Cavs beat Spurs in rematch

LeBron James scored 27 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat host San Antonio 90-88 on Thursday night in the teams’ first meeting since the Spurs swept the NBA finals last season.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 17 points, and Anderson Varejao scored 12 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Cleveland, which has won three in a row.

Manu Ginobili scored 31 points for the Spurs, and Tony Parker added 23 but missed two free throws with 29.4 seconds left that would have tied it up.

Suns 106, Lakers 98: At Los Angeles, Leandro Barbosa scored 22 points, Shawn Marion added 20 points and 16 rebounds, and Phoenix beat the Lakers to regain the Western Conference lead.

Boris Diaw scored 19 points and Steve Nash had a season-high 20 assists for the Suns. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 30 points, and Lamar Odom added 19 points and 19 rebounds.

Nuggets 120, Jazz 109: Linas Kleiza scored a career-high 41 points and Allen Iverson added 28 as host Denver beat Utah.

Carmelo Anthony scored 23 points, and Marcus Camby had 24 rebounds and 11 blocks for the Nuggets. Deron Williams had 23 points to lead the Jazz

Sonics ask for mediation

The Seattle SuperSonics are asking a federal judge to order a quick start to mediation, as well as a March trial date, in the team’s legal fight with the city over its future in KeyArena.

In a status report filed by both sides in U.S. District Court this week, the city agreed that mediation should start as soon as possible – but only if the Sonics’ ownership group is prepared to discuss keeping the team in Seattle instead of following through on plans to move it to Oklahoma City. The Sonics have shown no such willingness.