Clevaland's LeBron James returned from a first-half ankle injury to score 26 points, making him the youngest player in NBA history to reach 10,000 points, but the Boston Celtics used Ray Allen's 22 points to beat the Cavaliers 92-87 on Wednesday night.
"When you have an off-shooting night like this, it's tough to pull a game out," said James, whose 7-for-24 shooting sank the Cavs to 38 percent from the floor. "Especially against the best team in the league."
James reached the 10,000-point milestone at 23 years and 59 days, more than a year younger than Kobe Bryant was when he hit the milestone in 2003 (24 years, 193 days). It took James 368 games to do it — the ninth-fastest in league history.
Kevin Garnett scored 18 points with 11 rebounds to help Boston win its third straight and improve to 2-2 for the season against the defending Eastern Conference champions. The Cavaliers were playing their third game with four new players, including Ben Wallace, acquired in an 11-player, three-team deal at the trading deadline.
Cavaliers coach Mike Brown was ejected with 42 seconds left in the third quarter after he had to be restrained by his assistants while arguing a foul call against James. His star took a shorter break: He sprained his ankle and missed the last 4:24 of the first half, but X-rays were negative and he was back for the start of the second.
"I know my ankle, and tomorrow it's going to be a lot worse," James said. "I've had my share of ankle injuries. The first thing I thought was, 'Not again. Not another one to go down for our team.’ We have been hit with the injury bug, the cold bug, guys have been walking around here sick and injured. I didn't want to go down."
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article