Bad toe no woe in Cavs victory



Without LeBron James, the Cavaliers rolled past Golden State.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- LeBron James rested his smarting toe, and Sasha Pavlovic made sure the Cleveland Cavaliers didn't stub theirs.
Pavlovic scored a career-high 24 points filling in for his injured teammate and the Cavaliers rolled without their superstar, pounding the Golden State Warriors 124-97 on Tuesday night.
James missed his second game in a less than a week with a sprained right big toe, an injury that isn't going to improve without rest. Cleveland's medical staff advised James to take the night off and there's a chance he could miss more games.
The Cavaliers didn't need James against the Warriors, scoring a season-high in points with their most balanced attack in nearly 13 years. They improved to 8-2 in games the All-Star forward has missed because of injuries during his career.
"He's our guy, so when he's out we have to cut harder, screen better and execute that much more," coach Mike Brown said.
Streak snapped
Donyell Marshall added 15 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas 14 with 10 rebounds and Cleveland snapped a three-game losing streak at home while getting eight players in double figures for the first time since April 22, 1994.
"This was a chance for some of us to make names for ourselves," said Marshall, who had his third straight solid game. "We all know what LeBron can do. With him out, we knew we all had to step up."
Pavlovic, averaging just 14.6 minutes per game, bolted immediately after his best game as a pro and wasn't available for comment.
The Cavaliers made a season-high 12 3-pointers, including four by rookie Daniel Gibson, who made his first start at point guard.
Bad start
Baron Davis scored 21 points to lead the Warriors, who opened a six-game trip with one they'd like to forget. They went just 2-for-20 on 3-pointers, committed 20 turnovers and were never a threat in dropping their fifth straight road game.
"We've got to get serious about winning, that's all it is," Davis said. "We've got some guys that don't know how to prepare for the games and it shows in their play. It's shocking that we get beat like that and LeBron is out. We talked about it this morning, that they were going to come out with a lot of hustle and passion.
"It's like it's falling on deaf ears."
Al Harrington added 13 points and Andris Biedrins 12 for Golden State, which took the Cavaliers to overtime before losing on Jan. 20.
This one was over early as the Cavaliers bolted to a 15-point lead after 12 minutes and never let the Warriors get inside double digits the rest of the way.
Nice job
Searching for more points from his point guard, Brown replaced Eric Snow in the starting lineup with Gibson, who finished with 12 points, two assists and two turnovers in 25 minutes.
"It was special," Gibson said. "I had a couple of butterflies. I really haven't had butterflies like that in a long time."
Pavlovic started last Friday at Philadelphia when James missed his first game of the season to rest his toe.
But coach Mike Brown curiously sat the 6-foot-7 swingman during Cleveland's 115-100 loss to Phoenix on Sunday.
One of Cleveland's most athletic players, Pavlovic scored 15 in the first half and then bettered his career-high by burying a 3-pointer with 6:33 remaining to give Cleveland a 110-84 lead.
The big cushion allowed Brown to clear his bench, giving time to seldom used reserves Dwayne Jones and Scot Pollard.
With James relaxing on the bench wearing a brown velour dress jacket, the Cavaliers worked the ball around on offense instead of doing their usual standing around to watch their leading scorer take over.
They pushed the tempo, made the extra pass and looked better with the ball than they have in weeks.