NBA Game Summary - Cleveland at New Orleans/Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City, OK (Basketball News) - LeBron James hit the game-winning basket with 0.5 seconds left to lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 103-101 victory over the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets at the Ford Center.

James finished the game with 32 points and six assists and Ronald Murray added 25 points for the Cavaliers, who have won two straight and 11 of their last 12 games.

Donyell Marshall had 16 points and seven boards for Cleveland, which has the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference all wrapped up.

Chris Paul had 22 points and eight rebounds and Speedy Claxton and David West each chipped in with 14 points for the Hornets, who have dropped their last two games and now stand 3 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with five games to play.

The final quarter went back and forth, but with Cleveland holding a precarious 101-100 lead, Desmond Mason was fouled with 5.8 seconds left and tied the game up with after hitting one-of-two from the charity stripe.

Cleveland called timeout after the free throw and on the in-bounds pass got the ball in the hands of James. He pulled up at the top of the arc and let fly with a jumper that hit nothing but net to give the Cavaliers the two-point lead with 0.5 seconds to play. The Hornets were unable to get a shot off before time expired.

The Hornets started the final 12 minutes with an 8-3 run and cut the Cavaliers lead to 84-82 after Marc Jackson hit two from the line with 9:28 left. However, Damon Jones responded with a trey to give the Cavs a 87-82 lead with 9:07 remaining.

A short while later Paul calmly drained two from the charity stripe to tie the game up at 88-88 with 5:58 remaining. Murray, though, responded with a three- pointer and then connected on one from the line to make it 92-88 with 5:10 left. But, Paul hit two free throws and Jackson’s running jumper tied the game back up with 3:50 to play.

The game went back and forth for the next two minutes. But, with the score knotted at 96-96 James connected on a free throw and Marshall drained a three- pointer from the right side to give Cleveland a 100-96 lead.

Claxton connected on a jumper, but Anderson Varejao connected on one-of-two from the line for the 101-98 lead with 36.9 left. After a Hornets timeout, Paul was fouled with 30 seconds left and he drained both baskets to cut the lead to 101-100 before the final moments of the game.

The opening 12 minutes were tight, but thanks to baskets by Claxton and Paul, the Hornets took a 26-23 lead into the second quarter.

New Orleans/Oklahoma City continued to push its advantage ahead throughout the second quarter and thanks to 11 straight points the team held a 63-52 lead going into the locker room.

The Hornets, though, started out the second half flat and allowed the Cavaliers to score the first nine points. The Cavaliers took a 81-75 lead heading into the final 12 minutes.