Cleveland Cavaliers

CLEVELAND -- Mike Brown's first head coaching job will be to make sure LeBron James isn't watching the NBA playoffs next season. Brown, a 13-year NBA assistant who won a league title with San Antonio, has been hired as the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yesterday, the team ended weeks of silence to confirm Brown as their choice. He'll be introduced this morning at Gund Arena by Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, who also may be close to hiring a new general manager and president.

MIAMI - The Miami Heat consider last season a lesson learned. They learned it's difficult to win an NBA championship with three stars thrown together quickly. They learned it's pretentious to promise multiple titles. And they learned it's foolish to assume star power alone would beat a savvy team playing to erase a decade-long stigma of choking. Lessons learned. The Heat return this season humbled, with a determined push to win a championship, but this time they're shunning the spotlight.

SALT LAKE CITY - Rookie Sundiata Gaines hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end a frenzied series of comebacks, giving the Utah Jazz a 97-96 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers last night. LeBron James had led the Cavaliers on a 22-4 run earlier in the fourth quarter and put the Cavs up by 6 points with 32.5 seconds left, but Cleveland couldn’t clinch it from the free throw line. Zydrunas Ilgauskas went 1 of 2 from the line with 5.6 seconds left and the Jazz needed only a field goal to tie it or 3-pointer to win it. Utah’s Ronnie Price got tied up behind the arc and flipped the ball to...

MIAMI — The Miami Heat consider last season a lesson learned. They learned it's difficult to win an NBA championship with three stars thrown together quickly. They learned it's pretentious to promise multiple titles. And they learned it's foolish to assume star power alone would beat a savvy team playing to erase a decade-long stigma of choking. Lessons learned. The Heat return this season humbled, with a determined push to win a championship, but this time they're shunning the spotlight.

CLEVELAND — Angered and betrayed by LeBron James’s decision to leave for Miami, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert accused the NBA’s MVP of quitting during the playoffs. Gilbert, who posted a letter to Cavs fans on the team’s website shortly after James announced his plans to sign with the Heat, told the Associated Press last night that it’s “accountability time’’ for James. “He has gotten a free pass,’’ Gilbert said. “People have covered up for [James] for way too long.

LeBron James had 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists, helping the Cleveland Cavaliers avenge a 92-74 season-opening loss by beating the Mavericks, 88-81, last night in Dallas. Despite the presence of James and reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki and this being a matchup of the last two NBA runners-up, the game was pretty brutal to watch. Through three quarters, Cleveland shot only 36 percent, was 0 for 10 on 3-pointers, and had missed 10 free throws - yet led by 6 points. The Mavericks got within 1 point early in the quarter and made it 81-79 with 4:43 left and James already with five fouls.

CLEVELAND - Carmelo Anthony scored 40 points, including the winning basket, as the Denver Nuggets overcame LeBron James’s triple-double and ended the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 13-game winning streak with a 118-116 overtime victory last night. James (43 points, 13 rebounds, and 15 assists) had registered his triple-double by the end of regulation, but Anthony matched him shot for shot, hitting the winner on a deep jumper over an outstretched James with 1.9 seconds left. Denver’s Kenyon Martin had 18 points and a season-high 17 rebounds, but the night belonged to two of the league’s...

Derrick Rose scored 24 points, Kirk Hinrich had 23 and the Bulls survived some shaky free throw shooting down the stretch to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 109-108, with LeBron James on the sideline last night in Chicago. Luol Deng had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Joakim Noah added 17 points and 15 boards, and the Bulls moved into a tie with eighth-place Toronto in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors hold the tiebreaker, but with Chris Bosh injured, Chicago’s odds are looking good.

MIAMI — The Miami Heat consider last season a lesson learned. They learned it's difficult to win an NBA championship with three stars thrown together quickly. They learned it's pretentious to promise multiple titles. And they learned it's foolish to assume star power alone would beat a savvy team playing to erase a decade-long stigma of choking. Lessons learned. The Heat return this season humbled, with a determined push to win a championship, but this time they're shunning the spotlight.

CLEVELAND -- Paul Silas was hired to mentor the NBA's next superstar. While he succeeded with LeBron James, his failure with the rest of the team cost him his job. Silas was fired as coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers yesterday, his team fighting for a playoff spot after leading its division earlier this year. Longtime NBA assistant Brendan Malone was appointed interim coach. The dismissal came with 18 games left and the team clinging to the fifth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Once again, LeBron James helped the Cleveland Cavaliers reach a milestone in the NBA standings. First to 40 wins one year. First to 40 losses the next. Dwyane Wade scored 26 of his 34 points in the first half, James finished with 24 points and eight assists, and the Heat beat the Cavaliers for the third time since the two-time MVP changed cities, winning, 117-90, last night in Miami to hand Cleveland its 21st straight loss — as many as it dropped in the entire 2009-10 regular season.

