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LeBron James says 'I hate turning the ball over' after losing return game for Cleveland Cavaliers

By Allsports.com.gh
Sports News LeBron James says 'I hate turning the ball over' after losing return game for Cleveland Cavaliers
OCT 31, 2014 LISTEN

In his first regular season NBA game in a Cavaliers singlet since 2010, James scored 17 points but gave up eight turnovers in front of his home-town crowd in Cleveland on Thursday.

The four-time NBA Most Valuable Player and two-time Finals MVP was keen to shoulder the blame for Cleveland's defeat as the Cavaliers opened the 2014-15 season with a loss.

"I hate turning the ball over. My turnovers led to our team struggling on the defensive end," James said.

"We gave up too many shots where we didn't contest.

"Sometimes, defence wins games but sometimes the offense can take from the defence, and that's what happened. We started turning the ball over."

While James' 17 points were enough to make him Cleveland's third-best scorer against the Knicks - behind Kyrie Irving (22) and Kevin Love (19) - it was well down on the small forward's average with the Miami Heat last season - 27.1 points per game.

In his final season with the Cavaliers before joining Miami, James averaged 29.7 points per game, meaning Thursday's return to the Quicken Loans Arena was a letdown.

But Cleveland coach David Blatt was not about to slam James for his performance.

"Well, first of all, that was an emotional night for him without question," Blatt said.

"He wanted badly to win the game and help the team play well. His effort was there.

"His efficiency was not what it normally is. That was obvious. We have to do a better job of getting him things in motion."

Cleveland led by seven points at the end of the opening term - after it took the 29-year-old almost half a quarter to get on the scoreboard - while the Cavaliers led by two at half-time.

But with Carmelo Anthony (25 points) leading the way for the Knicks, plus Jason Smith and Iman Shumpert (both 12) providing critical support, the visitors would eventually triumph, bouncing back from their opening day loss to the Chicago Bulls.

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