James, Cavs rise above Kobe and the Lakers

The final seconds ticked away, with the Los Angeles Lakers needing a 3-pointer to send the game into overtime.

That shot was never even attempted.

LeBron James won his personal matchup with Kobe Bryant in a duel of the NBA’s leading scorers, tallying 14 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter, and the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers beat Los Angeles 98-95 Sunday for their fifth straight win over the Lakers.

After James’ two free throws with nine seconds to play gave Cleveland a three-point lead, the Lakers took a timeout to formulate strategy. The Cavaliers, of course, focused their defense on Bryant.

“That’s really what you want. You want to not allow Kobe to get a clean look from the start of the play, make those guys make a couple passes, which we did, and not let them get a clean look,” Cleveland’s Larry Hughes said. “Nobody wanted to shoot it.”

Luke Walton appeared to be the player who should have fired away.

“Has to, he’s the open guy,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said before quickly adding: “The game wasn’t lost on that sequence.”

Walton, who had scored only 17 points in the Lakers’ previous five games, shooting 6 for 20, shouldered the blame.

“We ran our last-second play, I was hoping to get the shot off,” said Walton, who shot 4 for 8 for nine points and also had five rebounds, five assists and four steals. “I kind of fumbled the ball a little bit, wasn’t aware the clock was as low as it was, and as soon as I passed it back to Kobe, I realized that that was a mistake, and unfortunately it cost us big.”

Bryant scored nine of his 33 points in the final period, and also had 12 rebounds and six assists, but it wouldn’t be enough to keep the Lakers from losing their third straight to match their longest losing streak of the season.

Trail Blazers 94, Hawks 93: At Portland, Brandon Roy scored 24 points, including the go-ahead free throw with 2.3 seconds left, and the Trail Blazers erased an 18-point deficit to beat Atlanta.

The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for Portland, which improved its record at the Rose Garden to 18-4.

Timberwolves 98, Nets 95: At Minneapolis, Al Jefferson had a career-high 40 points and 19 rebounds, hit the go-ahead free throws with 11.4 seconds to go, and lifted Minnesota past New Jersey.

New Jersey’s skid has now reached nine games, its longest since November 2004.

Warriors 106, Knicks 104: At Oakland, Calif., Stephen Jackson scored 16 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and Andris Biedrins grabbed an NBA season-high 26 rebounds to help Golden State rally to beat New York.

Golden State trailed by 10 points in the third quarter before finding its long-range shooting touch late to win for the seventh time in nine games.

Mavericks 90, Nuggets 85: At Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 16 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter to help the Mavericks hold off Denver.

Nowitzki scored 14 of Dallas’ last 16 points, starting with consecutive 3-pointers after Denver had closed within four points.

Jazz 97, Rockets 89: At Houston, Deron Williams had 17 points and 12 assists, Kyle Korver added 17 points, including two late 3-pointers, and Utah beat the Rockets.

Yao Ming, voted the starting center for the Western Conference in next month’s All-Star game, sat out for Houston with an upper respiratory infection, the first game he’s missed this season.

Suns 88, Bulls 77: At Chicago, Amare Stoudemire scored 24 points and Phoenix pulled away early in the fourth quarter to beat the Bulls.

Leandro Barbosa scored 13 and started a 12-0 run in the fourth with a baseline drive and two 3-pointers, sending the Suns to their sixth win in seven games.

Magic 96, Celtics 93: At Orlando, Fla., Hedo Turkoglu nailed an off-balance 3-pointer with time expiring to lift the Magic to a victory over Kevin Garnett-less Boston.

It was Orlando’s second home win over Boston this season, and the Celtics’ first game without Garnett, who has an abdominal strain.

Bucks 105, Wizards 102: At Milwaukee, Mo Williams scored 25 points and Charlie Bell added 22 as the Bucks beat Washington.

Milwaukee overcame a career-high 40 points from the Wizards’ Caron Butler.