07-11-2007

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2007-08 NBA Season: CLE at GSW. A near Triple-Double. »

The water-saturated stat sheet floated between LeBron James’ shins as he soaked his feet in the ice bath. Lifting one swollen eyelid, he could just make out his numbers: 24 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists and three big blocked shots. Yet the most eye-popping parts of James’ all-out effort in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 108-104 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night weren’t reflected in that soggy box score. For starters, James took an accidental blow to the face in the first quarter, but barely missed 90 seconds before returning. He barked orders at his teammates with authority, and he demanded a fourth-quarter defensive assignment on Baron Davis. “It bothered me some, and it’s bothering me now, but I had to be there for my teammates,” said James, who fell just shy of his 11th career triple-double. “If I could barely see, I still had to be out there.” Davis and James dueled down the stretch this time, with James sometimes guarding the Warriors’ smaller star when Golden State had the ball. James made his biggest defensive plays on Golden State’s fast breaks, roaring from behind to swat away layup attempts three times.

Source: nba.com, yahoo.com, getty | From LeBron_NBA_20…

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