CLEVELAND — LeBron James has raised the bar so ridiculously high a triple-double can be considered a subpar performance.
Despite struggling a bit offensively, James finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists Monday night to lead the Cavaliers to an 88-80 win over the Portland Trail Blazers at Quicken Loans Arena.
“I didn’t feel like I played particularly well, but we got the win,” the small forward said. “If you don’t play well and you have a triple-double, then something is wrong, but I could have played better.”
James, who was 7-of-18 from the field and 9-of-13 at the line, failed to score at least 25 points for the first time in 22 games. He has, however, scored at least 20 points in 41 games in a row.
“We’re watching probably the best basketball player in the world,” teammate Wally Szczerbiak said. “It’s his combination of strength, size and speed. There’s nobody else like him.”
As always, James was at his best when the Cavaliers (37-27) needed him most, as he made key plays at both ends of the floor to spark an 8-0 run down the stretch against the Trail Blazers (33-31).
After Joe Smith made a pair of free throws to put Cleveland up 81-77 with two minutes to go, James’ defense on Brandon Roy led to a 24-second violation.
On the ensuing possession, the 23-year-old completed his seventh triple-double of the season with a bounce pass that led to an Anderson Varejao dunk. He then deflected the ball off the leg of LaMarcus Aldridge at the other end of the floor to give Cleveland possession with 1:07 on the clock.
Not done yet, James fed Szczerbiak for an open jumper to put the Cavaliers up eight, then added a pair of free throws to make it a 10-point game with 29.4 ticks on the clock.
The 6-foot-8, 250-pounder had a chance to extend his streak of 25-point games with 22.3 seconds left, but missed the second of two free throws.
As good as James was, he didn’t do it alone on a night when the Cavaliers, already without starting center Zydrunas Ilgauskas (strained back), played the second half minus starting power forward Ben Wallace (back spasms).
Varejao and Smith were huge, figuratively and literally. Varejao tied his season high with 16 points, added nine rebounds and clamped down on Aldridge (25 points, 10 boards), who had scorched Wallace for 17 points in the first half. Smith, who started the second half, provided 18 points and made all eight of his free throws.
“It’s a godsend,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. “It’s a blessing to be able to have quality bigs like we do. When one goes down, somebody steps up. When another goes down, somebody else steps up. I’m good, though. I don’t want to see any more (go down).”
How long Wallace will be out is uncertain — the injury doesn’t appear to be too serious — but Cleveland was way better off without him against Portland.
The Cavaliers fell behind 12-2 right off the bat and trailed 43-39 at intermission, but it could — and probably should — have been a lot worse.
Wallace took four shots in the opening half, all from 4 feet or closer, and missed them all. Two were wide-open glass balls, another barely grazed the front of the rim and the last was a missed two-handed dunk. For good measure, he also bricked a pair of free throws and was allegedly defending Aldridge, who outscored him 17-0.
In Wallace’s defense, however, he’s been hurting for some time and was held out of practice Sunday due to the back spasms.
“He’s one of those old, ornery vets that just wants to keep playing,” Brown said. “When you have back spasms, it’s obviously tough, but he gave us what he had.”
Down as many as 13 in the first half, the Cavaliers took their first lead of the night, 62-61, on a three-point play by Varejao with 9.2 seconds left in the third period.
James took over down the stretch en route to his 17th career triple-double and 100th double-double, while Cleveland’s defense held Portland to .397 shooting from the field (31-of-78), including 6-of-21 on 3-pointers.
As a result, the Cavaliers are 10 games above .500 for the first time this season.
“Guys are stepping up,” James said. “It’s going to be scary to see how good we can be when everybody gets back (from injury).”
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

NEXT UP

WHO: Cleveland at New Jersey
WHEN: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Izod Center, East Rutherford, N.J.
TV/RADIO: FSN Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

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