LeBron beats buzzer, Pacers

Cleveland

LeBron James hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, a crowning moment for another brilliant performance, to give Cleveland a 98-95 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night in Game 5, putting the Cavaliers within one victory of advancing in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Moments after blocking Victor Oladipo's possible go-ahead driving layup, James caught the inbounds pass, took two dribbles and dropped the winner over Thaddeus Young.

As Cleveland's sellout crowd rejoiced, James hugged rookie teammate Cedi Osman before jumping on the scorer's table to celebrate another one of those moments that will define his career.

James finished with 44 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and went 15-for-15 from the line.

Kyle Korver added 19 points and Cleveland's much-maligned defense tightened just in time as the Cavaliers seized their first lead in the first-round series after being down 1-0 and 2-1.

Cleveland can close out Indiana with a win Friday night in Indianapolis.

Domantas Sabonis scored 22 points, and Young had 16 for the Pacers.

Raptors 108, Wizards 98: DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points, Kyle Lowry had 17 points and 10 assists and Toronto beat Washington in Game 5 of the first-round series. Toronto rebounded after losing Games 3 and 4 in Washington to take a 3-2 series lead back to Washington for Game 6 on Friday night. The only team in the NBA to avoid a three-game losing streak this season, the Raptors went 5-0 following back-to-back losses during the regular season, and have not lost three straight since last year's second-round sweep against Cleveland. The last time Toronto lost three regular season games in a row was from Feb 8 to 14, 2017. Delon Wright scored 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, and Jonas Valanciunas had 14 points and 13 rebounds as the Raptors improved to 5-0 in home Game 5s over the past five years. John Wall had 26 points and Bradley Beal added 20 for the Wizards.

Rockets 122, Timberwolves 104: Clint Capela had 26 points and 15 rebounds, James Harden added 24 points and the Houston pulled away in the third quarter to get another lopsided win and eliminate the Timberwolves in Game 5 of the first-round series. Houston will await the winner of the Utah-Oklahoma City series.

Thunder 107, Jazz 99: Russell Westbrook scored 45 points and Oklahoma City rallied from 25 points down in the second half to fight off elimination and beat Utah. Westbrook also had 15 rebounds and seven assists. Paul George added 34 points and eight rebounds. Utah takes a 3-2 lead back to Salt Lake City for Game 6 on Friday.

Note: The Atlanta Hawks and coach Mike Budenholzer have mutually agreed to part ways. Budenholzer was 213-192 in the regular season and 17-22 in the playoffs in five seasons with Atlanta. The Hawks were an Eastern Conference-worst 24-58 this season. According to multiple reports, Budenholzer interviewed with the Phoenix Suns for their vacant coaching position last week before withdrawing his name from consideration. Budenholzer now may be a top candidate to coach the Knicks.