Before the Cavaliers’ rout of New Jersey, LeBron James said he would not hesitate to leave Cleveland if another franchise offers him a better chance to win multiple NBA titles.
After a 106-82 blowout against the Nets, James focused on his team, which has won eight straight and is off to a 9-2 start.
“A-plus,” James said of a second-half effort in which Cleveland turn a three-point deficit into a laugher. “The thing we did was we stopped turning the ball over. We had only one turnover in the second half.”
James scored 31 points to show the New York metropolitan area what might be on the free agent market in 2010.
“I think you do what is best for you and you do what is best for your career,” James said when asked about his sense of loyalty to the Cavaliers.
He added eight rebounds, four assists and a remarkable blocked shot on a play late in the third quarter when he chased down Nets point guard Devin Harris on a fastbreak and prevented a dunk.
Harris, who was looking for his fourth straight 30-point game, had 23 points to lead New Jersey.
ngton 87; Orlando 103, Toronto 90; Indiana 113, Atlanta 96; Boston 110, New York 101; Memphis 109, Sacramento 94; Denver 114, Milwaukee 105; Los Angeles Lakers 116, Chicago 109; and Golden State 111, Portland 105.
At East Rutherford, N.J., James put on a show for the less than capacity crowd at the Izod Center against a team partially owned by his friend, rapper Jay-Z.
He dunked, hit layups and faked Jarvis Hayes out of his socks on a great crossover dribble move that got him his 11,000th point, and finally entertained the crowd with a late tap-in on an alley-oop from Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the closing minutes.
“His strength and his quickness, at his size, is pretty unheard of,” said Nets rookie forward Ryan Anderson, who got a chance to defend James. “The things he can do is pretty amazing. He is so athletic, and he’s 6-9. He is an incredibly talented guy.”
Mavericks 100, Bobcats 83
At Charlotte, N.C., Dirk Nowitzki scored 32 points, Josh Howard added 21 and the Mavericks never trailed, delighting owner Mark Cuban a day after he was charged with insider trading.
With Cuban sitting along the baseline and as animated as usual, the Mavs toyed with the lifeless, undermanned Charlotte for their second straight win.
Rookie D.J. Augustin had a career-high 21 points for the Bobcats.
Heat 94, Wizards 87
nds, and the Heat caught a couple of breaks in the final minutes to beat the Wizards for the second time in five days.
Wade, who played despite rolling his ankle in a loss at Toronto on Sunday, led six players in double figures.
The Wizards sank to 1-7, the franchise’s worst start since 1999. Antawn Jamison (25) and Caron Butler (21) had 46 of the 59 points scored by the five starters.
Magic 103, Raptors 90
At Orlando, Fla., Jameer Nelson scored a season-high 22 points as Orlando overcame a season-high 40-point effort by Chris Bosh.
Bosh also had 18 rebounds, but the Raptors had 24 turnovers.
Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu each added 22 points for the Magic.
Orlando built a 13-point lead in the third quarter before hanging on for its eighth win in nine games.
Pacers 113, Hawks 96
At Indianapolis, Danny Granger scored 34 points to lead the Pacers.
Rasho Nesterovic scored 21 points, Jeff Foster had 12 and Troy Murphy added 10 points and 19 rebounds for the Pacers (5-5), who won their fifth consecutive home game against Atlanta.
Joe Johnson finished with 25 points for the Hawks. After a 6-0 start, Atlanta has lost four straight.
Celtics 110, Knicks 101
r lead was trimmed to four.
Paul Pierce scored 22 for the Celtics, who were playing without Garnett for the first time this season.
Wilson Chandler scored 23 for the Knicks.
Grizzlies 109, Kings 94
At Memphis, Tenn., Rudy Gay scored 22 points and Memphis shot a season-high 54 percent to snap a four-game losing streak.
Hakim Warrick added 21 points and 10 rebounds and Marc Gasol scored 16.
John Salmons led the Kings with 18 points and Spencer Hawes had 14, hitting all seven of his shots.
Nuggets 114, Bucks 105
At Denver, Linas Kleiza scored 25 points and Carmelo Anthony had 17 for the Nuggets.
The Nuggets got double-digit scoring from all their starters and beat their previous season high in points – 113 in overtime against the Clippers on Oct. 31.
The Bucks, who got 25 points from Charlie Bell, played their eighth straight game without star Michael Redd (ankle).
Lakers 116, Bulls 109
At Los Angeles, Pau Gasol scored 24 of his season-high 34 points in the first half, and the Lakers rebounded from their first loss of the season.
Kobe Bryant added 21 points, five rebounds and six assists and Andrew Bynum had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers (8-1), who had three full days to contemplate a 106-95 loss to the Detroit Pistons.
Derrick Rose led Chicago with 25 points and nine assists.
Warriors 111, Trail Blazers 106
At Oakland, Calif., Stephen Jackson scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and the Warriors overcame Greg Oden’s 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Anthony Morrow followed up his 37-point performance three days earlier with 25 points for Golden State, including three free throws with 5.6 seconds to play.
But coach Don Nelson kept his undrafted rookie on the bench for most of the final minutes while Jackson and Corey Maggette barely held off the Blazers and Oden, who had the best night of his five-game NBA career.
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