LeBron James is "exhausted" after surviving his return to Cleveland with a season-high 38 points.
View full sizeLeBron James absorbed the fans' abuse before the game started, but he was responding quite sufficiently on the floor as the Heat built a 19-point halftime lead.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Each time he hit a basket in the third quarter, each time another long-distance jumper fell through the net, LeBron James seemed to be right in front of the Cavaliers bench.
Right in front of his old teammates, right in front of all the people he played in front of for seven seasons in Cleveland.
Every time the points added up, totaling 24 in the quarter for a new Miami record, James turned toward the bench and pointed. Or grinned. Or said something he knew would get to their hearts.
"I know those guys," James said. "We've had a lot of battles on the same court. It was fun to have an opportunity to go against them."
It was fun for James because he walked out with a season-high 38 points, his Miami team had a 118-90 victory and James had not only survived his return to Cleveland, but thrived.
He encountered all the chants that Cavaliers fans threatened -- from "Ak-ron hates you!" to "Scot-tie Pip-pen!" -- saw skirmishes break out across the arena, particularly when the game was out of hand, and endured 48 minutes of boos.
It was as emotionally exhausting as he'd expected.
"I'm tired, now," James said. "I'm very exhausted. I didn't get much sleep last night, didn't get much sleep today, either."
It didn't seem to bother him, though. James arrived at The Q at 5:35 p.m., entering the arena to be greeted by a tunnel of media that had been waiting for nearly an hour. He warmed up as cameras clicked and whirred recording his every motion. He dressed in the visitor's locker room -- a first for him since his days at Akron's St. Mary-St. Vincent High School -- with two security guards keeping media about 10 feet away from his sneakers.
His focus was there from the start, as James and the Heat used a 16-0 first-quarter spurt to grab the lead it would never relinquish.
James hit his first jumper from the baseline. He smiled when the arena echoed with "Akron hates you!" as he shot free throws.
Afterward he said he battled through emotions to remain so calm.
"So many things went through my mind," he said. "I have nothing bad to say about these fans at all. I had seven great years [here]. We grew from the year before I got here -- a 17-win season -- to the last two years I was here being the best team in the league in the regular season.
"I understand their frustration. I was frustrated, also, because we didn't accomplish what we wanted to at the end of the day."
James accomplished what he wanted to Thursday, though. He finished with 38 points on 15-of-25 shooting, added eight assists and five rebounds. He accounted for the final 14 points of the third quarter, sitting for all of the fourth.
Even when the fans booed and jeered him throughout the game, he said he still appreciates all they did for him in his career. He might, he said, even feel a little bad about the way he handled "The Decision."
"At the end of the day, do I regret what I did? I never regret any decisions I made," James said. "You just try to learn from things in life, in general. If it's from sports or being a father or a friend. If you make a mistake or feel like you made a mistake you just learn for next time. There's not a clock you can turn back, you can't do it all over again.
"My intentions were on point, maybe the execution was a little off."