Celtics overcome James' milestone

BOSTON: Cleveland star LeBron James defied injury to reach a National Basketball Association milestone on Wednesday, but he couldn't lift the Cavaliers over the Boston Celtics.

James sprained his right ankle with more than four minutes left in the first half while landing after making a layup.

He returned to start the second half, burying a jumper seconds in to pull Cleveland within 47-42.

James, 23, became the youngest player in NBA history to record 10,000 career points after he dunked with 4:54 left in the third quarter, reaching the milestone at a younger age than Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, who was 24 when hit the 10,000-point plateau in 2004.

James, who leads the NBA in scoring at 30.2 points per game, was coming off a 35-point performance in Tuesday's loss at Milwaukee.

But the league's leading scorer made just 1-of-8 shots through the rest of the quarter. By the time the dust settled following Cleveland coach Mike Brown's flap with the officials, Boston was ahead, 75-60.

The Celtics led by as many as 16 in the fourth en route to a 92-87 victory.

Brown was ejected late in the final minute of the third quarter for arguing a foul call against James, so he wasn't around to watch his club fall to 2-2 since acquiring veterans Ben Wallace and Joe Smith and former Celtics Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak in the blockbuster deal last week.

James finished 7-of-24 from the floor, matching the fewest field goals he's had in a game since he made just five shots against Indiana on December 11.

Kevin Garnett scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Ray Allen scored a team-high 22 points for the Celtics.

Garnett was playing his first home game since January 25 when he strained an abdominal muscle. He finished 7-of-13 from the floor and provided the play of the game with a no-look feed to Kendrick Perkins for a dunk that made it 69-54 after which he waved the crowd to its feet.

In New Orleans, All-Star Chris Paul scored 25 points with 15 assists and six rebounds as the New Orleans Hornets downed the Phoenix Suns 120-103.

David West scored a game-leading 27 points and Jannero Pargo scored 22 off the bench for the Hornets, who snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 38-18.

New Orleans completed a four-game season sweep of the Suns, thanks in part to a big offensive third quarter.

Paul, an early contender for Most Valuable Player honors, had another strong showing against the Suns, against whom he has averaged 29.0 points and 11.0 assists in this year's series.

The Hornets led 59-55 at halftime and went on a 9-3 run to start the third period to take a doube-digit lead at 68-58 and went into the final period leading 97-77.

Amare Stoudemire had 32 points and 14 rebounds for the Suns, who shot 48 percent but are just 2-3 since acquiring Shaquille O'Neal on February 6.

O'Neal had 15 points and seven rebounds, but All-Star Steve Nash scored just eight points and made his first field goal with only 3:54 left in the game, although the former two-time MVP did finish with 13 assists.

In Atlanta, Mike Bibby had 24 points and 12 assists in his first game at home against his former teammates, leading the Atlanta Hawks to a 123-117 win over the Sacramento Kings.

The New York Knicks matched their easiest victory of the season as Nate Robinson scored 22 points in a 113-89 rout of the Charlotte Bobcats.

The Toronto Raptors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves for the eighth straight time with a 107-85 home victory. Chris Bosh scored 28 points for the Raptors.

The Philadelphia 76ers ended a four-game losing streak to Orlando by beating the Magic for the first time this season, 101-89 behind a season-high 26 points from Willie Green.

Agencies/AFP

(China Daily 02/29/2008 page24)