Cleveland Cavaliers vs Boston Celtics (LeBron scores 38) January 9, 2009

LeBron James scored 38 points, harassed Paul Pierce all over the floor and strengthened his case to be the league's MVP front-runner as the Cavaliers, playing with a bottled-up intensity reserved for the playoffs, improved to 19-0 at home by beating the staggering Boston Celtics 98-83 on Friday night.

James scored 23 in the second half. He added seven rebounds, six assists, four steals, three blocks and made Pierce's life miserable for 35 minutes.

After the Cavs had built their lead to a comfortable 20 points in the second half, Cleveland fans began chanting "M-V-P!''

There was no debate this night on who was the best player - or which was the better team.

"We want to continue to protect our home court and we want to continue to get better. Tonight I think we got better,'' James said. "We don't want to take a step back because we got a big picture and a big goal. You don't want to waste a game. We got really better tonight.''

With James leading the way, the Cavaliers handed the Celtics their second-worst loss of the season and dropped them to 2-7 since opening a league-record 27-2. Boston had to resort to fouling Ben Wallace to try to trim Cleveland's lead in the fourth quarter, but the Hack-A-Ben strategy was hardly effective as Cleveland's forward, a 44 percent free-throw shooter, made 5-of-10 free throws after being fouled on five straight possessions.

STATS:

Cleveland Cavaliers
LeBron James: 38 PTS 7 REB 6 AST 4 STL 3 BLK
Anderson Varejao: 14 PTS 9 REB
Mo Williams: 13 PTS 2 REB 1 AST 2 STL

Boston Celtics
Kevin Garnett: 18 PTS 15 REB 3 AST
Paul Pierce: 11 PTS 5 REB 1 AST
Ray Allen: 12 PTS 3 REB 2 AST
Rajon Rondo: 5 PTS 4 REB 13 AST 4 STL

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Cleveland
• Cavaliers
• Boston
• Celtics
• LeBron
• James
• Kevin
• Garnett
• Paul
• Pierce
• Ray
• Allen
• NBA
• dunk
• block

[WitnessLeBronJames1]

God im tired of people saying lebron cant shoot. BIgcommon you can shut the fuck up.

[damareasims]

lerbon james got deep in the celtics ass

[ghandi08]

This is the only game I ever saw LeBron play live while he was with the Cavs

[kidmuscle28]

@2pacisthebest90 why watch lebron if your going to say KOBE???

[2pacisthebest90]

KOBE

[pedoluc]

VAREJAO !!!!

[josefer1983]

@McYankees23 ahaha now varejao has to be the leading scorer for em

[imsid1]

@josefer1983 yea i know...he aint no king..had to leave cleveland for miami..KOBE!!!

[McYankees23]

@maluka1999 i wanna hear you say that now that lebron isnt there

[josefer1983]

@imsid1 yeah but he still got none of that haha

[maluka1999]

i love cleveland caviers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!

[imsid1]

lebron james is a beast he gonna be the best player...after kobe retires...championships speak 4 themselves...