

SEATTLE — The Seattle SuperSonics rediscovered the key their success after 14 straight losses — play defense, rebound and run the floor.

Following that blueprint again on Thursday night against the shorthanded Cleveland Cavaliers, the Sonics earned their second straight victory, a 101-95 win over the Cavaliers.

Of course, Cleveland played without its star LeBron James, who rolled his right ankle in the Cavaliers’ last-second win over Portland on Wednesday.

James tested his ankle out before the game but looked gimpy going through workouts, and the Cleveland training staff decided to shut him down, to the consternation of several of the 13,109 at KeyArena who came to see James play.

Cleveland (25-20) also played without two other players in the team’s regular rotation in Anderson Varejao (ankle) and Aleksander Pavlovic (foot), and dropped to 0-6 when James does not play.

The Sonics (11-35) took advantage the Cavaliers’ injuries by jumping on them early, shooting 56.4 percent from the floor.

Seattle rookie Kevin Durant led the Sonics with 24 points and four assists.

With Cleveland down three of its regulars the Sonics controlled things inside, finishing with a 44-20 advantage in points in the paint, outrebounding Cleveland 40-33 and outscoring the Cavaliers 15-6 in fast-break points

Seattle controlled tempo and led from the onset, holding a double-digit advantage most of the game and leading by as many as 23 in the second half. But the Cavaliers, behind the sharp shooting from beyond the arc of Larry Hughes and Damon Jones, scrapped back into the game. Cleveland trailed 89-80 after a conventional 3-point play bye Zydrunas Ilgauskas with just over six minutes left.

Hughes finished with a game-high 28 points for Cleveland, and Jones finished with 15 points, as Cleveland shot 12-of-27 from beyond the arc to stay close.

“When you get that kind of lead you have to stay aggressive and you have to play,” Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo said. “If you’re missing shots we have to get some offensive rebounds and get some free throws. We didn’t do either of those once we got out of the first quarter.”

The Cavaliers closed to as close as three points with under three minutes left. But the Sonics scored six straight — two Durant free throws, a Durant lay-in in transition and a rare Kurt Thomas drive to the basket — pushing the lead back to 97-88.

Cleveland trimmed the margin back to four points, but Thomas earned a charge on Daniel Gibson’s drive to the basket and Luke Ridnour made two free throws on the other end to seal the win.

Chris Wilcox had his best game since returning from the injured list after dislocating his right pinkie, finishing with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

“I knew those guys had just played last night, and if I jus got out and ran the floor I could get some easy buckets,” said Wilcox, who scored the first 10 points of the game for Seattle.

Seattle’s other rookie, Jeff Green, showed why he was selected for the Rookie Challenge game during All-Star weekend, finishing with 17 points on a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor, including his third 3-pointer of the season.

“You won’t make them unless you shoot them,” Green said. “So I just kept shooting them and tonight they went in.”