Hey fans, lay off the boos: King James gets backlash

CLEVELAND (AP) -- LeBron James never experienced anything quite like it.
Five days after winning the NBA All-Star game MVP Award, the 21-year-old star was booed by the home fans Friday night during a 102-94 loss to the Washington Wizards.
That came after James' mother had a pretrial court appearance Friday afternoon, he was inadvertently poked in the eye by a referee, and his seemingly perpetual streak of highlight-reel performances came to a stop.
"If these fans want to boo me, it's on them," James said after scoring 25 points -- but going 0-for-8 from the field and 4-for-12 from the foul line in the second half.
"I put all the blame on myself. I missed free throws, easy shots and got caught not dropping to the ball, which cost us rebounds," he said.
After clanging his final field attempt off the rim, James ripped off his headband, flung it to the crowd and walked off with five seconds left.
Busy week
It culminated a week of exalting highs combined with possible personal distractions.
On Friday, Gloria James, 38, had a pretrial hearing in Akron Municipal Court on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, disorderly conduct and damaging police equipment on Jan. 20. Her lawyer filed a motion disputing the police report and arguing that James' mother committed no traffic violation to warrant a stop.
Then, as the Cavaliers were in the midst of tossing away a six-point lead, James was accidentally poked in the eye by referee Phil Robinson as he leaned in to hear a foul call in the fourth quarter. James kept playing and did not seem to have any ill effects.
He played all but 14 seconds against Washington after averaging 43 minutes in back-to-back midweek games. That came after a grinding weekend trip to Houston in which James scored 29 points in 30 minutes to lead the Eastern Conference from a 21-point deficit to 128-122 victory Sunday.