AP
DALLAS, March 11
Even without his trademark headband, LeBron James was easy to recognize. He was still wearing the No. 23 jersey and dominating with his play.
James had 27 points and took over sole possession of the Cavaliers' career assists record as Cleveland beat the Dallas Mavericks 127-94 on Tuesday night.After starting a game without a headband for the first time since the 2003 preseason as a rookie, James clearly preferred talking about how the team played instead of the absence of what usually covers his hairline.
James first took off his headband in the second quarter of Cleveland's home game Saturday and never put it back on against Phoenix, saying afterward, "It just happened."
Not even coach David Blatt knew if it was a conscious decision by King James to go without the headband the entire night against Dallas.
James, who finished 10-of-14 shooting with seven rebounds and eight assists in 29 minutes, was one of four players with more than 20 points for the Central Division-leading Cavs. They have won 12 of their last 13 games against Western Conference opponents and broke a 14-game losing streak in Texas.
Kyrie Irving scored 22 points, while Kevin Love had 21 points and 14 rebounds. J.R. Smith also scored 21 points and Timofey Mozgov, the other starter, had 17 in the opener of a four-game trip.
Chandler Parsons led Dallas with 18 points, while Monta Ellis had 17 and Amare Stoudemire 15. Dirk Nowitzki scored 13 points on only 3-of-10 shooting.
Dallas started the second quarter with a 31-26 lead, but James hit consecutive 3-pointers and then took the Cavs' assist record all to himself with a pass to James Jones for another 3-pointer that made it 35-all less than 2 minutes into the quarter.
That was James' first assist of the game and his 4,207th in a Cleveland uniform, breaking a tie with Mark Price for the franchise record.
The trio of 3s started a 41-point second quarter for Cleveland, which led for good after Iman Shumpert had a steal and passed ahead to James for a fast-break layup that made it 39-38. The Cavs led 67-53 by halftime.
