James hits game-winner with 1 second left, Cavs edge Nets

James floated his running, baby hook with 1.9 seconds left over Johnson that forged a 90-88 victory for the Cavs.

Lopez, the Nets’ 7-footer and leading scorer in the game, was the defender rendered helpless by James’ Magic Johnson impression.

Lopez had 22 points, Johnson added 17 points and Thaddeus Young had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Nets (3-13).

Nov 25, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry (7) goes to the basket past Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) at Air Canada Centre.

Following another Cavs timeout, James took the inbounds pass and dribbled high above the 3-point arc on the right wing before going left, around a pick from Tristan Thompson. He scored 10 of his points in the final five minutes, making three shots – including the game victor – and three free throws.

King James’ teams have won 23 straight games against franchises based in Charlotte – both the Hornets and Bobcats.

On a positive note, though, the Cavaliers look to continue their winning ways at home Saturday night against the Brooklyn Nets.

Cleveland – The Bucks finally have a healthy roster with the return of Jabari Parker from a one-game absence and O.J. Mayo getting clearance to play for the first time this season. Kevin Love also poured in 26 points on 14 shots and grabbed seven boards. “If you’re not good enough to win those games because of the other team’s talent, you still have done all that you can do and you just go home and go to bed”.

James’ last game-winner was, of course, his stepback jumper to beat Chicago in Game 4 of a second-round playoff series in May.

But the Cavaliers rallied to take an 87-86 lead with a little more than 6 minutes to play behind a 3-pointer and a driving layup by Dellavedova.

Hornets: Charlotte was 8 of 25 from 3-point range and committed 16 turnovers.

“For the most part, I thought we executed great”.

“I might go skyhook the next time”, said James, who finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists to help Cleveland overcome a poor first half. That is, Thompson advised his team against indirectly helping out their opponents via free throw points.

Before Cleveland returned to the win column with Friday victory over Charlotte, they were edged by the Toronto Raptors last Wednesday (103-99).

With 6:55 remaining in the fourth quarter, Hornets’ star Kemba Walker managed to slide a layup that gave his team an 86-85 lead, but the Hornets only managed four points the rest of the quarter.

He needs to tinker and make adjustments, whip out his clipboard and draw up some creative plays to put Lopez in a position to have success and turn things around in crunch time. But it was Cleveland’s fifth trifecta of the third quarter, an up-top job by Matthew Dellavedova, that pushed the Nets into a 69-68 hole entering the fourth quarter.