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 Portland led by as many as 14 points in the second half, but the Cavaliers closed in as time ran down. James, who had 37 points and 14 rebounds, hit three consecutive 3-pointers to tie it 81 with 2:26 left.
Travis Outlaw's jumper put the Blazers back in front, and they still held a narrow lead when Drew Gooden missed one of two free throws.
Steve Blake missed a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left, but Portland was able to stop Cleveland on the other end.
Brandon Roy ran down the clock, then missed a pressured 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds remaining. James' layup with 0.9 seconds left gave Cleveland its only lead of the half and the victory.
The Cavaliers have won 13 of their last 16 games. They had not won five straight road games since March 17-April 1, 1998.
Cleveland got a brief scare midway through the fourth quarter when James inadvertently collided with Portland guard Sergio Rodriguez. James grimaced and grasped at his left pinkie finger, but appeared fine after a timeout.
Roy had 16 points and eight assists for the Blazers, while LaMarcus Aldridge had 16 points and nine rebounds.
The Blazers have only lost five of 23 home games this season.
Cleveland was coming off Sunday's 98-95 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. James scored 41 points in that game, when the Cavaliers lost forward Anderson Varejao to a left ankle sprain.
Varejao, who sprained the ankle when he accidentally stepped on Sasha Vujacic's foot, will miss up to four weeks. The Brazilian is averaging 7.8 points and 8.5 rebounds in 22 games.
The Cavaliers were already without starting guard Sasha Pavlovic for at least six weeks with a left mid-foot sprain.
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The Blazers were coming off a dramatic, 94-93 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. The Blazers came back from a 19-point deficit to win on Roy's free throw with 2.3 seconds left.
The Cavaliers led 13-6 early on James' dunk, but the Blazers ran off the next 10 points to go up 16-13, capped by Martell Webster's 3-pointer.
The Blazers extended the lead to 29-17 after Jarrett Jack made a pair of free throws. Cleveland came back to close within 33-31 on Devin Brown's running jumper.
The Blazers held on to the lead, going up 48-38 after James was called for an offensive foul and coach Mike Brown was levied a technical foul for protesting it.
Portland led 48-42 at the break.
The Blazers built on the lead in the third quarter. Aldridge's layup made it 66-52 for Portland.
Notes: Second-year Blazers Aldridge and Roy were selected to play on the sophomore team in the All-Star weekend's rookie challenge. "Not only are they both great young talents, but they're great ambassadors of our game as well," Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard said. "They've done so much to change the course of this franchise and in a very short period of time. I couldn't be more proud of them and this team." Roy would not play in the game if he is selected as an All-Star reserve. ... James told reporters at a practice at Nike headquarters Tuesday that he'd welcome Jason Kidd to Cleveland. Kidd expressed an interest in being traded from the Nets to ESPN The Magazine earlier this week. ... Nike co-founder Phil Knight was at the game, as was Boston Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, an Oregon native.
[Associated Press; By ANNE M. PETERSON]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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