CLEVELAND — There was an ejection, but no dejection.
Cavaliers point guard Mo Williams was tossed midway through the first quarter Saturday at Quicken Loans Arena, but Cleveland staged a tremendous rally down the stretch to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 100-93 for its first preseason win in five games.
“It’s good for our morale and the young guys to come back and get a victory,” said guard Delonte West, who was sensational in finishing with 17 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists. “We definitely took a positive step.”
The Cavaliers trailed the entire game — they took their first lead with 1:23 to go — but went on a 20-2 run over the final 3:58 to steal a victory.
“The intensity was good,” said Cleveland coach Mike Brown, who tightened his rotation considerably but did not use LeBron James in the fourth quarter.
“You always want to win and be intense. In the same breath, we just have to continue to do our job.”
A number of players did that against the Sixers, who were without starting power forward Elton Brand (personal reasons) and center Samuel Dalembert (bruised knee).
In addition to West, who was 6-of-8 from the field and made all three of his 3-point attempts, Anderson Varejao was 7-of-7 from the field and scored 15 points. James had 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in 26 minutes and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 17 points and eight boards.
Williams, acquired from Milwaukee in the offseason, had no points. He received his second technical foul with 6:08 to go in the opening period, but it came as a result of an incident that occurred 19 seconds earlier.
Philadelphia point guard Andre Miller was pushing the ball in transition and, while attempting to keep Williams away from him, was called for an offensive foul. A frustrated Miller tossed the ball at Williams, who was lying on the floor, and both players received technicals.
On Cleveland’s ensuing possession, Miller was called for a reach-in foul against Williams. Williams said something to Miller and, upon seeing official Sean Corbin preparing to give him another technical, ran up to the referee and, with a smile on his face, attempted to keep Corbin from completing the call by wrapping his arms around the official’s arms.
It didn’t work, as Corbin assessed Williams another technical, which calls for an automatic ejection.
“It wasn’t anything against the ref,” Williams said. “It wasn’t anything against Andre Miller. (Miller) got me going. I was ready to play and go to work.”
Instead, Williams’ night ended 5:52 into the game, causing the point guard to be a little upset with the normally professional Miller, who he felt instigated the situation.
“He picked the wrong guy for that,” Williams said. “I came here to play basketball. If you don’t want to play basketball, let me know that beforehand.”
Brown said he “was a little shocked (Williams) got booted that quickly,” but did not blame his point guard.
“Both players were kind of jawing at one another,” the coach said. “I guess they saw Mo and didn’t see Andre, but they were both talking.”
In the end, the elation of finally winning — James leaped and chest-bumped Daniel “Boobie” Gibson, J.J. Hickson and West as they headed to a timeout huddle late in the game — trumped the ejection.
“They did a great job,” James said of his teammates. “They made some big plays down the stretch.”

Tip-ins

Cavaliers rookie Darnell Jackson has a broken left wrist and will be in a cast seven to 10 days, but he’s expected to be out a bit longer than that. Jackson said the wrist had been bothering him for several weeks, but he tried to play through the pain before finally getting examined Friday.
“I can take a lot of pain,” he said. “I just kept blowing it off and blowing it off. Finally, I got irritated with it and asked (team trainers and doctors) to check me out.”
• The Cavaliers have gotten a lot of positive phone calls and e-mails praising how openly and eloquently West, who left the team for 12 days, talked about dealing with a mood disorder and depression.
• Brown experimented with a small lineup in the first half, with James playing power forward on offense and Wally Szczerbiak defending Reggie Evans on defense. The results were mixed.
• Sasha Pavlovic started at shooting guard and went 1-of-8 from the field. The shot he made was a big one, however, as his 3-pointer pulled the Cavaliers within one with 1:53 to go.
• Donyell Marshall, who is in his 15th NBA season and on his last legs, exchanged some friendly banter with his former Cleveland teammates after making five 3-pointers, but the Cavaliers had the last word when the 35-year-old’s game went to pot down the stretch.
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

Cavaliers 100, 76ers 93

PHILADELPHIA (93): Speights 2-7 0-0 4, Young 4-11 5-6 13, Ratliff 0-1 0-0 0, Iguodala 5-9 7-8 17, Miller 3-8 2-2 8, L.Williams 5-13 4-8 15, Evans 2-4 6-9 10, Green 2-4 0-0 5, Marshall 5-11 0-0 15, Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Rush 1-4 1-3 4, Ivey 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 30-75 25-36 93.
CLEVELAND (100): James 6-14 4-7 16, Wallace 1-1 0-0 2, Ilgauskas 5-13 7-8 17, Pavlovic 1-8 3-4 6, M.Williams 0-3 0-0 0, Gibson 3-10 3-4 9, Szczerbiak 3-6 0-0 8, West 6-8 2-2 17, Varejao 7-7 1-3 15, Wright 0-1 0-0 0, Kinsey 2-5 0-0 4, Hickson 2-3 2-4 6. Totals 36-79 22-32 100.
Philadelphia    22    26    26    19    —    93
Cleveland    19    28    21    32    —    100
3-Point Goals—Philadelphia 8-18 (Marshall 5-7, Green 1-1, Rush 1-3, L.Williams 1-4, Iguodala 0-1, Young 0-2), Cleveland 6-15 (West 3-3, Szczerbiak 2-2, Pavlovic 1-4, Gibson 0-1, James 0-1, M.Williams 0-2, Kinsey 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Philadelphia 48 (Speights 8), Cleveland 61 (James 10). Assists—Philadelphia 16 (L.Williams 8), Cleveland 26 (West 10). Total Fouls—Philadelphia 29, Cleveland 27. Technicals—Miller, Philadelphia defensive three second, Ilgauskas, M.Williams. Flagrant Foul—West. Ejection— M.Williams. A—19,492 (20,562).

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