Cavaliers edge Sixers

LeBron James scored 18 points and dished out six assists while Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers, who moved into a tie with idle Chicago for the second seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls, however, own the tiebreaker with the Cleveland and will secure the No. 2 spot if both teams finish the regular season tied.

The Cavs will conclude their regular season Wednesday against Milwaukee, while Chicago will square off against the Nets in New Jersey.

Willie Green scored 24 points and Joe Smith had 17 points and 13 rebounds off the bench for the Sixers, who finished with a home record of 21-20.

Philadelphia, who will miss the playoffs for the third time in the last four seasons, will conclude its season in Toronto on Wednesday.

Nursing a 75-70 heading into the fourth, the Cavs opened the quarter with a 12-4 spurt to take control of the game. The run featured threes by Hughes and Donyell Marshall and was capped by a Hughes jumper that made it 88-74 Cleveland early in the fourth.

A Smith layup and a Green trey brought Philadelphia within seven, 92-85, with just under two minutes to play, but Hughes and Ilgauskas answered with back- to-back baskets to push the Cleveland lead back up to 11. A Louis Williams’ trey at the buzzer accounted for the final margin.

Cleveland led 26-25 after the opening 12 minutes and carried a 58-50 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Game Notes

Williams finished with 13 points and seven assists for the Sixers, while rookie Bobby Jones also scored 13 points...Cleveland won three of four against Philadelphia this season.