Cavaliers Drop Two in a Row. King James Debuts the China AMLVII.

The Detroit Pistons had the “Jordan Rules,” a defensive strategy they employed in an effort to neutralize Michael Jordan. With Cleveland coming into Toyota Center Wednesday night, Houston coach Rick Adelman once again showed off his own set of rules designed to keep Cavaliers’ star LeBron James in check. Or at least limit him to mere mortal production. Tag-teaming him with Shane Battier and Trevor Ariza, and then stacking the lane to discourage drives, the Rockets turned James into a jump-shooter, perhaps the main reason they walked off with a 95-85 victory before a sellout crowd of 18,200. One day earlier the Cavaliers suffered a heart-breaking overtime loss in Memphis, which snapped the Wine and Gold’s four-game streak. As for the shoes involved, LeBron James has been wearing the White and Navy edition matching Cleveland’s alternate uniforms, but yesterday he broke out the Chinas instead. Check the timeline for a full coverage of LBJ’s game kicks.

Photos Copyright Notice: Copyright 2009 NBAE via Getty Images. Photos by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images, Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images, Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images.