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 James finished 14-for-15 from the line, including 6-for-6 in OT to drop the Celitcs to 11-2 on the season. He, Gooden and Ilgauskas outscored Boston's Big 3 of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce 77-64.
"We don't want any tag," James said. "We don't want any Big 3 or whatever. We just go out there and do our job. Z is playing career basketball right now, Drew is getting better, and I'm going to do what I have to do for us to win, of course."
Philadelphia also had a strong trio, with Andre Iguodala, Kyle Korver and Samuel Dalembert combining for 62 points in a 114-99 victory at Milwaukee, handing the Bucks their first home loss.
After opening 6-0 at the Bradley Center, Milwaukee's defeat left just Boston (7-0) and San Antonio (8-0) as the league's perfect teams at home.
"We understood they were undefeated at home, but we talked about before the game that they weren't going to win every game at home," Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "At some point they were going to lose a game. We were hoping it was going to be us."
In other NBA games Tuesday night, it was Miami 110, Charlotte 90; Memphis 110, New Jersey 103; Chicago 90, Atlanta 78; Indiana 112, Denver 110; and the Los Angeles Lakers 106, Seattle 99.
At Cleveland, Allen led the Celtics with 29 points on 10-for-25 shooting, but missed two free throws with the score tied 92-all late in regulation.
"I feel like I let the team down," said Allen, an 89 percent career free-throw shooter. "I was so surprised I missed the first one, I didn't let it go. I took it into the second one."
James came in averaging 37.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 9.5 assists in his past six games, joining Wilt Chamberlain (1964) and Oscar Robertson (1965) as the only players to reach those totals in a six-game stretch.
With his team leading by one in overtime, James made a long 3-pointer to put Cleveland ahead 99-95, and following misses by both teams, Cavs forward Sasha Pavlovic made a steal in the lane and fed James who was fouled. He made both free throws to make it 101-95 with 54.3 seconds remaining.
Allen's 3-pointer brought the Celtics within 102-98 but James went to the line and made another pair to give the Cavs a six-point lead. Pierce's 3 cut it to 105-101, but James again made his free throws.
Pavlovic added 16 points for the Cavaliers.
The Sixers said they came to Milwaukee with a different attitude after dropping seven of the previous eight in their worst start since 1995.
Dalembert had 22 points and eight rebounds and Iguodala had 20 points and 11 assists. Korver, who missed the previous four games with a strained groin, went 8-for-13 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3-point range to finish with 20 points.
Korver said the win won't mean too much if Philadelphia starts another losing skid on Wednesday at home against Utah.
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"That was one game; we can't keep on having these stretches of four or five bad games and then get a good game and say we've kind of turned a corner or we're young or we're learning," Korver said. "We don't want to keep doing all that stuff."
The trio also got help from their teammates. Andre Miller had 18 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, while Willie Green added 15 points for the Sixers, who shot a season-high 52.3 percent from the game.
"Hopefully, we'll shoot the same way tomorrow," Iguodala said. "Hopefully, it can give us a boost."
Heat 110, Bobcats 90
Yanked from the starting lineup, Ricky Davis and Jason Williams responded with strong games off the bench to lead struggling Miami. Davis equaled a season high with 23 points, while Williams had 11 points and eight assists.
Rookie reserve Daequan Cook added a season-high 19 points while missing only two shots. The host Heat shot a season-high 58 percent, and their point total was also a season best.
Grizzlies 110, Nets 103
Pau Gasol scored 22 points and Juan Carlos Navarro had 16 points and 11 rebounds as visiting Memphis posted consecutive wins for the first time this season.
Mike Miller hit his first five shots and finished with 19 points for the Grizzlies.
Vince Carter scored a season-high 32 points, Richard Jefferson had 27, and Jason Kidd added 12 points, 12 assists and 15 rebounds in posting his 91st career triple-double.
Bulls 90, Hawks 78
Luol Deng scored 22 points, Ben Gordon added 21, and host Chicago snapped its four-game losing streak.
The victory was the Bulls' 12th straight over Atlanta, a longtime doormat that is showing signs of an awakening.
Atlanta got 21 points from Joe Johnson, but he had little help.
Pacers 112, Nuggets 110
Mike Dunleavy scored 30 points, Shawne Williams had 21 and visiting Indiana held off Denver.
The Pacers led 106-97 with a minute left but didn't secure the win until J.R. Smith missed a free throw with 2.7 seconds left and Indiana leading 111-110.
Allen Iverson had 26 points and Carmelo Anthony added 25 for Denver.
Lakers 106, SuperSonics 99
Kobe Bryant scored six of his 35 points in the final 3:51 and Los Angeles snapped a three-game skid and sent visiting Seattle to its fifth straight loss.
Rookie Kevin Durant had 25 points for the Sonics, who are a league-worst 2-13 in their first season under coach P.J. Carlesimo
-- matching the poorest start in franchise history.
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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