LeBron critical of preseason debut: 'I made everyone's timing off'

LeBron James saw his first action of the preseason for the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night after missing the last three games with a sprained left ankle.

He was cleary unimpressed with his debut performance.

"Well, me personally, tonight I was off," James said following Cleveland's 108-94 loss to the Chicago Bulls at Quicken Loans Arena, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "I could feel it.

"It's just my first action since the Finals and my timing was a little off and turnovers I think just trickled down to everybody, so I made everyone's timing off."

James played 25 minutes, scoring 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists. His most glaring number came in the turnover department, though, losing the ball on eight occasions, with seven coming in the first half alone.

Cleveland was also outscored by 18 points with James on the floor.

His ankle flared up after losing the ball out of bounds on a spin to the basket in the first quarter, yet head coach Tyronn Lue kept James in the game.

"I'm pushing through it right now," James said. "I just wanted to try and test my foot, test my ankle to see how I would come out tonight. So, obviously tonight and tomorrow morning it's going to be a telltale sign of how I came out tonight. I'm still fresh from the game so it's OK now but you never know when you wake up the next morning how it can flare up or if it can stiffen on you.

"So, I'll know more about it tomorrow but I definitely wanted to test it tonight knowing that at least if I tested it tonight I have a week until the regular season started if I don't play in the game on Friday."

The Cavaliers are 0-4 in exhibition play, with their final outing coming Friday against the Orlando Magic. They'll then open the regular season Tuesday against Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics at Quicken Loans Arena.