10-12-2008

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James, Ilgauskas, Cavaliers Break Franchise and NBA Records »

The NBA has never seen anything like these Cleveland Cavaliers. On a night when their top two players set franchise records, the Cavs broke a league mark with a 114-94 romp over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday. LeBron James scored 31 points and became Cleveland’s career steals leader and Zydrunas Ilgauskas moved atop the Cavaliers’ rebounding chart as Cleveland improved to 12-0 at home with its latest rout. In winning their ninth straight by at least 12 points, the Cavaliers, now 17-1 since Nov. 3, are the first team in league history to win nine consecutive games in a single season so handily. Cleveland came in tied with Portland (1990-91), Chicago (1996-97), Detroit (2003-04) and Houston (2007-08). Nine wins. Nine routs. “That’s unbelievable,” James said. “Knowing the history of some of the great teams, the Chicago Bulls team that went 72-10, the Celtics teams, the Lakers teams and the Pistons teams, it’s unbelievable for our franchise to accomplish something like that.” And the way they’re playing, it doesn’t look like the Cavs have any intention of slowing down. They’ve won the nine games in their streak by an average of 21.5 points. Enjoy LeBron’s NBA photos from the past three games after the jump.

Photos Copyright Notice: Copyright 2008 NBAE via Getty Images. Photos by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images, Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Images, Brock Williams-Smith/NBAE via Getty Images.