It’s too easy to pile it on Larry Hughes when he’s struggling. That’s why we’re going to do so on the heels of his best game in three seasons with the Cavaliers.
Hughes was sensational Monday night, scoring 40 points to lead the Cavaliers to a 118-111 victory in Orlando.
In notching his best scoring performance with Cleveland, the 6-foot-5 guard poured in 33 points in the second half, including 23 in the third period.
He was great, terrific, awesome, efficient, exciting, creative and more at Amway Arena.
In the locker room, he was humble, articulate, friendly and cooperative, just as he’s always been since signing a five-year, $65 million deal in the summer of 2005.
That said, area hoops fans should be hoping Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry was burning up the phone lines Tuesday, attempting to find someone willing to take the suddenly “red-hot” Hughes off his hands prior to the Feb. 21 trade deadline.
Send him to Sacramento for Mike Bibby. Send him back to Philadelphia for Andre Miller. Send him to New Jersey as part of a deal for Jason Kidd. Send him somewhere for something. Send him anywhere for anything.
Though likable and professional, Hughes is the proverbial square peg trying to fit into a round hole with the Cavaliers.
Despite what you may want to believe after watching the Orlando game, he can’t shoot — and he shoots too much, often at the worst of times.
He also can’t create for others, which is why the team’s alleged point guard has so many games with one assist.
Most important of all, he’s nowhere close to being Robin to LeBron James’ Batman, which is why the Cavaliers gave him all that money in the first place.
That’s not going to change, which is why Ferry should hope and pray some horrible GM out there saw Hughes’ performance against the Magic and suddenly became enamored with him.
Strike while the iron is hot, because history tells us it won’t stay hot for long.
Remember that 36-point game Hughes had against Indiana on Dec. 11? He was 13-of-17 from the field, made five 3-pointers in eight attempts and hit all five of his free throws.
Well, he was 4-of-15 from the field in the next game, 1-of-9 in the game after that, 3-of-11 in the game after that, 3-of-10 in the game after that, 2-of-8 in the game after that, 1-of-8 in the game after that, 2-of-7 in the game after that, 6-of-15 in the game after that and 1-of-9 in the game after that.
Despite that non-production, the injury-prone Hughes will make almost $26.5 million over the next two seasons, meaning the Cavaliers’ chances of trading him are lower than his shooting percentage on his worst night.
But they still can try, right?

Tip-ins

San Antonio (33-17), which swept the Cavaliers (29-22) in the NBA Finals, has lost the last four regular-season meetings between the teams and will be completing a six-game road trip when it invades at Quicken Loans Arena tonight.
• The Spurs will be without lightning-quick point guard Tony Parker (left ankle inflammation), who created a ton of matchup problems for the Cavaliers in the finals.
• The Cavaliers are 14-14 on the road.
• Hughes’ 40 points were the most ever scored by a Cleveland player against Orlando, topping James’ 39 on Nov. 14, 2007. The Magic won that game 117-116 in overtime at The Q.
• Donyell Marshall had a season-high nine points against Orlando. He added seven rebounds.
• Other than Sasha Pavlovic (sprained left mid-foot) and Anderson Varejao (sprained left ankle), the only Cleveland player who didn’t suit up against Orlando was Daniel Gibson (strained right hamstring).
• Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who experienced back spasms Sunday against Denver, needs 28 points to reach 9,000 for his career.

Quote of the day

“We were trying to run people at LeBron and we left Larry Hughes open a lot. He’s a 23 percent 3-point shooter and he goes 4-for-5.” — Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy on Hughes’ 40-point night.
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

TONIGHT

WHO: Cleveland vs. San Antonio
TIME: 7 o’clock
WHERE: The Q
TV/RADIO: FSN Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

 

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