James Dominates the Trail Blazers

LeBron James’ timing proved impeccable.

Cleveland’s rookie scored 32 points, including 12 in a 14-2 spurt that closed the Cavaliers’ 86-74 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night at Cleveland.

James outscored the Trail Blazers all by himself in the fourth quarter, 12-8. He also had 10 rebounds and nine assists, but did not know he was near his first triple-double.

“Somebody should have told me,” he said. “Of all the people in the crowd, one of you should have told me.”

James scored six straight points to put Cleveland ahead, 78-72, with 5:48 to play, then capped the 14-2 run with the final six points of the game -- the last two on a resounding reverse dunk with 34 seconds left after stealing the ball from Damon Stoudamire near midcourt.

“I pretty much knew it was over, and I had an opportunity to stroll around like a big bull,” said James, who waved to the crowd when Portland called a timeout.

“When I heard the crowd after that dunk, I had to stop and say, ‘Is this really Gund Arena?’ I’m just trying to bring more excitement.”

He’s also bringing more wins.

James shot 15 for 23 from the field as the Cavaliers won their 10th game -- something that didn’t happen last season until Feb. 5.

“Any time there’s a close game, they look at me as a leader, and it’s time for me to take over,” he said. “I wasn’t going to let us lose.”

Zach Randolph scored 20 points for the Trail Blazers, the only NBA team without a road win (0-10). Portland’s eight-point fourth quarter was the lowest-scoring final period in team history.

“He defended, he made shots, he basically did whatever he wanted,” Portland Coach Maurice Cheeks said of James.

San Antonio 89, Milwaukee 74 -- Manu Ginobili scored 25 points and spearheaded a defense that held the Bucks to a season-low point total at San Antonio in the Spurs’ 13th straight victory.

San Antonio broke the Bucks’ three-game winning streak despite making only five of 16 free throw attempts in the second half, including six straight misses by Duncan.

The Bucks’ previous low-scoring game was 82 on Nov. 23 in Toronto. The Spurs have held opponents to an average of less than 78 points during their winning streak, the longest in the NBA this season.

Michael Redd led Milwaukee with 22 points.

Phoenix 100, Philadelphia 92 -- Stephon Marbury scored 16 of his 17 points in the first half to stake the Suns to a 19-point lead en route to a victory at Phoenix.

Shawn Marion scored 26 points for the Suns, who snapped a three-game losing streak.

Glenn Robinson had 23 points for the 76ers, playing without Allen Iverson (swollen right knee) for the seventh consecutive game.

Sacramento 98, Utah 89 -- Peja Stojakovic scored 20 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter at Sacramento, helping the Kings end a two-game losing streak.

Stojakovic added a career-high six steals.

Andrei Kirilenko had 21 points for the Jazz.

Denver 103, Golden State 79 -- Marcus Camby’s 17 points led seven players in double figures at Denver to help the Nuggets to their third straight victory.

Denver, winning for the 11th time in 13 games, beat the Warriors for the third straight time to clinch a season series against a Western Conference team for the first time since the 2001-02 season.

Jason Richardson had 14 points for Golden State, coming off impressive wins over the Lakers and Kings.