The Suns scored 29 points in the first half

[gk]

Wow. Defensive dominance by the Cavs / what happened to the Suns?

[gk]

I hate how the Cavs don't step on their opponents throat when they've got them down.

Nothing wrong with a double digit win over the Suns, but they were up by 18 at half.

[gk]

Dec 2, 2009 20:14:17 GMT -6 gk said:

but they were up by 18 at half.

OK so they won by 17.

[gk]

Zdyrunas becomes all-time leader for Cavs in games played. That's actually kind of amazing considering the tragic start to his career.

[gk]

Fun with the espn.com NBA trade machine:

Steve Nash for Zydrunas' expiring contract + JJ Hickson

After 30 days, the Suns cut Z and he resigns with the Cavs.

[gk]

Dec 2, 2009 20:46:07 GMT -6 gk said:

Steve Nash for Zydrunas' expiring contract + JJ Hickson

Since the Nash-Shaq pairing worked so well the first time around.

[gk]

Could also use the same couplet of players to get Chris Bosh, although we'd probably have to sweeten the deal.

Bosh + Reggie Evans for Z + Hickson + Daniel Gibson + the next 12 first round picks in even years.

[gk]

From Ball Don't Lie:

Now we talk about Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes), because I didn't think there was a chance in hell I'd be talking about Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the active basketball player, at about this time nine years ago.

Because, nearly nine years ago, he broke that damn foot again. 24 games into the season, after missing nearly two full seasons prior to 2000-01.

That was 2000-01. LeBron James(notes) was a sophomore in high school. I wasn't even old enough to buy a beer, yet. And that was supposed to be it. His third lost season, in a row. A pair of feet that couldn't handle his frame. A career — one that started with a season missed due to injury, followed by a beyond-promising rookie season — likely over.

And yet, here we are in 2009, talking about what Big Z will mean if the Cavaliers want to win a championship. How they can better use his gifts. Where he fits on the floor in that frontcourt. How he could help topple the C's or frustrate the Lakers. We're talking about Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the basketball player. The active one.

Not some sad washout. Not some uber-talented version of Steve Stipanovich that played, for a little while, a long time ago. A contributor, nine years after being told he'd miss yet another season (essentially, his third in a row) due to crumbling feet.

Since then? Two All-Star appearances. 613 games. Heaps of points, loads of rebounds. The finest tip-ball tippest of his generation (don't laugh). A symbol of this team, one who was around to watch Cedric Henderson and Shawn Kemp, or Kedrick Brown, or John Lucas(notes), or Bimbo Coles or Darius Miles(notes) or Jim Jackson or Vitaly Potapenko(notes) or any other miscreant you want to toss in there.

Mr. Cavalier. The guy that came back — even with that insurance-driven maximum contract already signed and in place — to fight through yet another series of surgeries to play for a team a million miles away from Lithuania. Someone who came back, just to be ignored by Ricky Davis(notes), or Dajuan Wagner(notes). The guy that played through all sorts of family tragedy. The guy that played, and played well, just about every night. When he didn't really have to.

A lot of big men don't really love the game, but Lithuanians? They love this game. Big Z learned it from Arvydas Sabonis. I remember watching those two play in Z's rookie year, back in 1997-98, and it was a bit of a passing of the torch. Should have been, at least.

Zydrunas and Arvydas overcame so much, physically, just to be able to plod up and down the court as a shell of what they once were, knowing full well what they once were. Not for money. Not to screen for Ricky Davis or get a towel thrown in your face by Rasheed Wallace(notes). But to play, because playing is so much fun. Could have done it overseas, could have done it for shorter seasons, could have packed up and gone away with a suitcase full of cash a thousand different times. Not their style.

Big Z broke the record for the most games ever played by a Cleveland Cavalier last night, a footnote that's as unlikely and unexpected as it is inspiring and heart-warming.

And, no pun intended, it is a footnote. It's a reminder. It's something you point out, when you tell the bigger story.

The bigger story?

This man was supposed to quit, nearly a decade ago. He was supposed to limp away. Instead, he walked back.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas deserves our unyielding respect.

BTW, this is not the best, nor the last piece of Zydrunas-inspired praise you'll be seeing from me.