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Find out the scoop on the CAVS from award-winning sports writer Bob Finnan.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Game 65: Suns at Cavs

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (40-25) 89, PHOENIX SUNS (33-31) 79
Quicken Loans Arena
Saturday
Radio: WTAM-AM 1100, WMMS-FM 100.7, La Mega-FM 97.7
TV: Fox Sports Ohio, NBA TV

1. The Cavs have won 13 in a row at home. They have outscored those 13 teams by an average of 16 points per game. None of those teams shot better than 44 percent from the field and only one has scored as many as 100 points. It's their longest home streak since 2009. They are 24-9 at The Q this season. They held the Suns to 35.7 percent shooting from the field. 

2. LeBron James played much better than he did on Friday in Atlanta. The Cavs aren't going to win too many games when he plays like he did against the Hawks. You're used to him being this dominant freak of an athlete. That wasn't the case on Friday. He turned the ball over nine times. He responded with 17 points, six rebounds and eight assists on Saturday - the Cavs' fourth game in five nights and eight in their last 13. He did turn the ball over four times, 13 in his last two nights. He's averaging a career-high 4.3 turnovers per game.

3. The Suns reshaped their team at the deadline, sending Goran Dragic to Miami and bringing in Brandon Knight from Milwaukee. They are both very good players. Knight came into the NBA the same year as Kyrie Irving. They normally really go at it in games. On this night, neither player had anything in the tank. Irving ended with eight points. Knight had 10. 

4. The Cavs snapped a four-game losing streak to the Suns. At no point in the game did I think the Cavs were going to lose. Sure, the Suns went off int he fourth quarter and outscored the Cavs, 27-9. Still, they never got any closer than 10 points.

5. The Cavs have just 17 games left in the regular season. They moved to the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference after tonight's victory, percentage points ahead of Toronto. They want to get up to No. 2. Don't rule that out.

6. James will break the tie with Mark Price (4,206) for first place on the Cavaliers' all-time list in assists in Dallas on March 10.

UP NEXT: at Dallas, American Airlines Arena, 8:30 p.m. Tuesday

STARTERS
SF LeBron James (6-8, 250) vs. P.J. Tucker (6-6, 260)
PF Kevin Love (6-10, 243) vs. Markieff Morris (6-10, 245)
C Timofey Mozgov (7-1, 250) vs. Earl Barron (7-0, 245)
SG J.R. Smith (6-6, 220) vs. Brandon Knight (6-3, 189)
PG Kyrie Irving (6-3, 193) vs. Eric Bledsoe (6-1, 190)
INACTIVE LIST
Cavs - C Anderson Varejao, F Shawn Marion
Suns - G/F Danny Granger
OFFICIALS
Ken Mauer, Mark Ayotte, Ben Taylor


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