James' 38 points quiet hostile fans in Cleveland

CLEVELAND - They booed when he walked out onto the floor. They booed every time he touched the ball in the first quarter. And they booed when he did his little talcum powder toss several minutes before the start of the game.

For a second time in five months, LeBron James shrugged off the Cleveland fans in a painfully detached manner on national television.

After leaving Cleveland for Miami in July, James walked into the most hostile of environments last night and scored a season-high 38 points to lead his new team to a 118-90 victory over his old team.

The game was one of the most hyped regular-season games in recent memory. James certainly is not the first star to jump teams, but few defectors have been as beloved by a city as was James, who grew up in nearby Akron and spent his first seven pro seasons playing in Cleveland. And no free agent has ever left a team in the manner that James did, making the announcement that he was joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami on a nationally televised show.

James shot 15-for-25 from the field and added eight assists and five rebounds before sitting out the entire fourth quarter. After leaving the court, he was far from contrite when asked by TNT reporter Craig Sager if he wished to apologize to the Cleveland fans for how he left.

"I don't want to apologize," James said. "My intention was not to hurt anyone."

Yet it was clear from the get- go that Cleveland fans were hurt. This game had been billed as their one chance to tell James what they really think of him, but most of what they had to say was just too profane to print.

James was serenaded with cheers of "Akron hates you" when he went to the foul line. Things got uglier in the third quarter, in which James scored 24 points, hitting 10 of 12 shots. Fans started a profane chant about James' mother, and a fan and security guard had an altercation in the corner of the arena that resulted in a fan, with his face bloodied, being carried out of the tunnel by three policemen. Another fan, wearing a LeBron jersey, was pelted with food and garbage and had to be escorted away from his seat.

James said after the game that he held no animosity for Cleveland fans. "It's nothing personal," he said. "It's a basketball game to me. I don't hold any grudges."

Still, it appeared as though James came ready to play the part of the I-can't-be-bothered bad guy. He walked into the arena wearing headphones and all black. He quickly got on the floor and got in his shooting before fans were allowed to enter. And he made himself at home in the visitors' locker room, using three whole lockers in an area that could be blocked off by two Heat public relations staff members - who informed the media he would have nothing to say.

All week James' former teammates had been saying they were looking forward to the game. But it appears his new teammates were excited, too. James Jones said he was a little tired of the way everyone seemed to be piling on James.

"It's a business, and he's allowed to choose where he plays," Jones said. "He chose us."

And that was the one fact that no matter how hard they booed, Cleveland fans couldn't change.

Notes & quotes:Cavs coach Byron Scott, a former Laker, almost burst out laughing when a reporter asked him if he had ever played in such a hostile environment as last night's. "Things got bad enough in Boston," he said, "that they mooned our wives." . . . TNT announcer Charles Barkley, a vocal critic of James, got a standing ovation when he walked to his press-row seat.