Basketball: Last-gasp James casts spell over Wizards

NEW YORK - LeBron James dropped in a layup with 0.9 seconds left to give the Cleveland Cavaliers a thrilling 121-120 overtime win over the Washington Wizards in the National Basketball Association playoffs in Cleveland yesterday.

Cleveland trailed by one point with James taking an inbound pass with three seconds left in the overtime. He then worked his way to the basket and dropped in the game-winning shot for the dramatic win.

The Cavaliers now lead the best-of-seven series 3-2, with game six in Washington on Saturday (NZT).

Gilbert Arenas had one final chance to tie the game for the Wizards, but his desperation fling shot at the basket fell short.

James wound up with 45 points on 14-for-23 shooting, adding seven rebounds and six assists, while making 17 of his 18 free throws.

Larry Hughes scored 24 points for the Cavaliers, who also got 18 points from Eric Snow.

Arenas led Washington with 44 points on 14-for-24 shooting, and he made all 10 of his freethrow attempts.

In Auburn Hills, Richard Hamilton scored a career playoff-high 40 points as the Detroit Pistons cruised into the second round of the playoffs with a 122-93 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Detroit scored a franchise record 39 points in the first quarter and never looked back as the Pistons shot 54 per cent from the field to close out the series.

The Pistons won the best-of-seven opening-round series 4-1 and will host a second-round match-up against the winner of the Cleveland-Washington series starting next week.

The two-time defending East champions led 39-23 after one quarter and although that lead was cut slightly to 13 points by halftime, Detroit pulled away to lead 97-66 after three quarters.

Hamilton led the way all night, shooting 15-of-23, and helped key an 18-2 run at the start of the third quarter that squashed any Milwaukee hopes early in the second half.

Detroit, looking for their second NBA title in three years, out-rebounded the Bucks 48-29 and totally dominated the visitors in both the first and third quarters, out-scoring the Bucks 74-40 in those two quarters.

Rasheed Wallace added 22 points for the Pistons, including several baskets in the third quarter run, while Chauncey Billups added 17 points and had eight assists.

Tayshaun Prince scored 12 points for the Pistons, while Ben Wallace hauled down 14 rebounds.

Michael Redd led Milwaukee with 23 points and had nine rebounds. Dan Gadzuric chipped in with 13 points, while TJ Ford and Andrew Bogut both scored 10 points.

- REUTERS