TIM Duncan and Boris Diaw scored 19 points apiece and the San Antonio Spurs beat Cleveland for the 10th straight time with a 92-90 win over the Cavaliers on Wednesday.
Manu Ginobili scored on a lay-up with 18 seconds left, made a free throw with 9.1 to go and harassed James into a turnover with 1.9 seconds remaining for the defending NBA champions.
It was the first meeting between the Spurs and James since last June, when San Antonio overpowered the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
Anderson Varejao scored 23 points, Kyrie Irving added 20 and James 15 for the Cavs, who fell to 5-5.
Cleveland haven’t beaten San Antonio since March 8, 2010, during James’ first stint with the Cavs.
In other games, Milwaukee overcame Brooklyn 122-118 in triple overtime in coach Jason Kidd’s return to New York, Toronto topped Memphis 96-92 after an illness wiped out the Grizzlies bench, and the Los Angeles Lakers topped Houston 98-92 for their second straight win following a 1-9 start.
Elsewhere, Phoenix’s Eric Bledsoe scored 18 points, including the winning basket with 28.7 seconds to play, as the Suns beat the Detroit Pistons 88-86. Brandon Jennings scored 19 points to lead Detroit, losers of three straight and six of seven.
Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki limped off to the locker room after a fourth-quarter fall, then returned to make a key three-pointer to lead the Mavericks past the Washington Wizards 105-102. It was the Mavericks’ fifth straight win.
Minnesota’s Kevin Martin shook off an illness to score 37 points as the Timberwolves beat the New York Knicks 115-99.
Also, Denver defeated slumping Oklahoma City 107-100, Boston topped winless Philadelphia 101-90, the Los Angeles Clippers beat Orlando 114-90 and Indiana overcame Charlotte 88-86. AP