Cleveland ? The Cavaliers’ mental and physical clocks still seem to be an hour or so behind, but it is better to show up late than not at all.
In continuing a bizarre, yet ultimately satisfying, trend, the team wheezed like a jalopy in January out of the gates and into the back stretch Wednesday.
But they regained their thoroughbred legs when it counted — in the home stretch — to beat another of the NBA’s mules, dropping the Atlanta Hawks, 101-85.
Much like Monday night in Charlotte, the Cavaliers opened by playing porous defense, lazy offense, and displaying a general malaise about their business. Not that the Hawks incite much pregame excitement, this latest loss tumbling them to 5-25 on the season.
For the third time this year and the second time in the past week, Atlanta actually held a halftime lead on the first-place wine and gold. It wasn’t until the final quarter that the Cavaliers finally started to act like a leading team.
As has been the case recently, the Cavaliers took advantage of a Downy-like soft spot in the schedule and finally rose. Some renewed intensity and key defensive substitutions to open the fourth quarter enabled the home team to hold the Hawks scoreless for nine minutes to seize control.
It marked the Cavaliers’ fourth victory in the past five games and got them to seven games over .500 at 19-12, which represents that high-water mark for the season.
On Monday they enjoyed a 14-0 run while holding the Bobcats scoreless for seven minutes in the third quarter. Similarly, this defensive lockdown produced a 12-0 spurt when the Hawks missed 12 consecutive shots. In the past two games, the Bobcats and Hawks have combined to shoot just 31 percent after halftime.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas and LeBron James did it offensively Wednesday, as they combined to score 14 points in the fourth, and Lucious Harris and Anderson Varejao did it on the defensive end. Varejao was most impressive, holding Hawks forward Antoine Walker (26 points) scoreless in the final quarter.
In all, the Cavaliers outscored Atlanta 23-8 in the fourth quarter, as the Hawks tied a franchise record for fewest points in the final quarter.
“For some odd reason we come out flat,” Cavaliers coach Paul Silas said. “In the fourth we had a good defensive unit, and we just picked it up.”
Especially Varejao, as he continued to earn that “Wild Thing” nickname. He didn’t score a single point but had a distinct impact on the game. While not locking down Walker, he chased down loose balls like they were floating $100 bills. The Brazilian rookie had seven rebounds in the fourth quarter and 11 in just 25 minutes.
“Andy’s coming in and giving me huge minutes,” Silas said. “I know what I’m going to get from him every night.”
After playing uninspiring defense in the first half, Ilgauskas picked it up at both ends. With his jumper clicking and with improved post moves after some recent extra work after practice, Ilgauskas hit 11-of-18 shots for 28 points. It was his second-highest scoring total of the season and nicely complemented his nine rebounds and three blocks.
“We’ve been watching a lot of tape, and I’ve been talking to the coaches about how to improve my game,” Ilgauskas said. “In the second half the guys did a good job of getting me the ball in spots that I could score.”
James didn’t have a very explosive offensive night. He scored just four points in the first half. But he hit a pair of back-breaking 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with 20 points, along with nine assists and six rebounds.
Jeff McInnis also had a productive night, scoring 16 points with nine assists.
