Saturday night was a special one in Cleveland, as the Cavaliers retired the jersey of longtime center Zydrunas Ilgauskas during a halftime ceremony of a game against the New York Knicks.
Quicken Loans Arena was decked out in the letter "Z"—the players wore "Z11" patches and fans were sporting commemorative T-shirts. His family even flew in from his native Lithuania for the festivities. Even former teammate (and Cleveland prodigal son) LeBron James flew in on his day off to pay respects to Ilgauskas.
Big Z delivered, as he always did, with a heartfelt, entertaining speech that dwarfed the tributes presented to him during the ceremony.
He is the seventh Cav to have his jersey retired, along with players Austin Carr, Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Nate Thurmond, Bingo Smith and Larry Nance. It is a most deserved honor.
Statistically speaking, Ilgauskas earned his place in Cleveland's ring of honor a long time ago. The sheer volume of his accomplishments speaks for itself:
First in team history in games played, total rebounds, offensive rebounds and blocks.
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Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Joe Flynn
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