CLEVELAND — LeBron James hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, a crowning moment in another brilliant performance, to give Cleveland a 98-95 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night in Game 5 and put the Cavaliers within one victory of advancing in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Moments after blocking Victor Oladipo’s possible go-ahead driving layup, James caught the inbounds pass, took two dribbles and dropped the winner over Thaddeus Young.
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.
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.
Cleveland can close out Indiana with a win Friday night in Indianapolis.
Domantas Sabonis scored 22 points and Young had 16 for the Pacers.
The Cavaliers played without starting point guard George Hill, who missed the game because of back spasms.
Hill also sat out Game 4 and has been bothered by a bad back since he was drilled from behind by Indiana’s Trevor Booker in the series opener.
RAPTORS 108, WIZARDS 98: DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points, Kyle Lowry had 17 points and 10 assists and Toronto won at home in Game 5 of the first-round series.
Toronto rebounded after losing Games 3 and 4 in Washington to take 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-to-back losses during the regular season, and have not lost three straight since last year’s second-round sweep against Cleveland.
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 last five years.
John Wall scored 26 points,and Bradley Beal added 20 for the Wizards, who went nearly four minutes without scoring down the stretch. Marcin Gortat had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
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