Hobbled James reaches NBA milestone
BOSTON, Massachusetts (AFP) — Cleveland star LeBron James defied injury to reach a National Basketball Association milestone on Wednesday, but he couldn't lift the Cavaliers over the Boston Celtics.
James sprained his right ankle with more than four minutes left in the first half while landing after making a layup.
He returned to start the second half, burying a jumper seconds in to pull Cleveland within 47-42.
James, 23, became the youngest player in NBA history to record 10,000 career points after he dunked with 4:54 left in the third quarter, reaching the milestone at a younger age than Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, who was 24 when hit the 10,000-point plateau in 2004.
James, who leads the NBA in scoring at 30.2 points per game, was coming off a 35-point performance in Tuesday's loss at Milwaukee.
But the league's leading scorer made just 1-of-8 shots through the rest of the quarter. By the time the dust settled following Cleveland coach Mike Brown's flap with the officials, Boston was ahead, 75-60.
The Celtics led by as many as 16 in the fourth en route to a 92-87 victory.
Brown was ejected late in the final minute of the third quarter for arguing a foul call against James, so he wasn't around to watch his club fall to 2-2 since acquiring veterans Ben Wallace and Joe Smith and former Celtics Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak in the blockbuster deal last week.
James finished 7-of-24 from the floor, matching the fewest field goals he's had in a game since he made just five shots against Indiana on December 11.
Kevin Garnett scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Ray Allen scored a team-high 22 points for the Celtics.
Garnett was playing his first home game since January 25 when he strained an abdominal muscle. He finished 7-of-13 from the floor and provided the play of the game with a no-look feed to Kendrick Perkins for a dunk that made it 69-54 - after which he waved the crowd to its feet.
