NEW YORK, 17 November 2004 — LeBron James recorded 33 points to guide the Cleveland Cavaliers to their fourth straight win, a 99-88 victory over the Golden State Warriors Monday.
Host Cleveland (4-3) moved over the .500 mark for the first time for nearly four years. The Cavaliers were 17-16 on Jan. 10, 2001.
Player of the week James is the leading scorer in the NBA after averaging 29 points in three games last week. He also had 12 rebounds and four assists Monday.
Jeff McInnis added 20 points for Cleveland while Zydrunas Ilgauskas notched 16, including 10 in a fourth-quarter spurt. James Richardson led the Warriors with 27 points, tying his season-high, while Derek Fisher had 15.
The 1-7 Warriors were no match for James in the first half, the second year phenomenon thrilling the crowd of 20,562 by scooping 21 points.James also added three three-pointers to the attack on a night when fans received LeBron James dolls in a promotion offer.
In the only other game played Monday, Jim Jackson picked up 18 points to carry the Houston Rockets to an 80-69 victory over the hosts New Jersey Nets.
Tracy McGrady collected 14 points for the Rockets, who improved to 4-4 despite getting only six points and two rebounds from Yao Ming, who played 22 minutes and had five fouls. Richard Jefferson recorded 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Nets (2-5) while Alonzo Mourning added 15 points and eight rebounds.
Injury Joins Insult for Winless Hornets
In New Orleans, Louisiana, two-time All-Star guard Baron Davis will miss one or two weeks of the National Basketball Association season with an inflamed disc in his lower back, adding to the misery of the winless New Orleans Hornets.
Davis, who hurt his back Friday against Atlanta, did not join the Hornets last Saturday for a 94-91 loss at Milwaukee as the club fell to 0-6. Half of those losses were by three points or less.
After missing 47 games due to injury over the last two seasons, Davis began his sixth season with 24.6 points and 8.0 assists in five games.
The Hornets, shifted this year to the NBA’s tougher Western Conference, also placed reserve forward Rodney Rogers on the injured list with a sprained knee and have lost forward Jamal Mashburn for the entire season.
The Hornets and Chicago, 0-4, are the last winless teams in the league this season.
