West ignites Cavaliers’ domination of Bucks

By ASSOCIATED PRESS Monday, Dec. 7, 2009

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Cleveland Cavaliers' Daniel Gibson knocks the ball out of the hands of Milwaukee Bucks' Luke Ridnour during the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday in Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE — Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said he’s sticking with Delonte West. The troubled guard showed for a game that Cleveland’s faith in him could pay off.

“He started for us on a 66-win team last year,” Brown said. “We know what he’s definitely capable of. We’re going to be patient with him. The team’s going to be patient, I’m going to be patient and just continue kind of plugging along.”

Playing 24 minutes in a reserve role, West scored 14 of his season-high 21 points in a

29-0 first-half run to lead the streaking Cavaliers to a 101-86 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday.

“When he gets his opportunity and he’s playing well, we’ll keep playing him,” Brown said. “But we won’t expect that every night.”

LeBron James had 14 points and 10 assists for his fourth straight double-double. After opening the season 3-3, the Cavaliers have gone 12-2 to improve to 15-5.

Former Bucks guard Mo Williams scored 13 points for the Cavs, Shaquille O’Neal had 10 points in just over 15 minutes, and Anderson Varejao added 12 rebounds.

Cleveland’s big run straddled the first and second quarters and was the biggest scoreless streak in the NBA this season.

James said it was the biggest run he’d been a part of since he was a prep star.

“I’ve been on 75-0 runs before in high school,” James joked.

Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings scored 15 of his 24 points in the second half after Milwaukee was in a big hole.

That was mostly because of the play of West, who had his best performance so far this season after a rocky summer. West has been working through personal and legal issues after being arrested in September in Washington and declined to comment after the game through a team spokeswoman.

Milwaukee (9-10) missed 12 straight shots to start the second quarter and went more than 11 minutes without a point before Carlos Delfino hit a turnaround jumper with 5:11 left in the half.

“Nobody was able to take the lid off for us,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles said.

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