Cavs hold off Hornets

Basketball Betting Lines

02/28/2007 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Larry Hughes' three-pointer thwarted any chance of a complete Hornets comeback, and LeBron James scored 35 points with eight assists and five rebounds, as Cleveland edged New Orleans/Oklahoma City, 97-89, at Quicken Loans Arena.

Trailing 81-70, the Hornets went on a 13-2 spurt capped by David West's jumper to square the contest at 83-83 with 4:13 on the clock.

Enter Hughes, who buried a trey followed by a James' finger roll for an 88-83 advantage. After a Tyson Chandler dunk, Daniel Gibson knocked down a three to build an insurmountable 91-85 lead.

Hughes scored just 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting, but he dished out five assists and grabbed eight boards. Gibson had 12 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas donated 11 points and nine rebounds for the Cavaliers, who snapped a brief two-game skid.

"It was a good win versus a good basketball team," said Cavs head coach Mike Brown. "They've been playing well in the month of February."

West scored 25 points with 10 rebounds and six assists, Desmond Mason complied 16 points and Chandler notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards in defeat, the Hornets' first in three games.

Cleveland appeared to be in command of the contest, building a 77-65 edge after three stanzas on Anderson Varejao's jumper as time expired.

The cushion didn't last long.

Bobby Jackson scored the first five points and West the next four before James' jumper with 5:37 left. Then, Jannero Pargo knocked down a jumper and West's bucket brought the Hornets even.

James had 13 points, five rebounds and six assists and Ilgauskas added 11 in the first half as Cleveland led 52-43. West led all scorers through 24 minutes with 15 points.

Game Notes

The Hornets made just 1-of-9 from beyond the arc...West and Chandler led a 44-35 edge on the backboards...The game featured eight ties and five lead changes...The clubs split two meetings this season...Attendance was 19,619.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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