In case you missed it, for the fourth time in his career, LeBron James had at least 50 points in a game -- pouring in 51 in Tuesday's overtime win over Memphis -- along with eight rebounds and nine assists. It was the sixth win in seven games for the Cavaliers and raised their record to 20-12 with him and 0-6 without him.

James enters Thursday's game at San Antonio averaging 29.8 points, with career-highs in rebounds (7.7), assists (7.5), field goal percentage (.487) and blocks (1.1) -- not to mention 2.0 steals a game as well.

So instead of falling apart, which so many prognosticators anticipated after their unlikely run to the Eastern Conference championship last season, James has inched the Cavs right back into contention for the fourth seed in the pathetic Eastern Conference. But the question remains: How long can he continue to do this without significant help? We saw how it broke down Kevin Garnett in Minnesota, how frustrated Kobe Bryant got after Shaquille O'Neal left, and now Dwyane Wade is suffering in Miami with the rapid deterioration of Shaq.

Granted, James just turned 23 and is an amazing physical specimen at 6-8, 250. But he does suffer a lot of sprained ankles, and so much is expected of him every game because there is no other consistent performer on the Cavs. And now that coach Mike Brown has been given an extension, it's time to figure out what to do next.

We've heard about the Cavs acquiring Mike Bibby ad nauseum -- whether he's really worth Drew Gooden and everything else required or just a vastly overpaid, undersized streak shooter.

But given no restrictions, who would be the ideal player to join James with the Cavs?

The first player who comes to mind is the player they lost for nothing ... Carlos Boozer, who essentially conned the Cavs into free agency and bolted to Utah. They'd certainly handle that differently if given the opportunity again. But Boozer is hardly the ideal, just an All-Star they let get away.

Garnett is an obvious one, but I'm inclined to think if I'm reaching into the NBA grab bag, my first choice is Dwight Howard, a great shot-blocker to run the floor with James. Tim Duncan is the other versatile big man that comes to mind quickly, and probably Amare Stoudemire.

But is the big man the perfect pairing?

What about pure long-range shooters such as Michael Redd, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Mike Miller, Wally Szczerbiak, Mike Dunleavy or even a Jason Kapono? Hmmm, probably not worth it considering James' young sidekick from last year's conference championship run, Daniel Gibson, is proving to be as consistent (90-of-183, .492) as any 3-point shooter in the NBA the first half of the season. A sleeper who could really help shooting and toughness on this team is personal favorite Caron Butler.

That takes us to a much more obvious position -- point guard, which is why Bibby's name continues to surface with the Cavs. But is he the pure point guard that Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul or Deron Williams is? He's not even close. And while Paul and Kidd aren't the versatile shooter that Bibby is, Nash and Williams are better in all phases.

Granted, it's easy since no trade has to be made, but since this is our game, we can pick whoever we want, whenever we want.

So if I'm picking a partner for James, my choice is Dwight Howard.

Who's yours?

Christmas Day in the NBA … seeing the Los Angeles Lakers every year doesn’t quite have the same allure as the NFL tradition on Thanksgiving Day, but at least it allowed for one game out of three to live up to it’s billing. And with the way the Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns 122-115, it certainly makes the race in the West a lot more interesting.

 

But that was the middle game -- and unless you already knew better, that meant you had to survive the first game, leaving almost no possibility of staying awake through boredom and a second day of turkey to see the nightcap.

 

Oh, we did manage not to nod out before seeing the upstart Portland Trail Blazers extend their NBA-best winning streak to 11 games in an ugly 89-79 win against the Seattle Sonics Tuesday night. It wasn’t supposed to be about the rivalry in the Pacific Northwest, though. It was scheduled in July to have provided enough time for the highly publicized top two picks of the 2007 draft -- Greg Oden and Kevin Durant -- to get their feet on the ground and excite everyone with a glimpse of the NBA’s future superstars.

 

As we’ve learned ad nauseum, Oden is out for the year never to play a game this season after microfracture knee surgery. And Durant continues to show flashes of his superlative scoring skills amid the other immature aspects of his game on a bad team. The best part of the Blazers is still seeing how 2006 rookie of the year Brandon Roy has blossomed into the floor leader that coach Nate McMillan had dreamed about (even if Sergio Rodriguez did show sparks of spectacular ballhandling and passing skills). Maybe that lock of another lottery pick in the wake of Oden’s absence won’t happen after all, and the Blazers slip into the playoffs. That would be one of the great stories of the season if they can sustain … but they are so young.

