James Has the Upper Hand on Wade and Heat

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade even impressed each other.

The two young stars put on a show of dazzling dunks, drives and playoff-caliber hustle that awed fans, their teammates and a coach who witnessed the legendary battles between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

“People got a view of absolute greatness,” Miami Heat Coach Pat Riley said. “It’s absolutely beyond description. I haven’t seen players do that in a long, long time.”

James scored 47 points and posted his 10th career triple-double, outdoing Wade and leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to their seventh straight win, 106-99 over the Heat on Saturday at Cleveland.

“It’s probably the best matchup I’ve been in,” said Wade, who finished with a season-high 44 points. “It was great for the game. It was two young guys trying to propel their teams to a win. I had fun. I know he had fun.”

Cleveland started out flat and trailed for most of the second half as James and Wade dueled to the delight of the sellout crowd.

The two defended each other several times and even dived on the floor fighting for a loose ball. Wade outscored James 21-18 in the fourth quarter and had Miami’s final 12 points.

“He surprises me sometimes, but he’s Flash and can dominate a game,” James said.

James finally put Cleveland up for good, 101-99, on a slam with 1:13 remaining that left Shandon Anderson, who was looking for an offensive foul, shaking his head.

San Antonio 106, Washington 99 -- Manu Ginobili scored 16 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, and the Spurs came back from a 10-point deficit to beat the Wizards at San Antonio.

Tony Parker had 24 of his 28 points in the second half for the Spurs (57-16).

Milwaukee 96, Indiana 89 -- Michael Redd scored 20 of his 39 points in the third quarter at Milwaukee, and the Bucks set an NBA record with only two turnovers.

The previous mark for fewest turnovers in a game was three, accomplished seven times.

Chicago 100, Boston 94 -- Kirk Hinrich scored 23 of his 25 points in the second half and took a key charge late in the game to help the Bulls rally for the second time in less than a week to beat the Celtics at Chicago.

Utah 102, Portland 89 -- Andrei Kirilenko had 23 points and 13 rebounds to help the Jazz win at Portland, Ore., and hand the Trail Blazers their 10th straight loss.