<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">CLEVELAND - When the going gets tough, the tough hike up their tights and go to the basket. The Cavaliers' victories of late have come in many textures and flavors, and Wednesday's was another exhibit. Playing a slow-tempo, physical, grinding affair with the New Jersey Nets, the Cavs didn't do much pretty. So they played ugly and churned out a 91-85 victory. It was the Cavs' seventh consecutive win, as they got to 10 games above .500 (27-17) for the first time this season. Of course, LeBron James played a major role, delivering a clutch fourth quarter to carry his rugged, yet sluggish mates home. He scored 15 of his 26 points in the final quarter and put the finishing touches on his third triple-double of the season with 11 rebounds and 10 assists. The Nets (23-21) snapped the Detroit Pistons' 11-game winning streak in their building Tuesday by playing slowly and methodically and brought the game plan with them. They swarmed James, sometimes assigning three defenders to his area, to force the ball out of his hands. They also walked it up the floor and swallowed the shot clock. That knocked the Cavs from their usual rhythm. They turned it over in bunches early, 11 times in the first half. ``We aren't used to their style, whatever their style is,'' said Cavs coach Mike Brown, whose team had lost five in a row to Jersey. ``We had to get ugly and dirty.'' James scored just four points in the first half and didn't make it to the free-throw line until there were five minutes left in the third quarter. The assigned shooters were unable to help. Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones had off nights, combining to go 4-of-15. The other option, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, looked tired and lumbered to get open in the post, getting just five shots. Had it not been for Drew Gooden, who had 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting, the winning streak might've been toast. Yet the Nets couldn't take advantage on the other end, struggling to find holes and lanes within the Cavs' defense. They were all too content to settle for long jumpers, most of which were misses that the Cavs corralled. In all, the Nets shot just 38 percent and were outrebounded 51-33 as Cavs guards Eric Snow (eight rebounds), Sasha Pavlovic (seven) and James grasped long rebounds. As such, the Cavs were still in position late, which is when James got active. He worked overtime to find daylight going to the basket for layups and fouls. He got to the foul line 10 times in the fourth quarter, making nine to secure a win. ``You're going to have games like this,'' James said. ``I knew I was going to have to be a little more aggressive for us to win.''</div> Source
