Lebron James

LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar, will make his feature film debut by playing himself in "Fantasy Basketball Camp," a comedy from Universal Pictures. The movie is about five guys from different backgrounds who come to Las Vegas to live out their fantasy by attending James' basketball camp. Production will begin next summer, when James can become a free agent. Producer Brian Grazer is convinced the All-Star forward can make the transition to the big screen, as rapper Eminem did in "8 Mile."

Kobe or LeBron? Last season's NBA most valuable player or this season's? Whom would you rather have on your team this time of year? Jerry West has made his choice . . . and it's not the big-skilled kid from Philadelphia he brought west in 1996. "I look at Cleveland [and] say to myself, 'How many games could they win without LeBron James?' " West told Reuters in an interview. "That's how great he is. "He has a chance to be arguably the greatest player ever to play the game."

Elimination beckoned, and we all figured we knew what that meant. The run was over, here comes summer vacation, it's time to go fishing. Except the Nike puppets didn't go away. Even without LeBron James in the NBA Finals, Nike continues to run ads with the LeBron and Kobe Bryant puppets, playing on the theme that Kobe made the Finals and LeBron has to stay home baby-sitting the little kid next door, Lil Dez.

Now it's Dwight Howard vs. LeBron James, not quite winner-take-all, but a highly appealing appetizer. So much so that there is a search for another nickname for James on the eve of the Eastern Conference finals, which open tonight between Howard's Magic and James' Cavaliers. For the moment, it's merely Superman (Howard) vs. the King (James). "I thought about that," Cleveland forward Joe Smith said. "Both of those guys are great talents.

TORONTO -- For three quarters he was ordinary. Then, when it mattered most, LeBron James was unstoppable. James scored 39 points, including 24 in the fourth, to help the Cleveland Cavaliers rally for a 93-90 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. "In the fourth quarter, he was amazing," Cleveland Coach Mike Brown said. "He just took the game over and put us on his back. What a tremendous, tremendous performance." That performance helped Cleveland overcome a season-low 33 first-half points.

* at Cleveland 113, Charlotte 106 (2 OT): LeBron James scored eight of his 31 points in the second overtime, and pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers. His free throw and a jump shot before Damon Jones' three-point basket from the corner gave Cleveland a 109-102 lead with 1:27 left. * Toronto 99, at New York 90: Knicks starting forward Zach Randolph was benched the final 31-plus minutes after appearing to have a dispute with Coach Isiah Thomas.

Year five of trying to build a team LeBron James can be proud of. . . . Year four couldn't have gone much better -- with the Cavaliers making the NBA Finals, even if they didn't stay long -- but then Boston and Detroit rebuilt and the defending East champions opened as a consensus No. 4 pick. Before Cleveland fans could say "Disrespect!" Anderson Varejao held out, James missed five games, the Cavaliers lost them all and half their bench refused to go into games and/or asked to be traded.

Kobe Bryant doesn't care anymore. Oh, he cares about the Lakers, but not about the often over-hyped matchups with marquee players on other teams. The Lakers play host to the Cleveland Cavaliers today, which means a lot of Kobe-vs.-LeBron James material, even though they rarely guard each other. "I don't care about that stuff, man," Bryant said, laughing. "You know how many of those mano-a-mano battles I've seen? That's nothing to me."

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Cavaliers' plan for success this season is pretty basic: When LeBron James plays, good things usually happen. James scored 28 points Saturday night after sitting out a game because of a sprained right ankle, leading the Cavaliers to a 98-84 victory over the Clippers. James missed Cleveland's 101-95 loss in Seattle on Thursday after injuring the ankle the previous night against Portland.

CLEVELAND -- Carmelo Anthony kept his edge over a frustrated LeBron James. Anthony scored 27 points, Allen Iverson had 25 and the Denver Nuggets rolled to a 113-83 victory Sunday night over the injury-depleted Cleveland Cavaliers. Anthony, who didn't play in the fourth quarter, improved to 8-2 in his pro career against good friend James, who scored 30 points -- in three quarters -- but got little help from a Cleveland team missing four key players, including two starters.