
Point guard Mo Williams found out about his All-Star snub on Thursday afternoon when the league informed the teams.
The team with the best record in the NBA at the start of the day has one participant in the All-Star Game in Phoenix on Feb. 15 -- starting forward LeBron James. Eastern Conference coaches selected guards Devin Harris of New Jersey, Joe Johnson of Atlanta and Jameer Nelson of Orlando as reserves, and left Williams off the team. "I think it's an injustice," teammate Ben Wallace said. "It's a fraud. We have the best record in the league and only have one guy going. You know how that goes. You always make it the next year after the year you're supposed to make it."
James said he's always been taught that when a team wins it will be rewarded.
"It shows the disrespect that Cleveland basketball -- Cleveland everything -- continues to get," he said. "They always say if you win, then the accolades will take care of themselves. Sometimes it doesn't happen.
"We all believe that Mo is an All-Star and one of the reasons we have the best record in the NBA. It's disappointing to him and it's disappointing to me."
Williams is averaging 17.2 points, 4.1 assists and 3.3 rebounds. He was coming off a 43-point outburst against Sacramento on Tuesday.
He said he would use the cold shoulder as motivation. But he said he's been doing that since entering the league as a second-round pick in 2004.
"In my situation, I've been proving people wrong my whole career," Williams said. "It fuels me even more. I'm going out there with a chip on my shoulder."
MAGIC 99, CAVALIERS 88: The Cavaliers rode into Thursday's game with the best record in the league.
They left with their egos a bit tattered and bruised.
The Magic won convincingly over the Cavs at Amway Arena.
The Cavs (35-9) seemed to lose their focus for a stretch late in the third quarter and early in the fourth. The Magic pounced on them and went right for the jugular.
Orlando (35-10) embarked on a 26-4 run, including the first 10 points of the fourth quarter, to take complete control of the game.
The momentum seemed to change when Cavs coach Mike Brown blew his stack with 7 minutes, 23 seconds left in the third quarter. After Cavs guard Sasha Pavlovic fouled Magic guard Courtney Lee, Brown blew up at official Bob Delaney and had to be restrained by assistant coach John Kuester from stomping out on the court.
He said it was an accumulation of missed calls that prompted his blowup.
"This was a physical game," Brown said. "For him to go to the line six times when he drove as much as he did, it was sad to see."
The Cavs trailed by just two points at the time of Brown's outburst. While talking to Delaney after the technical, guard Mo Williams was slapped with one of his own. Forward Rashard Lewis went to the line and hit the two technical foul shots, followed by two more by Lee.
The Magic increased their margin to eight points seconds later on Lee's driving lay-up and the Cavs never got back in the game.
LeBron James finished with 23 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.