 

The first game was in Cleveland, with the underachieving Cavs hosting the pathetic Miami Heat. Of course all eyes were on LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.  But all the Heat had in them was one good quarter, and it’s hard to imagine Wade making it through this season healthy after offseason surgery on his shoulder and knee from which he certainly returned too soon. It’s one thing to carry his teammates with Shaquille O’Neal. It’s quite another for Shaq to be jumping on his back. At least coach Pat Riley showed Shaq enough respect to yank him after he had just picked up his fifth foul with just less than seven minutes left. It saved him from tying the all-time record of six consecutive games of fouling out, but didn’t prevent everyone from witnessing just how unproductive he has become. At 8-20, they are astonishingly bad and Wade didn’t even score in the second half until there were eight minutes left in the game.

 

The Cavs, carrying the moniker of Defending Eastern Conference champs, were made to look like chumps on Saturday night by the wacko New York Knicks. For the first time, James stormed out of the arena without a word. And things looked pretty bleak Tuesday when they went dead in the second half. But they did bounce back and manhandled the Heat in the second half, led by James’ 25 points, 12 assists and 6 rebounds for an easy 96-82 win. The key for the Cavs though, was what happened around James, with Andy Varejao coming around quickly from his late contract signing – averaging 11 points, 11 rebounds and 2.8 steals in the past three games. And Drew Gooden is still very capable of a double-double on any given night. The key is in the backcourt, where Larry Hughes didn’t put up numbers, but ran the offense and had four steals, while Daniel Gibson was deadly from the perimeter. All of this was predicated by getting back to their defensive roots that had seemingly vanished. The good news for them is after the Celtics and Pistons, and the rapidly tumbling Magic, everybody else is lingering around .500 for the fourth seed. And the Magic have played their way back to the field losing 8-of-12 after their great start.

 

Nonetheless, the Lakers' win over the Suns lived up to its billing and more. Even though Kobe Bryant scored 26 of his 38 points in the second half, it wasn’t about him for the most part.. It was about Andrew Bynum, the precocious young center with his tutor Kareem Abdul-Jabbar looking on.  The seven-point win wasn’t the story as much as Bynum was just too much for the Suns All-Star center Amare Stoudemire to handle, making 11-of-13 shots to finish with 28 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists. We have yet to see a skyhook out of the 20-year-old Bynum, but you have to figure at some point in time, with the touch he is already showing, that it’s coming.

 

The other eye-catcher for the Lakers was Trevor Ariza, earning a start in the wake of Luke Walton’s ankle sprain. Ariza, acquired from Orlando for mechanical Brian Cook and erratic Maurice Evans, gives them much needed athleticism and defense on the perimeter. And Tuesday, he added eye-popping dunks like he had at UCLA. It’s no wonder coach Phil Jackson signed a two-year extension, you can tell he’s having fun – bow-ties and all.

 

Despite continued great play from Steve Nash, the Suns just couldn’t keep up and they’re looking more vulnerable every day. Not only do the Lakers now have more speed and depth, but with Bynum and Lamar Odom, they now have two players the Suns can’t control inside – thus the Lakers 2-0 record with them this season. Even more to the point, although the Suns (19-10) still hold a one-game lead over the Lakers (18-11) for the top spot in the Pacific Division, the Suns built that record playing teams in the East. They are a surprising 7-7 against the West this season, and that’s got to be a huge red flag for coach Mike D’Antoni and new general manager Steve Kerr. They are asking more of Nash, who turns 34 the first week of February, than ever before. And teams like the Lakers, Blazers and Golden State Warriors now are showing the ability to run with them … or even outrun them.

 

And that’s why the middle game was interesting Tuesday. No longer are we hearing a peep out of Bryant about wanting to be traded. The Lakers look eminently capable of at least a top five finish in the West and maybe leapfrogging the Suns to get a second seed. All of a sudden, it’s the Suns that are beginning to look like a team that needs to make a move … which means those Shawn Marion rumors are bound to start bubbling up again.