By RICK NOLAND

Assistant Sports Editor

CLEVELAND — There are some games the Cavaliers can’t help but win.

Sunday was one of them, as Cleveland registered a less-than-impressive 84-76 victory over the woeful Miami Heat at Quicken Loans Arena.

The game was so blasé Cavaliers coach Mike Brown’s postgame press conference lasted 41 seconds and didn’t include a single question from media members, who appear to want the regular season to end as much as Cleveland’s players do.

“At the end of the day, we needed a win, so it was a good win for us,” Brown said.

Cleveland (44-36) didn’t play well at all in winning for just the second time in its last five games, but it didn’t have to against the Heat (14-66), which has locked up the worst record in basketball.

The Cavaliers now need just one victory in their last two games — at Philadelphia tonight and at home vs. nothing-to-play-for Detroit on Wednesday — or a Washington loss to lock up home-court advantage against the Wizards in their first-round playoff series.

Of course, if Cleveland doesn’t play any better than it did against the Heat, its first-round series will also be its last.

“A win is a win to me,” said point guard Delonte West, who led the Cavaliers with 18 points. “At the end of the day, it’s a ‘W.’ However you get it done.”

Miami actually led by three with 11 minutes to go, only to have the Cavaliers, sans LeBron James, go on a 10-0 run that featured a 3-pointer and three free throws by Daniel “Boobie” Gibson.

“Before I was injured, those were the things I did a lot,” Gibson said. “Just big shots — I relish that. I really want to get back to doing that again.”

The Heat, which is extremely bad under the best of circumstances, trotted out an NBA Development League lineup against the Cavaliers. With Dwyane Wade, Shawn Marion and Udonis Haslem among its seven players out with injuries, Miami started guys named Chris Quinn and Stephane Lasme, with equally big household names Earl Barron, Joel Anthony and Kasib Powell playing prominent roles off the bench for Pat Riley’s club.

The result was a predictably ugly and uninteresting game, with the Cavaliers shooting .378 from the field and Miami coming in at .394.

James had 13 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, but attempted just nine shots and committed five turnovers. Zydrunas Ilgauskas was 6-of-18 from the field but had 14 rebounds as the Cavaliers dominated the boards 53-33.

Wally Szczerbiak, meanwhile, didn’t play in the second half after going 0-of-3 in 10 listless first-half minutes. Sasha Pavlovic ended up playing 19 minutes and was only slightly better, going 2-of-7 from the field as Damon Jones continued to pick up splinters.

On the positive side, the Cavaliers somehow found 20,562 fans willing to pay to see this game, helping them equal a franchise record with their 32nd sellout of the season.

“It felt like an end-of-the-season type game,” West said. “Guys on both sides were just out there playing, then at the end both teams turned it up.”

The Heat led 21-19 after former Ohio State product Daequan Cook, another starter, poured in 11 first-quarter points. Despite its .382 shooting from the field, Miami was still within two, 40-38, after a dreadful first half that also featured a .341 bricklaying effort by the Cavaliers.

Things were even uglier at the foul line, where Anthony one-upped Cleveland’s Ben Wallace (0-of-2) and Anderson Varejao (2-of-6) with an attempt that was so far left, it hit backboard but never touched the rim.

In the fourth quarter, Miami’s Mark Blount topped that by inadvertently tipping a ball into Cleveland’s basket to put the Cavaliers up eight near the two-minute mark.

“We have a lot of games like this,” Cook said. “We’ve played 30-plus, maybe 40-plus games where we’ve been close like this.”

Noland may be reached at rickn@ohio.net or 330-721-4061.

 

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