Cavs Board

From ESPN:

MACAU — LeBron James scored 20 points and was a defensive force Thursday night in his exhibition debut, helping the U.S. Olympic basketball team overcome some early sloppy play to beat Turkey 114-82 in its first game in China.

Turkey was still close late into the second before James seized control on both ends. He rebounded his own miss for a 10-point lead, came up with a steal and made a free throw, then leaped high for a one-handed dunk off an alley-oop pass from Kobe Bryant for a 50-37 lead. Another steal by James led to Howard’s dunk and a 15-point cushion.

James had 12 points in the half and added eight more and some of the game’s highlight plays in the third. Following a basket by Turkey, he took the ball out and whipped a pass to the other end of the court to a streaking Dwyane Wade for a dunk. A minute later, James had another steal and passed ahead to Kobe Bryant, who bounced it in front of the basket to Anthony for a dunk.

If he keeps up this kind of defensive intensity, maybe he can finally shed the woefully inaccurate labels about not trying on defense that talking heads keep regurgitating.