Sports360AZ

King James Questionable To Hold Court Tuesday Night

LeBron James and his courtship are back in the Valley but under far different circumstances than a year ago.

This year there was no viral post-practice dunk contest.

Just a surly King James who jabbed at the media a bit when pressed if he thought he’d be ready to return to game action Tuesday when the slumping Cavs take on the Suns at Talking Stick Arena.

“I’m a game-time decision,” James told the assembled media Monday afternoon after Cleveland wrapped up practice at Grand Canyon University. “As of right now, hopefully my body reacts really well [Tuesday]. I’m going to get some more treatment…and see what happens.”

The 19-19 Cavs, losers of five-straight, are hoping the return of James’ jumpstarts the talented club which is just 1-8 in their last nine games. Multiple injuries forced James to take off a couple of weeks but Cleveland’s recent slide may expedite the process a bit if embattled head coach David Blatt gets a thumbs up on James’ health.

James will face a Suns’ team which made a run at him last summer during his free-agency courtship before ultimately deciding to return to his former team.

“They present a lot challenges,” James said of Phoenix. They have three point guards that put extensive pressure of your defense in [Eric] Bledsoe, [Goran] Dragic and Isaiah Thomas. The Morris’ twins continue to play well.”

The 22-18 Suns are coming off tough back-to-back losses to San Antonio and Memphis which spoiled a 4-0 stretch to open 2015.

Certainly Cleveland, currently sixth in the Eastern Conference playoff standings, has plenty of work to do with the stretch run of the season a handful of weeks away.

“We’re not ready to win a seven-game series,” James lamented. “We’re nowhere ready to compete in the post-season with our struggles as of late. We need to get back to our winning ways.”

Tipoff Tuesday is set for 7:00 from downtown Phoenix.  

A Valley native, Eric has had a passion for the Arizona sports scene since an early age. He has covered some of the biggest events including Super Bowls, national championships and the NBA and MLB playoffs in his near 20 years in local media.

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