Charlotte, North Carolina: LeBron James scored 25 points against his former team, leading the Miami Heat to a 114-107 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA on Saturday.
Dwyane Wade added 24 points and Chris Bosh had 22 for the Heat, who squandered a 19-point third-quarter lead and rallied from a two-point deficit with eight unanswered points late in the fourth quarter.
Ray Allen’s two free throws with 2:16 remaining capped the run and put the Heat ahead 106-100. Mario Chalmers’ corner 3-pointer with 1:36 left increased the lead to 109-101.
Kyrie Irving scored 19 points for the Cavaliers, who played the second half withoutcoach Mike Brown. He was ejected late in the second quarter after he stormed onto the court looking for a foul on Shane Battier’s block of Alonzo Gee’s layup.
Bosh had a season-high 12 rebounds and James was one rebound and assist short of a triple-double.
Kobe Bryant, meanwhile, scored a season-high 21 points and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Charlotte Bobcats 88-85 for their first win since Bryant returned from a torn Achilles tendon four games ago.
Bryant was 8 of 15 from the field and hit two free throws with 37 seconds left in the game to put the Lakers ahead for good.
Pau Gasol and Jordan Hill had 15 points apiece for the Lakers and Nick Young had 13 points off the bench.
Kemba Walker had 24 points and eight assists for the slumping Bobcats, who have lost three straight games and five of their last seven.
The Lakers trailed most of the game, but cut the lead to 85-84 after Bryant drove the lane and scored a left-handed layup with 1:22 remaining.
Al Jefferson and Walker would both miss on the other end and Bryant went to work looking to take the lead. He drew a foul on a jump shot with 37 seconds left and hit both free throws with some of the crowd chanting “M-V-P” while others booed.
Gerald Henderson missed a jumper for Charlotte, but Jefferson corralled the rebound and the Bobcats took a timeout to set up the last shot.
Jefferson backed down Pau Gasol but couldn’t convert a baby hook and the Gasol grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Gasol hit both free throws to push the lead to three with 6.2 seconds left.
Ben Gordon’s 3-pointer fell short as time expired. Bryant came in averaging 11 points in his first three games.
He eclipsed that by halftime. Bryant had 13 points, four assists and three rebounds in the first half as the Lakers staked to a 44-43 lead despite being outscored 28-12 in the paint. Bryant looked good from the start, scoring eight points in the first nine minutes, doing most of his damage with posting up his defender.
