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Cavs get big victory

bY Chris Tomasson | Akron Beacon Journal | March 18th,1998

"Ilgauskas loses battle in middle, but Cleveland defeats Portland 96-82"

PORTLAND, ORE.: Arvydas Sabonis was not about to be upstaged again by his countryman. Then again, the Cavaliers were not about to be upstaged again by Portland. The Cavs defeated the Trail Blazers 96-82 last night at the Rose Garden despite 20 points and 10 rebounds by Sabonis, the Portland center who won the duel against fellow Lithuanian Zydrunas Ilgauskas. The last time the Cavs and Blazers played, on Jan. 20 at Gund Arena, Ilgauskas outscored Sabonis 15-6 and outrebounded him 8-5 in their first-ever meeting. But the Blazers won 86-84 on a last-second shot. Zydrunas scored just six points and grabbed three rebounds last night, but it was another big man from the former Soviet Union who stepped up big for the Cavs. Ukraine's Vitaly Potapenko came off the bench to score a season-high 20 points as the Cavs broke a six-game road losing streak. ``It was nice playing good against Sabonis, but what I really wanted was to help our team,'' Potapenko said. ``It was a big win.'' One could consider it one of the bigger wins of the season by the Cavs (35-30). Then again, Portland (36-28) lost three nights earlier to Denver. The key for the Cavs was a 9-0 run to open the fourth period that allowed them to extend a 70-66 lead to 79-66. The Blazers didn't score during the first 4:41 of the final quarter. ``We showed a lot of energy and made a nice run to begin the fourth quarter,'' Cavs coach Mike Fratello said. ``It was one of our best games of the season.'' It certainly was for point guard Brevin Knight, who had a season-high 20 points for the Cavs. Forward Shawn Kemp also scored 20, but he gave Fratello a scare early in the fourth period when he went down with a leg injury. It was diagnosed as just a cramp and Kemp sat out for less than four minutes. ``I jumped over a cheerleader trying to get out of her way,'' Kemp said. ``A couple of my teammates were telling me I should have just run her over.'' The Cavs got run over by Sabonis early in the game. He scored 10 points in the first six minutes of the first period before Ilgauskas even scored. Ilgauskas soon was replaced by Potapenko, who ended up playing 34 minutes to 17 for Ilgauskas. ``I can't say enough about Vitaly's performance,'' Fratello said. Sabonis had 14 points in the first half, but managed just six in the second half as Potapenko and several other Cavs were all over him. ``They were double-teaming him,'' Trail Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy said. ``We he got the ball to open people, we couldn't knock it down.'' Cavs guard Wesley Person came in needing two 3-pointers to break the team record of 152 set by Mark Price in 1989-90. He got the first with 5:16 left in the second period. The record came just a few possessions later with 3:28 left in the quarter. ``I'm just in a real good groove shooting the ball this year,'' Person said. The second period also featured a strong candidate for CNN's Play of the Day. Blazers guard Rick Brunson through a hard pass that forward Rasheed Wallace only could reach out and deflect with his hand. The ball bounced off the backboard and into the basket, delighting the crowd. It looked early on as if the Blazers were going to blow the Cavs out of the Rose Garden, taking a 6-0 lead. But the Cavs were able to get back into the game with a 12-6 run that tied the score 12-12. The Cavs led 49-46 at halftime before extending the lead to 70-66 through three quarters. The Cavs then blitzed the Trail Blazers in the final period. ``We played a complete game,'' Fratello said. Sabonis didn't, and that's why the Cavs were able to pull away at the end.