Cleveland Cavaliers & Tyronn Lue Can't Control LeBron James

Suffice to say, with just 7 games remaining and a slim half game lead over the Mavericks the next 2 weeks will offer plenty of nail biting as Clutch City await the final outcome of their hometown team. Harden scored 18 points in the fourth and Houston outscored Cleveland 35-16 in the period. "When a guy's limit is in the red and it gets kind of risky, and in the "danger zone, ' then we have to tend to have to listen to that".

Dwight Howard's free throw with 2:13 left put Houston ahead 95-94. While James made 13 of 16 shots for 30 points, Irving, Love and Smith combined for 32 and shot 30.4 percent in the Nets' second win in the last eight games of this series. But he also passed up an open 3-pointer - albeit early in the shot clock - in the final minute with the Cavs down 98-97.

"I want to impact the game any way I can", Harden said.

This wasn't something unexpected from LBJ as the Cavs are the No 1 team in the East and are likely to leapfrog last season's 53 win-record.

In the second quarter, the Cavs went small with four shooters around Tristan Thompson. He ended up with 11 points on 2-3 shooting because of how often he was fouled. Love leads in rebounds with 9/9 while James tops in assists with 6.6 per game.

The Houston Rockets could use a nice win after losing six of their last nine games.

The Houston Rockets made the most of their game against the Cleveland Cavaliers with LeBron James sitting out, picking up an important victory.

Head coach Tyronn Lue decided this was a good time to rest James with the Cavaliers set to play a back-to-back set starting Thursday. "They were able to get out in transition and that kind of got James Harden going". Delly trying to create for himself off the bounce isn't almost as good for the Cavs as Delly on catch-and-shoot 3s.

Cavaliers F LeBron James is four points from passing Dominique Wilkins (26,668) for 12th place on the NBA's career scoring list.

James, dressed in a sports jacket, jumped up from the bench several times to encourage his teammates and joined Lue near midcourt to bark out instructions late in the second quarter.

The Nets locked it down in the fourth quarter, holding the Cavaliers to a season-low 12 points in the fourth, finishing the game on a 14-3 run. "We've got to make a stand. Teams are going to try and be physical, so we've got to be ready to punch back".

Lue praised Thompson for his durability during his consecutive-games played streak. However, while players like Jordan and Bryant are ruthlessly torn down for their personality quirks and competitive natures, LeBron James, by nature of his nearly dual personality, escapes much of this ill feeling, even though the evidence suggests he has at least as much mental baggage as the others who have come before him. "For a guy who plays hard like he does and takes the pounding he does, it means a lot".

CHICAGO, IL - MARCH 05: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets drives against Pau Gasol #16 of the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on March 5, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois.