‘King’ James helps Cavaliers put Raptors to sword

CLEVELAND, (Reuters) – LeBron James sparked the  Cleveland Cavaliers to a 108-100 victory over the Toronto  Raptors on Tuesday.

James narrowly missed a triple double with 28 points, 11  assists and nine rebounds, while Mo Williams added 22 points  and 10 assists as the Eastern Conference’s top team won for the  fourth time in five games.

Cleveland (32-11) held a 95-94 edge late in the fourth  quarter before breaking away thanks to Williams’ three-pointer  and capped by a James dunk.

James, the league’s reigning MVP, made four successive free  throws in the final minute to clinch the win.

“They gave us a little trouble in the first half but we  were able to slow that down (in the second half). We were a bit  more physical on the defensive end,” James told reporters after  finishing with three steals and three blocks.

Chris Bosh paced the Raptors with 21 points and 10 boards  while Andrea Bargnani added 19 as the visitors fell to 21-21 on  the season.

Toronto opened the season with a win over Cleveland that  dropped the Cavs to 0-2. Since then, Cleveland have hit their  stride and taken over the East, while the Raptors are battling  for a playoff position.

Cleveland’s Shaquille O’Neal had 16 points and surpassed  the 28,000-points mark for his career, the fifth player to do  so.

“The only fallback for me is that I missed like 5,000 free  throws,” O’Neal said. “If I would have at least hit half of  those, then I would be at 30,000 right now.”