National Basketball Association rookie LeBron James of Cleveland scored a career-high 41 points and made 13 assists to lead his Cavaliers 107-104 over the visiting New Jersey Nets Saturday.
At 19 yearsold, James is the youngest player to score 40 or more points in an NBA game. He scored the game-winning basket on a left-handed layup with 12 seconds to go in regulation time. The victory in Cleveland snapped the Cavs' four-game skid and kept the team's playoff hopes alive.
Meanwhile, the Utah Jazz scored as time expired to edge the Denver Nuggets 85-83. Carlos Arroyo hit a 3.5 meter jump shot at the buzzer to help the Jazz move one game ahead of Denver in the Western Conference playoff race.
The surging Portland Trail Blazers won for the eighth time in 11 games after beating the Seattle SuperSonics 115-108 in overtime. Zach Randolph led the Blazers with 25 points and nine boards as host Portland snapped the Sonics' seven game winning streak.
Other winners in the NBA Saturday were the Hawks, Pistons, Spurs and Clippers.
The Atlanta Hawks won consecutive games for just the second time this season with a 97-88 triumph over the Chicago Bulls. The Detroit Pistons rolled over the injury-plagued New York Knicks 100-85. The defending champion San Antonio Spurs got 14 points apiece from Tim Duncan and Hedo Turkoglu in a 105-76 rout of the Phoenix Suns. The Minnesota Timberwolves completed a four-game season sweep of the Los Angeles Clippers with an 98-82 victory.
Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.