It had been over two years since LeBron James played a game in Cleveland, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Los Angeles Lakers star certainly made up for lost time on Monday, perhaps with his best performance against the former team.
James scored 46 points, the record of the season, in the Lakers’ 115-108 victory over the Cavaliers, extending LA’s winning streak to 10-0 at the start of the season, a franchise record, and he did it in style in his home state of Ohio.
“Homemade food,” he said later in a video conference with reporters. “It was nice to be back in my haven, my haven of rest, and that is being home.”
For much of the trip, they were warm and confused feelings for the 18-year-old veteran. He spent time with his mother and uncle. He greeted former teammate Cedi Osman with a big hug while warming up, avoiding the league’s health and safety protocols to show love. He shouted Cavs’ longtime employee, Mark “Cobra” Cashman, calling him “the best guy in the world in equipment”.
But going into the fourth quarter behind Cavs 89-87 after missing a chance at the bell turn that would have tied things up, James found a reason to abandon the cool guy routine and bury his old team.
After his 14 feet tall on the Taurean Prince bounced off the rim twice and left, James noticed Jason Hillman, the head of the Cavs’ basketball team, sitting in a group near the baseline with the rest of the Cavs office and clapping hands to celebrate the errant shot, sources told ESPN.
“I felt that he was a little too excited to see me lose,” said James later, refusing to name Hillman when asked who caught his eye. “He was very excited that I missed that shot. A little more than I would like. But he has to root for the team, obviously. And he was, he showed it.
“So I knew I had another room, and the room was my favorite.”
And what a fourth quarter it was. James overcame his opponent alone – the team he helped deliver his only championship in 2016, mind you – 21-19 in the fourth to push the Lakers ahead of the brave Cavs team that beat the Brooklyn Nets twice in their home week last.
After the carnage ended, with James hitting 9 to 10 on the field, hitting a Cleveland 3 “C” logo on the center court and a few more daggers outside while adding two assists, two steals and two blocks, all what his old team could do was recognize James’ greatness.
“It doesn’t take much to get Bron to go,” a Cavs source told ESPN of James’s brief conversation with Hillman, with the four-time MVP casting an icy glance in Hillman’s direction before heading to the Lakers’ bench. “He was unreal tonight.”
Cavs coach JB Bickerstaff added: “You take your hat off to him. There is a reason why he is who he is and he has achieved all the things he has achieved. If he is throwing shots like that, you pat yourself on his ass. “
It was the highest number of points James has ever scored against Cleveland, breaking his career record to 15-1 in games played against the team he has coached for over 11 seasons. And he was more accurate than ever – his 73.1% on the pitch from 19 to 26 was tied with the best he has ever shot in 240 career games in which he attempted at least 25 shots (regular season and combined playoffs) ). The only other time he went from 19 to 26? Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference final in Boston, which many point to as the most important victory of his career.
James, aged 36 and 26 days old, has become the Lakers’ oldest player with a 40-point game since Kobe Bryant scored 60 at 37, 234 days old in the last game of his career.
“I never put a roof on my potential,” said James. “I always wanted to keep getting better and better, to the point where I can now also dictate [what] the defense can do. And the defense cannot dictate what to do. “
James finished 7 out of 11 out of 3, raising his outside shooting mark to 41.2% this season, which would be the best percentage of his career if he continues to do so.
“The shot,” said Lakers coach Frank Vogel, “was just ridiculous, and just one of those nights for eternity for him.”