Cavaliers win 66th to earn home court

By MARY SCHMITT BOYER

Cleveland defeated Indiana 117-109 Monday night.

INDIANAPOLIS — Mission accomplished.

Completing a drive that started before the final horn stopped blaring on a devastating Sunday afternoon last spring in Boston, the Cavaliers defeated the Indiana Pacers, 117-109, on Monday night in Conseco Fieldhouse to improve to a franchise best 66-15 and earn homecourt advantage throughout the NBA playoffs.

If there’s a Game 7 in the playoffs this season, it will be in Quicken Loans Arena, where the Cavs are 39-1 heading into Wednesday’s finale against Philadelphia.

“I applaud the guys in that locker room, from the coaching staff on down to my players,” said Cavs coach Mike Brown, whose team will open the playoffs against the Detroit Pistons this weekend in The Q.

“For them to have the best record in the league says a lot about their mental toughness and physical toughness just to fight and continue to fight through the ups and downs the entire year.

“But it also says a lot to the togetherness that this team has. This team shows togetherness off the floor, on the floor during games, on the bench, on the plane, on the bus, you name it. This group of guys is always together and that’s fun to be around.”

As has been their custom this year, when so many records were set and milestones reached, the Cavs did not celebrate their accomplishment after the final buzzer. They have, as you’ve no doubt heard time and time again, one goal. That goal is winning an NBA championship. Still, clinching the best record in the league — and the Game 7 edge that comes with it, gives the Cavs a huge advantage.

“It’s one step along the way, but it’s a big step,” LeBron James said after leading the Cavs with 37 points. “To go through all the NBA season with the great teams, the great players you have in this league, the great coaches and the great systems, to finish with the best record in the NBA is a great feat for our franchise and we should all be proud of it. We approached every game like it was our last and to have this record shows a lot.”

It shows the determination players brought to the season after losing to the Celtics in a hard-fought, seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal series last spring. After that, Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry made one big move, trading for Mo Williams, and then let the team he put together at the trading deadline last season get to know — and trust — one another.

“Everybody came back to work hungry,” said Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds on Monday. “From day one, nobody took the easy way out or a day off. Everything was great. We had some injuries but guys stepped up and did a nice job. With all the big trades we had, we finally had some time and we came together.”

Indeed there were many contributions from many players on Monday in order for the Cavs to put down a determined Pacers squad led by Danny Granger’s 38 points. Delonte West had 10 points, six rebounds and four assists. Williams had 18 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Anderson Varejao had seven points and 11 rebounds, seven on the offensive glass.

Joe Smith and rookie Darnell Jackson put up some strong play inside and Daniel Gibson hit two 3-pointers, which will be key if the Cavs are to finish this season the way they’ve planned.

James, of course, grew up in the area, so he knows the heartbreak Cleveland fans have gone through over the years.

“It’s bad,” James said of the area’s recent sports history. “Cleveland fans know it, so for us to be in a position to make them forget about that. ... We’ve done that thus far, but we still have a long way to go and hopefully we can erase all those memories.”