Terrific rookies cut down the Nets!

The Cleveland Cavaliers led by as many as 15 points in the first quarter,allowed the New Jersey Nets battle back into the game by halftime and then took over in the fourth quarter late to win a 105-100 nod at the Rock in Newark.
Cleveland was led by their rookies in the win as Tristan Thompson scored a career high 27 points and Kyrie Irving scored 26 more as the Cavaliers kept the Nets slowed down late in the game when the teams swapped the lead.
Cleveland improves to 17-26 with the win and will travel to Atlanta Wednesday night.

Swashbucklings

1) Tristan Thompson had to be the star of this win as he scored 27 points and grabbed 12 boards.
Thompson was not hitting jumpers as almost all of his points were from three feet or less as Thompson had several slams,but the biggest play was a light tip-in with a little over a minute to go to give the Cavaliers a lead that they would not allow themselves to lose.

2) Look in the above picture in the upper left corner.The Devils championship banners are visible.
The Nets are playing at the Rock until their new arena in Brooklyn is ready next season and from what I saw,the drawing power looks pretty limited as the crowd looked pretty sparse.

3) Kyrie Irving continues to be the Cavaliers Mr.Clutch as he scored the final six points of the game following the Thompson tip-in.
Irving had a total of 14 points in the fourth quarter alone.
Not much more that I can say about Irving than I have written before...

4) Daniel Gibson sprained an ankle and did not return to the game .
Donald Sloan played 19 minutes as he had to pick up the slack of the missing Gibson.
Sloan finished with 11 points in his first substantial playing time as a Cavalier.

5) Samardo Samuels scored ten first half points with some nice moves around the hoop,including a hook shot or two.
Samuels gives you just enough hope to keep stringing you along in thinking that he can eventually be a productive performer.

6) Manny Harris was marked inactive in what Byron Scott termed as a clerical error,so the Cavaliers were actually playing a man down.
That decision also contributed to the nick under twenty minutes of playing time for Donald Sloan.

7) Former Cavalier J.J. Hickson was bought out of his contract by the Sacramento Kings.
Looks like neither side of the Hickson for Omri Casspi are particularly thrilled with their off season trade at this point as Casspi is playing just 15-18 minutes a night after being a starter earlier in the season.

Photo Credit:Chris Chambers-Getty Images