Cavaliers players Daniel Gibson, J.J. Hickson, Leon Powe and Cavs Legend Austin Carr will sign autographs for fans who donate a new children’s book to benefit the Cavs Read to Achieve program this Saturday, March 13^th at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Legacy Village. Through Read to Achieve, the Cleveland Cavaliers will distribute over 5,000 donated books to schools and students in the northeast Ohio community throughout the 2009-10 school year.

There will be TWO autograph sessions located in front of the store’s rock wall —

• Gibson and Hickson will sign from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m.
• Powe and Carr will sign from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Dick’s Sporting Goods is located at 24545 Cedar Rd., Lyndhurst, OH 44124.

Read to Achieve, presented by Time Warner Cable in association with CollegeAdvantage A 529 Savings Plan and Outback Steakhouse, is a year-round campaign designed to help young people develop a life-long love for reading and encourage adults to read regularly with children. The program reaches thousands of elementary, middle and high school students in Northeast Ohio through reading time-outs, book drives and donations and the construction of Reading & Learning Centers.

-cavs.com-

CLEVELAND- Coming into tonight’s game, the media was informed that LeBron James would be sitting out his second game in a row just for rest. There is some speculation that James could be nursing a sore angle but not according to the Cavaliers organization. So this left a lot of fans disappointed and worried that the Cavaliers may lose their second game in a row to a competitive San Antonio Spurs team.

The Cavaliers announced their starting lineup and it went like this. Jawad Williams at forward, Antawn Jamison at forward, J.J. Hickson at center, Anthony Parker at guard and Mo Williams at guard. Notice there is no James, no O’Neal and no Ilgauskas. In many eyes this a lineup no one would have ever imagined. This is a lineup though that won’t lay down for adversity but take it head on and do everything in their power to get a win.

In the first quarter the Cavaliers came out with full effort to prove that with James taking a break they can hold down the court as they were able to outscore the Spurs 28-26. There was one moment of a scare in the first quarter when Anthony Parker had the basketball bounce funny off his hand and he immediately, but was able to return do to only a dislocated finger. In the second quarter the Cavaliers did faultier  getting outscored by the Spurs 26-21 lead by Manu Ginobili 23 first half points giving them a 52-49 point lead. Then in the third quarter another scare as Jamison left the quarter do to a stiff knee. That did keep the Cavaliers down as they were able to hang in there only being outscored 24-23. Then in the fourth quarter they Cavaliers bench showed what they were made of when they outscored the Spurs 25-19 to give them a 97-95 win.

Leading the way for the Cavaliers was Antawn Jamison with 17, points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 1 block. Mo Williams had 17 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assist. Delonte West had 16 points, 5 assist, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Jawad Williams had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist. J.J. Hickson had 12 points, 7 rebounds and 1 steal. Anderson Varejao had 11 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assist.

The Cavaliers next game is Friday as they travel to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers. Tip off is at 7:00.

NEW JERSEY- The Cavaliers headed into New Jersey knowing that the Nets are a dangerous team due to the fact that they don’t want to go down into the NBA history books having the worst record in of all time in a regular season. The Net were actually able to take down the Boston Celtics in the past week, so its very important that the Cavaliers don’t take this team to lightly or they could find themselves on the other side of the winning column.

The Cavaliers were taking no chances of losing this game as the got off to a hot start as they were able to outscore the Net 35-15. The Nets were able to bounce back in the second quarter outscoring the Cavaliers 27-24 cutting the Cavaliers lead to 17 points at the half. Then in the third and the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers gave themselves a little more room as the were able to outscore the Nets 52-50 giving them the win 111-92

LeBron James led the way with 26 points, 14 assist, 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block. J.J. Hickson had 20 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block. Antawn Jamison had 19 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assist, 1 steal and 1 block. Mo Williams had 16 points, 6 assist, 1 rebound and 1 block. Anderson Varejao had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 1 steal.

The Cavaliers head home for their next this Friday against the Detroit Pistons. Tip off is at 7:00.

CLEVELAND – Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James was named today as the NBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, February 22^nd through Sunday, February 28^th.

In three games during the week, James averaged an Eastern Conference-best 30.7 points on .500 shooting, 6.0 rebounds and 10.3 assists in 41.4 minutes per game.  James wins the award for the sixth time this season and the 26^th time in his career.  With winning all three games last week, James has now led the Cavaliers to an NBA-best record at 46-14 (.767). Cleveland also possesses the best home record in the NBA at 25-4 (.862) and the best road record at 21-10 (.677).

James recorded his 23^rd double-double this season with 20 points and a game-high 13 assists in a 105-95 victory over the New Orleans Hornets at Quicken Loans Arena on February 23^rd.  In the Cavs 108-88 victory at Boston, he scored 21 of his 36 points in the first half and added seven rebounds and nine assists on February 25^th.  The Cavaliers win at Boston snapped a five-game losing streak at TD Banknorth.  In the final road game of the week, James finished with 36 points, six rebounds, nine assists and two steals in an 126-118 overtime victory over the Raptors on February 26^th.

