>Heat 98, Hawks 90

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LeBron James collected 34 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as the visiting Miami Heat maintained their grip on the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference with a 98-90 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.

Dwayne Wade added 21 points and Chris Bosh scored 15 for the Heat (57-24), who stayed one game ahead of the Boston Celtics with one left to play.

Miami started out red-hot, shooting 63 percent (26 of 41) in the first half to cruise into the break with a 62-46 advantage. James and Wade were a combined 15 of 21 for 36 points before halftime.

The Hawks stepped up on the defensive end after the break, holding the Heat to 17 points in the third and beginning the fourth with a 21-9 burst to pull even, 88-88, with 3:29 remaining.

But after entering the game James Jones converted a four-point play that put the Heat back on top, 92-88. Wade blocked two straight shots on the other end and Jones drained another from beyond the arc to seal it.

Josh Smith had 17 points and six rebounds for Atlanta (44-37).

>Cavaliers get the better of LeBron James for a night

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In an unbearable season of losses, Cleveland got the win it wanted most.

The Cavaliers took down LeBron James.

Despite blowing a 23-point lead, the Cavaliers battled back and beat the Miami Heat, 102-90, on Tuesday night, getting a dose of revenge against James, who was making his second homecoming visit to Cleveland since leaving last summer.

J.J. Hickson scored 21 and Anthony Parker scored 20 for the Cavaliers, who were embarrassed by James and the Heat, 118-90, on Dec. 2 — a night when Cleveland fans unleashed their hatred on the superstar.

This time, James left the court hanging his head. He finished with 27 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.

In the closing seconds, a sellout crowd of 20,562 cut loose at a victory even the most loyal Cleveland fan couldn’t have imagined. Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, who accused James of quitting in last year’s playoffs after the two-time most valuable player announced in a TV special that he was joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, high-fived anyone within reach.

On the court afterward, Parker, whose last three-point shot with 2:47 left capped a 12-0 run and put the Heat away, addressed the fans.

“You guys deserve it,” he said.

The Cavaliers were a different team — literally — from the one that lay down against the Heat in December. Injuries and trades have reduced Cleveland’s roster to a shell of the one James played with and helped win 60 games last season.

The Heat rallied from 23 down, and tied it at 83-all on Mike Bibby’s seventh three-pointer with 7:03 left. But Miami, which wasted a chance to move into second place in the Eastern Conference, went scoreless for 4:24, allowing the Cavaliers to get their 15th win and their most lopsided victory this season.

Wade scored 24 for the Heat, which had its winning streak stopped at five.

at Oklahoma City 115, Golden State 114 (OT): Kevin Durant scored 39 points and Russell Westbrook hit the winning free throw with 11.4 seconds left in overtime for the Thunder. Durant scored eight of Oklahoma City’s nine points in overtime but served as a decoy to create room along the right side of the lane as Westbrook drove to the basket and was fouled. Westbrook missed his first free throw but made the second to put the Thunder on top. The Warriors’ Monta Ellis missed a jumper from the top of the key at the final buzzer. Stephen Curry led Golden State with 35 points.

Houston 112, at New Jersey 87: Kyle Lowry had 16 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds and the Rockets moved to within two games of the final playoff berth in the Western Conference. Kevin Martin scored 20 points as Houston won for the sixth time in seven games. Brook Lopez had 22 points for the Nets, who lost their third in a row and seventh in eight games. Deron Williams sat out his sixth straight game for New Jersey, which has lost 50 games for the second straight season.

at Sacramento 116, Phoenix 113: Marcus Thornton scored 24 points and had 11 rebounds and the Kings won their season-high fourth straight game. The loss was the third straight and eighth in 11 games for the Suns, who have watched any hopes of the playoffs practically disappear over this stretch.

>Lakers give one away against the Heat, 94-88

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Eight-game winning streak ends with poor play down the stretch.The Lakers could have finally wished their fans a Merry Christmas, along with a belated apology for their behavior back in December.
Instead, they gift-wrapped a game Thursday and handed it to the Miami Heat.
The Lakers’ messy last two minutes led to Miami’s 94-88 victory and ended two streaks at once — the Lakers’ eight-game surge and the Heat’s five-game skid.
There was no getting even for a humiliating loss to Miami on Christmas Day after Kobe Bryant committed two late turnovers and missed two long three-point attempts, one from 28 feet at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Bryant wasn’t the only one at fault. Ron Artest missed an open layup attempt with 1:04 left.
Merry March, Miami.
Or as Andrew Bynum said in his own way, “We tricked it, for sure. We definitely had an opportunity to win this game and we gave it away.”
Their game Saturday in Dallas is more important to the Lakers, but this one was taken plenty seriously.
Bryant warned teammates the previous day not to stay out late in always-rocking South Beach and to make sure the game was the focus of their trip to Miami.
He had 24 points on a poor shooting night (eight for 21) and was still angry about it 30 minutes after the game. So he returned to the court and shot a slew of three-pointers and mid-range jumpers as three Heat ball boys fetched rebounds and fed him passes.
His Lakers T-shirt was wet with sweat by the time he finished. He played almost 40 minutes in the game and stayed on the court for more than an hour afterward.
“It’s my job,” Bryant said. “This is what you’re supposed to do if you’re not feeling comfortable with something and you feel like you can tweak some things.”
The game ended feebly for a team that had been playing so robustly, beating Portland, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Atlanta on the road since the All-Star break.
Bryant started it by coughing the ball up to Dwyane Wade, who fed LeBron James for a dunk and 90-88 lead with 1:27 to play.
Then Artest missed his easy shot.
Then Bryant lost the ball out of bounds while going up for a shot down low.
Then he lofted an off-balance, 28-foot, three-point attempt.
By the time the misfires were added up, the Lakers had lost, though Coach Phil Jackson took the blame. As everyone knows, he rarely calls timeouts and often still has one or two in his pocket for end-of-game situations. This time, he called his last one with 46 seconds to play and the Lakers down by four.
“I really took responsibility for screwing up the end of the game,” he said. “I had no timeouts…”
As for Artest?
“I should have made the layup, but they grabbed my arm, I got hit in my head, and then, well, goaltending too possibly, right?” Artest said. “But that’s an excuse, man. I should have made the layup.”
The Lakers initially thought the Heat took the rebound with the ball still in the cylinder but stepped back from their thinking after conferring with their video coordinator.
The Heat couldn’t be happier, ending a five-game losing streak that tugged on the franchise and its celebrated trio of All-Stars.
“This was a very big game and we had everything riding on it,” said Heat forward Chris Bosh, who complained about his touches earlier this week and had 24 points on 10-for-17 shooting Thursday.
James had 19 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Wade had 20 points.
The Lakers still have a chance to make their four-game trip highly successful. The overachieving Mavericks beckon.