Cleveland ? The legend of LeBron James has a new chapter — complete with a twist.
Shaking off a sprained left ankle, James returned for the final minutes of the fourth quarter to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 114-111 victory Wednesday night over the Memphis Grizzlies.
James finished with 27 points, a career-high 15 assists and nine rebounds, blocking out the pain over the closing 4:53 to make several big plays as the Cavaliers held off the short-handed Grizzlies.
“I had to lead my team,” James said. “My 80 percent can help us win. I can’t be scared. I’ve got to be a soldier out there.”
James’ injury appears to be serious enough that he may miss a few games.
“I know when I wake up in the morning it will be on fire,” said James, already playing with a broken cheekbone. “I won’t be able to walk. I’ll get as much treatment as I can and just try to prepare myself to play. If I’m not able to play, I’m sure my teammates will step up.
James expects to have more tests Thursday.
“The doctors will look at it,” he said. “I could chip a nail and they would want to look at it.”
When James came down on Dahntay Jones’ foot and rolled his ankle with 9:33 left, more than 17,00 fans in Gund Arena went eerily silent and Cavaliers coach Paul Silas feared the worst.
“You kind of see your life flash before your eyes,” Silas said. “I saw a whole bunch of losses coming up.”
Instead, a determined James, who had to be helped off the floor by teammates, came back and made sure the first-place Cavaliers didn’t blow a lead while improving to an Eastern Conference-best 15-4 at home — 25-16 overall.
It looked as though James’ night was over with the Cavaliers up 95-85. After falling to the floor, play continued for another 10 seconds while James rolled around, pounding his hand on the court before slinging his protective face mask and headband away in disgust.
As he was helped off, James complained to officials that he had been undercut by Jones, who had earlier dunked over him on a breakaway and talked trash to Cleveland’s star.
“I had nowhere to land,” said James, who didn’t think Jones did it intentionally.
Jones wanted to make sure that James was OK and visited him following the game. The pair shook hands and spoke briefly while James iced his sore ankle near his corner locker.
“Me and him are friends before anything,” Jones said.
James, who coincidentally sprained his other ankle in Cleveland’s 41st game a year ago, said he didn’t think the ankle was badly hurt when he first went down. By the time he left the floor, James said it felt good enough to try and walk some.
“I got to the locker room, we retaped it and I was ready to go,” he said. “I wasn’t 100 percent, but I was able to finish the game.”
Drew Gooden scored 27 points — six during the 4 1/2 minutes when James went out — and had 11 rebounds and Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 22 points for the Cavaliers.
The Grizzlies, playing without injured center Pau Gasol and forward James Posey, were led by Mike Miller’s season-high 28 points.
“We came in here kind of short-handed, and they were, too, so it’s not an excuse,” Miller said. “They executed better down the stretch. (James) came back in and made some plays.”
The Cavaliers, who were missing super-sub Anderson Varejao, lost starter Ira Newble in the first quarter with an Achilles’ injury.
“Ira’s not doing well,” Silas said. “It really flared up on him.”
Notes: Memphis coach Mike Fratello coached in Gund Arena for the first time since being fired by the Cavs after the 1998-99 season. … Silas would like to add another big man, but he’s not going to push GM Jim Paxson for Jayson Williams, the former All-Star who faces reckless manslaughter charges related to a 2002 shooting at his New Jersey mansion. Williams began his comeback by signing with the CBA’s Idaho Stampede last week. … James went over the 1,000-point plateau in his 41st game, eight fewer than it took him a year ago.
