Cavs defer to unlikely star

Sasha Pavlovic scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, picking up the slack for LeBron James, and the Cleveland Cavaliers held on for a 99-90 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday in Cleveland.

Pavlovic, suddenly a major cog in Cleveland’s offense, finished with 21 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas 17 and Anderson Varejao 12 – 11 in the fourth.

James finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 36 for Los Angeles.

Heat 100, Spurs 85: At Miami, Dwyane Wade scored 18 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter and the Heat held San Antonio without a field goal for more than seven minutes down the stretch on the way to beating the Spurs.

Wade hit 7 of 10 shots in the final period and added seven assists.

Pacers 94, Clippers 80: At Indianapolis, Jermaine O’Neal scored 21 points and set an Indiana franchise record for career blocked shots in the Pacers’ victory over Los Angeles.

O’Neal had four blocked shots, giving him 1,113 for his career with the Pacers and breaking the franchise record of 1,111 by former Pacers center Rik Smits.

Mavericks 106, 76ers 89: At Philadelphia, Dirk Nowitzki had 24 points and 11 rebounds, and Dallas defeated the Sixers.

Jason Terry hit consecutive jumpers in the fourth quarter to help the Mavs stave off a surprising Sixers rally that saw them slice a 30-point deficit down to only eight.

Timberwolves 109, Celtics 107: At Minneapolis, Ricky Davis’ jumper from the corner with 0.2 seconds remaining and Minnesota dealt Boston its franchise-record 18th straight loss.

Kevin Garnett had a triple-double for the Timberwolves – 26 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists.

Bulls 116, Suns 103: At Phoenix, Kirk Hinrich scored 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter and Chicago defeated the short-handed Suns, who were playing without Steve Nash for the third straight game.

Hawks 106, Warriors 105: At Oakland, Calif., Josh Smith scored 11 of his 29 points in the first quarter and also had 10 rebounds, leading Atlanta past Golden State.

Around the league

Indiana Pacers forward Danny Granger is listed as day to day with a sore neck after he fell in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers. Team spokesman David Benner said X-rays and tests performed on Granger at a hospital after he fell were negative. … Indiana guard Darrell Armstrong, who was ejected during a loss to Denver on Friday, was suspended by the NBA for Sunday’s game. … The Los Angeles Clippers signed guard Doug Christie to a second 10-day contract.