The Dallas Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki was named the Western Conference Player of the Week.  Other nominees for the Eastern Conference Player of the Week were Atlanta’s Joe Johnson and Josh Smith, Boston’s Rajon Rondo, Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut, Orlando’s Dwight Howard and Washington’s Andray Blatche.

-cavs.com-

CLEVELAND- Cavaliers center Shaquille O’Neal had successful surgery to repair his right thumb injury this morning at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. The surgery was performed by Dr. Thomas Graham, Chief of the National Hand Center and attended by Cavaliers Head Team Physician Dr. Richard Parker from The Cleveland Clinic. O’Neal will now undergo a period of rest, treatment and rehabilitation for his right thumb. His return to play is currently estimated to be approximately eight weeks.

BOSTON- As the Cavaliers made their way into Boston today to take on the Celtics, there was a lot of talk about Zydrunas Ilgauskas now that he has been officially bought out of his contract and can return to the Cavaliers as soon as March 21. Keep in mind there are at least four other teams that have rumored to have an interest in him. For now that is a waiting game. Also this is the day that Leon Powe has had this date circled for a long time and want to get some playing time. This game looked as it would be there perfect opportunity for the Cavaliers to work on their chemistry since Paul Pierce is out due to a thumb injury.

As the game got started in the first quarter, it looked as if the Celtics didn’t miss Pierce on bit as they outscored the Cavaliers 31-21. Then in the second quarter the Cavaliers started to make some adjustments and were able to outscore the Celtics 27-25 cutting the Celtics lead to 8 points at the half. Then It was all Cavaliers in the second half as their defense came to life along with Mo Williams shooting. The Cavaliers held the Celtics to 32 points in the second half as they scored 60 to give them a 20 point victory 108-88. Leon Powe did see almost 4 minutes of play scoring 4 points and 2 rebounds.

Leading the way for the Cavaliers was LeBron James with 36 points, 9 assist and 7 rebounds. Mo Williams had 19 points, 2 assist, 1 rebound, 1 steal and 1 block. Anderson Varejao had 14 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 assist.

Game Note: With 6:58 left in the first half of the game Shaquille O’Neal sprained his right thumb. The report on O’Neal’s injury called his injury “significant.”

The Cavaliers next game is tomorrow night in Toronto to take in the Raptors. Tip off is at 7:00

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Cavaliers have assigned guard/forward Danny Green and forward Darnell Jackson to the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.

Green has played in 13 games for the Cavaliers this season and has averaged 2.5 points on .480 shooting and 0.7 rebounds in 5.2 minutes per game. Jackson has averaged 0.8 points on .348 shooting and 0.8 rebounds in 4.0 minutes per game in 23 games. In two games with the BayHawks during the 2008-09 season, Jackson averaged 19.5 points on .652 shooting and 6.0 rebounds in 25.5 minutes per game. Both Green and Jackson will be available to play tomorrow night for Erie in their game versus the Dakota Wizards at 7 p.m. at the Tullio Arena in Erie.

The BayHawks are the D-League affiliate of the Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors.

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CLEVELAND- Coming into to tonight’s game against the New Orleans Hornets the Cavaliers are in their first three game losing streak in two years. Head coach Mike Brown felt it was time to change things up a bit to see what the best line up will be heading down the back stretch into the playoffs, so he has decided to remove J.J. Hickson from the starting lineup and replaced him with Antawn Jamison. The other question on tonight’s game is, will Leon Powe see any playing minutes now that he is active. I feel that the Cavaliers owe it to themselves to at least see what they have in Powe after getting him in the offseason and getting him healthy again. The problem this creates is there are not enough minutes to go through all the forwards. So who’s minutes gets cut when you have this problem. Don’t get me wrong I would rather have this problem then not enough forwards.

In the first quarter the Cavaliers came out a little sluggish defensively but were able to step it up midway through and hold the Hornets to 35 % shooting with 16 points as they shot 57% scoring 28 points giving them a 12 point lead after the first. In the second quarter the Hornets came out fast scoring the first 9 points and cutting the Cavaliers lead to 3 points in Just over 1 and a half minutes. The Cavaliers were able to build the lead back to 10 points but then the shooting faltered and the Hornets were able to come back and take a 4 point lead 41-37 with 5:15 left in the half. The Hornet were able to keep the press offense on the Cavaliers as the ended the first half with a 56-53 lead. Then in the second half the Cavaliers came out with a little more pep in their step as they press the Hornets defensively and outscoring them 29-20 giving the Cavaliers a 82-76 lead. Then in the fourth quarter the Hornets did their best to put the pressure in the Cavaliers but it wasn’t enough as the Cavaliers prevailed 105-95 to end their three game losing streak.

Leading the way for the Caveliers was LeBron James with 20 points, 13 assist, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Shaquille O’Neal had 20 points, 7 rebounds and 1 block. Antawn Jamison had 18 points, 6 rebounds. 2 assist and 2 steals. Anderson Varejao had 14 points and 7 rebounds. Anthony Parker had 13 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Delonte West had 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assist and 2 blocks.

