James powers Cavs to preseason win

LeBron James scored 21 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers overcame a 10-point deficit in the second half to defeat the Boston Celtics 96-91 in a preseason game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night in Uncasville, Conn.

Cleveland led 94-91 when guard Eric Snow missed two free throws with 18 seconds left. Former Jazz guard Aleksandar Pavlovic grabbed a key offensive rebound for the Cavaliers and made two free throws with 16.1 seconds left to seal it.

Jeff McInnis scored 16 for Cleveland, while Drew Gooden scored 14. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 13 points and seven rebounds.

Jiri Welsch scored 20 points to lead the Celtics, who lost their fifth straight preseason game and second in as many nights.

Boston used a 14-4 run over the first six minutes of the third period to take a 62-52 lead with 7:14 remaining. Gary Payton scored six of his nine points in that span and assisted on Mark Blount's dunk. Payton finished with nine assists.

McInnis's layup with seven seconds left in the third period capped a late run by the Cavaliers, and pulled Cleveland within 73-71 entering the fourth.

James' three-point play with 8:45 remaining gave Cleveland an 84-77 lead. His dunk three minutes later gave the Cavaliers their biggest lead of the second half, 88-80.

Ricky Davis scored 18 for the Celtics, Blount had 17 and Raef LaFrentz added 10.

Cleveland led 50-48 at halftime.

PACERS 106, TIMBERWOLVES 104: At Bismarck, N.D., Ron Artest and James Jones scored 16 points each, and Indiana held on for a win.

Trailing 103-95 with 2:09 remaining, Minnesota chipped away behind rookie Blake Stepp, who scored eight of his 10 points in the last 90 seconds.

The Pacers improved to 4-0 in the preseason and have beaten the Timberwolves (3-3) twice.

SPURS 91, SUPERSONICS 82: At San Antonio, Tim Duncan scored 21 points to help San Antonio beat Seattle, the Spurs' first victory in four exhibition games this season.

Spurs rookie Beno Udrih, making his first start, had seven points and six assists.

Brent Barry, a former Seattle player signed by the Spurs in the offseason, had seven points and three assists in his first game against his former team.

Rookie Damien Wilkins led the SuperSonics (1-4) with 17 points, Antonio Daniels added 16 and Ray Allen had 14.