LeBron shows Knicks what they could have

November 26, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

New York will make a push for James in 2010. He’s got the Cavs rolling right now.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Knicks have two years to convince LeBron James they can be a title contender.

His Cleveland Cavaliers showed New York they might be one right now.

James scored 26 points before sitting out the fourth quarter, and the Cavaliers quickly took a charged-up New York crowd out of the game in a 119-101 victory Tuesday night.

The buzz was about James’ future. His teammates have big goals for the present.

“They don’t get caught up in that, man, and I don’t either,” James said. “We hear it every day, we see it every day on TV about 2010 all the time, we still go out and take care of business. We don’t worry about what’s going on. Me the leader, I can’t let that faze me because I’m leading these guys onto something that we want to accomplish, and that’s win an NBA championship.”

Delonte West added 16 points and Wally Szczerbiak had 15 for the Cavaliers, who led by as many as 34. They rang up their highest point total of the season and put seven players in double figures, showing they may have more help than ever for James, the NBA’s leading scorer.

Fans hoping someday to see James play in New York got to learn how good his Cleveland team is right now. The Cavaliers turned it into a blowout while James was enjoying his first rest to start the second quarter, and improved the NBA’s third-best record to 11-3.

Quentin Richardson scored 22 points and newcomer Tim Thomas had 16 for the Knicks, who lost for the fourth time in five games and fell to 7-7.

James’ first visit to Madison Square Garden this season came just days after the Knicks made a pair of trades that cleared enough salary cap space for a potential run at him in free agency in the summer of 2010.

After starting the night by saying he was flattered by the attention but focused on trying to win a title this season with the Cavs, James witnessed how far the Knicks have to go before they can convince James he’d have a chance to win a championship here.

“It’s way too early,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We hate it for tonight, but it’s only tonight.”

Unlike his previous visit, when the Cavaliers needed nearly all of his 50 points to beat the Knicks, an ordinary effort was good enough from James, who laughed and smiled throughout the easy victory.

The Knicks are a team in transition after trading Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford, their two leading scorers, last Friday. Making matters worse, they lost Nate Robinson, who became their leading scorer, after he strained his groin in the second quarter. He is doubtful for Wednesday at Detroit.

Cleveland scored the first eight points of the second period, and after Thomas made two free throws, the Cavs followed with a 13-2 spurt to make it 55-26 on Szczerbiak’s 3-pointer with 7:20 left in the period.