James' Basket Guides Cavs Past Bulls, NBA Scores

LeBron James watched his coach draw up the final play -- and then drew one up of his own. "Give me the ball and get out of the way," he said.

James overruled Cleveland coach David Blatt's idea for a last-second inbounds play and drained a jumper from the corner at the buzzer to give the Cavaliers an 86-84 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, evening the Eastern Conference semifinal series at 2-2.

During a stoppage the Cavs only got because the officials were reviewing a play, Blatt designed a play that had James taking the ball out. The four-time NBA MVP has been in enough pressure situations that he vetoed his coach.

"I was supposed to take the ball out," James said. "I told Coach there was no way I'm taking the ball out unless I could shoot it over the backboard and go in. So I told him, 'Have somebody else take the ball out.' The play that was drawn up, I scratched it. I just told Coach, 'Just give me the ball. We're either going to go into overtime or I'm going to win it for us.'"

James, playing the final quarter on a sprained left ankle, finished with 25 points to help the Cavaliers win in another wild finish, returning the favor after Chicago took Game 3 on Derrick Rose's banked 3-pointer at the horn.

Clippers 128, Rockets 95

Houston's strategy of intentionally fouling poor free throw shooter DeAndre Jordan backfired in a big way. Jordan scored 26 points, making 14 of 34 free throws after attempting an NBA playoff-record 28 in the first half, and the Los Angeles Clippers won 128-95 over the Houston Rockets on Sunday night to take a 3-1 series lead.

"All of us kind of got freaked out by it early, and then after that we were fine," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.

They certainly were. Jordan had 17 rebounds. Blake Griffin added 21 points, J.J. Redick had 18 points and Chris Paul finished with 15 points and 12 assists in the Clippers' second straight blowout win in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.

Sunday, May 10 Scoreboard

Cleveland 86, Chicago 84
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS - GAME 4

Los Angeles128, Houston 95
WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS - GAME 4

Monday, May 11 Schedule (All Times Central)

Atlanta at Washington, 6 p.m.
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS - GAME 4

Golden State at Memphis, 8:30 p.m.
WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS - GAME 4