Central Division teams meet in Cleveland

The is the third meeting of the season between the two clubs. Both squads have picked up a victory on its homecourt.

Cleveland head coach Paul Silas meets his former club once again. He is the all-time winningest coach in Hornets’ history, posting a 208-155 record and leading the team to the playoffs in each of his four full seasons. Silas was fired by New Orleans after it was eliminated by Philadelphia in the first round of last year’s playoffs.

On Sunday, Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 31 points and 15 rebounds, leading the Cavaliers to a 92-86 win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

James finished with 22 points for the Cavaliers, who have won four straight versus the Knicks. Carlos Boozer chipped in 14 points and 17 boards, as Cleveland earned its second consecutive win overall.

Cleveland opened the second half on an 11-4 run and made it 55-44 after Ilgauskas made a free throw to complete a three-point play. Ilgauskas later added a basket to push the margin to 66-55. The Cavs then carried a 70-55 advantage into the fourth quarter.

Ilgauskas scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter for the Cavaliers, who took a 78-56 lead with about 8 1/2 minutes remaining in the game.

New York showed some life and closed within 81-68 thanks to a 10-0 run with three minutes to go. The Knicks, though, later cut the lead to 88-84 on consecutive layups by Stephon Marbury with 17.7 seconds remaining. Boozer was then fouled on the inbounds pass and made both shots for a six-point lead. After a New York basket, James was sent to the foul line and drained both attempts to seal the win.

Cleveland is 1-16 when it allows at least 100 points this season.

The Cavs are 15-13 at home this season.

The Hornets come into tonight’s game off a loss to Eastern Conference foe New Jersey. On Saturday, New Orleans was defeated by the Nets, 97-84, on at Continental Airlines Arena. Jamal Mashburn poured in a game-high 28 points and hauled in 13 boards for the Hornets, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. All-Star guard Baron Davis contributed 17 points in the setback.

Davis has scored in double digits in 48 of the 49 contests that he has played in this season. He is averaging 19.7 points and 8.7 points in his last three games.

The Hornets, who have lost three of their last four as the visitor, are 13-14 on the road this season.

The home team has won 12 of the last 14 meetings in this series. The Hornets, who have lost two straight at Cleveland, have won six of the last eight contests with the Cavs.