James shot 8 of 9 in the period, with his second 3-pointer coming just before the buzzer to give him 19 points and make it 40-21. The Cavs made 16 of 22 shots (73 percent), closing the quarter with a 17-2 run that basically wrapped it up early.

"LeBron's first eight minutes were ridiculous," said Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, who expected this from James with Cleveland's poor performance Thursday and its lone MSG visit Friday. "That's why he's the MVP and that's why New York's a special place."

Before the second quarter started, the Yankees fan then went to the sideline and joined the crowd that included his pal Jay-Z in a standing ovation for Alex Rodriguez and six other members of the World Series champions who came onto the court.

James said he was able to congratulate a few of the players during the game.

"I thought if we could have kept the Yankees at halftime a little bit longer, we might have caught them. He was having a good time with those guys," D'Antoni joked.

James said before the game he wouldn't think about free agency until July, believing his team could contend for a title this season. The Cavs haven't been showing that yet, coming to New York with only a 3-3 record.

They looked like championship material against the Knicks, whose defensive effort had to be disheartening to Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason and Larry Johnson, who were in the crowd. They played for the franchise back when defense was their trademark.

The Knicks did cut it to single digits with under 4 minutes to play, but James set up Williams for a basket, then knocked down a turnaround jumper to make it 95-82 with 2:47 remaining.

NOTES: Former Cleveland ace CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira were among the Yankees who came on the floor after the first quarter. The team celebrated its title with a parade through Lower Manhattan earlier Friday. James said he was asleep and didn't watch. Former Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams, now a musician who has been nominated for a Latin Grammy, played the national anthem on his guitar, and Reggie Jackson also was in the crowd. ... J.J. Hickson made his first start of the season at forward for the Cavaliers, with Anderson Varejao coming off the bench for the first time.