Before a huge crowd that waited several hours to get in to see him play, LeBron James had 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists in his pro basketball debut as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Orlando Magic 107-80 on Tuesday in the NBA summer league.
"Victory," James said. "Victory, and just stepping on an NBA court for the first time.
"I know last year [Cleveland] didn't get too many victories, and I'm happy to give them a victory with me running the point."
Playing 23 minutes in a 40-minute game, James was five for 11 -- despite missing three 3-point tries -- from the floor and converted all four of his free throws. He had three turnovers while running Cleveland's offense.
He sat out all the fourth quarter, icing his right leg after sustaining a contusion. He said his status is day-to-day.
James' game showed little rust although it was his first competition since late March, when he led St. Vincent-St. Mary High School to its third Ohio state championship of his prep career. A little more than three months later, the 18-year-old James is worth about US$100 million, thanks to endorsement deals and, to a far lesser extent, his NBA contract.
In the first three minutes, James had an impressive one-handed dunk after stealing a pass under the basket, sank a reverse layup and tossed a no-look feed in the paint that DeSagana Diop converted into a short jump hook. James later wowed the crowd of 15,123 with a reverse layup while falling down.
As the quarter came to a close, he scored another four points in transition -- two free throws and a jumper for a 31-15 lead. For the period, he had 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.
"I was just trying to go with the flow," James said. "Whatever was working for us, just keep doing it."
There were only three lowlights: In the first quarter, he airballed a 3-pointer as the shot clock wound down, and a late defensive rotation left his man open for a baseline jumper.
But the worst came early in the third period, when James couldn't escape a backcourt trap and his heaved pass was picked off by Britton Johnsen, who promptly dunked on his highly hyped opponent.
"What you all don't know is that I get dunked on a lot in practice," James said.
The Cavaliers, who selected the 18-year-old James No. 1 overall in last month's NBA draft, have every reason to believe that he will quickly mesh with his teammates.
Playing in Orlando's summer league are three-fifths of the Cavaliers' projected starting lineup -- James at point guard, small forward Darius Miles and power forward Carlos Boozer. It was that unit, plus shooting guard Dajuan Wagner and center Diop, which raced out to a 16-point first-quarter advantage, giving Cleveland a lead that was never threatened by the overmatched Magic.
"If I'm a point guard, I'm going to put this team on my back because this all starts with me," James said. "Whatever they need me to do, whether that's rebound, assist or score a couple of buckets, that's what I'm going to do."
Miles and Boozer scored 15 points apiece, tying for the team lead.
James' presence added an unprecedented buzz to the summer league game. Such contests are usually informal affairs held in dimly lit gyms with scouts and coaches among the most interested spectators.
But this game was played at the Magic's home arena, the 17,283-seat T.D. Waterhouse Centre, rather than the team's practice facility. Fans jumped at the chance to see the league's newest star attraction.
"He's exciting to watch," said Paige Berger of Albany, New York. "He's got the skills of Magic [Johnson] and [Michael] Jordan combined."
The interest spread to the media, as well. The Magic issued about 170 credentials, about the same as for a playoff game or a visit by the Los Angeles Lakers.
James led the Cavaliers onto the court to a brief burst of applause and cheers, then turned around and worked his way back through his teammates, handing out high-fives to all.
Finally, James loosened up and started to deliver the show the fans came to see.
Without warning, he performed a 180-degree dunk and another jam moments later.
Miles followed with an off-the-backboard dunk that got the crowd roaring, but the ball slipped had out of James' hands when he tried to respond. That prompted some lighthearted booing, and a big smile crossed his face.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier