Hawks @ Cavs

It was LeBron James bobble head night at Gund Arena. But the figurines weren't the only heads shaking Wednesday night. Coming off a very disappointing loss to the Chicago Bulls, the Cavaliers looked very impressive in their domination of the Atlanta Hawks, 112-80.

The Cavs dominated in almost every phase of the game. Cleveland embarassed the Hawks on the boards with a 62-36 margin.

The victory brought them within a 1/2 game of the 8th playoff spot. Coming off an emotional win over the Lakers, the Hawks realized why they were the worst team in the NBA and was out-played from the beginning.

James did not disappoint in his bobble-head debut with 24 pts. and 7 rebounds, including some superb dunks. James, as well as most of the starters, played just 28 minutes and sat out the fourth quarter.

Carlos Boozer (12 pts., 15 rebounds) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (17 pts., 10 rebounds) each recoreded another double-double, while Jeff McInnis was solid once again with 9 points and 9 assists.

The Cavs were well on their way early, leading by 17 after one quarter of play at 36-19. All the starters took their part in the Cavs spurt, as they went on a 16-3 run to end the first. Atlanta went scoreless the last 3:35 and the momentum carried into the second period of play.

James scored two quick buckets to open the lead to 40-19 and the onslaught would continue. James and Ilgauskas finished with 13 first half points, while Boozer (10 and 10) attained his double-double in the first half. The bench played most of the second quarter and kept the pressure coming. Lee Nailon, just signed earlier, added a few buckets of his own. The last shot opened the Cavs lead to 62-39 to end the half.

The domination continued as the Cavs went up by as many as 41 points midway through the fourth. Eric Williams cured his shooting woes with 14 pts on 4-8 shooting. Cleveland got big prodcution from their bench as they scored a combined 36 points, led by DaJuan Wagner's 12 and Nailon's 10 points. With the addition of Nailon, Newble could be in Paul Silas' doghouse as he was a DNP for the game.

Atlanta's Stephen Jackson tried to keep the Hawks close early, as he scored 20 pts. for the game. Jason Terry (15 pts.) and Chris Crawford (11 pts.) were the only other Hawks scorers in double figures. For the game, Cleveland shot 43 percent while Atlanta was just 34 percent from the floor. The Cavs dished out 31 assists to the 18 by the Hawks.

To make room for Nailon, the Cavs placed guard Kedrick Brown on the injured list, while releasing guard J.R. Bremer.

CavsTalk