NBA Game Summary - Portland at Cleveland

03.17.2006

Cleveland, OH (Basketball News) - LeBron James posted 27 points, nine rebounds and six steals, as Cleveland beat Portland, 99-84, at Quicken Loans Arena.

Drew Gooden scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who snapped a three-game losing streak and won their fifth straight game on St. Patrick’s Day. Ronald Murray scored 16 points, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 15.

Sebastian Telfair scored 24 points off the bench for the Trail Blazers, who lost their third straight. Steve Blake and Zach Randolph scored 17 points apiece, and Darius Miles added 12 points, but Portland fell for the 17th time in 20 games.

Cleveland started the third quarter on a 13-2 spurt, highlighted by six points each from James and Ilgauskas, to take a 66-45 lead with 7:07 left. The Cavs led 79-62 heading into the fourth, in which the Blazers cut their deficit by only four points for the final margin.

"We couldn’t get any defensive stops and they basically did whatever they wanted to do," Randolph said. "We came out and had a really bad third quarter. We just couldn’t finish it out. They ran off with it."

Cleveland led 25-22 after the first quarter. The Cavs improved upon their lead by seven points in the second to open a 53-43 cushion at halftime.

The Cavs outscored Portland 58-34 in points in the paint, and outrebounded the Blazers 47-36.

"A lot of those points we got because we drove the basketball against their zone," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "When we drove the basketball, we were able to dish it to guys like Drew [Gooden] and Z [Ilgauskas] for easy dunks or easy scores. When we get guys posting as aggressively as we did tonight, we’ll get good things down in the paint."

Cleveland returned home for a four-game stand after going 1-3 on a four-game road trip. The Cavaliers, who will also host the Lakers, Charlotte and Boston on the current stand, are a solid 23-10 at home this season..Portland played the third of a four-game road trip. It is a dismal 6-28 on the road this season, and is scheduled to visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday. The Trail Blazers have lost nine in a row as the visitor...This was the second and final meeting of the season between the clubs. On January 15th, Randolph scored 16 points and hit two key free throws with 47 seconds remaining as Portland knocked off Cleveland, 89-87, at the Rose Garden...The Blazers have lost three straight at Cleveland.

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