Lebron enjoys last word

LEBRON JAMES left the Madison Square Garden court with his f ourth f oul in the third quarter Thursday night and listened to the backlash.

“A------! A------!” Knicks fans chanted from the floor to the rafters.

James wrapped a towel around his shoulders on the bench and absorbed the bile.

“Not the first time,” James said, his ears piqued by the pejorative. “Just the first time it’s been used in unison.”

Ja mes adjusted to t he rhythmic reception. Once courted by many of the same fans as a possible free-agent sav ior, James signed with the Heat instead two summers ago, leaving the Garden court to Amar’e Stoudemire and later Carmelo Anthony. In his postseason debut at the arena, James struggled to free himself from defenders early, turned the ball over seven times and accrued four fouls. Then after sitting for seven-plus minutes, he set the Garden aflame, scoring 11 straight Heat points early in the fourth quarter. He totaled 32 as Miami won Game 3, 87-70.

“We felt like we were right t here to break the game open,” James said. “Emotions go up and down in a playoff game. Me being a competitor, I wanted to be on the floor.”

He accepted the villain role initially with the Heat, but insisted he had evolved after last season’s “calamity,” as teammate Shane Battier refers to Miami’s failure to overcome the Mavericks in last June’s NBA Finals. Still, James admitted part of the edge that allowed him to elevate his performance i n the fourth quarter Thursday – he scored 17 points in the period — was sharpened by the tension between the crowd and himself.

“Fans are going to be fans,” James said. “I understand.”

Battier, who guarded Anthony in James’ absence, was awarded the game ball, and James enjoyed the attention being focused elsewhere. He sat at his stall, feet in an ice tub, a towel around his shoulders as he flipped through Jerry West’s memoirs, “West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life.”

Across the room, Battier looked on. “Now that’s a first,” he said. “I think he’s in a good place, a reflective place.”