The dissing addressed simple 2008 reality because his team is 10-0 at home with 13 victories in its last 14 games and the Knicks, well, they?re reeling.

"It?s a distraction for the Knicks, it?s not a distraction for us" he said of the constant questions and talk about him potentially coming to New York. "We?re good.

"Players on their team, they don?t want to hear about LeBron James or Chris Bosh coming to their team. At this point, it?s a year-and-a-half away [and] they?ve got better things to do.

"For us, we?re all right. I?ve been here six years now and we?ve had nothing but trying to have distractions about me leaving or guys on the team not happy. It?s not a problem for us."

Fast forward those remarks 19 months, when he?s officially scheduled to become a free agent, and Knicks fans can officially worry.

Or they can worry about Al Harrington pulling down their potential 2010 savior from behind on a breakaway Wednesday with a third-quarter flagrant foul that didn?t exactly endear the Knicks to Cleveland fans already bitter about the assumption that James to New York is all but a done deal.

"Someone get Harrington!" one Cavs fan yelled.

Perhaps, though, Knicks fans can spend some worry on a team that began the season 6-3, but has lost seven of its last nine and only christened a stretch of seven-of-eight games on the road Wednesday.

They again played short-handed ? even more so when Quentin Richardson got thrown out in the second quarter after drawing two technicals.

Thus, the Cavs built a lead as large as 42 and James sat out his second straight fourth quarter against the Knicks, this time after producing 21 points, six assists and five rebounds.

"Curiosity makes you look [at the schedule]," Knicks coach Mike D?Antoni said, "But so far we haven?t gotten our team together. We?re competing well, but we?ve just got to make some improvements."

Besides his pregame remarks about the Knicks, James brushed off questions about Charles Barkley?s insistence that the Cavs? star stop talking about his free agency and said, "I?ve never said anything about being a Knick or being on any team in this league besides being here in Cleveland. I?ll leave it at that and see what happens."

James also said of his relationship with Jay-Z and its impact on him potentially signing with the Nets, "He?s a big sports guy, but at the end of the day, me and Jay [were] friends before he was part owner of the Nets, before I even got in the NBA. The friendship between us is always going to be friendship first and business second."

As for the business at hand, it got out of hand early ? not long after Al Harrington produced a stretch of nine shots in 11 first-quarter possessions and a turnover in one of the two he didn?t shoot.

First, the Cavs dashed off a 12-3 run to end the first quarter that sent them into the second up, 31-20.

Then in the second quarter, in which the Knicks committed 12 turnovers, Cleveland ran off a 16-0 burst that stretched its lead to 28.