LeBron leads Cavs over Pacers

Mar 28, 2007, 2:00 GMT

Indianapolis, IN - LeBron James scored 26 points, pulled down seven rebounds, and tallied six assists, and the Cleveland Cavaliers topped the Indiana Pacers, 105-94.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 23 points, and Eric Snow added 14 points for Cleveland, which has won two of three and pulled to within 2 1/2 games of idle Detroit for the top spot in both the Central Division and the Eastern Conference.

Jermaine O'Neal scored 32 points for the Pacers, who have lost four of five, and 15 of 17 overall. Danny Granger scored 22 points for Indiana, and Troy Murphy added 16 points. Jamaal Tinsley finished with 15 points and 12 assists for Indiana.

The Pacers missed a valuable chance to pull even with idle New Jersey for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Indiana fell to one game behind the Nets, with the Knicks only one game behind the Pacers, two games behind New Jersey.

'We couldn't get a pivotal basket or stop or combination of the two. When you play a very good team like Cleveland and you're struggling to get over the hump, you have to do it,' said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle.

An 8-2 Pacers run cut the Cleveland lead to one, at 81-80, after an O'Neal hook with 8:13 left. Pavlovic hit a jumper and put in a reverse layup and, after one Murphy free throw, James dropped in an alley-oop layup to put the Cavs ahead 87-81 with 6:58 left.

Murphy cut the lead to 89-85 with a jumper at the 5:09 mark, but Cleveland answered with an 11-4 run to seal the game. Snow converted a three-point play on the spurt, which Ilgauskas capped with two free throws to put the Cavs ahead, 100-89, with only 54 seconds left.

'We executed better,' said Ilgauskas. 'Plus, we got some stops on defense when they closed the gap'

The Pacers closed the third quarter with a 14-6 stretch to slice a 69-58 Cavs advantage to 75-72 heading into the fourth quarter.

O'Neal scored 10 points in the first quarter, but the Pacers still trailed 25-22 entering the second.

The Cavs led 53-45 at the half.

Game Notes

Neither team was impressive from behind the arc, with the Cavs only making 2- of-13 three-pointers, and the Pacers only sinking 3-of-15...Cleveland outrebounded Indiana, 43-33.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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