LeBron James had a career-high 41 points and 13 assists to lead Cleveland over the visiting New Jersey Nets 107-104, snapping the Cavaliers’ four-game losing streak and keeping them in the playoff hunt.
James scored the winning basket with 12 seconds left after tipping a pass by Richard Jefferson. Kedrick Brown grabbed the deflection and got it to James, who drove half the court for a left-handed layup, making it 105-104.
After Richard Jefferson missed a jumper on the next possession, James again drove to the hoop. He slammed the final points home with two seconds left.
Kerry Kittles clanked a long three-pointer off the iron as time expired.
The win put the Cavaliers in a tie with Boston for the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
James shot 15-for-29 from the floor and 10-for-10 from the line for his first 40-point game. He also had six rebounds and three steals.
James was involved in practically every score down the stretch, either driving to the basket or dishing off to Carlos Boozer, who had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 17 with 10 rebounds.
Jefferson had a season-high 35 points for the Nets. He shot 12-for-20 and kept hitting jumpers to maintain New Jersey’s lead.
Kittles had 24 points and Lucious Harris had 19 for the Nets.
It was the Nets’ fourth loss in five games without Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin. Kidd has a bone bruise in his left knee and Martin has left knee tendinitis.
The Cavaliers had not won since Jeff McInnis bruised his right shoulder March 16 against the Bulls. He was placed on the injured list before the game.
Mr. Zero
Denver Nuggets forward Ryan Bowen went into the weekend averaging nine-tenths of a point. What makes that figure so significant is it puts him on pace to become just the second NBA player to average less than a point while appearing in at least 50 games. Center Eric Montross averaged eight-tenths of a point in 51 games for Detroit in 1999-2000.
RESULTS, SATURDAY’S SYNOPSIS
Bulls 88 at Atlanta 97
Complete coverage, Page 19
New York 85 at Detroit 100
Tayshaun Prince scored 20 pts. Knicks had just 9 healthy players with Allan Houston (left quadriceps), Penny Hardaway (groin) and Tim Thomas (groin) all sidelined.
New Jersey 104 at Cleveland 107
LeBron James has 12 games with 30 or more points. He had 11 straight pts over a 4 1/2-minute stretch in 2nd quarter to put the Cavaliers up 40-35.
Phoenix 76 at San Antonio 105
Hedo Turkoglu and Tim Duncan had 14 pts each in the Spurs’ rout. Suns opened with 18-5 run. They shot 57 percent and grabbed 16 rebounds en route to a 31-13 lead after 1 quarter.
Denver 83 at Utah 85
Carlos Arroyo made a 12-foot jumper as time expired for the win. Jazz has won 6 of 7 at home, while Nuggets have lost 6 of last 7 on the road.
Seattle 108 at Portland 115
Zach Randolph had 25 pts, 9 rebs to lead Trail Blazers to OT win. Damon Stoudamire added 23 pts. Portland improved to 8-3 in last 11 games. Sonics had 7-game win streak snapped.
Minnesota 98 at L.A. Clippers 82
Latrell Sprewell scored 18 pts. Timberwolves completed 4-game season sweep of Clippers. Triumph gave the Timberwolves back-to-back 50-win seasons.
