Cavs have way with Sonics

CLEVELAND – Right now, they’re the cream of the NBA’s Eastern – or Leastern – Conference.

The Cleveland Cavaliers intend to stay that way.

Larry Hughes scored 25 points, LeBron James flirted with his first triple-double this season, and the now-healthy Cavaliers coasted to a 106-84 win Friday night over the Seattle SuperSonics.

At 14-8, the Cavaliers’ .636 winning percentage is tops among the East’s 15 teams. They’re also 8-2 with their opening-day lineup, which was without Hughes for 10 games and minus Drew Gooden for two.

“We know how good we can be,” Hughes said. “We’ve just got to keep it going.”

Hughes, making his second straight start after missing three weeks with a sprained ankle, went 11 of 16 from the floor.

The Cavaliers shot a blistering 65 percent in the first half, doing whatever they wanted against the Sonics, who hardly bothered playing defense.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 17 points and Anderson Varejao 13 rebounds as the Cavs improved to 11-2 at home and 22-2 in Quicken Loans Arena since March 5.

Leading by 19 at halftime, the Cavs went nearly five minutes without scoring in the third quarter before using a 12-3 spurt to push their lead to 78-56. Donyell Marshall’s 3-pointer put the Cavs ahead 85-61 entering the fourth.

By then, James, who finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, was already pulling on his warmups and spent the first 7 minutes of the fourth quarter cheering for Cleveland’s reserves from the bench.

The Cavs’ backups briefly had their way with the Sonics, opening a 26-point lead before Seattle closed to 15 with 5:01 left. That’s when coach Mike Brown put James and Hughes back in to close it out.

Chris Wilcox scored 20 points to lead Seattle, which dropped its third straight on a five-game trip. Rookie Mickael Gelabale added a season-high 16 and Rashard Lewis had 10 – 12 less than his average – on 3-of-12 shooting.

The 6-foot-10 Lewis was hounded by Eric Snow, who was giving up 7 inches but made up for his lack of size with grit.

The Sonics were without guard Ray Allen, who missed his sixth game in a row with a bone bruise in his right foot. Allen isn’t traveling with the team but is expected to be back on the floor in a week.

Seattle needs its top scorer ASAP.

“We can’t come out like that and expect to win,” Sonics forward Damien Wilkins said. “It’s a matter of coming out and playing hard and wanting it – with or without Ray.”

The Cavaliers played perhaps their finest 24 minutes of the season in the first half, shooting 27 of 42 from the field and dishing out 19 assists while pushing to a 64-45 lead.

Hughes made his first eight shots before missing a jumper with 3:05 remaining before halftime. He finished with 18 points while James, who started 6 of 6 from the field, added 15 in Cleveland’s highest-scoring half this season.

Less than 3 minutes into the game, James, who hasn’t had a triple-double in the regular season since March 22, already had two points, four rebounds and three assists.

By the end of the first quarter, he had 13 points, five rebounds and five assists as the Cavaliers shot 70 percent (16 of 23) and opened a 35-28 lead.

Sonics rookie Andreas Glyniadakis made his first career start in place of Wilcox, who had started each of Seattle’s first 23 games. Glyniadakis had played just 34 minutes all season coming in.