The Cavaliers next game is Thursday in Boston to take on the Celtics. Tip off is at 8:oo on TNT.

CLEVELAND- In the last twenty-four hours the city of Cleveland has been buzzing over the trade that sent Zydrunas Ilgauskas to the Washington Wizards and Antawn Jamison to Cleveland, although there is an outside chance that Ilgauskas could return after 30 days if the Wizards decide to waive him. Many people feel that Jamison could be that final piece of the puzzle that could bring the Cavaliers and the city of Cleveland a championship. During the day their were a couple of press conferences and a lot of interviews that was centered around the trade, many people forgot that one Leon Powe is almost ready for action and Mo Williams was as the Cavaliers were riding a thirteen game winning streak that was going to be put to the test against the Denver Nuggets.

As the game got started the first evidence that Ilgauskas was gone was the intro video that is played in the beginning of the game were Ilgauskas and Varejao come to life out of the bridge was cut out and the final scene were they Cavaliers team is standing in front of the Q was also cut out. It was a strange sight not to see Ilgauskas there. As the game got started it was very apparent that the Cavaliers were very rusty as they only shot 37.5% from the field and were outscored 31-21. Then in the second quarter the Cavaliers were able to bounce back a little as they outscored the Nuggets 23-21 the cut the Nuggets lead at halftime to 8 points 53-44. Then in the third quarter the Cavaliers applied the pressure and really bounced back outscoring the Nuggets 35-23 giving them a 4 point lead 79-75. Then in the fourth quarter the Nuggets wouldn’t go down without a fight as they outscored the Cavaliers 31-27 making it a tied game at the end of four 106-106. Then in overtime the Nuggets were able to prevail  with a 118-116 win ending the Cavaliers win streak.

LeBron James lead the way for the Cavaliers with his third triple-double with 43 points, 15 assist, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks and 2 steals. Shaquille O’Neal had 18 points, 7 rebounds a 1 block. J.J. Hickson had 14 points, 2 assist and 2 rebounds. Anthony Parker had 13 points, rebounds and 3 assist.

The Cavaliers next game is Friday in Charlotte against the Bobcats. Tip off is at 7:00.

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired forward Antawn Jamison from the Washington Wizards and guard Sebastian Telfair from the Los Angeles Clippers, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today. In exchange, the Cavaliers sent center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, their first round pick in the 2010 NBA Draft and the draft rights to forward Emir Preldzic, the 57^th overall pick of the 2009 NBA Draft, to the Wizards. The additional components of the three-team trade included the Clippers acquiring forward/center Drew Gooden from Washington and Washington acquiring forward Al Thornton.

“Z has been a cornerstone part of this franchise and his jersey will hang in the rafters here some day, not only because of his play, but because of the tremendous person he is and what he has meant to the franchise and the community,” Ferry said. “He has represented the Cavaliers, Cleveland and the NBA at a consistently high level for many years. We wish Z and his family the best.”

Jamison, 33, has averages of 20.5 points on .450 shooting, including shooting .345 from three-point range, 8.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 block in 39.0 minutes per game in 41 games played (all starts) this season with Washington. He is the only player in the NBA this season with averages of at least 20.0 points and 8.0 rebounds while making 50 or more three-pointers. The 11-year veteran has been named an all-star on two occasions (2004-05, 2007-08) and won the NBA’s Sixth Man Award following the 2003-04 season. In all but two of his 11 seasons, he has averaged at least 19.6 points and has posted rebounding averages of 7.0 or better in eight of his 11 seasons. He has career averages of 19.9 points on .456 shooting, 8.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 36.9 minutes per game in 839 games (732 starts) and is one of just five active players with over 16,000 points and 6,000 rebounds.

The forward from North Carolina has reached the postseason in five seasons and has averages of 19.2 points on .443 shooting and 7.8 rebounds in 37.1 minutes per game in 31 career postseason games (26 starts).

“Antawn is a great pro. We are very excited to have an experienced all-star player of Antawn’s caliber and character join us,” Ferry said. “He has the ability to add a special, unique dimension to our team with a strong inside presence and the ability to stretch teams defensively, while impacting the entire court. We think he matches the culture we have built, and continue to build, and will fit well with our group on the court and off.”

Telfair, 24, is averaging 4.3 points on .404 shooting and 2.9 assists in 14.9 minutes per game in 39 games played (one start) this season. The five-year veteran has career averages of 7.8 points on .390 shooting and 3.9 assists in 23.6 minutes per game in 388 games (181 starts).

Ilgauskas, a two-time all-star, has averages of 7.5 points on .452 shooting, 5.3 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 20.5 minutes per game in 53 games played (six starts) this season. He departs the Cavaliers as the franchise’s all-time leader in regular season games played (760), postseason games played (64), rebounds (5,841) and blocked shots (1,259).

Drafted by the Cavaliers with the 20^th overall pick of the 1996 NBA Draft, the 7-foot-3 Lithuanian played all 11 seasons with the Cavaliers and has career averages of 13.9 points on .475 shooting, 7.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 28.4 minutes per game in 760 games (673 starts).

-cavs.com-