CLEVELAND - About the only person who didn’t have a great night was the guy who had been on the floor in a Cavaliers uniform 723 times before.

With an extremely rare “did not play-coach’s decision” in the final box score, Zydrunas Ilgauskas did not break the franchise record for games played, but the Cavaliers were all smiles after beating the Dallas Mavericks 111-95 Saturday at Quicken Loans Arena.

“We had a lot of guys stand out individually in a lot of different ways,” was how coach Mike Brown summed up his team’s outstanding performance, which came one night after the Cavaliers produced a clunker in a loss in Charlotte.

LeBron James led Cleveland (12-5) with 25 points, five rebounds and 12 assists. He had no boards and just one assist after halftime, but the small forward got a ton of help from his teammates.

Mo Williams tied a career high by making seven 3-pointers - in seven attempts - en route to a 25-point night of his own, which helped atone for the fact he had trouble keeping Dallas (12-5) guards in front of him the entire first half.

“Mo is Mo,” James said. “It never surprises me what Mo can do.”

It took Williams awhile to get acclimated to playing with new center Shaquille O’Neal, but he’s hit his stride and is now averaging 17.8 points while shooting .488 from behind the arc. Since the beginning of last season, the Cavaliers are 20-0 at The Q when he scores at least 20 points.

“I like being under the radar,” Williams said. “I like being the silent assassin. I don’t need the pub.”

Neither does reserve power forward Anderson Varejao, who made all seven of his shots from the field. Varejao, who was crucial in keeping the Cavaliers comfortably ahead in the third period, had 13 of his season-high 15 points and six of his nine rebounds after intermission.

“Andy does one thing and that’s work hard,” James said. “That’s something you can’t coach.”

Jamario Moon had all 13 of his points in the first half and added nine rebounds, while Delonte West had his best game of the season in putting up 10 points and 10 assists - he didn’t have a turnover - in 29 minutes off the bench.

West had fallen almost totally out of the rotation in recent games, but ended up getting all the minutes Ilgauskas was slated to receive when Dallas, which tied a franchise record for fewest rebounds with 24, went to a very small lineup.

“I had ‘Z’ slotted for his regular 22 to 24 minutes,” Brown said. “When they went small, I decided to go small and match up with them a little bit better.”

The strategy means Ilgauskas will have to wait to break the franchise record for games played that he shares with general manager Danny Ferry, but it worked to perfection against the Mavs, who had won seven of their last eight games and began the night with an NBA-best 7-2 road record.

James had 11 points, four rebounds and seven assists as Cleveland, which had assists on 13 of its 14 field goals, jumped to a 35-26 lead after one.

Behind West, the Cavaliers were even better in the second period, going up 68-50 late in a first half in which they shot .684 from the field (26-of-38) and missed just one of their eight 3-point attempts.

“He was awesome,” James said of West, who scored on several post-up moves while also delivering perfect passes to cutting teammates for easy hoops.

Of course, just when it looked like Cleveland was going to blow the game open, Dallas scored five points in the final five seconds of the first half and four more to start the third period to quickly get within nine.

The Mavs, who got 27 points and nine rebounds from Dirk Nowitzki and 25 points off the bench from Jason Terry, got within seven with 7:20 to play in the third, but the Cavaliers righted themselves behind Varejao’s inspired play at the offensive end.

“He did a great job in the second half of getting a lot of second-chance points and offensive rebounds for them,” Dallas starting center Drew Gooden said. “That’s his job and he does a great job at it.”

Tip-ins

The Cavaliers’ public relations department was unable to determine if Ilgauskas’ DNP-CD was the first of his career. He has been listed in a box score in several games in which he did not play, but whether he was healthy - or even in uniform - could not be determined.

• O’Neal (nine points, six rebounds) didn’t have a great night statistically, but he drew three fouls on the smaller Mavs in the first 2:46 of the final period on a night when the Cavaliers owned a commanding 39-24 advantage on the boards.

• Cleveland tied a Quicken Loans Arena record with 23 assists in the first half and finished with a season-high 33.

• The last NBA player to make seven 3-pointers in a game without a miss was Bobby Jackson, who turned the trick for New Orleans on Jan. 11, 2008.

• West was the first Cleveland reserve to have 10 assists in a game since Eric Snow, who had 13 on April 19, 2005. The last Cavaliers reserve to post a double-double in points and assists was Brevin Knight on April 19, 2000.

• Varejao was the first Cleveland sub to go 7-of-7 from the field since Tyrone Hill did so on March 21, 1996.

Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

Cavs 111, Mavericks 95

DALLAS (95): Marion 5-8 2-2 12, Nowitzki 10-19 7-9 27, Gooden 1-4 4-4 6, Kidd 3-6 0-0 9, Beaubois 0-3 0-0 0, Terry 8-15 5-7 25, Thomas 0-3 0-0 0, Barea 4-7 1-1 10, Humphries 2-4 0-1 4, Singleton 1-3 0-0 2, Carroll 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-72 19-24 95.

CLEVELAND (111): James 10-20 5-7 25, Hickson 2-4 0-0 4, O’Neal 4-10 1-4 9, M.Williams 9-12 0-0 25, Parker 3-6 1-1 8, Varejao 7-7 1-1 15, Gibson 1-4 0-0 2, Moon 5-8 2-2 13, West 4-7 2-2 10, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, J.Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 45-78 12-17 111.

Dallas              26            29            24            16            -           95
Cleveland       35            33            19            24            -           111

3-Point Goals-Dallas 8-19 (Terry 4-7, Kidd 3-5, Barea 1-2, Beaubois 0-1, Thomas 0-2, Singleton 0-2), Cleveland 9-13 (M.Williams 7-7, Moon 1-2, Parker 1-2, James 0-2). Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-Dallas 32 (Nowitzki 9), Cleveland 49 (Moon, Varejao 9). Assists-Dallas 20 (Kidd 9), Cleveland 33 (James 12). Total Fouls-Dallas 18, Cleveland 22. Technicals-O’Neal. A-20,562 (20,562).

NEXT UP

• WHO: Cleveland vs. Phoenix
• WHEN: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
• WHERE: The Q
• TV/RADIO: FS Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

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