With a hook shot over Luol Deng in the first quarter Thursday night, LeBron James reached 24,816 career points, and moved ahead of Patrick Ewing into 20th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
The Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a 114-88 win against the injury-riddled Miami Heat, in a preview of a possible first round Playoff matchup.
Dwyane Wade suffered a left knee injury—the same knee that was recently drained—which the team called a “bruise”.
Per the Akron Beacon Journal:
James had 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists while spending much of his night in the post. He has been gradually shifting into the post more and more in recent weeks. The Cavs destroyed the Brooklyn Nets on this floor two weeks ago because he went in the post, passed out of double teams and let the Cavs’ shooting cut apart a Nets defense that never stood a chance. […] “Just a shift of the mindset, that’s all,” he said after Thursday’s game, reiterating almost verbatim what he said the day before. “I understand what’s ahead of us and trying to get a good feel for it.”
(Kevin) Love has been active inside more in recent weeks, both in calling for the ball from the elbow and posting up opponents. But with Love out of the lineup because of his back, coach David Blatt started James Jones at the 4. Jones certainly can spread the floor like Love, but he doesn’t provide the inside presence. That’s where James came in. […] “I sure like what he’s doing in the post,” Blatt said of James. “He’s going in there with conviction and he’s doing a great job scoring the ball and facilitating from that spot. That’s not where we want him all the time but certainly to our advantage we like to use it and he’s a player that gives you an advantage down there.”
Dwyane Wade tried downplaying the severity of his left knee injury and perhaps in the coming days he’ll prove correct. But his Instagram post following the game (“I pray that i can join my team at some point on this road trip”) didn’t sound like a man who believes he’ll be ready to play Saturday at Detroit. […] James checked with the Cavs’ medical staff at halftime to see how Wade was doing. The Heat called the knee injury a “bruise,” which is curious because no one touched him and it didn’t appear his knee hit the floor all that hard – if at all. He just had that same knee drained on Saturday and was a game-time decision to even play.
