Cavs vs. Sonics: LeBron creates a stir

Marc Oden grew up idolizing Michael Jordan, but he's also a basketball fan. So when he heard the rumors circulating around Edmundson Pavilion, he simply followed the crowd of screaming kids to see what all the excitement was about.

"I was here for my son's basketball tournament and I heard people say LeBron James is in the house," said the 37-year-old Marysville resident. "At first you're thinking, 'Yeah right.' But it was true. We saw him."

With his 12-year-old son at his side, Oden captured a few seconds of James on his digital recorder as the Cleveland Cavaliers star exited a side door to an auxiliary gym and ducked into a service elevator along with players and coaches.

"All it took was a couple of kids spotting them as they came in and then it spread like wildfire," said a campus security patrolman, who estimated the crowd grew to about 200, mostly children who attended the King Holiday Hoopfest on Monday on the campus of the University of Washington.

"I'm a big fan," said Oden's son, Marc Jr. "He's Michael Jordan to me."

In terms of popularity, distinguishing Jordan and James has become nearly impossible. Much like the former No. 23, who won six NBA championships in Chicago, James is one of the NBA's biggest draws on the road.

"I played with Allen Iverson for seven years, so I'm used to it," said Cavaliers guard Eric Snow, a former Sonic. "Whenever we have an opportunity to be around kids, this is how it is. The kids try to give him love, try to get a picture, an autograph or whatever.

"He's handled it well. He takes it all in stride. It's hard to be out there all the time, but he tries to please them and give them whatever he can. Obviously, he can't meet and greet everybody, but he tries."

For tonight's game at KeyArena, James shares top billing on the marquee with Sonics All-Star Ray Allen, who is coming off a career-best scoring performance in which he carried Seattle to a thrilling overtime victory against Utah on Friday.

While Allen's national profile is nowhere near James' skyrocketing fame, his 54-point night could re-energize a sagging local fan base, which may rediscover Seattle's only major professional sports team currently playing games now that the Seahawks have been eliminated from the NFL playoffs.

"Any time you put two great players on the court at the same time, there's an excitement to that," said Sonics forward Damien Wilkins, who will have the task of defending James. "People like to see great players do great things. But hopefully, on top of our fans wanting to see LeBron play well, I hope they want us to win too.

"And that's the bottom line. Regardless of how well he plays, we just want to get the win."

To improve their 14-25 record, the Sonics will continue to lean heavily on Allen's red-hot shooting, because star forward Rashard Lewis isn't expected to return from a strained right tendon sheath until around the Feb. 18 All-Star Game.

"I've never scored 50 and that was always because I've always had somebody who was an All-Star player alongside me that was a legitimate scorer," Allen said. "In Milwaukee, it was three of us [Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell]. At one point we were all averaging 20-plus [points]. There was a lot of times I went into the half with 30 and ended up with 33.

"In order to keep the harmony, you had to let that go. When I got here, I had Rashard and I wanted to make sure I got him going."

Allen didn't score more than 15 points in either of the first two games without Lewis. In the seven games since, he's averaging 30.9 points and has scored at least 25 points six times.

"You can't stop Ray Allen because of how good of a shooter he is, how well he handles the ball and how well that team sets screens for him," James said. "You can't stop him. You just got to try and contain everybody else.

"Fifty-four points? Now our defense is not going to allow 54 points, but he is going to get some points. We know that."

A year ago, James frequently found himself in a similar situation and he did almost everything for Cleveland while averaging 31.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists.

This season, the Cavaliers have adopted what coach Mike Brown likes to call equal-opportunity offense. And, despite a four-point drop in James' scoring average, Cleveland (23-13) is three games ahead of last year's pace.

"One day someone will stop asking me about me averaging points," James said. "It doesn't matter to me. We win ballgames. I help our team win, and at the end of the day that's all that matters.

"We're in first place in the Eastern Conference. ... We're 10 games over .500 and I'm averaging 27 [points], six [rebounds] and six [assists] and playing the best defense of my career. I'm satisfied."

A strained tendon in his right foot prevented Allen from playing in the previous meeting against the Cavaliers, a 106-84 Sonics loss in Cleveland on Dec. 15 in which James finished with 22 points.

"I would like to do some of what he does. I'd like to get other guys involved and do other things," Allen said. "This team needs me to do more than just scoring. But right now that's been coming a bit easier than anything else."

Notes

• The Sonics re-signed F Andre Brown to a second 10-day contract. The rookie has been impressive in four games, most notably making a critical block in the late stages of Friday's overtime win against Utah.

• F Danny Fortson missed Monday's practice because of what coach Bob Hill described as flulike symptoms. Fortson's availability for tonight was to be determined this morning.

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com