Cleveland ? The wins are coming so regularly at Gund Arena for the Cavaliers that LeBron James has become a bit nostalgic.
As nostalgic as a 19-year-old can be, that is.
“I feel like I’m back in high school again,” James said. “Every time I get out there I feel like we’re going to win.”
James scored 12 of his 25 points in less than three minutes of the third quarter and Ira Newble added a season-high 18 as the Cleveland Cavaliers won their ninth straight at home, 112-88 over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.
With the Cavs leading by 21, James sat the final 6:10 and missed another chance at his first career triple-double. He finished with 11 rebounds and seven assists.
“As long as we keep getting wins, I could care less,” James said.
Jeff McInnis added 18 points, Drew Gooden 15 and rookie Anderson Varejao 12 for the Cavaliers, who got their 14th victory of the season more than one month earlier than they did last year.
Cleveland (14-8) didn’t get win No. 14 until Jan. 20, one day before they swapped Darius Miles to Portland for McInnis – a trade that gave the Cavs a key missing piece and transformed them into playoff contenders.
The Cavaliers are 34-19 since McInnis’ arrival.
“Really?” McInnis said when told of the turnaround he has helped orchestrate. “This is as much fun as I’ve had in a long time. At one point last season, I wasn’t sure I wanted to play anymore – things were that bad in Portland.”
Cleveland’s home winning streak is the club’s longest at the Gund, which opened in 1994. The Cavs last won nine in a row at home in 1993 when they reeled off 12 straight from Jan. 16 to March 16 at Richfield Coliseum.
“We’re feeding off the crowd, and feeding off ourselves,” said James, who is averaging 30 points, 7.6 rebounds and 6.1 assists at home. “We feel that no one can come in here and beat us.”
Miles paced the Blazers by matching his season-high with 21 points. He got his first start this season in his return to Cleveland, replacing Shareef Abdur-Rahim, whom the Blazers said has a hyperextended right elbow.
Portland coach Maurice Cheeks made no mention of the injury before the game, fueling speculation the forward is on the trading block.
Cheeks said Abdur-Rahim told him shortly before the opening tip that he couldn’t play.
“It was news to me,” Cheeks said. “I had him on the lineup card, but he had hurt his elbow in Utah (Sunday night) and he couldn’t go.”
Rahim said he would have been ineffective.
“I could go out there and run around, but I couldn’t play,” he said. “I couldn’t lift my arm.”
James scored 12 points in a span of only 2:51 of the third quarter, helping the Cavs open a 67-56 lead.
He drained a pair of 3-pointers, a 14-foot jumper, a layup and converted a sensational alley-oop basket off a pass from Gooden, whose feed seemed to surprise James as he came down the right side.
But grabbing the ball with his left hand on the baseline, James guided it into the basket while using his right arm to protect himself from hitting the underside of the backboard.
“I just throw it up in the air, and he goes up and gets it,” Gooden said. “I put too much sauce on that one.”
James was thankful that he came down safely.
“Drew almost broke my shoulder,” he said. “But if he puts them up there, I’ll go get them.”
Cheeks was impressed with how quickly James dominated.
“It was like he hit a button and took off,” Cheeks said.
The Cavaliers continued to pull away, closing the third with a 13-5 run. Leading by 11, McInnis hit a 3-pointer from the left corner, Newble stole the inbounds pass and passed to Gooden, who hit a jumper as the horn sounded to put the Cavs ahead 80-64 entering the fourth.
James scored his final basket when he came flying in to dunk with 6:29 to go, giving the Cavs a 90-71 lead.
Sluggish on offense for much of the first half, the Cavaliers began to click in the second quarter while James was on the bench. Newble scored four points during a 9-0 run and Varejao had five points and two steals as Cleveland closed the half with a 17-6 spurt to open a 51-45 lead.
Turnovers hurt the Blazers, whose 11 miscues in the first half led to 16 points for the Cavaliers.
Notes: Cleveland’s 9-1 home record is tops in the Eastern Conference. … The Blazers played their second game of a six-games-in-nine days road trip. … James has scored more than 20 points 17 times this season. … McInnis averaged 7.9 points and 3.2 assists in 114 games for Portland. He came in averaging 13.2 and 6.6 in 52 games with Cleveland. … Before Miles got the surprise start, Portland’s starting lineup had been the same for the first 20 games.
