King Visits The Palace
Auburn Hills, MI – Off to the best start of his six-year career, LeBron James has the Cleveland Cavaliers atop the Central Division.
The Detroit Pistons, however, aren’t too far behind.
After achieving another milestone, James looks to lead the surging Cavaliers to a ninth consecutive victory while trying to avoid a third straight loss to the Pistons when the rivals meet for the first time Wednesday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Oddsmakers from SBG Global have made Detroit –3.5 point spread favorites (NBA Odds) for today’s game, the over/under has been set at 193 (View Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 73% of bets for this game have been placed on Detroit –3.5 (View NBA Bet Percentages).
The 23-year-old James scored 31 points and replaced Kobe Bryant as the youngest player in NBA history to reach 11,000 points as Cleveland (9-2) won 106-82 at New Jersey on Tuesday.
James’ 29.9 scoring average is his best total through the first 11 games of his six seasons. He is averaging 33.8 on 51.4 percent shooting and 8.1 rebounds during the eight-game streak, where he’s topped the 30-point mark five times and 40 three times.
The Cavaliers’ last loss came at New Orleans on Nov. 1 and they’ll try to win nine in a row for the first time since March 17-April 4, 2006.
Matching that streak, however, won’t be easy as Cleveland has lost nine of its last 11 regular season games against Detroit (7-3), including three straight at The Palace. The Cavs, however, did beat the Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals in 2006-07.
Detroit, one game behind Cleveland in the Central, is 26-8 at home against the Cavaliers since the start of the 1990-91 season.
Detroit has won four straight Central Division titles and reached the conference finals six consecutive seasons. Cleveland, meanwhile, has finished second in the division the last three seasons and hasn’t won the Central since 1975-76.
James is averaging 23.3 points in 19 games versus Detroit, but 19.9 in 10 games at The Palace.
Mo Williams and Delonte West each had 16 points Tuesday for Cleveland, which outscored the Nets 57-30 to erase a three-point halftime deficit.
"A-plus,” James said of his team’s second-half effort. "The thing we did was we stopped turning the ball over. We had only one turnover in the second half. We took that momentum and just ran.”
Cleveland lost three of four meetings with Detroit in 2007-08 and hasn’t won in Auburn Hills since March 7, 2007.
The Pistons enter this contest coming off a 104-86 loss at Phoenix on Sunday to conclude a 3-1 road trip.
Richard Hamilton had 19 points and Allen Iverson was held to nine on a season-worst 4-for-17 shooting. Detroit shot 39.8 percent, two days after shooting 50.7 in handing the Los Angeles Lakers their first loss of the season.
"If we’re going to be a great team, we’ve got a ways to go,” Detroit coach Michael Curry said. "Right now I think we’re a pretty good team, but we want to be a great team. We’ve got work to do, which is a positive. There’s a lot of room for improvement.”
Detroit is 3-3 with Iverson on the court. He is averaging 20.2 points and 6.5 since being traded from Denver in a deal that sent Chauncey Billups to the Nuggets.
The sometimes volatile guard is averaging 28.4 points and 7.1 assists in 36 games against Cleveland.
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Posted: 11/19/08 12:28 AM ET