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BKN Celtics Cavaliers Rdp(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CLEVELAND (AP) -LeBron James sat on the scorer's table during a timeout waiting for play to resume when Boston coach Doc Rivers headed his way. As he approached Cleveland's superstar, Rivers raised his hands to his eyes and pretended to take a picture of James, who laughed and flashed that million-dollar smile. Rivers cracked up, too. These days, everyone's having fun around the Cavaliers. Showing no mercy against the defending NBA champions, Cleveland improved to 39-1 at home on Sunday as James scored 29 points in three quarters. The Cavaliers embarrassed the Celtics 107-76 to reduce their magic number for clinching the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs to one. James made five 3-pointers, had seven assists and two game-defining plays before spending the fourth quarter clowning around with his teammates on the bench. With the reserves up by 30, James, Mo Williams and Delonte West danced in their seats as Rick Astley's 1980s pop hit ``Never Gonna Give You Up'' filled the arena. ``Never gonna live you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you,'' it went. The crowd loved it. Ray Allen wasn't pleased. ``I'm always going to remember that,'' the Celtics guard said. ``If I beat a team, as happy as I may be in victory, I'm always going to stay humble and always remember that there's another day. We play each other too much. Those are great motivational thoughts for me.'' Allen must have forgotten that the Celtics have acted similarly during blowouts at home this season and last, when they stormed their way to a title. James downplayed the Cavs' antics. ``We're out there having fun,'' he said. ``When we are on the court we don't disrespect anybody and we don't fear anybody. It is no disrespect to any team but we have our own thing. We're all professionals and if you take it as disrespect then you have to do something about it.'' With a win over Philadelphia on Wednesday night, the Cavs will tie the 1985-86 Celtics for the best home record in league history. Flexing their defensive muscles, the Cavs led 31-9 after the first quarter, opened a 30-point lead in the second and turned a possible playoff preview into Cleveland's most lopsided win ever in 173 games against Boston. ``I looked up at the scoreboard one time and they were shooting 15 percent from the floor,'' James said. ``That's unbelievable.'' The Cavaliers are the 14th team in league history to win 65 games. The Celtics were without Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe, both nursing injuries, but even those big men may not have made a difference against the Cavs, 25-4 since the All-Star break. Home court has been vital in the budding Celtics-Cavaliers rivalry: The home team has won 15 consecutive games, including all seven in last year's playoffs. Heat 122, Knicks 105At Miami, Dwyane Wade scored 55 points, one shy of the franchise record, and the Heat wrapped up the No. 5 spot in the East. Miami will play fourth-seeded Atlanta in the first round of the playoffs. Wade shot 19-for-30 from the field, set a career high with six 3-pointers, and nearly topped Glen Rice's team record of 56 points before leaving with 1:06 remaining. Michael Beasley finished with 28 points and 16 rebounds for the Heat, who also got 15 points from Mario Chalmers. Al Harrington and Tyson Chandler each scored 21 points for New York. Hornets 102, Mavericks 92At New Orleans, Chris Paul narrowly missed his seventh triple-double with 31 points, 17 assists and nine rebounds. David West scored 31 points to help New Orleans (49-31) move a game ahead of Dallas for the sixth seed in the West. Each team has two regular-season games left. Dirk Nowitzki had 29 points and 14 rebounds for the Mavericks. Spurs 95, Kings 92At Sacramento, Calif., Michael Finley's winning 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left counted despite his apparent shot-clock violation. Tony Parker had 25 points and nine assists for the Spurs, who moved into a tie with Houston atop the Southwest Division with two games left. San Antonio kept Tim Duncan out of uniform to rest his sore knees, and the NBA-worst Kings led for most of the night before Finley's winner - even if television replays appeared to show the ball still in Finley's hands with the shot clock expired. Referee Dan Crawford's crew explained that shot-clock violations are unreviewable to irate Sacramento coach Kenny Natt, whose Kings lost their eighth straight. Lakers 92, Grizzlies 75At Los Angeles, Andrew Bynum scored 18 points in his third game back from a knee injury and the Lakers rolled. Kobe Bryant took just nine shots, made seven, and finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Pau Gasol, often matched against his brother Marc in the middle, scored 12 points and had 13 rebounds. The 7-foot Bynum, who missed 32 games after tearing the medial collateral ligament in his right knee Jan. 31, played 25 minutes, went 6-of-10 from the floor and had five rebounds. O.J. Mayo led the Grizzlies with 20 points, and Marc Gasol had 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Raptors 111, 76ers 104At Toronto, Chris Bosh scored 22 points, Jose Calderon had 11 points and 11 assists, and the Raptors handed the 76ers their season-high fifth straight loss. Anthony Parker scored 18 points, Andrea Bargnani had 17 and Shawn Marion had 14 as Toronto ended a four-game skid. Louis Williams had 23 points and Andre Iguodala had 21 for the 76ers, who have lost five straight for the first time since dropping seven in a row between Jan. 2-14, 2008. (c) 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. |