LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers hope to extend their winning streak to eight games against the New York Knicks when the two clubs collide tonight at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavaliers made it seven wins in a row in this series with a 113-106 victory on February 6 at the 'Q', as James scored 35 of his 47 points in the first half to lead the charge. Cleveland is 2-0 against New York this season and has won seven straight and nine of the last 11 meetings. It is also unbeaten in the last four visits to the Big Apple.
James, who leads the NBA with 30.0 points per game, was at it again in Friday's 126-118 overtime victory at Toronto, as he netted 36 points for the Cavaliers, who have won three straight overall and 16 of the past 19 games.
"The road wins help a team establish momentum down the stretch," James said. "We've played two really good games in the last two nights. Antawn Jamison is starting to fit in. He's got to learn our sets and our system."
Jamison provided 22 points and 11 rebounds in the win. Now the Cavs are back at home, where they are an NBA-best 25-4. Over their last 25 home games, the Cavs are 23-2 and have averaged 105.3 points on .513 shooting. They also rank third in the NBA in field goal percentage (.487) and second in three-point shooting (.399).
Cleveland, which has the best record in the league at 46-14, recently received some bad news after learning that center Shaquille O'Neal would have to undergo surgery on his injured right thumb.
O'Neal, who is averaging 12.0 points and 6.7 rebounds. underwent the procedure Monday morning in Baltimore and is expected to miss about eight weeks worth of action.
Losing has been pretty much the norm this season for the Knicks, who sport a lowly 2-12 record in the previous 14 games. In Saturday's 120-109 loss versus the Memphis Grizzlies at Madison Square Garden, Al Harrington finished with 31 points off the bench for the Knicks, who got 21 points and seven rebounds from All-Star David Lee.
Eddie House ended with 15 points off the bench for New York, which snapped an eight-game skid on Friday with a 118-116 overtime victory over Washington. New York guard Tracy McGrady had zero points in just over 15 minutes of action in the first half. He sat on the bench for the entire second half due to a sore left knee.
"Actually I was [feeling some pain], tonight was pretty tough on me," McGrady said. "I felt that in the beginning. Usually in the first half I'm pretty good but tonight even the first couple of trips up the court I noticed that this wasn't my night."
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