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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, December 14, 2009

Cavs silence Thunder


Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Cleveland's LeBron James dunks in front of Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant. The Cavaliers won, 102-89.

SUE OGROCKI | Associated Press

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OKLAHOMA CITY — LeBron James got Cleveland back into the game with a flurry of 3-pointers. Then Mo Williams one-upped him with an even more important shot for the Cavaliers.

James scored a season-high 44 points and Williams connected from halfcourt in the fourth quarter to help the Cavs close out a 102-89 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder last night.

Williams tracked down the ball after Thabo Sefolosha had tipped it into the backcourt, then turned and fired a 48-footer with coach Mike Brown yelling to him as the shot clock ran down. The shot earned him a look of disbelief and a congratulatory hand slap from James, and it gave Cleveland its largest lead to that point at 94-87.

"The 3 that he hit from halfcourt was spectacular," Brown said. "When it left his hand — and I had a great view and look at it — I felt it was good.

"It's a tribute to me being the halfcourt shooting coach."

After it went in, the stunned Thunder didn't score again for 3 1/2 minutes as the Cavs put the game away.

"It's definitely deflating. Any shot like that is deflating," said Williams, who scored half of his 22 points in the fourth quarter.

Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 29 points.

Hawks 130, Nets 107: Maurice Evans scored 22 points, and Joe Johnson added 21 points and 10 assists to help host Atlanta win its fourth straight game.

Devin Harris scored 23 points for the Nets, who allowed a season high in points in their third consecutive loss — dropping the NBA's worst record to 2-22.

Spurs 115, Clippers 90: Tim Duncan scored 21 points before sitting out the fourth quarter, leading visiting San Antonio to the victory.

Duncan departed with 1:48 left in the third quarter after he was accidentally elbowed on the right side of the head by teammate Matt Bonner.

Grizzlies 118, Heat 90: Rudy Gay scored a career-high 41 points, Marc Gasol made all seven of his shots on the way to a 16-point, 15-rebound effort, and Memphis enjoyed a rare road blowout.

Gay made 15 of 28 shots, topping his previous career best by five points.

Raptors 101, Rockets 88: Chris Bosh scored 27 points and Hedo Turkoglu had a season-high 23 as host Toronto beat Houston.

Jarrett Jack added 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Raptors.

NOTES

Knicks: New York has signed free agent Jonathan Bender, marking the oft-injured forward's return to the NBA after a three-year absence.

The 7-foot Bender enjoyed his best season in 2001-02, when he averaged career highs of 7.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in 78 games with Indiana.

But injuries forced Bender to miss 172 games over the next three seasons before chronic knee pain sidelined him indefinitely in February 2006.