NBA : James delivers in OT as Cavaliers win

LeBron James scored 39 points, including seven in overtime, and Larry Hughes added 21 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 112-108 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday in Chicago.

Cleveland leads Chicago by 1 1/2 games for second place in the Eastern Conference. The three division winners are guaranteed spots in the top four playoff seeds, meaning the Bulls would be seeded fifth despite holding the third-best record in the conference.

Trailing 108-104 with a minute left in overtime, James drove to the basket and converted a three-point play. He banked in the jumper in the lane to cut the lead to 108-107 with 42.3 seconds remaining. Then Ben Gordon drove to the lane and missed with a wild shot, James got the rebound and put Cleveland ahead for good with a jumper in the lane, giving Cleveland a 109-108 lead with 20.7 seconds left.

The Bulls didn’t get a shot off the next time down when Gordon was trapped and threw the ball away. The Bulls fouled Larry Hughes, who hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 110-108. Gordon missed a 3 with 1.9 seconds left. Hughes rebounded and was immediately fouled, making both free throws.

Gordon knocked down a 22-footer to put the Bulls up 106-104 with 1:26 left in overtime. Then James missed a 3 and Ben Wallace picked up the loose ball and was fouled. Wallace hit both free throws putting Chicago ahead 108-104 with 1:01 left.

Gordon finished with 37 points and Tyrus Thomas had a career-high 27 points.

Sasha Pavlovic scored 21 points for Cleveland, which won for the third time in seven games.

James gave Cleveland a 98-91 lead on a pair of free throws with 5:07 left in the fourth quarter. The Bulls came back when Gordon made two free throws and a nice pass to Thomas for an easy dunk to get to 98-95 with 4:03 left. Thomas cut the Cavs’ lead to 100-99 on another dunk off Wallace’s pass.

Gordon tied the game at 100 with 39.7 seconds left. The Bulls had chances to take the lead in the final seconds of regulation, but Gordon missed a jumper and later committed a turnover.

Clippers 99, Trail Blazers 86: At Portland, Cuttino Mobley had 25 points, Elton Brand added 21 and Los Angeles cruised to a win over the Trail Blazers.

Quinton Ross added 17 points for the Clippers, who ran out to a huge lead and held on, despite playing without Corey Maggette (chest contusion).

Hornets 103, Knicks 94 (OT): At Oklahoma City, David West scored 20 points and New Orleans held New York to one field goal in overtime to beat the Knicks in a meeting of teams desperately trying to make up ground in the playoff race.

Chris Paul scored seven of his 16 points in the extra period, when the Knicks went 1 for 8 from the field.

Nets 86, 76ers 82: At East Rutherford, N.J., a foul-plagued Vince Carter scored 13 of his 19 points in the third quarter and New Jersey posted one of its best defensive games of the season with a victory over Philadelphia.

Richard Jefferson added 14 points and Jason Kidd had 12 and eight assists as the Nets pushed the 76ers five games behind in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia has nine games left.