• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Gooden carries Cavaliers over Bucks

Jan 6, 2007 - 5:23 AM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Superstar LeBron James wasn't on top of his game. But Drew Gooden was there to pick up the slack.

Gooden scored a season-high 31 points and Larry Hughes chipped in 22 as the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied for a 95-86 triumph over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Gooden connected on 13-of-20 shots and grabbed 16 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who have won six of their last seven games overall.

"My opportunities came and fortunately I came through for my team," Gooden said. "I trusted my teammates and my teammates trusted me and I got the opportunity to come through."

"We needed every point and bit of sweat from every guy tonight, but Drew was fantastic," Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. "He was a physical presence in there in addition to the offense."

Gooden fell just two points shy of tying his career high set against the Bucks last season.

"They were tailing on LeBron and we knew we had to get to the open areas and trust each other to find the open shot," Gooden said.

James was held to a season-low eight points, marking the eighth time in his four-year career he has been held under double-figures. His previous season low was 15 points on December 11 at New Orleans.

"Win, lose or draw, I've got to play a better game, but we won the game, I was fortunate," said James, who handed out nine assists. "Out of my 13 shots, I think 11 of them were good shots, but I'm not worried about my shots because we got the win."

Hughes and Eric Snow drained consecutive jumpers with 2:55 remaining, capping an impressive 12-0 surge to help Cleveland build an 86-82 advantage. Gooden scored six points in the run.

The Bucks never recovered thereafter, scoring just four points the rest of the way. Milwaukee was outscored, 27-12, in the fourth quarter.

"It didn't look pretty (the fourth quarter)," Bucks guard Mo Williams said. "We missed some easy shot and they hit shots when they counted. We just got caught in a funk. That's a part of basketball."

"We started contesting shots and it showed what kind of defensive team we are when we shut it down," James said. "We held a good team to 13 points in the fourth quarter."

Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Cavaliers, who shot 41 percent (36-of-87) from the floor and pulled down 18 offensive rebounds.

Michael Redd scored 26 points and Andrew Bogut added 16 and 10 rebounds for the Milwaukee, which had its seven-game home winning streak snapped.

"We've got to be able to play half court," Bucks coach Terry Stotts said. "We have to be able to play that. We're not always going to be able to get the run-outs."