Icon SMI

The Cavaliers may not be able to completely replace the productivity they have grown accustom to receiving from Mo Williams and Delonte West, but Daniel Gibson can surely try.

Gibson, playing in place of the the two injured guards, hit a clutch basket late in the game on Saturday night to help the Cavaliers outlast the visiting Thunder 100-99 and win their fourth game in a row.

The fourth-year pro made a long three-pointer from the wing with eight seconds remaining off an assist by LeBron James. The shot gave the Cavaliers a two-point lead, which they would not relinquish, and proved to be the difference in a back-and-forth battle.

Gibson, who made his first start since the 2007-08 season, was just 2-7 from beyond the arc before the shot. That didn’t deter James from trusting his teammate.

“The whole defense was geared towards me and I have a lot of confidence in him,” said James after the game. “I found him streaking down the left wing and I gave him a perfect pass, and he knocked down the biggest shot of the game.”

James may not have hit made the biggest shot of the game, but he had the biggest defensive play of the game.

After Gibson’s 25-foot shot, the Thunder still had a chance to tie the game up and send it in to overtime.

They decided to go to their superstar Kevin Durant, who took the ball at the top of the key and drove the lane on the left side. James stayed with Durant and forced him into a tough layup that appeared to have a chance, until you remember that the Cavaliers have one of the most athletic players in the game.

James waited behind teammate Anthony Parker, then timed his jump perfectly and blocked the shot just before it reached its peak.

“I threw it up there pretty high, but he is the most athletic guy in the league,” said Durant. ”Give him credit, that’s why he’s one of the best shot blockers in the game.”

Durant finished with 34 points and nine rebounds, giving Anthony Parker and Jawad Williams fits the entire night.

“He is one of the toughest covers in the league, not only for us, but for anybody,” said Cavs coach Mike Brown. ”Being 6-foot-10 and being able to come off of pin-downs like he can do and being able to shoot the three-ball with range, he is a tough cover.”

Still, when it came to crunch-time Brown put James on the lanky third-year pro, resulting in the crucial block.

Although his biggest play came defensively, James was spectacular offensively. He scored 34 points to go along with nine rebound and 12 assists.

With two of the Cavaliers biggest offensive threats out, the Cavs looked to their star to makes things happen individually more than usual. As the stats reveal, he didn’t disappoint. It should come as no surprise as the 24-year-old has been tearing up the competition as of late.

James is now averaging 33 points, 7.5 rebounds and 8.1 assists in the month of January, during which time his team is 8-3.

“LeBron has played fantastic basketball as of late,” said Brown. ”…He has been very aggressive, taken terrific shots at the right time, passed the ball at the right time, defended, brought us energy and juice, rebounded and has just played like he is head and shoulders above a lot of people right now.”

Shaquille O’Neal also played a superb game, possibly his best since joining Cleveland last summer.

He finished with 22 points on 8-10 from the field and also grabbed six rebounds.

The Cavaliers force fed their 7-foot-1 center throughout the game, especially in the first three quarters, as they looked to establish a presence down low against the less-physical Thunder.

“Shaq was impressive,” said James. ”He’s going to have to do that with Mo being out. We know he can be very aggressive, get to the line a lot by getting the other team in the penalty, which is really good.”

O’Neal scored nine points in the third quarter as the Cavaliers struggled to find offense. They scored just 21 points in the period, with James and O’Neal appearing to be the only players looking for their shot, and allowed the Thunder to come back from a 56-43 halftime deficit and make it a close game again.

With Williams and West out, the Cavaliers will probably go through some more rough offensive quarters, but having a low-post scoring center like Shaq should continue to help.

“With those guys down, I’ll probably get a few more touches,” said O’Neal. ”Because of my age, teams are probably not going to double team me, but my whole career I’ve shot 55-60 percent so if I can get it in my area, I can go do what I do.”

O’Neal and James both had big nights, but also struggled in one area: free-throw shooting.

James was 13-19 from the line and O’Neal was just 6-15.

As a team the Cavaliers were just 20-40, a chilly 50 percent, and also had trouble taking care of the ball, resulting in a high number of turnovers.

Despite their problems in those two areas, they still found a way to get the victory.

“It was a gutty win,” said Brown. ”If you told me before the game that we were going to go 20-40 from the free throw line and 17 turnovers compared to their nine turnovers and that we would find a way to somehow win the game, I would be a little surprised and a little shocked.”