CLEVELAND — It hasn’t been easy for Ben Wallace to get comfortable playing with the Cavaliers. It’s also been difficult for his teammates to get used to having the four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year on their side.
On Sunday night, however, all of that changed.
“Big Ben” came up huge on both ends of the floor late in the fourth quarter, providing a boost that Cleveland desperately needed to beat the Charlotte Bobcats 98-91.
Wallace made a pair of baskets and grabbed two offensive rebounds in the final 2:20, putting the finishing touches on a four-point, 15-rebound evening that was his best performance with the Cavaliers.
“I’m trying to get a better grip on what to do on the floor,” said Wallace, who also had three steals and one blocked shot in 28 minutes. “Just trying to help out and not get in the way. Hopefully, I’m helping more than I’m hurting the team.”
There was no doubt the
6-foot-9 power forward was a big help for Cleveland (38-29) against Charlotte (24-42), which put up a great fight in losing for the seventh time in seven all-time trips to Quicken Loans Arena.
Wallace, who missed two dunks earlier, scored on a finger roll with 1:55 left and added a resounding putback slam with 1:32 on the clock. Both came after he collected offensive boards in traffic.
His late heroics complemented terrific games by LeBron James (33 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists) and center Zydrunas Ilgauskas (16 points, nine rebounds, three blocks), who had been sidelined since March 2 with a lower back injury.
“It’s a treat for me to get ‘Z’ back and for all the rest of our bigs,” James said. “They know they can open it up also with him being out there.
“Ben can just roam and get rebounds, get putbacks and get layups because ‘Z’ spreads the floor so much for him.”
Yet the Bobcats managed to make it a game down the stretch by riding the hot hand of small forward Jason Richardson (33 points). Charlotte trailed 77-66 with 9:10 remaining, but pulled within 92-91 with 1:08 left on Richardson’s sixth 3-pointer.
Cleveland point guard Delonte West immediately answered with a pullup jumper from 18 feet to make it 94-91, which set the stage for another Wallace highlight with 33 ticks remaining.
Richardson drove aggressively through the lane, only to have Wallace meet him at the rim and force him into an off-balance miss. Wallace, who appeared to block the shot but was not officially credited with a rejection, collected the rebound.
After running the shot clock down, James split the center of the paint and kissed the ball off the glass. That extended the Cavaliers’ lead to 96-91 with 11 seconds left, which proved to be more than enough when Richardson missed a three and Devin Brown tacked on a pair of free throws before time expired.
“We got this thing down to two, then we miss a key blockout and Ben Wallace is there (dunking) the ball in,” Bobcats coach Sam Vincent lamented. “Guys are still playing hard and well enough to get a win, we’re just coming up a little bit short.”
Sasha Pavlovic scored 11 points and Brown added 10 points and five assists for Cleveland, which has won a season-high seven straight home games.
James also extended his run of 20-point games to 44 and bumped his averages for March to 36.0 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.0 assists. He even took the time to respond to Wizards shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson, who called him “overrated” after Washington beat the Cavaliers on Thursday.
“It’s like Jay-Z saying something to Soulja Boy — it don’t make no sense to respond,” said James, casting himself as his good friend Jay-Z and Stevenson as the far less successful rapper Soulja Boy. “Jay-Z is up here (gesturing above his head) and Soulja Boy is down there (motioning toward his ankles). There’s nothing to say.”
Contact Brian Dulik at (330) 721-4059 or BRISports@hotmail.com.

Cavs 98, Bobcats 91

CHARLOTTE (91): Richardson 13-24 1-1 33, Okafor 4-13 2-4 10, Mohammed 4-10 1-2 9, Felton 6-14 1-4 14, Carroll 2-4 0-0 4, G.Wallace 5-13 0-1 10, Dudley 0-3 0-0 0, Boykins 2-4 0-1 5, Davidson 1-2 0-0 2, Hollins 0-0 2-2 2, Anderson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 38-88 7-15 91.
CLEVELAND (98): James 11-24 10-16 33, B.Wallace 2-4 0-0 4, Ilgauskas 7-11 2-2 16, West 3-12 0-0 7, Pavlovic 4-9 2-4 11, Varejao 0-3 2-2 2, Brown 3-7 3-4 10, Smith 2-5 0-0 4, Da.Jones 2-3 2-2 8, Szczerbiak 1-4 1-1 3. Totals 35-82 22-31 98.
Charlotte     19   21    23    28    —    91
Cleveland    27   20    28    23    —    98
3-Point Goals—Charlotte 8-23 (Richardson 6-11, Boykins 1-1, Felton 1-3, Dudley 0-1, Carroll 0-1, G.Wallace 0-6), Cleveland 6-21 (Da.Jones 2-3, James 1-3, Brown 1-3, Pavlovic 1-4, West 1-6, Szczerbiak 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Charlotte 54 (Mohammed, Okafor 12), Cleveland 60 (B.Wallace 15). Assists—Charlotte 20 (Felton 9), Cleveland 23 (James 10). Total Fouls—Charlotte 22, Cleveland 16. Technicals—Charlotte defensive three second, Cleveland defensive three second. A—20,562 (20,562).
 

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