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NEW YORK—The
plug has been pulled at the Garden for most of this
season, but LeBron James found a way to electrify it for
one night.
The Most
Valuable Player candidate and the National Basketball
Association’s (NBA) leading scorer put up 50 points
Wednesday night in a 119-105 win over the Knicks before
a roaring Garden crowd of 18,760.
“Tonight,” James said, “I just got that feeling.”
That
feeling came over him with about six minutes left in the
game, once he hit the 40-point mark. Those along a
star-studded celebrity row of Jeremy Piven, Julia
Stiles, Jay-Z and Woody Allen say they saw him mouth
“Fifty” to Spike Lee. The Knicks trailed, 99-98, when
James went on a tear in the final 3:51, when he hit four
three pointers.
His 50th
point came on his final trey with 1:04 left in the game.
Cleveland coach Mike Brown pulled James with 23 seconds
left—coincidentally, that’s his uniform number—and
during the timeout a fan in a James jersey sprinted onto
the court from across the floor and met James in the
Cleveland huddle. As security mobbed the fan, James
reached out and shook his hand as the fan told him,
“You’re my favorite player. I just wanted to meet you!”
James
said he appreciated the fan’s gesture, even went as far
as saying “I respect him” and said he wasn’t concerned
with his safety. “I’m 6-9, 260,” James said. “I’m all
right.” The fan was taken into custody by Garden
security and later arrested.
Knicks
rookie Wilson Chandler, who guarded James throughout the
game and down the stretch, was just as wide-eyed as the
fan. “It’s different watching him [on TV] and then
guarding him,” said
Chandler,
who played a career-high 35:30 and had 11 points and
five rebounds. “He was making threes and getting to the
basket....He just had it on tonight. Ain’t too much I
can say about that.”
James
made 16 of 30 from the floor, seven of 13 from
three-point range and 11 of 16 from the line (along with
10 assists, eight rebounds and four steals). It was his
fifth career 50-point game and the second this season.
And it was a little extra special because it happened in
the house Michael Jordan used to love to own.
“This
ranks really high,” James said. “It’s just because it
happened in the mecca of basketball. I dreamed about
playing well in this building....Getting a standing
ovation in the greatest basketball arena in the world,
it’s a dream come true for me and one of the best things
to ever happen to me.”
Of
course the question had to be posed: Would one of the
most famous Yankees fans in sports ever imagine himself
playing here full-time?
“No,” he
said, and then scolded the questioner. “That might have
been worse than the fan running out on the court.”
In
Wednesday’s other games, it was Orlando 122, Washington
92; Charlotte 118, Golden State 109; Boston 90, Detroit
78; Toronto 108, Miami 83; Memphis 100, New Jersey 93;
Milwaukee 118, Seattle 106; New Orleans 114, Atlanta
101; Houston 117, Indiana 99; Denver 126, Phoenix 111;
and Utah 105, Minnesota 76.
In
Boston, Kevin Garnett scored a season-high 31 points to
lead
Boston
to a bruising 90-78 victory over Detroit, as the Celtics
became the first team in the NBA to clinch a playoff
berth and earned the home-court tiebreaker over their
closest competitor.
Kendrick
Perkins had a career-high 20 rebounds to go with his 10
points for the Celtics.
Rasheed
Wallace and Chauncey Billups each had 23 points for
Detroit.
In
Houston, Tracy McGrady scored 25 points and Houston got
its franchise-record 16th straight win—117-99 over the
Pacers—making the Rockets 4-0 since losing Yao Ming for
the season to injury.
The
Rockets have won 20 of their last 21, and own the
longest win streak in the NBA this season. It’s
Houston’s
seventh-straight win by at least 10 points, extending a
franchise record.
Rafer
Alston added 21 points and had seven assists for the
Rockets.
Danny
Granger and Troy Murphy had 17 points apiece to lead
Indiana.
In
Denver, Carmelo Anthony had 30 points and 13 rebounds
and
Denver
beat Phoenix, 126-113, to pull within one game of Golden
State for the final playoff spot in the Western
Conference.
Allen
Iverson scored 31 points to lead the Nuggets and reserve
J.R. Smith added six three-pointers and 20 points.
Amare
Stoudemire led
Phoenix
with 22 points, and Shaquille O’Neal grabbed 18 rebounds
and scored 12 points, but the Suns fell to 3-5 since his
Suns debut.
