James Nearly Outscores Denver Starting Five
LeBron James turns 31 today. On the eve of his birthday, the veteran superstar scored 34 points against the Denver Nuggets and nearly outscored the entire starting five for the Nuggets.
Helping James with the scoring was a season high for Iman Shumpert of 16 points.
The Cavaliers easily won 93-87 finishing a swing out to the West Coast for four games at 2-2.
James said that what he wants for his birthday is to spend some time with family. The Cavaliers do not play again until Saturday so James should be able to enjoy a few days with the family.
His coach David Blatt said the best present he could give his star player would be P & Q or peace and quiet. Blatt said just one day where he is left completely alone would be enough.
On Tuesday, the Cavaliers kept Kyrie Irving out of the lineup as the game was the second of a back-to-back series. The Cavaliers guard has just recently returned from a broken kneecap.
Kevin Love scored 8 points while grabbing 14 boards in the fourth game in the past five nights for the defending Eastern Conference champions.
James came close to outscoring the starters for Denver who managed to combine for only 35 points on the night.
J.R. Smith, a shooting guard for Cleveland, scored 11 against his former teammates.
During the first half, Cleveland did not shot a single free throw. The Cavaliers are averaging 22 per game.
Michael Malone the coach for Denver was an assistant with the Golden State Warriors and was asked what player was better James or Stephen Curry and he would only say that both were superb.
Malone added that he would not say if one was better than the other was, but he would love the opportunity to coach either one of them at some point.
The Cavaliers currently are leading the Central Division by three games over the second place Indiana Pacers. Cleveland has won 8 of its past 10 overall.
In the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers hold a two-game lead over the Atlanta Hawks and a lead of three games over both the Pacers and Toronto Raptors.
In the league, Cleveland is in third place behind 29-1 Golden State and 27-6 San Antonio.
James is leading the team in scoring, assists and steals. Love is second in scoring on the team and leads the team in rebounding.
