SEATTLE – Those fans who came to ogle LeBron James on Sunday night went away happy. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ soon-to-be superstar put on a high-flying, high-scoring and highly entertaining show for the KeyArena sellout crowd of 17,072.
As good as he was, though, James alone was no match for the Seattle SuperSonics, who themselves are soaring.
Despite being without injured forward Rashard Lewis for the second straight game, the Sonics overpowered the visitors over the game’s final 15 minutes for a decisive 105-97 victory. Trailing by eight points late in the third quarter, Seattle erased that deficit and went ahead to stay early in the fourth period, then protected its margin with free throws in the late moments.
Statistically, the Sonics won with a lopsided 50-31 edge in rebounds and a stout defensive effort that handcuffed all the Cavaliers except James and forward Drew Gooden – those two players were a respectable 23-for-43 from the field, while the other eight were just 12-for-44, a mere .273 percent.
The win improved Seattle’s season record to 27-9, still the NBA’s third-best mark. The Sonics have not been 18 games over .500 since the 1997-98 season, when they finished 61-21.
James, though, was the big story for those spectators who were getting their once-a-year look at the 20-year-old wunderkind in the flesh. Still wearing a face mask to protect a broken left cheekbone (courtesy of a Dikembe Mutombo elbow in a Dec. 29 game with Houston), he tossed in 35 points and handed out 11 assists, while tacking on five rebounds, four steals and even a blocked shot for good measure.
James had one dazzling moment in the second period. On a fast break with only Luke Ridnour between him and the basket, James froze the Seattle point guard with a crossover left-to-right dribble and went airborne for a powerful rim-rocking dunk.
Even the Sonics were impressed.
”I really believe he will be a great player one day,” said coach Nate McMillan. ”He does so many things. He’s young, but he also has a lot of confidence in himself. And if he stays healthy, I think we’ll see the numbers he had tonight throughout his career.”
”He’s probably the best player in the league right now,” added Ridnour. ”He’s not only scoring, but he’s passing the ball, too.”
Forward Reggie Evans recalled last year’s debate about the NBA’s best rookie – was it James or Denver’s Carmello Anthony? ”I had Carmello over LeBron last year,” Evans said, ”but this year I’m taking LeBron. He’s gifted. He’s blessed.”
Yes, the Sonics were impressed, but hardly star-struck to the point of distraction. Trailing 74-66 late in the third quarter, Seattle got a second wind and outscored the Cavaliers 20-5 over the next seven minutes, and from there the visitors were left to play a futile game of catch-up the rest of the way.
Clearly, Cleveland wilted at the end and the schedule was probably a factor. The Cavaliers played a spirited game in Utah on Saturday night – they won with a dramatic second-half comeback – and then traveled to Seattle, arriving in the wee hours of Sunday morning. The affects of fatigue showed in various places, but plainly in the team’s shooting stats. The starting backcourt of Ira Newble and Jeff McInnis, for example, was a combined 3-for-20 from the field.
”We knew they played in Salt Lake City (Saturday) night,” said Sonics forward Danny Fortson, ”so the general discussion in our locker room was to keep playing hard, to keep running them, and that they’d get tired. But we also didn’t want to lose this game, it’s as simple as that. We buckled down and played hard, and I think that was the difference in the fourth quarter.”
For their part, the Sonics had some obvious flaws, and none riled McMillan more than a season-high 23 turnovers.
”We’re definitely happy with the win,” he said, ”but we didn’t play well. We didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball. To have 23 turnovers and still be in the game, we’re lucky.”
The reason, McMillan went on, is because ”we’re playing in traffic and we’re doing too much dribbling, as opposed to moving the ball. We just have to do a better job of taking care of the ball.”
With Lewis watching in street clothes from the team bench because of knee tendinitis, fellow forward Vlade Radmanovic helped pick up the scoring slack with 23 points off the bench. He was 7-for-11 from the field, including 5-for-7 from the 3-point stripe, and had a team-best 11 rebounds to boot.
”Vlade came through big,” McMillan praised. ”He was rebounding as well as knocking down some big shots. He made some big plays and we need him to do that.”
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