James’ big shot stuns Pacers

LeBron James made sure the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t lose Game 5 Wednesday night.

James hit a three-pointer at the buzzer, a crowning moment for another brilliant performance, to give the Cavaliers a 98-95 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Cleveland, putting the Cavaliers within one victory of advancing in the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs.

Moments after blocking Victor Oladipo’s possible go-ahead driving layup with three seconds left, James caught the inbounds pass, took two dribbles and dropped the winner over Thaddeus Young.

It was his only made three-pointer of the game.

As Cleveland’s sellout crowd exploded, James hugged rookie teammate Cedi Osman before jumping on the scorer’s table to celebrate another of those moments that will define his career.

James finished with 44 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and went 15 of 15 from the line.

It was the 21st time James scored at least 40 points in a playoff game passing Jerry West for No. 2 all time, and it was the 101st time he scored at least 30 points in postseason, second most behind Michael Jordan (109).

Kyle Korver added 19 points and Cleveland’s much-maligned defense tightened just in time as the Cavaliers seized their first lead in the first-round series after being down 1-0 and 2-1.

The Cavs missed just one free throw in 27 attempts.

Domantas Sabonis scored 22 points, and Young had 16 for the Pacers.

Game 6 is Friday in Indianapolis, where the Cavs can close out the series and James can improve his record in the first round to 13-0.

Raptors 108, Wizards 98: DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points, Kyle Lowry had 17 points and 10 assists and Toronto took a 3-2 series lead back to Washington for Game 6 on Friday night.

The only team in the NBA to avoid a three-game losing streak this season, the Raptors went 5-0 following back-toback losses during the regular season.

Delon Wright scored 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, and Jonas Valanciunas had 14 points and 13 rebounds as the Raptors improved to 5-0 in home Game 5s over the past five years and have not lost three straight since last year’s second-round sweep against Cleveland.

John Wall had 26 points, and Bradley Beal added 20 for the Wizards.