Boston
And this time, Paul Pierce was sitting courtside in street clothes, unable to do anything about it.
With the former Celtics great waiting to see his No. 34 raised to the Boston Garden rafters, James shook off a first-quarter leg injury to score 24 points with 10 assists and eight rebounds to give Cleveland a 121-99 victory on Sunday.
In their first appearances since being acquired at the trade deadline, Jordan Clarkson scored 17 points, Rodney Hood had 15, George Hill had 12 and Larry Nance Jr. scored five. The foursome practiced with the Cavs for the first time on Saturday.
“I know the guys that are here are very excited about this opportunity,” James said. “It’s my job to as the leader of this team to make sure that I acclimate the new four guys to be around a culture that’s built around winning.”
James scored 13 in the second quarter — eight of them during a 13-2 run that turned a one-point deficit into a double-digit lead. The Celtics made it 64-55 on the first basket of the third quarter but never got within 10 again.
As the Cavaliers opened a 27-point lead midway through the fourth, the crowd began chanting “We want Paul Pierce!” But he remained in his baseline seat, awaiting the postgame ceremony that would raise his No. 34 to the TD Garden rafters — the 23rd person in the history of the NBA’s most-decorated franchise to be so honored.
“It definitely gave me chills, especially with LeBron out there,” Pierce told reporters afterward. “I wanted to be out there.”
The current Celtics, who have spent much of the season in first place in the East, could have used him.
“Yeah, we stunk,” coach Brad Stevens said. “But they were really good. They had a lot to do with that.”
Pacers 121, Knicks 113
Indianapolis
Bojan Bogdanovic made four 3-pointers and finished with 20 points and Thaddeus Young added 18 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for the Pacers, who have won six of eight.
Enes Kanter and Tim Hardaway, Jr. each scored 17 points, and Michael Beasley had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Knicks, whose losing streak reached six games.
The Pacers went on a 14-2 run in the second quarter and took a 53-45 lead on an alley-oop layup by Young with 5:45 remaining in the opening half.
Stephenson’s 3-pointer with 3:44 to play in the second quarter put Indiana ahead 58-55, and the Pacers never trailed the rest of the way.
They led 68-62 at halftime and put together a 13-2 run in the third quarter to pull away. The Pacers led by as much as 20 when Domantas Sabonis scored to make it 90-70 with 4:10 left in the third.
Hawks 118, Pistons 115
Atlanta
Dedmon matched his career high with 20 points and had 13 rebounds in his matchup with Andre Drummond, who had 25 points and 15 rebounds for Detroit.
Dennis Schroder had 23 points, including six free throws in the final 20 seconds, for Atlanta.
Raptors 123, Hornets 103
Charlotte, n.c.
Six players scored in double figures for the Raptors, who won their fifth straight game and improved to 39-16.
Jonas Valanciunas added 21 points and nine rebounds for Toronto, sparking the Raptors’ pivotal run in the third quarter.
Toronto made 48.6 percent from 3-point range, led by Miles’ 6-for-9 shooting.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey earned his 300th victory as head coach of the team.
Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 23 points and nine assists as Charlotte lost its fourth consecutive game. Dwight Howard added 17 points and 13 rebounds for Charlotte.
The Raptors pulled away in the third quarter when they started the second half with an 18-2 run. Valanciunas had 10 points in that span as the Hornets connected on just 1-of-12 attempts.
Toronto outscored Charlotte 28-19 in the third, as Valanciunas had 12 points and four rebounds and DeRozan had 10 points and six assists in that quarter.
Despite returning Saturday from a West Coast trip featuring four games in six days, the Hornets jumped out to a 10-0 start behind six points and an assist from Walker.