LeBron scores 26 as ragged Cleveland Cavaliers hang on for 85-82 win over Milwaukee Bucks

James leads Cavs to fifth straight win

CLEVELAND — LeBron James scored 26 points, Mo Williams added 17 and the Cleveland Cavaliers, despite playing poorly on offense down the stretch, hung on to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 85-82 on Friday night for their fifth straight win.

James finished with 10 rebounds and eight assists as the Cavs won their ninth straight game at home and left Cleveland with some momentum to begin a four-game road trip that will include a Christmas Day game against the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.

Cleveland scored just 2 points in the final 6:35 as the Cavs missed shot after shot and failed to take care of the ball.

Milwaukee rookie Brandon Jennings scored 18 points, but fired up an air ball on a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds left that would have tied it. Jennings was just 5 of 21 from the field.

After a sluggish first three quarters, the Cavs seemed in control when Delonte West’s jumper put them up 83-68 with 6:35 remaining.

But Cleveland suddenly forgot what got them the lead and a 14-2 burst by the Bucks made it more interesting than it should have been for the Cavs.

Charlie Bell made a 3-pointer and Ersan Ilyasova, who finished with 18 points, drained a 3 as the Bucks went on a 10-2 run to pull within 85-78. The Cavaliers completely lost their offensive flow and mostly stood around waiting for James to do something with the ball.

When James couldn’t bail them out, the other Cavs seemed to get tight and made several turnovers. After a miss by Jamario Moon, the speedy Jennings, who earlier in the day was fined $7,500 by the NBA posting a message on his Twitter account too soon after Milwaukee’s double-overtime win over Portland last weekend, made two free throws with 29.4 seconds left to make it 85-82.

The Cavs again failed to score and gave it back to the Bucks. Following a timeout, the Bucks got the ball to the never-shy-to-shoot Jennings. But his shot from the right wing was about one foot short of the rim. Cleveland’s Anderson Varejao grabbed the loose ball with 3.1 seconds left and flung the ball toward mid-court as the clock expired.

It was another ragged performance by the Cavs, who have been beating some of the league’s lesser teams but will need to step up their game for the upcoming trip.

James attempted just four field goals in a blase opening half for the Cavs, who were outworked by the Bucks at both ends of the floor and did little to excite their fans who were in a festive holiday mood.

Trailing 55-53 in the third, Williams sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around one by James as the Cavaliers went on an 11-2 spurt run to open a 64-57 lead. The barrage seemed to drain some of the spunk out of the Bucks, who were forced to go to a smaller lineup when Andrew Bogut picked up his fourth personal and had to sit.

Milwaukee went just 5 of 25 from the field in the third and scored only 12 points, 2 more than Williams.

Bogut, averaging 15.9 points per game, was held to just 4 in 17 minutes.

NOTES: In light of Jennings being fined for his postgame Tweet, James said he has no intention of opening a Twitter account and doesn’t see much value in social networking. “I don’t need people following me around,” he said. “I don’t need people to know that I’m in the locker room getting ready for a game. They should already know that. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but it’s not for me.” … Bucks C Dan Gadzuric did not travel with the team to Cleveland after injuring his knee during practice on Thursday. … Cavs G Daniel Gibson has shaved the Texas Longhorns’ logo into his head. Gibson attended the school. … Milwaukee’s 12-point output in the third was a season-low for a quarter.