By Paul Levine Apr 29, 2006, 9:07 GMT
Los Angeles - LeBron James shot his way into the NBA record books with another heroic performance.
James scored 14 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter, including a tough layup with 5.7 seconds left, giving the Cleveland Cavaliers a dramatic 97-96 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night for a 2-1 lead in the first round of their Eastern Conference best-of-seven playoff series.
By regaining home-court advantage, James eclipsed the previous record by one held by David Thompson and Kelly Tripuka for scoring the most points in his first career road playoff game.
'It means something and as long as we're winning ballgames,' James said. 'It's awesome, but if I'm breaking these records and we're losing, than that's a problem.
However, James was more delighted with the Cavaliers' resiliency on the road.
'It was an awesome feeling to come on another team's floor in the playoffs and get a win like this in a hostile environment,' he added. 'But we came here to win two games, not one.'
Cleveland erased a 14-point, second-quarter deficit and took a short-lived 96-93 lead when James had his shot knocked out of his hands, but recovered to bank in a layup while colliding with Michael Ruffin.
Gilbert Arenas, who had 17 of his 34 points in the final frame, put the Wizards on top with a three-point play with 23.4 seconds left.
Trailing by one, James put a move on Antonio Daniels and drove the left side before banking in the go-ahead a layup over Ruffin.
'I made a move on AD and I was able to get him off the ground,' James said. 'I seen the lane, and I seen Michael Ruffin, who is a good shot-blocker. I wanted to go to his body and get the ball on the rim. I was able to get the ball over the outstretched arms of Ruffin and it was able to go in.'
The Wizards had a final shot to pull out the victory when Arenas launched a wide-open 3-pointer that rimmed in and out at the final buzzer.
'I thought it was going in,' Arenas said. 'It was there, just a little off. It just wasn't our day. We fought all 48 minutes of this basketball game and we deserved this win.'
Arenas received help from Caron Butler who had 20 points and 11 rebounds while Antawn Jamison added 14 and 10 boards for Washington, which looks to regroup in Game Four on Sunday.
'You have to get over it but its hard when you lose this way,' Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. 'But we'll try, and get ready for Sunday.'
Elsewhere: Sacramento Kings 94, San Antonio Spurs 93: Kevin Martin took a pass from Mike Bibby and flipped in a twisting fastbreak layup over Tim Duncan as time expired to give the Kings the thrilling victory over the Spurs.
The victory pulled the Kings to within 2-1 in their first-round Western Conference playoff series against the NBA defending champions with Game Four on Sunday.
San Antonio's Michael Finley buried the go-ahead 3-pointer with 41 seconds to go before Argentina's Manu Ginobili forced Kings Ron Artest into a turnover just 14 seconds later.
The Spurs ran down the clock until the final seconds, but Ginobili lost his dribble to Bibby. He quickly got to mid-court and zipped a pass to Martin, who beat Duncan for the game-winner as the Arco Arena crowd erupted with jubilation.
'Once I got the steal, I didn't think I was going to make it down-court, but Kevin always breaks out,' Bibby said. 'He used his speed to get to the basket. How it went in, I don't know.'
Bibby led Sacramento with 25 points while Artest added 22 points and 12 rebounds after serving a one-game suspension.
Duncan led San Antonio with 29 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots.
LA Lakers 99, Phoenix Suns 92: Kobe Bryant is scoring less but enjoying it more.
Luke Walton collected 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Lamar Odom had 15 along with 17 boards as the Lakers shaded the Suns to grab a 2-1 lead in the first-round of their best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series.
'We're playing great together, and I'm so happy for the team,' said Bryant, who finished with just 17 points - half his league-best regular-season scoring average. 'We're just moving the ball, we're playing together.'
Smush Parker had 18 points and Kwame Brown finished with 13 along with 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who host Game Four on Sunday.
Shawn Marion led Phoenix with 20 points and Tim Thomas added 18. Steve Nash collected 17 points and 11 assists.
The Suns trailed most of the game but pulled to within 92-90 with 3:28 remaining. The Lakers responded, however, as Walton and Parker hit consecutive layups to open up a 96-90 lead with 2:20 left.
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