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LeBron James Returns to Cavs As Reserve
Dec 11, 2007
Cleveland's star forward, who missed the previous five games with a sprained left index finger, returned to the floor, but surprisingly not as a starter on Tuesday night when the Cavaliers hosted the Indiana Pacers.
James had started all 332 career regular-season NBA games before coming in with 5:59 remaining in the first quarter. He had also started 33 playoff games in his first four seasons as a pro.
It's unclear why Cavaliers coach Mike Brown chose not to start his best player. James has been a starter most of his life, even predating his rise to superstardom as a high school phenom in Akron.
He was a reserve on the U.S. Olympic team that won a bronze medal at the Athens Games in 2004.
James entered the game following a timeout, checking in with guard Larry Hughes and forward Anderson Varejao, who was making his season debut after ending a contract holdout last week by signing a three-year, $17 million contract.
Perhaps by bringing Varejao in at the same time as James, the Cavaliers were attempting to diffuse any negative reaction aimed at the Brazilian, who before ending his holdout had said he didn't want to play in Cleveland.
James wore a padded, protective glove over the knuckle on his finger, which was injured in a Nov. 28 game against Detroit when he was fouled on a drive to the basket by Pistons forward Nazr Mohammed.
The Cavaliers lost that game and dropped five in a row without James, the NBA's leading scorer.
LeBron James vs Kobe Bryant
Dec 20, 2007
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The two superstars wanted to guard each other in the final moments: Kobe on LeBron. LeBron on Kobe.
It had to end like that.
"I didn't even ask," James said. "I just told Sasha (Pavlovic) to go somewhere else."
James scored 33 points and shut out Bryant when the NBA's top two scorers went one-on-one in the final 2:23 and the Cleveland Cavaliers bounced back from a dismal loss with a 94-90 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.
James added 10 rebounds and five assists. But it was his pressure on Bryant in the final minutes that helped the Cavs recover from a lousy defensive effort in a 108-90 loss at New York on Wednesday night.
James relished the chance to match up with a player he believes is the league's best with the ball.
"If you want to win, you have to be able to defend the best player," James said. "I think we both took on the challenge."
Bryant finished with 21 points, but missed two shots with James chasing him and the Lakers went 0-for-8 from the floor in the final 4 minutes.
Daniel Gibson added 15 points, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas 12 for the Cavs, who held the Lakers to 12 points -- on 5-of-22 shooting -- in the fourth quarter and won for just the third time in 12 games.
Lamar Odom added 19 points, and Andrew Bynum had 17 points for the Lakers, but he missed two free throws with 11.9 seconds left that would have tied it at 92.
However, on the second miss, Bryant got away from James and grabbed a rebound in traffic before calling timeout with 10.3 seconds left. Bryant winked into a TV camera nearby, knowing he had at least temporarily bailed out his team.
"I told LeBron I was going to get it," Bryant said, laughing.
But after taking the inbounds pass, Bryant missed a long 3-pointer with 5 seconds left and Lakers guard Derek Fisher was called for a loose-ball foul despite grabbing a rebound over Gibson. Fisher felt he had got the ball cleanly. "There was contact," Fisher said. "But I didn't push him." Bryant felt he had a good look at the missed 3. "He (James) had his hands down on me. He knows better than that," Bryant said. "I was going to let it fly. It felt good. As soon as it left my hands, I thought it was going down. I was mad it didn't go in." James was afraid Bryant had hit a game-winner. "It looked good when I turned around," he said. Gibson made both free throws with 3.3 seconds left to seal it for the Cavs, who were coming off an inexcusable road loss to the dysfunctional Knicks. Afterward, Cavs coach Mike Brown said he was embarrassed. Before facing Bryant and Co., Cleveland's coached wrote "Defend To Win!!!" on an dry-erase board in the locker room. The message seemed to get through as the Cavaliers finally showed the type of defensive intensity that led them to their first Eastern Conference title last season.