25 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds

They were all saying that before LeBron James’ NBA debut Wednesday night.

By time they meant games, months, possibly years. But Wednesday, at ARCO Arena, time was minutes and seconds, as in 1 minute 24 seconds.

With 10:36 left in the first quarter, James boldly introduced himself to his new competition by grabbing a defensive rebound, speeding upcourt with the basketball and tossing an alley-oop pass to his flying teammate Ricky Davis for a dunk.

The play began a first-quarter run by James that, by itself, lived up to the hype of the most anticipated debut in NBA history.

Over the next nine minutes, James scored 12 points, made three steals, gave out two more assists and displayed the leaping ability of Jordan and the unselfishness of Magic Johnson.

While James’ exploits could not lift the Cavaliers over the powerful Kings, who won 106-92, they did announce that James’ adjustment period in the NBA might last no longer than his college career.

Playing point guard, shooting guard and small forward, James belied his critics by turning in an All-Star line of 25 points, nine assists, six rebounds and three steals and shooting 12 for 20 from the field.

Simply put, he was magnificent.

The truest testament to how good James played was the surprising closeness of the game. Playing with a cast that won just 17 games last season, James led the Cavaliers back from a 19-point deficit by recording seven third-quarter points and two assists.

The buildup for the game was off the charts. The Kings’ media relations department issued 340 credentials for the contest, welcoming journalists from England, China, Japan, Germany and Taiwan. The horde followed James as if drawn by hypnosis, surrounding him at the morning shoot-around, at his entrance into the arena, and during his pregame warm-up.

ESPN televised the game and for a few minutes actually cut away from the start of overtime between the Knicks and the Orlando Magic, who feature one of the league’s hottest stars in Tracy McGrady, to show the tip-off of James’ historic night.

And Moses Malone, the only pro player to demonstrate anything close to dominance in his first year out of high school, was in attendance.

As he has done for the past year, James took the hoopla in stride. But he did admit to being excited. ‘‘It’s a dream come true’’, James said before the game. ‘‘I’m afraid to pinch myself because I might wake up. So I’m going to keep living this dream and, hopefully, it don’t turn into reality because it seems like a dream right now.’’ (The New York Times)