James scores 44 points to reach milestone
LEBRON N James became the first frontcourt tcourt player to reach the 7,000 0 assist milestone as he scored ed a season-high 44 points to o lead the Cleveland Cavaliers s to a 116-105 win over the Charlottelotte Hornets.
James (pictured, AFP) hit the magic number umber on Saturday in front of a crowd of 20,500 at the Quicken ken Loans Arena by skipping ing a nifty pass t o teammate mmate Tr i s t a n Thompson on who was driving to the e basket.
“The lastast couple years this is the e best I’ve felt. I’ve put a lot of work into my body, intoo my craft,” James said.
The 44 points was his b e s t o ut i ng s i nc e returning g to Cleveland and equalled alled the 44 points he e scored in a game one overtime loss against the Golden State Warriors in the 2015 NBA finals. The Cavaliers delivered two home wins this weekend, and b e s i d e s eclipsing 7,000 career assists, James also moved i n t o n i n t h place on the a l l - t i m e s c o r i n g list during the victor i e s ov e r the Miami Heat and the Hornets. The 31-yearold James is not showing signs of slowing down. He says he is taking better care of his body and the results are evident.
“I’ve rearranged a little bit with my diet and things of that nature and it’s worked to my benefit,” he said.
“And for me to have back-toback nights like this after coming off a long road trip, just shows that everything is working in the right direction.”
This was James’s first 40-point game during the regular season since February 26, 2015, when he scored 42 in a home win against Golden State.
“I didn’t want to play ’Bron this many minutes,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said. “But he came to me and said: ‘Man, coach, I’m fine. Kyrie [Irving] doesn’t have it tonight’. I was like: ‘No’. He was like: ‘Man, I’m telling you, I’m fine’.
“And then he started raining threes. They made a comeback but he was playing with great pace and we had to ride him tonight.”
Kemba Walker scored 24 points and Cody Zeller had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Hornets, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.
Grizzlies shock Warriors
In Memphis, the host Grizzlies shocked the Golden State Warriors 110-89 for a sixth straight win, holding the Warr iors to a season low for points.
It was only the second time this season that the Warriors failed to score 100 points.
Their previous low for points this season was 97 in a 20-point setback to the Los Angeles Lakers on November 4.
Centre Marc Gasol finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal for the Grizzlies, who scored 30 points off 23 Warrior turnovers.
In Chicago, Jimmy Butler scored 31 points, Dwyane Wade finished with 28 and Taj Gibson added 13 as Chicago beat Miami 105-100.
It was another moment of retribution for Wade who left the Heat at the end of last season to return to his hometown after Miami gave up on the ageing veteran.
Wade, playing for the second time against his team he spent the first 13 seasons with, proved to be the difference.
In LA, Chris Paul scored 20 points and dished out a season-high 20 assists, and Los Angeles extended the woes of New Orleans with a 133-105 rout at Staples Center.