Before the 76ers, LeBron James First Won Over Philadelphia at a Packed Palestra in 2002

LeBron James is nine games into his first season with the Philadelphia 76ers, and the team is 8-1. His history with the city goes back much further than this fall, though. ESPN's Dave McMenamin went back to the night a 17-year-old James and St. Vincent-St. Mary of Akron came to the Palestra and took apart Strawberry Mansion, 85-47, in December 2002.

The game started with a bluff. Jeremy Treatman was a former suburban high school assistant who staged showcase events, and he promised St. Vincent-St. Mary coach Dru Joyce II a date at Penn's historic gym before he had talked to anyone there. Penn Today confirms the game was played on Dec. 22, 2002. The crowd went past the building's roughly 8,700-seat capacity, and Treatman now admits he let in about 150 more people. Allen Iverson was in the stands, and so was future Knicks executive Leon Rose.

The matchup that sold the tickets was James against Maureece Rice, a Strawberry Mansion guard closing in on Wilt Chamberlain's city high school scoring record. It was lopsided from the start. Rice was scoreless at halftime, his team trailed 65-25 after three quarters, and the crowd turned hostile. Then James waved off his teammates and played Rice one-on-one for several minutes, and that was what the crowd had come to see. James finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Rice scored 13. He later played at George Washington and spent a week in Sixers training camp in 2008.

Aron Cohen sat in the stands that night as a high school sophomore and later played at Penn. He told ESPN he still can't quite believe how it turned out: "LeBron James is a Sixer. It's still surreal to me."

Back to Cleveland

The story is running on the day James goes back to the franchise he started with. The Sixers play at Cleveland on Friday night on Prime Video. Covers lists it as an NBA Cup game and the second of three on a road trip that ends Sunday in Chicago. It also reports that James is expected to play.

Philadelphia comes in having won six straight. Its only loss was a 106-93 home defeat to Detroit, and it beat the Pistons 112-106 in Detroit in the most recent game. The Sixers are 4-0 on the road, with wins at New York, Indiana, Charlotte and Detroit. They have already beaten Cleveland once, 114-106 at home in the third game of the season.

The board has 12 venues, and Philadelphia is favored. On Novig, the Sixers are -138 on the moneyline and the Cavaliers are +133. Philadelphia is a 2.5-point favorite at +102, and Cleveland +2.5 is -106. Novig has the total at 230.5 with both sides at -102. The best over price elsewhere is BetMGM's 229.5 at -110. The venues are close on this game. Sportsbook hold runs from 2.4% to 5.1% on the moneyline and up to 5.2% on the spread and total.