NBA Game Summary - Orlando at Cleveland

03.8.2005

Cleveland, OH (Basketball News) - LeBron James and Drew Gooden each scored 23 points as Cleveland snapped a season-high six game losing streak by routing Orlando, 111-92, at Gund Arena.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 18 points and Jeff McInnis chipped in 13 for Cleveland, which won for the first time since a 100-91 triumph over Chicago back on February 23. Cleveland shot a solid 52 percent from the floor in the win.

Steve Francis paced Orlando with 21 points. Jameer Nelson finished with 17 points, six assists and five rebounds for the Magic, who had a three-game winning streak come to an end and played without the services of Grant Hill.

The All-Star forward missed the game with a bruised left shin and is expected to miss at least one more contest. On the season, Hill is averaging 19.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Hill was kicked in the shin during a game last week against Sacramento and had been receiving treatment since.

Hedo Turkoglu contributed 11 points while Kelvin Cato posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards in a losing cause.

Cleveland, which led 25-22 after the first quarter, looked for some breathing room during the early stages of the second. James’ jumper ignited a 10-5 spurt, capped by Eric Snow’s layup as Cleveland opened up an eight-point cushion, 35-27, with under eight minutes left in the first half.

Orlando, though, was able to cut the margin in half and trailed 53-49 as both teams headed into the locker room. James paced all players with 19 points for Cleveland on 7-of-16 shooting after the first 24 minutes of action.

The Cavs started to pull away in the third quarter. Gooden’s layup started a 17-5 burst, ending on McInnis’ trey from the corner as the lead grew to 70-54 at the 7:06 mark of the frame. The Cavaliers then carried a comfortable 84-67 cushion into the fourth.

Cleveland’s lead would balloon to 22, 90-68, on Anderson Varejao’s bucket with 9:24 to go in the fourth. Orlando never recovered from that point on.

During half-time Cleveland honored the 1975-1976 team. That squad captured the Central Division Championship...Orlando fell to 10-20 in foreign buildings this season and have dropped eight of its last 10 road games...The Magic have dropped three straight in Cleveland...The Cavs improved to 22-8 at home...Snow ended with eight points in 22 minutes, while Varejao finished with six points for Cleveland.

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