BOSTON — LeBron James did it to the Boston Celtics again on Friday night.
James, who came in averaging 30.1 points per game against Boston, his highest average against any team, scored eight of his season-high 41 points in the final 2:02 and the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied from 19 points down and earned with a 122-121 victory over the Celtics.
The game ended with the Celtics with the ball and seven seconds to take a shot off a timeout. But guard Rajon Rondo dribbled out the time before getting an off-balanced shot off too late. It missed anyway.
The Cavaliers (4-3) were down, 103-84, in the first minute of the fourth quarter before guard Kyrie Irving got hot to keep them in the game. Irving scored 15 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, including three straight 3-pointers early in the quarter.
Cleveland was down by five when James scored seven points in 51 seconds to give his team the lead. His old-fashioned 3-point play with 1:11 left turned out to be the final basket of the night — the Celtics, plagued by turnovers down the stretch, scoring their final basket on a Rondo drive with 2:30 left.
Rondo dished out 16 assists and grabbed eight rebounds, but scored just six points and had just one assist in the fourth quarter as Boston fell to 3-5 by blowing its second double-digit lead at home in three nights.
Center Anderson Varejao added 16 points and forward Kevin Love had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Cavs.
Center Kelly Olynyk led seven Celtics in double figures with 21 points, all in the first three quarters. Forward Jared Sullinger posted 19 points and 10 rebounds and forward Jeff Green, given the task of trying to stop James most of the night, also had 19 points.
NOTES: New Cavaliers coach David Blatt hails from nearby Framingham, Mass. … Celtics rookie G Marcus Smart, set to miss another two weeks with a sprained left ankle, said Thursday, “I felt like my foot was on fire. Looking back at the video and listening to what (the announcers) had to say, they thought I broke it for a moment. I did, too.” … Back in Cleveland, the Cavs revealed their special Christmas Day jerseys, which will have the players’ first names on their backs. … Friday night marked F LeBron James’ first game in Boston in two seasons. He didn’t play when the Miami Heat visited last season. … The Cavaliers host the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night. The Phoenix Suns visit the Celtics on Monday night.
Nuggets 108, Pacers 87
INDIANAPOLIS — The Denver Nuggets took out their frustrations on Indiana, snapping a six-game losing streak with a dominating 108-87 victory over the Pacers on Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Coming off an embarrassing 130-113 loss in Portland on Wednesday, the Nuggets turned up their defensive intensity and shut down the short-handed Pacers, who had won two in a row, including an 81-75 victory in Miami on Wednesday.
The Nuggets had allowed an average of 116.5 points during their skid but posted their widest margin of victory ever over the Pacers, limiting the home team to 41 percent shooting from the field in the process.
Arron Afflalo scored 17 points to lead the Nuggets (2-6), who picked up their first road win of the season.
Making his NBA debut in his hometown, Nuggets guard Gary Harris was impressive with 13 points off the bench. Wilson Chandler also scored 13, Danilo Gallinari and Kenneth Faried had 12 apiece, and Ty Lawson and Darrell Arthur scored 11. Lawson added a game-high 10 assists.
A.J. Price scored 14 points off the bench for Indiana (3-7), which yielded a season-high point total while suffering its most lopsided loss.
Solomon Hill, Donald Sloan and Lavoy Allen scored 12 points apiece.
C.J. Miles made his first appearance after missing four games with migraine headaches but lasted just four minutes in the first quarter before heading to the bench with a sore right calf and did not return.
After closing the first half on an 8-0 run to take an 18-point lead into the break, the Nuggets kept pouring it on in the third quarter, outscoring the Pacers 20-6 in the first 7 1/2 minutes to push the margin to 84-52. From there, it was only a matter of settling on a final margin after extended garbage time.
Harris gave the Nuggets an instant lift off the bench, scoring on a runout and following with a 3-pointer to help spark a 16-3 run that gave Denver a 34-27 lead early in the second quarter.
Denver kept Indiana at arm’s length the rest of the half, then built a cushion by scoring the final eight points, including a couple of inside buckets from Hickson, to take a 64-46 lead. With Harris, Hickson and Danilo Gallinari all contributing, Denver had a dominating 34-14 advantage in bench points in the half.