2005–06 Cleveland Cavaliers season


The 2005–06 Cleveland Cavaliers season was the 36th season of NBA basketball in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers finished the season with a 50–32 record, and a second-place finish in the Central Division, returning to the playoffs since 1998. In the playoffs, the Cavaliers defeated the Washington Wizards in six games in the first round and reached the semi-finals of the Eastern Conference where they lost in seven games to the Detroit Pistons. LeBron James was the team's leading scorer and was named to the All-NBA first team. He was also selected to play in the 2006 NBA All-Star Game where he was the game's MVP.
Key Dates:

Free agents

Trades

Draft picks

Cleveland did not have a draft pick in the 2005 NBA Draft due to trades from previous seasons.

Regular depth chart

Player salaries

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Player stats

Regular Season
PlayerGPGSMINFG%FT%3FG%STLBLKASTREBPTS
LeBron James797942.548.0%73.8%33.5%1.56.846.67.031.4
Zydrunas Ilgauskas787829.350.6%83.4%0.0%.491.741.27.615.6
Larry Hughes363135.640.9%75.6%36.8%1.47.583.64.515.5
Flip Murray282536.744.8%70.2%30.8%1.36.252.82.413.5
Drew Gooden797927.551.2%68.2%33.3%.66.62.78.410.7
Donyell Marshall81025.639.5%74.8%32.4%.73.51.76.19.3
Damon Jones82725.538.7%64.0%37.7%.45.012.11.66.7
Eric Snow82028.840.9%68.8%10.0%.93.234.22.44.8
Anderson Varejão48415.852.7%51.3%0.0%.65.40.44.94.6
Sasha Pavlović531915.341.0%65.3%36.5%.36.11.51.54.5
Stephen Graham1309.042.4%88.9%0.0%.23.15.21.32.8
Luke Jackson3608.834.1%78.8%33.3%.31.06.71.12.7
Alan Henderson51310.451.6%67.3%0.0%.18.24.22.72.5
Zendon Hamilton1104.253.8%68.8%0.0%.03.00.01.02.3
Ira Newble3639.829.3%68.8%23.1%.14.28.31.61.3
Mike Wilks3706.628.8%50.0%14.3%.02.00.5.71.1
Martynas Andriuskevicius601.50.0%0.0%0.0%.33.00.0.70.0

Playoffs
PlayerGPGSMINFG%FT%3FG%STLBLKASTREBPTS
LeBron James131346.547.6%73.7%33.3%1.38.695.88.130.8
Larry Hughes9837.331.9%74.2%27.8%2.20.114.03.011.1
Zydrunas Ilgauskas131327.245.4%75.0%0.0%.382.08.86.310.4
Donyell Marshall13026.543.3%88.2%39.1%.54.69.65.69.5
Drew Gooden131321.752.9%94.4%0.0%.23.15.67.58.2
Flip Murray13530.733.0%81.3%20.8%.69.151.63.28.1
Anderson Varejão13018.362.0%70.3%0.0%.69.15.24.56.8
Eric Snow131331.442.0%75.9%0.0%.85.232.83.36.6
Damon Jones13013.930.8%75.0%27.8%.15.00.91.21.8
Ira Newble502.21.000%0.0%1.000%.20.00.0.41.4
Alan Henderson204.50.0%0.0%0.0%.00.00.01.00.0
Sasha Pavlović301.30.0%0.0%0.0%.00.00.0.30.0

Playoffs

2006 marked the first time LeBron James made the playoffs in his career, and the first time the Cavaliers had made the playoffs since 1998 with Shawn Kemp. They came off a playoff series win vs the Wizards, while the Pistons came in off a 4–1 win vs the 8th seeded Bucks. Detroit was expected to win the series, and took a commanding two games to none lead with two wins at the Palace of Auburn Hills. James and the Cavaliers would not be intimidated however, and won their two games at home to tie the series 2–2. Coming into game 5, both teams were confident, but the Pistons were expected to pull out the win easily. The game was low scoring throughout as usual in this series, with Cleveland holding a 68 to 66 lead throughout 3 quarters. With the game tied at 84 with 26 seconds left in regulation, Drew Gooden came through and hit a layup to give Cleveland the lead that they would never squander. James led the Cavs with 32 and this brought the series to Cleveland up 3–2, quite shockingly. Detroit held on to a 2-point win to win game 6, and won game 7 at home to seal the deal, but this was the coming out party for the Cavaliers in the playoffs, scaring the 2004 champs.

Awards and records

Awards

Trades

Free agents

*Waived by team mid-season and later re-signed to two 10-day contracts.
**Signed to two successive 10-day contracts and then the remainder of the season.
***Traded for and then immediately waived before playing in a game.

Development League