{"id":11254,"date":"2015-11-05T09:04:59","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T17:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/lebron-drops-23-rips-jersey-in-cavs-win\/"},"modified":"2015-11-05T09:04:59","modified_gmt":"2015-11-05T17:04:59","slug":"lebron-drops-23-rips-jersey-in-cavs-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/lebron-drops-23-rips-jersey-in-cavs-win\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron drops 23, rips jersey in Cavs win"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND<\/strong> \u2014 The jersey was too tight and so was the score.<\/p>\n

LeBron James took care of both.<\/p>\n

James scored 23 points and did some quick tailoring on Cleveland\u2019s body-hugging, sleeved uniforms, Mo Williams added 22 and the Cavaliers won their fourth straight, 96-86 over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

James made a 3-pointer and dunked off a nice pass from Williams while scoring 11 in the fourth quarter, when the Cavs outscored the Knicks 26-17.<\/p>\n

Tristan Thompson grabbed 13 rebounds and Kevin Love had 12 for Cleveland, which hasn\u2019t lost since opening night in Chicago. The Cavs didn\u2019t have their same ball movement, and they fell behind 15 in the first quarter before finding their groove in the second half, outscoring New York 58-40.<\/p>\n

Frustrated with his shot in the first half, an irritated James ripped the sleeves on Cleveland\u2019s new, black jerseys. The four-time MVP, who has complained in the past that the retro-looking tops are too snug on his arms and shoulders, tore his jersey in the midst of a 4-of-11 shooting performance in the opening 24 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just frustrated with myself,\u201d he said. \u201cI was just off rhythm and the jersey is the only thing I can go to. I couldn\u2019t do nothing to my face. I couldn\u2019t make a bucket so I had to take it out on something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carmelo Anthony scored 17 and rookie Kristaps Porzingis 13 for the Knicks, who were even at 75-all in the fourth when James went to work.<\/p>\n

Cleveland\u2019s star capped a 12-4 spurt with a 3-pointer \u2014 just his second this season \u2014 to give Cleveland an 87-79 lead with 4:01 remaining. Later, he blasted down the lane and thundered home his dunk off a great look from Williams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey put the ball in his hands and let him make plays,\u201d Anthony said of James. \u201cYou got to make adjustments to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

James, who earlier this week became the youngest player in league history to reach 25,000 points, had an off-night from the field, going just 9 of 23.<\/p>\n

The jersey might have had something to do with it.<\/p>\n

James has never liked the sleeved tops, introduced by the NBA as an alternate look two seasons ago. Following a loss to San Antonio in 2014 when he was with Miami, James said the uniforms are restrictive, making it difficult to shoot.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers will be required to wear this jersey three to six times this season. James was asked if he\u2019d wear sleeves again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the fans love them, I love them,\u201d he said, giving a diplomatic answer. \u201cIf our fans love the uniforms, I\u2019ll wear them for 48 (minutes). I\u2019m so used to the sleeveless cutoffs, the tank top. I\u2019ve been playing in tank tops all my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

OFF THE MARK<\/p>\n

James is just 2 of 18 this season on 3-pointers, but he\u2019s not worried about his long shot just yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just out of rhythm,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got to work on it. It\u2019s not like I\u2019m Steph Curry or J.J. Reddick anyway. But I did hit a big one tonight so I just got to get some reps.\u201d<\/p>\n

SHARING THE BALL<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers came in ranked second in the league in assists (27 per game), a trend James would like to see continue throughout the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how we\u2019re going to win,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to win how we\u2019ve been playing and defending at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

FASHION POLICE<\/p>\n

Based on Twitter traffic and some mumbling inside the arena, Cavaliers fans seem divided on the team\u2019s new uniforms. One fan waiting on a concession line thought the V-necked tops \u201clook like pajamas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams doesn\u2019t mind them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually like them,\u201d he said. \u201cThey look pretty cool to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

TIP-INS<\/p>\n

Knicks: G Arron Afflalo (strained left hamstring) could make his season debut this weekend. He\u2019s done some on-court work but has yet to be cleared for contact drills. … New York is 2-1 on the road, 0-2 at home. … Anthony, now 12-12 in head-to-head matchups with James, joked that he misses former teammates Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith, who were traded by the Knicks to Cleveland last season. \u201cIt seems like LeBron took all my family from me,\u201d Anthony snapped.<\/p>\n

Cavaliers: Guard Kyrie Irving hasn\u2019t given a date on his possible return from a broken kneecap, but the All-Star told ESPN.com he \u201csees the light at the end of the tunnel.\u201d … Since Jan. 19, the Cavs are 22-1 in the regular season on their home floor. … Smith sat out with a bruised knee and is expected to miss at least one more game.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT<\/p>\n

Knicks: Host Milwaukee on Friday.<\/p>\n

Cavaliers: Host Philadelphia on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 The jersey was too tight and so was the score. LeBron James took care of both. James scored 23 points and did some quick tailoring on Cleveland\u2019s body-hugging, sleeved uniforms, Mo Williams added 22 and the Cavaliers won their fourth straight, 96-86 over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. James made a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-11254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11254"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}