In special shoes, LeBron’s triple-double leads Cavs past Wiz
WASHINGTON (AP) — LeBron James joked that he changed out of his shoes — one black, one white, with “equality” in gold capital letters — at halftime because he was playing poorly.
“If that’s a bad game,” teammate Kevin Love said, “then sheesh!”
James finished with 20 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers past the Washington Wizards 106-99 on Sunday night for their 18th victory in 19 games, and then said afterward his choice of footwear was related to the game being played about a mile from President Donald Trump’s White House.
“This is a beautiful country and we’re never going to let one person dictate how beautiful and how powerful we are,” the four-time NBA MVP said.
James had his fourth triple-double in the past five games despite being called for four fouls in the final quarter.
Still, he offered a scathing self-critique.
“I actually played pretty bad tonight. I wasn’t as strong with the ball: I had six turnovers. Kind of lazy with the ball, at times,” James said. “And my teammates did a great job bailing me out.”
Love led Cleveland with 25 points and added nine rebounds. Jeff Green added 15 points, and Kyle Korver scored 11.
“He just affects the game in so many ways and makes a lot of plays for other guys, too,” Love said about James. “He’s just setting us up and getting us into our spots. That’s what he does. He’s our leader.”
The last time these teams played, at Washington on Nov. 3, Cleveland won thanks to 57 points from James.