Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James (23) drives past Detroit Pistons’ Tobias Harris (34) in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, March 14, 2017, in Cleveland. AP
LOS ANGELES, United States — LeBron James scored his 10th triple-double of the season as the Cleveland Cavaliers avenged an earlier loss to the Detroit Pistons with a 128-96 drubbing on Tuesday.
James, 32, who has notched four triple-doubles in March alone, brought up his latest with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists before sitting out the fourth quarter.
Victory was sweet for Cleveland, who made up for a surprise 106-101 loss to the Pistons last week.
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue was purring at James’s triple-double, the 52nd of his career over 14 seasons excluding the playoffs.
“He hasn’t done anything different,” Lue said. “He’s almost averaging a triple-double. I think he’s averaging 26 (points), nine (assists), and eight (rebounds). That’s almost a triple-double every single night.
“Now he just happens to be getting them on the same night, with rebounds and assists. But he’s played the same way, he’s been in a great rhythm these last couple months and playing well.”
Kyrie Irving led the scoring for the Cavs, who improved to 44-22. Irving was rested for the fourth quarter after helping Cleveland into a 34-point lead at the end of the third, the contest over.
Iman Shumpert added 18 points and Richard Jefferson 16 on a night which also saw Lue hand game time to new signing Larry Sanders, who made a two-minute off the bench.
“He said he had two minutes,” Lue said. “I really just wanted to introduce him to the crowd and have him get in, give him a chance to have a standing ovation. I thought it was good for him.”
Sanders signed as a free agent on Monday, ending a two-year exile from the sport which he stepped away from in 2015 following multiple positive tests for marijuana.
Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy wrote off the defeat as a bad day at the office.
“It was just a bad night,” Van Gundy said. “They were great, we were terrible. That is why you get a lopsided game.” CBB