Perfect 10: LeBron James scores 36 as Cavaliers extend winning streak 10, 102-86 over Heat

LeBron, Cavs beat Heat, win 10th straight

CLEVELAND — LeBron James scored 36 points — 17 on free throws — and Daniel Gibson added 12 after returning from the hospital as the Cleveland Cavaliers ran their winning streak to 10 with a 102-84 win over Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat on Thursday night.

James started at point guard for Gibson and added eight assists and seven rebounds. A one-on-one showdown between superstars James and Wade never materialized as the Cavs controlled the game and attempted 36 free throws to 14 for Miami.

Wade finished with 24 points on 11 of 26 shooting and Michael Beasley had 21.

Gibson didn’t enter the game until the second half after joining his pregnant fiancee, singer Keyshia Cole, who was hospitalized for precautionary reasons. He made two 3-pointers in the fourth when the Cavs outscored the Heat 21-13.

The last time James and Wade hooked up on Jan. 12, they scored a combined 70 points in an anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better matchup. Both provided their usual jaw-dropping plays again, but James was able to improve to 13-9 against Wade, including 9-1 in Cleveland.

The Heat, which lost in Boston on Wednesday, have dropped four straight and six of seven.

Miami was within eight after three quarters, but the Cavs outscored them 10-3 to open the fourth, taking a 91-76 lead on a 3 by Gibson. Wade tried to keep Miami close but didn’t have nearly as much help as James, who has adapted his game lately to fill the backcourt void.

While James was able to draw fouls — he shot 21 free throws to 2 for Wade — his Miami counterpart wasn’t able to get as many calls despite being knocked down on a few occasions. Twice, Wade ran into Shaquille O’Neal, his former Heat teammate, and found himself looking at the ceiling without hearing a whistle.

O’Neal added 13 points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes, yet another strong, efficient performance from the big man who has stepped his game up of late.

He posted up and scored on a pair of short jumpers as the Cavs pushed their lead to 12 late in the third.

James started at point guard for Gibson, who has done a nice job filling in while Mo Williams and Delonte West recover from injuries.

Gibson rejoined his teammates in the second quarter, and moments after he came back, James, who was in attack mode from the start, scored on an alley-oop dunk, fed J.J. Hickson for a slam and set up Zydrunas Ilgauskas for a 3 that put the Cavaliers ahead by five.

Wade countered with a 3 and split Cleveland’s defense for a dunk as the Heat closed within 56-52 at half.

Hickson posterized Wade with a monster dunk in the first. Hickson hustled to pick up a loose ball near midcourt and then raced down the floor before throwing down a two-hander on Wade, who probably would have been better off if he had let the 6-foot-9 Hickson pass freely.

Wade tried to return the facial in the third, but was rejected at the rim by Hickson.

NOTES: James is listed at No. 5 on Forbes Magazine’s Fab 40 list of the most powerful figures in sports. … The Cavs are 22-5 against teams at .500 or better. … James is the first player to win conference player of the month three straight times since Kevin Garnett in 2003-04. James has won the award five times in a row. “Sounds like MVP to me, right?” Cavs coach Mike Brown said. … Heat F Udonis Haslem played in his 487th career game — second on Miami’s career list behind Alonzo Mourning’s 593 games.