James, Cavs hold off Bulls in Game 5

NBA: LeBron James scored 38 points, Kyrie Irving added 25 and the Cleveland Cavaliers held on for a 106-101 victory over the visiting Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead in their testy Eastern Conference semifinal.

Showing no ill effects from a sprained left ankle, James, who added 12 rebounds, six assists and didn’t have a turnover in 41 minutes, ensured the Cavs will again play at home this season.

They can wrap up the best-of-seven series with a win in Game 6 on Thursday night back at United Center in Chicago, where the teams exchanged buzzer-beating victories last weekend.

The drama wasn’t quite as high in Game 5, but it was close and it was intense.

Jimmy Butler scored 29 and Mike Dunleavy 19 for Chicago. Derrick Rose scored 16, 12 in the first quarter, but shot just 2 of 15 in the final three quarters. Big man Pao Gasol missed his second straight game with a strained left hamstring.

• Rockets stay alive: James Harden had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, Dwight Howard added 20 points and 15 rebounds, and the host Houston Rockets bounced back from two lopsided losses to avoid elimination with a 124-103 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in the Western Conference semifinals.

The Rockets hadn’t lost three straight all season, and with their season on the line they ended their skid to send it back to Los Angeles for Game 6 on Thursday night.

Houston used a 36-point second quarter to take a commanding lead and withstood a third-quarter surge by Los Angeles to lead by 14 entering the fourth.

Blake Griffin had 30 points and 16 rebounds, and Chris Paul added 22 points and 10 assists for the Clippers.

• Williams out: The New Orleans Pelicans fired coach Monty Williams.

Williams has an overall record of 173-221, with two playoff appearances since landing his first head coaching job with the Pelicans in 2010.

• Draft in Brooklyn: The NBA draft will be held at the Barclays Center, the home of the Brooklyn Nets, on June 25.

Lightning blast Montreal, win series

NHL: Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist and the host Tampa Bay Lightning advanced to the Eastern Conference finals with a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Steven Stamkos scored his third goal of the playoffs for the Lightning, who closed out the second-round series in six games after Montreal fought off elimination in Games 4 and 5.

Kucherov finished with six goals in the series.

Ondrej Palat also had a goal and assist for Tampa Bay, which played without forward Ryan Callahan, who had an emergency appendectomy on Monday night.

• Montador autopsy: Former NHL defenseman Steve Montador had a degenerative brain disease that’s been linked to repeated blows to the head, according to researchers who autopsied his brain.

Montador died in February at age 35 of an undisclosed cause at his home in Mississauga, Ontario. He had multiple concussions during his career.

Clarke moves in front at Giro d’Italia

Cycling: Davide Formolo carried off a solo attack to perfection to win the fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia, while Simon Clarke took the overall leader’s pink jersey from Orica-Greenedge teammate Michael Matthews in La Spezia, Italy.

Overall favorites Fabio Aru, Alberto Contador, and Richie Porte finished in the lead chasing group.

• Skujins takes lead: Latvian Tom Skujins pedaled to a surprising mountain stage win by more than a minute and took the lead in the Tour of California in San Jose.

The 23-year-old began stage 3 in 95th position and trailed previous race leader Mark Cavendish of Britain by 42 seconds. He completed the hilly 105.7-mile road stage in 4 hours, 33 minutes and 10 seconds.

Neymar, Barcelona advance to UCL final

Miscellany: Neymar scored a pair of first-half goals, and Barcelona cruised into the Champions League final despite a 3-2 defeat at Bayern Munich. Barca advanced 5-3 on aggregate after a 3-0 win in the first leg.

Medhi Benatia, Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller scored for the German champions. Barcelona will face either Juventus or Real Madrid, who conclude their semifinal today.

• Car burns at Indy practice: Swiss driver Simona de Silvestro had to scramble out of her car after it caught fire during practice for the Indianapolis 500.

She wasn’t hurt.

• Busch set to race again: Kyle Busch will return to competition this weekend, less than three months after he broke his right leg and left foot in a crash at Daytona.

Busch will drive his No. 18 Toyota in Saturday night’s All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

• Daly in middle of suit: The fiancee of professional golfer John Daly is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out a lawsuit that blames her for breaking up his previous marriage.

In February, the Mississippi Supreme Court allowed Sherrie Allison Miller to pursue damages against Anna Cladakis, claiming alienation of affection.