NEW YORK, 26 November 2004 — LeBron James scored a career-high 43 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to their seventh win in eight games, a 92-76 home victory over the stuttering Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.
James notched 21 points in the first half and left to a standing ovation with 2:03 still to play in the game after scoring almost half of the 87 points the Cavaliers had registered at that point.
The Pistons were once again without Ben Wallace, who was serving the third game of his six-game suspension for his part in last Friday’s brawl against the Indiana Pacers.
Jeff McInnis added 16 points for the Cavaliers, who have rebounded after a shaky start to move near the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
Richard Hamilton scored 28 points for the NBA champions Pistons, who were upset by the expansion Charlotte Bobcats a night earlier.
Rasheed Wallace added 11 points for the Pistons, who did have coach Larry Brown back on the sidelines after he missed the game at Charlotte.Brown has not been traveling with the team after having hip surgery, but received permission from team doctors to visit Cleveland for the game.
James, who turns 20 on Dec. 30, became the youngest player in NBA history to reach 500 career assists and rebounds, beating Magic Johnson’s record.
In other games, Dwayne Wade had 31 points and 11 assists as the Miami Heat edged the Hawks 99-93 in Atlanta. Wade also had eight rebounds for the Heat, while Shaquille O’Neal and Udonis Haslem both scored 21 points for Miami.
Antoine Walker had 22 points to lead the Hawks, while Jason Collier added 20 points.
In Philadelphia, Allen Iverson had 28 points and 10 assists as the 76ers beat the Boston Celtics 110-97.
Josh Davis added a career-high 19 points for the Sixers, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Ricky Davis led Boston with 23 points, while Paul Pierce added 22 points and 10 rebounds.
In Toronto, Vince Carter scored 22 points as the Raptors routed the New York Knicks 114-91. Milt Palacio had a season-high 18 points and seven assists for the Raptors, who led by as many as 27 points. Stephon Marbury and Nazr Mohammed both had 25 points to lead the Knicks.
Zach Randolph had 27 points, 20 of them in the second half, as the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Magic 89-83 in Orlando. Damon Stoudamire had 16 points and eight assists for the Blazers, while Shareef Abdur-Rahim added 14 rebounds and 12 points. Hedo Turkoglu had 27 points to lead the Magic.
In Memphis, Rashard Lewis had 27 points and 11 rebounds as the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Grizzlies 93-84.
Ray Allen added 20 points for the winners while Shane Battier had 12 for Memphis.
In San Antonio, Tim Duncan scored 27 points as the Spurs defeated the Dallas Mavericks 94-80. San Antonio won its 18th straight regular-season home game.
Dirk Nowitzki had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Mavs.
In Phoenix, Shawn Marion and Steve Nash both had double-doubles as the Suns beat the Milwaukee Bucks 111-104.
Marion had 23 points and 12 rebounds while Nash had 22 points and 12 assists.
In Salt Lake City, Ben Gordon scored 22 points as the Chicago Bulls won their first game of the season, 101-99 over the Utah Jazz.
Andrei Kirilenko had 20 points to lead Utah.