In New
Orleans Chris Paul had 23 points and 18 assists, and the
Hornets tied a franchise record with 15 three-pointers
in its 116-101 victory over Atlanta.
Peja
Stojakovic made six three-pointers and led all scorers
with 29 points to help the Hornets to their
second-straight victory and fourth in five games.
Joe
Johnson scored 24 points and Mike Bibby 21 for Atlanta,
which got as close as 62-59 in the third quarter but
couldn’t keep pace as New Orleans kept hitting from long
range.
Wright
scored a career-high 13 points. Tyson Chandler threw
down several alley-oop lobs from Paul and finished with
14 points and 16 rebounds. Pargo had 22 points.
In Salt
Lake City, Deron Williams had 21 points and 11 assists
and
Utah trounced
Minnesota, 105-76, for its 17th-straight home win.
Carlos
Boozer had 16 points and 14 rebounds, Mehmet Okur added
15 points and nine boards and Ronnie Brewer scored 16
for the Jazz.
Randy
Foye scored 18 points and Al Jefferson had 11 points and
10 assists for the Timberwolves.
In
Miami, Rasho Nesterovic had 16 points and 10 rebounds,
Jamario Moon added 14 points and Toronto embarrassed
Miami, 108-83, for the second time this season to snap a
three-game skid.
Anthony
Parker and Andrea Bargnani each scored 12 points for the
Raptors, but Bargnani’s night will be best remembered by
a scary collision with Miami’s Alexander Johnson that
knocked the 2006 No. 1 overall pick out of the game
early in the third quarter.
Marcus
Banks scored 21 points, and Ricky Davis and Dwyane Wade
each finished with 16 for Miami, which lost for the 29th
time in 32 games to retain the NBA’s worst record,
11-47.
In
Memphis, Tennessee, Hakim Warrick scored a season-high
25 points and
Memphis
snapped a nine-game losing streak by pulling away from
New Jersey
in the fourth quarter, 100-93.
Mike
Miller added 22 for the Grizzlies, and Darko Milicic
added 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Kyle Lowry
finished with 15 points, and hit four free throws in the
final 28 seconds to preserve the win.
Richard
Jefferson led the Nets with 22 points, and Devin Harris,
starting his second game since coming to
New Jersey
in a trade with Dallas for Jason Kidd, scored 20 points
and had eight assists. Nenad Krstic scored 16 points and
had nine rebounds.
In
Milwaukee, Charlie Villanueva had 32 points and 11
rebounds as
Milwaukee
scored a season-high 118 points in beating
Seattle, 118-106.
Andrew
Bogut added 21 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for
Milwaukee, which was playing without guard Mo Williams
and forward Yi, out with minor injuries.
Kevin
Durant had 23 points for
Seattle,
which lost for the sixth time in seven games and dropped
to 6-24 on the road.
In
Charlotte, North Carolina, Jason Richardson scored 42
points against his former team, and Charlotte snapped
Golden State’s four-game winning streak, 118-109.
Richardson, who spent six seasons with the Warriors
before being traded on draft night, was two points shy
of his career high.
Raymond
Felton added 22 points and Jared Dudley had 10 points
and a career-best 18 rebounds for
Charlotte,
which closed the game on a 13-3 run against the league’s
top-scoring team.
Monta
Ellis scored 32 points, Baron Davis added 30 and Stephen
Jackson had 21 for Golden State, which is trying to hold
onto the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Magic
122, Wizards 92
At
Washington, Dwight Howard had 20 points and 11 rebounds,
and
Orlando
made an emphatic statement in a possible playoff preview
by dominating Washington.
The
Magic never trailed, took a quick 10-2 lead and hardly
looked back in winning their third straight game.
Rashard
Lewis had 13 of his 17 points in the first half for the
Magic, and Keith Bogans went 5-for-5 in the first half
for 12 of his 17 points.
Antawn
Jamison scored 19 points for the Wizards, who had won
four of five and were trying to get back to .500 for the
first time since Feb. 8.
Clippers
116, Kings 109
At Los
Angeles, Al Thornton scored 13 of his 27 points after
regulation, Corey Maggette added 22 and Los Angeles
Clippers rallied from a 17-point deficit to down
Sacramento.
Dan
Dickau scored a season-high 20 points, helping Los
Angeles snap a six-game losing streak.
Beno
Udrih scored 25 points for the Kings. |
