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James, Cavaliers blowout undermanned Bobcats

Feb 3, 2007 - 5:20 AM CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Superstar LeBron James recently has been battling a toe injury, but it didn't seem to matter against the Charlotte Bobcats.

James scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers posted a 101-81 blowout over the undermanned Bobcats, who were trying for their season high-tying third straight win.

Drew Gooden had 16 points, including 14 in the first half, and Larry Hughes and reserve Donyell Marshall each added 13 for Cleveland, which shot 48 percent (38-of-80) and led 50-34 at halftime.

"We set the tone tonight," Gooden said. "Despite two straight games, we were running on straight emotion, rather than fumes."

James, recently selected to the NBA All-Star team for the third straight season, connected on 7-of-13 from the field for the Cavaliers, who are 9-1 all-time vs. the Bobcats, including 5-0 here.

"Everybody knew this was an important game," James said. "We couldn't let a team like Charlotte hang around. We had a very professional mindset tonight."

The 22-year-old, who on Monday missed his second game in a less than a week with a sprained right big toe, returned to action Thursday, but was just 6-of-18 from the floor in Cleveland's 92-89 loss at Miami.

"Even though it was a back-to-back game, the toe didn't bother me at all tonight," James said. "I'm trying not to think about it too much."

Gerald Wallace, who was coming off a career-high and franchise record-setting 42 points against New York on Wednesday, scored 16 for the Bobcats, who were without Sean May, Primoz Brezec, Brevin Knight and Othella Harrington due to injuries.

"I think the Bobcats beat the Bobcats tonight," Wallace said. I don't think it was anything Cleveland did. We weren't prepared to play tonight and it showed."

Rookie Adam Morrison had 14 points off the bench and Raymond Felton added 10 for Charlotte, which shot 42 percent (28-of-67).

"We were out there, we had our uniforms on, but it's not the team that I recognize," Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff said. "And I didn't want to here any excuses that we were undermanned."