Perhaps trying to show his US Olympic team coach that he should have played more in Greece, LeBron James scored a career-high 43 points on Wednesday to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 92-76 win over Larry Brown's Detroit Pistons.
"That's as good as I've seen," Cavaliers coach Paul Silas said of James. "All I know he was great, not good, he was great. We just don't have enough superlatives to give this guy."
Jeff McInnis added 16 points as the Cavaliers won for the seventh time in eight games.
The NBA's reigning rookie of the year scored 21 points in the first half and 12 in the third quarter when he assisted on Cleveland's two other field goals. In the fourth, after Detroit pulled within 10, James made consecutive 3-pointers, punctuating the second with a wag of his tongue as the Cavaliers went up by 16.
"Fantastic," said Cavs forward Robert Traylor. "That's the only word I can think of to describe it. I don't know if he had something to prove, but he came to play. He's one of those guys who sets his mind to it and takes his game to another level."
Richard Hamilton scored 28 points and Rasheed Wallace 11 for Detroit.
Heat 99, Hawks 93
In Atlanta, Dwyane Wade scored 31 points, handed out 11 assists and had the most spectacular defensive play of the night as Miami edged Atlanta.
Wade just missed the first triple-double of his career, also pulling down eight rebounds.
Shaquille O'Neal and Udonis Haslem each had 21 points for Miami, which went ahead to stay, 85-84, when O'Neal dunked off a pass from Wade with 5:51 remaining.
The Hawks closed to 92-91 on Kenny Anderson's three-point play with 1:43 to go, but Haslem hit a jumper, Al Harrington turned the ball over and Wade hit a couple of free throws to clinch it.
Wade's defensive stop came with about eight-and-a-half minutes remaining when Jelani McCoy, a 6-foot-10 center, went in for a one-handed dunk, only to get it stuffed back in his face by the 6-4 Wade.
Trail Blazers 89, Magic 83
In Orlando, Florida, Zach Randolph scored 20 of his 27 points after halftime and Damon Stoudamire had 16 points and eight assists as Portland beat Orlando.
Randolph twice hit a tie-breaking basket in the final three minutes, and his free throws with 34 seconds remaining put the game away. He shot 10-for-23 and added seven rebounds.
Hedo Turkoglu led the Magic with a season-high 27 points, and brought Orlando back from a 66-56 deficit late in third quarter.
Portland has beaten Orlando 11 straight times.
76ers 110, Celtics 97
In Philadelphia, Allen Iverson had 28 points and 10 assists, and Josh Davis moved into the starting lineup and added a career-high 19 points to help Philadelphia beat Boston and snap a three-game losing streak.
O'Brien, who coached the Celtics for three years before resigning in January, got his win with Philadelphia against Boston in the season opener three weeks ago.
Davis, the CBA's most valuable player last season with the Idaho Stampede, hadn't played more than 10 minutes in a game this season but started ahead of veteran Kenny Thomas and logged 26 minutes. Signed as a long-range threat, Davis scored 11 straight Philadelphia points in the third quarter, including consecutive 3s that stretched the lead to 78-61.
Ricky Davis led the Celtics with 23 points.
Raptors 114, Knicks 91
In Toronto, Vince Carter scored 22 points and backup point guard Milt Palacio had a season-high 18 points and seven assists to lead Toronto over New York.
Palacio came within two points of his career-high for the Raptors, who won for just the second time in eight games.
Before the game, first-year coach Sam Mitchell said he was "losing his mind" because he thought the team could play better. He compared the Raptors to the comical Washington Generals after the loss to the Washington Wizards.
Toronto led by as many as 27 points in handing the Knicks their second-worst loss of the season. New York lost by 34 in its home opener against Boston.
Other results: SuperSonics 93, Grizzlies 84, Spurs 94, Mavericks 80, Suns 111, Bucks 104, Bulls 101, Jazz 99.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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
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Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was