Derrick Rose had 28 points and 11 assists and the Bulls won for the 13th time in 15 games, beating the struggling, shorthanded Cleveland Cavaliers, 100-91, last night in Chicago. Sluggish in a win over New Jersey the previous day, the Bulls trailed by 10 against a team that was missing three of its best players. But they outscored Cleveland, 32-9, in the third quarter and hung on after nearly blowing a 15-point lead in the fourth, sending the Cavaliers to their 16th loss in 17 games.

Thaddeus Young had a season-high 26 points and the 76ers defeated the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers, 117-97, last night in Philadelphia for their fourth win in five games. Lou Williams scored 13 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter for Philadelphia, which placed seven players in double figures in its highest scoring output of the season. Jodie Meeks and Jrue Holiday had 16 points apiece, Andre Iguodala scored 13, and Elton Brand finished with 12. J.J. Hickson had 18 points for Cleveland, which has lost five consecutive games by an average of 22.2 points.

Just how much longer will Carmelo Anthony play for the Denver Nuggets? He can opt out of his contract after the upcoming season and become the headliner of the 2011 free agent class or he could play out the final two years of his contract and put off the wine-and-dine tour for a year. He could sign a three-year, $65 million extension that’s been on the table all summer and would keep him in Denver through 2015. Or maybe he’s already played his last game for the Nuggets, who don’t want to be spurned like the Cleveland Cavaliers were when LeBron James went on...

CLEVELAND — Angered and betrayed by LeBron James’s decision to leave for Miami, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert accused the NBA’s MVP of quitting during the playoffs. Gilbert, who posted a letter to Cavs fans on the team’s website shortly after James announced his plans to sign with the Heat, told the Associated Press last night that it’s “accountability time’’ for James. “He has gotten a free pass,’’ Gilbert said. “People have covered up for [James] for way too long.

Tom Izzo is staying at Michigan State, turning down a chance to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers and perhaps LeBron James . “I knew at the beginning that whatever decision I made would be a decision for life,’’ Izzo said yesterday during a news conference on campus. “I am going to be a lifer. This is what I’m going to be, and I’m damn proud of it.’’ For the past nine days, Izzo has been trying to decide whether to leave the place that has been his home since 1983 and jump to the NBA to perhaps make $6 million — doubling his salary — and...

Here's how well the Dallas Mavericks are playing: Even on one of his best nights, LeBron James couldn't take them down. Dirk Nowitzki scored 10 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and James, who scored 39 points, missed two free throws and two 3-pointers in the final 13.7 seconds, letting the Mavericks slip by the Cleveland Cavaliers, 95-92, last night in Dallas for their franchise record-tying 14th straight victory. "It wasn't the prettiest win in that streak, but a win is a win," Mavericks forward Jerry Stackhouse said.

Steve Nash had a season-high 21 assists, becoming the first player in nine years with two 20-assist games in a season and leading the Phoenix Suns to their eighth straight victory, 109-90, over the Cleveland Cavaliers last night in Phoenix. Nash, who had 20 assists against Sacramento Dec. 5, matched Avery Johnson, now the Dallas coach, who had two 20-assist games in 1997-98. Nash's career high is 22, against New York Jan. 2, 2006. LeBron James scored 34 points, including the first 14 of the fourth quarter, for the Cavaliers, whose five-game winning streak was snapped.

LeBron James can pick his next team. If it’s the Cleveland Cavaliers, he won’t be selecting their coach. That was the powerful message from Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert , who refused to comment yesterday on reports he has offered a massive contract to Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and adamantly denied that James has been running Cleveland’s franchise. Gilbert added that James will not be consulted during the team’s coaching search. Speaking at a news conference to introduce new general manager Chris Grant , Gilbert refuted reports that James has had input on...

Danny Ferry stepped down as the Cleveland Cavaliers’ general manager yesterday, a surprise decision that complicates the most important offseason in team history. Ferry’s departure after five seasons occurred two weeks after the club fired coach Mike Brown following the team’s second-round loss to the Celtics. It also comes as the team is making plans to try to re-sign two-time MVP LeBron James , who will be a free agent next month. Ferry was in the final month of his contract.