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LeBron James dominates Grizzlies in return

Mar 15, 2007 - 5:03 AM MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Ticker) -- The Cleveland Cavaliers are happy to have their superstar back in the lineup.

LeBron James returned after missing Tuesday night's game against Sacramento with back spasms and scored 29 points as the Cavaliers rolled to a 118-96 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Cleveland has now won seven games in a row and is just 1 1/2 games behind Detroit for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

James showed no ill effects from his injury as Cleveland pulled away with a 47-15 run from the 7:09 mark in the second quarter until the end of the third. The run put the Cavaliers up 97-63.

"It was a good team effort," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "I thought the deciding point was in the third. We just did a nice job doing what we do. We were getting stops, guys came open, and guys stepped up."

James scored 13 straight points in just over two minutes in the third quarter, including three straight 3-pointers.

"I just felt like I wasn't going to miss (in the third)," James said. "For some reason, it seems like we've been putting it on teams in the last month in the third. I just let the game come to me tonight, and I got hot."

"Lebron was fun to watch in the third," Brown said, "But it was a complete team effort."

Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 18 points and Drew Gooden added 10 points and 12 rebounds as seven Cavaliers' scored in double figures.

"We were floundering in the first half," Memphis coach Tony Barone said. "We came back a little and cut their lead to 11 at the half, but then we went back down. Our turnovers and bad shot selection really hurt us. We don't have the ability to face adversity, and that's bad for us."

Rookie forward Rudy Gay scored 24 points and Pau Gasol added 23 points and 10 rebounds for Memphis, which has lost a season-high tying seven straight.

"It was definitely a tough night for us," Gay said. "We fell apart in the second half. The third quarter we gave up way too many easy looks, and they just pulled away. you just can't let a team like Cleveland, with a player like LeBron, get that many open looks."

Cleveland has now won an Eastern Conference-best 17 games (17-9) against Western Conference teams.

James' third-quarter shooting barrage made him the youngest player in NBA history to top the 8,000 point plateau (21 years 74 days).