LeBron teases Jersey in dominating win

November 19, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — With free agency awaiting him in 2010, LeBron James put on a show for the New York metropolitan area and its deep-pocket teams highlighted by length-of-the court sprint to block a dunk by Devin Harris.

James had 31 points, eight rebounds and four assists in another dominating performance and the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled to their eighth straight win with a 106-82 decision over the New Jersey Nets on Tuesday night.

The play that everyone will remember is the block. The 23-year-old James came from 20 feet behind the track down the Nets point guard, forcing him to rush a dunk that the high-flying James touched.

“I just never gave up on the play,” James said. “That’s how we all are. You never give up on plays no matter if a guy is in front of you or what.”

Harris laughed when asked if he saw James coming at full throttle.

“He’s 6-9 and 260,” Harris said. “You try to quick dunk him if you can. If not, hey, he got a piece of it. He came back and he played it. If I had a good ankle, now that would be something to think about. You got to go for it. I had my shot at it and I missed it, you move on.”

The question of moving on is a big part of James’ life. The 23-year-old is scheduled to become a free agent in 2010, and there already has been speculation that the Nets and the New York Knicks are already clearing salary cap room to make a run at the superstar who on Tuesday became the youngest NBA player to reach the 11,000-point plateau.

After the game, he focused on his team, which is off to a 9-2 start.

“A-plus,” he said of the second-half effort. “The thing we did was we stopped turning the ball over. We had only one turnover in the second half.”

They also got big efforts from Mo Williams and Delonte West.

Williams had 8 of 16 points and five of his six assists in the final 24 minutes, while West scored 14 of his 16 points, hitting all four of his 3-pointers in the decisive third quarter when Cleveland broke the game open.

“Mo and Delonte did a great job coming into the third quarter and shooting lights out,” said James, who was 9 of 20 from the field in posting his fourth 30-plus point game in five contests. “We took that momentum and just ran.”

Harris, who was looking for his fourth straight 30-point game, had 23 points to lead New Jersey. Vince Carter added 12, shooting 3-of-12 from the field as the Nets’ two-game winning streak was snapped.

“It was a rough night and I wasn’t hitting my shots,” Carter said.

James put on a show for the less than capacity crowd at the Izod Center against a team partially owned by his friend, rapper Jay-Z.