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Mo Williams played a perfect game on Saturday night. At least from the three-point line.
Williams shot 7-7 from beyond the arc as the Cavaliers defeated the Dallas Mavericks 111-95. The 6-1 point guard scored 25 points for the home team, who never trailed after the first quarter in a one-sided contest.
The Cavs played spirited on both ends of the court, especially offensively. Nine players scored points, including five in double-figures. The Cavaliers shot nearly 58 percent from the field, compared to just 47 percent for the Mavericks.
Although the majority of coach Mike Brown’s players, including LeBron James and Anderson Varejao, were efficient shooting the ball, Williams performance stood above the rest.
“To go seven for seven and not miss a three, that is awesome,” said James about his hot-shooting teammate. ”That is just the hard work he puts into it and it transferred to the court.”
The win was a nice bounce-back victory for the Cavs after a disappointing seven-point defeat at the hands of the Charlotte Bobcats the previous night. In that loss, the Cavaliers struggled on both ends of the court and allowed Gerald Wallace to go off for 31 points and 14 rebounds.
“Last night, we didn’t do a good job defensively, starting with me,” said Brown. ”We were kind of all over the map and it showed. Defensively, tonight we were a little better. Offensively, we moved the ball and knocked down open looks when we had them.”
The Cavaliers jumped on the Mavericks early, leading 35-26 after the first period. Seven Cavs scored in that opening quarter, led by James, who had 11 in the period. As a team Cleveland shot 64 percent from the field in the first 12 minutes and hit three 3-pointers.
The second quarter turned out to be more of the same as the Cavaliers totaled 33 points, four more than the Mavericks managed. Heading into the half, Williams and James had already accumulated a games-worth of statistics.
Williams had 17 points in the first half, while James had 13 points, 11 assists and five rebounds.
“It was probably as poor a defensive half as we’ve played all year,” said Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle. ”And, you can’t do that against a team that’s this good in their home court. It makes it very difficult.”
The Mavericks came out with a better defensive effort in the second half.
Williams and James combined for just seven points in the third quarter as the Cavaliers were outscored 24-19 in the period. Dallas got an eight-point quarter from Dirk Nowitzki, who finished the game with 27 points and nine rebounds, and a six-point quarter from Jason Kidd.
Heading into the final period the Cavaliers held an 87-79 advantage and quickly ended any hopes the Mavericks had of leaving Quicken Loans Arena with a victory.
A Mo Williams three-pointer with 9:47 remaining put the Mavericks in a double-digit hole, which the Cavalier defense made sure they couldn’t climb out of.
“In the fourth quarter, our defense stepped up a notch and helped us get a little more separation,” said Brown.
The Cavalier bench proved to be a major plus for the home team. Varejao, Delonte West and Jamario Moon all scored 10-plus points.
Varejao scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half, while Moon tallied 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the game.
The 26-year-old West has been battling personal issues over the past several months, but had his best game of the season on Saturday. He played a season-high 28 minutes, scoring 10 points and dishing out 10 assists.
“Delonte is just one of those guys,” said James. ”He could not play for seven or eight straight games and come back in and it’s like he never missed a beat. I don’t know how he does it, but you have certain guys in this league that can do that and he is one of them.”
With Mo Williams on fire and James playing a superb all-around game (25 points, five rebounds, 12 assists, one turnover), the Cavaliers were no too much for the Mavericks, who fell to 12-5 on the season.
“We didn’t play our game tonight and they did a great job of getting out on us early,” said Mavericks forward Drew Gooden, a former Cavalier. ”They shot over 50 percent, I believe, for the whole game, and it’s tough to win basketball games when you let a team get it going like that.”

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Sun, Nov 29, 2009
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