07-11-2009

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LeBron Brings Down NYC. Debuts the Red Carpet Nike LeBron VII. »

LeBron James celebrated with the Yankees and toyed with the Knicks. No wonder he’s bummed about the NBA schedule: only one Garden party this season. James scored 33 points in his lone visit to New York, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 100-91 victory over the Knicks on Friday night. “The atmosphere was great,” James said. “Lot of stars in the building and like I said it’s humbling to know that you have guys like the Yankees come out and Jay-Z. It’s really, really humbling. “You almost feel like you’re a performer sitting on the stage and they’re watching you perform.” The NBA’s MVP added nine assists and eight rebounds, but fell just shy of passing Kobe Bryant as the active scoring leader at Madison Square Garden. James improved his average to 30.4 points, with Bryant averaging 30.5 in 11 visits. Also, he introduced the very much anticipated Red Carpet edition of his new Nike sneakers – the Air Max LeBron VII. Stay in touch with LBJ’s kicks all season long via the ’09-10 Shoes Timeline.

Before the second quarter started, the Yankees fan went to the sideline and joined the crowd that included his pal Jay-Z in a standing ovation for Alex Rodriguez and six other members of the World Series champions who came onto the court. James said he was able to congratulate a few of the players during the game. “I thought if we could have kept the Yankees at halftime a little bit longer, we might have caught them. He was having a good time with those guys,” D’Antoni joked. James said before the game he wouldn’t think about free agency until July, believing his team could contend for a title this season. The Cavs haven’t been showing that yet, coming to New York with only a 3-3 record.

Photos Copyright Notice: Copyright 2009 NBAE via Getty Images. Photos by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images, Chris McGrath/Getty Images.