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Cavs stay alive in playoff race

Cleveland's Robert Traylor, top, battles Boston's Justin Reed for a loose ball on Tuesday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Cleveland's Robert Traylor, top, battles Boston's Justin Reed for a loose ball on Tuesday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

The Cavaliers still have a playoff pulse.

LeBron James and Robert Traylor made sure their team would play at least one more meaningful game, leading Cleveland past the visiting Boston Celtics 100-86 Tuesday night.

James had 32 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Traylor came off the bench to score a career-high 22 points and Eric Snow added a season-high 13 assists for the Cavs (41-40), who remained one game behind New Jersey for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Antoine Walker finished with 22 points and Ricky Davis had 15 for the Celtics

The Cavaliers, whose first playoff appearance since 1998 seemed a certainty before a second-half collapse, need to win at Toronto in their season finale tonight and hope the Celtics can bounce back at home and beat the New Jersey Nets.

New Jersey holds the tiebreaker over Cleveland.

Nets 109, Wizards 101: At East Rutherford, N.J., Jason Kidd had a season-high 35 points, eight assists and eight rebounds, and New Jersey kept control of its playoff destiny with a victory over Washington. The eighth seed will face Miami in the opening round of the playoffs this weekend. Larry Hughes had 18 points for the Wizards, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.

Bulls 92, Knicks 91: Rookie Ben Gordon scored 16 points and hit the game-winner with 5.8 seconds left in Chicago’s win over visiting New York as the Bulls locked up home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs. Chicago will open its first playoff appearance since 1998 against Washington. Jamal Crawford scored 24 points for New York and Stephon Marbury added 15 points.

Heat 99, Bobcats 80: At Miami, Rasual Butler scored a career-high 25 points and Miami continued tuning up for the postseason with a victory over Charlotte. Keith Bogans, Jason Kapono and Melvin Ely each had 14 points for the Bobcats.

Nuggets 119, Trail Blazers 115: At Denver, Carmelo Anthony had 36 points and 13 rebounds, and Earl Boykins had 18 of his 24 points in the second half to help Denver end its regular season with a victory over Portland. Darius Miles had a career-high 47 points – 10 on five vicious dunks – for Portland, which has its most losses (54) since 1973-74 with one game left.

Raptors 127, Bucks 109: Jalen Rose scored 29 points, Morris Peterson added 24 and Rafer Alston 22 as visiting Toronto handed the Bucks a loss in Milwaukee’s season finale. Desmond Mason had 25 points to lead Milwaukee.

Pistons 95, Hawks 68: At Atlanta, Tayshaun Prince scored 20 points and Ben Wallace added 15 points and 17 rebounds to power Detroit past Atlanta for its 11th consecutive victory.

Raptors won’t host 2008 All-Star game

The Toronto Raptors, citing a timing conflict, withdrew their application to host the 2008 All-Star game and will submit an application to host the event in 2011.

Around the League

Shaquille O’Neal’s bruised right thigh will keep him out of Miami’s final two regular-season games, but the team expects him to be ready when the playoffs open this weekend. … Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He is expected to be ready to play by fall training camp, the Lakers said. … Top-rated high school shooting guard Gerald Green said he has applied for early entry into the NBA draft. … Junior guard Deron Williams will skip his senior season at Illinois and enter the NBA draft.