Zydrunas Ilgauskas didn't care who was or wasn't wearing a 76ers' jersey.
Four years between victories over Philadelphia was long enough.
Ilgauskas scored 28 points and had a key putback, assist and
block in overtime as the Cavaliers snapped a 16-game losing streak
against the Sixers with a 91-88 win Saturday night.
The 7-foot-3 Ilgauskas added eight rebounds and a career-high
seven assists for the Cavs, who hadn't beaten the undermanned
Sixers since April 2, 1999, at Philadelphia.
"Every win is a good win for us," Ilgauskas said. "We only
won 17 games last year, so they're all big. That's a tough team to
beat."
Rookie LeBron James had 22 points, eight assists, five rebounds
and a huge block with 11 seconds left in overtime for the
Cavaliers, who won it with defense down the stretch.
With Cleveland clinging to 90-88 lead, James was caught by a
pick in the lane but raced across the floor and swatted away rookie
Kyle Korver's jumper from the baseline.
"They used (Allen) Iverson as a decoy," James said. "When
Korver got it, I knew he was going to shoot and I just had one of
my high school moments."
Korver then missed a 3-pointer with 5.5 seconds left, and Kevin
Ollie made one of two free throws for Cleveland. Philadelphia guard
Eric Snow's desperation heave at the horn was way off.
The Sixers played without their starting frontcourt for the
second straight game. Derrick Coleman, Glenn Robinson and Kenny
Thomas sat out with injuries.
Iverson, the NBA's leading scorer, matched a season-low with 19
points on 8-of-29 shooting. After leading the Sixers to a win over
the defending champion San Antonio Spurs on Friday, Iverson, who
was hounded by Ricky Davis, just didn't have it.
"If I have an off-night, I have an off-night," Iverson said.
"But I don't do my teammates any favors if I quit trying. You have
to keep fighting and hopefully something will happen at the end.
That's the way it nearly went."
Marc Jackson had 19 points and 15 rebounds for the Sixers, who
shot 34 percent. Snow was just 3-for-15 from the field.
Carlos Boozer, who had 15 points and 15 rebounds, opened the OT
with a jumper and then scored on a dunk off a nice inside feed from
Ilgauskas to put the Cavs up 88-84 with 2:47 left.
After John Salmons scored for Philly, the Cavs crashed the
boards with Ilgauskas finally following in a miss underneath to
make it 90-86.
Ilgauskas, who played the entire OT with five personal fouls,
then blocked Salmons' shot with 1:27 left.
"It was Z's night," Iverson said of Ilgauskas. "They ran
their offense through him. He shot well and caused us problems with
his passing, too."
Aaron McKie's two free throws pulled Philly to 90-88, but the
Cavs survived the comeback with some stifling defense -- a rarity
for them in the early season -- and just enough offense down the
stretch.
"This is a huge win for us," James said. "We didn't buckle
under pressure and we executed in overtime. That's a big, big step
for us."
