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Dec. 29 marathon has first pro game, St. V-M game, James interviews
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Thursday, Dec 25, 2008
INDEPENDENCE: Call it LTV — all LeBron, all the time. At least for a day.
NBA TV will celebrate LeBron James' 24th birthday with 24 Hours of LeBron presented by Nike beginning at 1 p.m. Monday with the airing of the first professional game that James played on Oct. 29, 2003, against the Sacramento Kings.
Throughout the day, the channel will air other classic Cavaliers games and James' first nationally televised high school game, which matched Oak Hill Academy against St. Vincent-St. Mary.
Programming throughout the day will feature interviews with James and specials, culminating with Tuesday's game at the Miami Heat at 7:30 p.m.
A spokeswoman for NBA TV said that the idea came from the programming department. James had no input into what the network would use, but agreed to tape interviews for the event, which he is excited to see.
''That's unbelievable. You ever watch TV and see Fresh Prince of Bel Air marathons or SpongeBob SquarePants all day? That's how I feel,'' he said. ''I can watch it all day.
''No matter what time I wake up; I can take naps. I appreciate NBA TV doing this and I'm going to pay them back.''
NBA.com will also have content to celebrate James' birthday. He was born on Dec. 30, 1984.
Best intentions
When the scheduling gods constructed this year's national television calendar, choosing tonight's game between the Cavaliers and Washington Wizards for the 8 p.m. slot on TNT must have have seemed like a good idea.
No one should have expected them to possess Nostradamus-like powers of prediction, but on a jammed schedule that includes five games, the Cavs-Wizards is the least attractive, primarily because they are teams moving in opposite directions.
The Cavs are 24-4; the Wizards are 4-22.
Being played on Christmas Night, it's the type of game ripe for a letdown.
''We could have a letdown because it's hard to be good every single game,'' Cavs coach
Mike Brown said.
''With this team, I don't worry about things like that. If it happens, it happens, and we'll move on to the next game. This team is pretty focused.''
The Wizards arrive with two key players — Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood — still recovering from injuries and still dealing with the fact that longtime coach Eddie Jordan was fired in November.
Still, the Cavs will approach the game the way they have each one this season.
''This is a different Washington team now,'' Cavs point guard Mo Williams said. ''Gil [Arenas] isn't playing. They're struggling and we're playing at a high level. We look at this game as a game where we have to take care of business. We have to come out and be aggressive early and let the game play out.''
Santa pays a visit
The Cavs finished practice Wednesday afternoon with a gift exchange. Williams gave James credit for giving the most original gift to rookie J.J. Hickson.
'''Bron's gift was probably the best. He got J.J. a nice watch and one key gift — an alarm clock,'' he said with a grin.
Hickson had problems earlier in the season with arriving at the team bus on time.
Injury update
Delonte West left Tuesday's game against the Houston Rockets but later returned. Brown said that the injury wasn't serious, and his shooting guard will play against the Wizards.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read the Cavs blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/.
INDEPENDENCE: Call it LTV — all LeBron, all the time. At least for a day.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Massillon, oh
Posted 09:57 AM, 12/25/2008
Hey George, LeBron's b-day is the 30th not the 23rd? That is pretty much common knowledge in these parts? 12/30 is also Tiger Woods birthday well.
Akron, OH
Posted 11:44 AM, 12/25/2008
Nobody ever said George was good with numbers. Every article of his that contains one seems to have a related error.
The Great City in, OH
Posted 01:05 AM, 12/26/2008
Hmm, I've missed something; I didn't read where he said 12/23 was Bron's birthday.
The Great City in, OH
Posted 01:09 AM, 12/26/2008
Ahhh! I saw the blunder in a previous article of his on 12/24; so this is a correction of sort.
