Cleveland ? Perhaps trying to show his U.S. Olympic team coach that he should have played more in Greece, LeBron James scored a career-high 43 points Wednesday to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 92-76 win over Larry Brown’s Detroit Pistons.
“That’s as good as I’ve seen,” Cavaliers coach Paul Silas said of James. “All I know he was great, not good, he was great. We just don’t have enough superlatives to give this guy.”
Jeff McInnis added 16 points as the Cavaliers won for the seventh time in eight games.
The NBA’s reigning rookie of the year scored 21 points in the first half and 12 in the third quarter when he assisted on Cleveland’s two other field goals. In the fourth, after Detroit pulled within 10, James made consecutive 3-pointers, punctuating the second with a wag of his tongue as the Cavaliers went up by 16.
“Fantastic,” said Cavs forward Robert Traylor. “That’s the only word I can think of to describe it. I don’t know if he had something to prove, but he came to play. He’s one of those guys who sets his mind to it and takes his game to another level.”
Richard Hamilton scored 28 points and Rasheed Wallace 11 for Detroit.
