LeBron's 31 points paces Cavs past Sonics

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Donyell Marshall couldn't believe his eyes. LeBron James had again done the impossible.

Left with no other option, Marshall lobbed a pass skyward and hoped James could somehow soar high enough to get it. And as is usually the case, James did much more than that.

He caught it, cuffed it and rammed it through the hoop.

"That's why they call him 'The King,' I guess," Marshall said. "It was a bad pass, but he made it look real good."

James scored 31 points, Larry Hughes added 13 and the Cleveland Cavaliers made a team-record 28 straight free throws before their first miss, rolling to a 112-85 win over the Seattle SuperSonics on Wednesday night.

Making 19 of 19 free throws in the first 24 minutes, the Cavaliers built a 22-point halftime lead over the Sonics, who got blown out for the second game in a row. On Tuesday, Seattle was beaten 94-69 at Memphis.

James, averaging 29 points per game, spent the final 8:49 on the bench after his monstrous dunk put the Cavs ahead by 28. He finished 11-of-11 from the line, and the Cavs went 31-of-33 on free throws.

They were a perfect 28-of-28 when Alan Henderson missed the first of two with 8:16 left. Cleveland's previous record for consecutive free throws was 22 on Dec. 17, 1987, at Chicago.

"We'll get him (Henderson) for that at practice," Hughes joked. "He'll pay."

Marshall added 13 points and nine rebounds, and Drew Gooden had 11 points and nine boards for the Cavs, who outrebounded the Sonics 56-21 and held them to just 12 rebounds on the defensive end.

"It didn't seem like we had the fight," Sonics coach Bob Weiss. "I think a lot of it was hustle plays. They had a lot more juice than we did."

Ray Allen scored 28 points but had little help from the Sonics, who lost forward Rashard Lewis early in the first quarter with a shoulder injury. Ronald Murray added 15 points for Seattle.

"I still had to try to ignite the guys," Allen said. "Just because Rashard went out doesn't mean we all have to lay down. I will say this, anybody who thinks they can do what Rashard Lewis does is fooling themselves. Still, that's no reason for us to be back on our heels."

James capped his 35 minutes on the floor with a breathtaking one-handed dunk that gave Cleveland a 99-71 lead.

Taking off on a 2-on-1 fast break, James passed the ball ahead to Marshall, who waited for James before lobbing him a pass in the lane. Twisting in the air, James grabbed the ball with his right hand and slammed it in as Sonics guard Luke Ridnour took cover.

James' dunk was strikingly similar looking to the dunk in his rookie season that has been immortalized on a 110-foot-high billboard outside Quicken Loans Arena. The giant photo image was unveiled on Wednesday.

"I don't know where he took off from," Marshall said. "I'm just glad that he caught it."

Lewis didn't return after getting hurt. He was falling back on defense in the foul lane trying to stop a driving James when he banged into 285-pound Sonics center Vitaly Potapenko.

Lewis immediately grabbed his arm and sat for a moment on the scorer's table before being helped to the locker room. He was examined by Cavaliers doctors and could be back sooner than expected.

"When it happened, I'm thinking, 'Oh boy, there's a month or two," Weiss said. "Right now, he's not thinking it's long term."

Lewis was replaced by Vladimir Radmanovic, who following Tuesday night's loss at Memphis complained to reporters that Weiss wasn't playing him enough. The 6-foot-10 forward blamed the lack of minutes -- he came in averaging 16.5 -- for his 6.7-point scoring average. Last year, Radmanovic averaged 29.5 minutes.

Not only did Radmanovic get his wish, but he also drew the assignment of guarding James, who scored 21 points in the first half.

"I don't think I said anything bad about Bob," said Radmanovic, who finished with 12 points -- all on 3-pointers in the second half. "I'm still here and trying to do my best. This is not the time to talk about minutes."

Game notes
The 27-point margin of victory was Cleveland's largest in 87 games against Seattle. ... The plus-35 rebounding margin was the largest in Cavs' history, breaking the previous record of 32 against Milwaukee on Jan. 24, 1976. ... The NBA record for free throws without a miss is 39 by Utah on Dec. 7, 1982. ... Along with the photo of James soaring in mid-flight readying himself for a vicious slam dunk, the billboard includes the words: "WE ARE ALL WITNESSES." ... The Cavaliers play six of their next nine at home.