Big third quarter helps pace LeBron to 38th triple-double of career
CLEVELAND -- It was the kind of performance many people had been waiting for since LeBron James announced that he was coming back to the Cavs.
In a perfect world, it would have come on Oct. 30 in the season opener against the Knicks but just think of James' triple double in Monday's 118-111 win over New Orleans as a much-needed morale booster considering the Cavs' slow start.
James' 32 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in 40 minutes marks the 38th triple-double of his career and his 29th in a Cavaliers' uniform. It is also his 16th at Quicken Loans Arena, including two that he had while with Miami.
"I guess it worked out," said James of atoning for his struggles in the opener, when he was 5 of 15 from the field, had eight turnovers and scored 17 points. "It doesn't feel good when you put something out there and you don't come through. I owed them one and many more as well. We took care of business tonight."
After scoring 10 points in the first half, James took control in the third quarter. He was 5 of 6 from the field, including a 3-pointer, and 6 of 7 from the line as he scored 17 points to put the Cavs in the lead.
Near the end of the quarter, James brought the ball up the floor, did a crossover dribble near the foul line between Omer Asik and John Salmons to split the lane and then threw down a dunk to complete a 16-1 run over the last 4 minutes, 38 seconds.
"I thought we played with a slow pace in the first half so I made a conscious effort to pick up the pace and see where it takes us," James said.
James, who acknowledged during the morning shootaround that he has been lacking on dunks (he had only three coming into the game) also had a driving dunk during the second quarter on a nice feed from Kyrie Irving.
Considering the Cavs trailed by five at halftime, what pleased Cavs coach David Blatt was that he took control in the third quarter to put them in the lead.
"I don't care that we all know he can do it. You go out there and have a triple-double and you lead your team in the moment of truth the way that he did, it's easy to overlook that," Blatt said. "It's easy to overlook that guy because you come to expect it. That's not a small thing he did out there. That guy had a triple-double against an excellent basketball team when we needed it."
In the four years he was with the Heat, James had eight triple-doubles. During the same period, the Cavs had just one -- Irving last season against Utah.
Monday's triple-double, which evens the Cavs' record at 3-3, was the third earliest that James has recorded his first one in a season. The earliest was Oct. 28, 2009, in the Cavs second game of the season at Toronto.
With the triple-double, many would consider James to be back to his usual level of playing but he said there are still a couple more kinks to work out but that he feels he is closer to being in the right place.
"I'm still getting my body back in the flow along with stepping into a new system with new players and learning it," he said. "It takes time even for me to get the chemistry. How I want to attack and help the team at the end of the day it's a process for myself as well."
