Washington - eing home for the holidays was almost a downer for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Trailing by seven to woeful Washington, the Cavaliers scored 11 straight points in the final 1:33 to preserve their perfect home record with a 93-89 win Thursday night.

Mo Williams scored 24 points, and LeBron James and Delonte West had 18 apiece for the Cavs, who at 15-0 are the NBA's lone unbeaten team at home.

Cleveland trailed 89-82 before storming back with three free throws by James, a 3-pointer by Williams and five more foul shots in the last 26 seconds.

Antawn Jamison scored 28 points, and Mike James 26 for the Wizards, who dropped their eighth straight and continue to find new ways to lose.

The Cavaliers' home winning streak was as good as history when Jamison drained a 3-pointer with 1:40 left to put the Wizards ahead by seven points.

But James was fouled shooting a 3 and, after starting 3-of-7 from the line, Cleveland's superstar made three straight from the line to pull Cleveland to 89-85. Williams then drew a charge on Jamison in the lane and then demanded the ball from James and got it before hitting a 3-pointer to make it 89-88 with 1:03 to go.

James missed for Washington and Jamison fouled out while battling Anderson Varejao for a rebound. Varejao made both free throws to give the Cavs a 90-88 lead, and Cleveland got the ball right back when Caron Butler was called for charging into Ben Wallace. The Wizards had to foul and Williams made them pay by hitting two free throws to make it 92-89.

The Wizards still had a chance to tie, but James, recently acquired in a trade from Memphis, missed a 3-pointer and West made 1-of-2 foul shots to ice it.

During their home streak, the Cavs have been blowing teams out, but a a sloppy third quarter left them in an unfamiliar position of trailing entering the fourth.

The Wizards turned nine turnovers by Cleveland in the third into 13 points and Mike James scored eight straight points in the final 2:40 as Washington opened a 71-68 lead, stunning Cavs fans who had been in a festive mood from the opening tip.

The Wizards-Cavaliers' holiday matchup looked great on paper before the season started. After all, the clubs have met in the playoffs three straight years with last season's series best remembered for Washington's hard fouls on James as well as DeShawn Stevenson's endless trash talking at Cleveland's superstar.

James hasn't forgotten Washington's tactics.

"They tried to take me mentally out of the game in the series and tied and tried and tried and it never worked," he said. "Bad plan, I guess."

Overmatched because of injuries to All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas (knee) and center Brendan Haywood (wrist), Washington is off to the worst start in franchise history and has already had a coaching change before the end of the calendar year.

As James performed his pregame routine of tossing hand chalk into the air, the sellout crowd threw packets of white confetti aloft with him, creating a blizzard-like effect inside Quicken Loans Arena. The theatrical stunt was to promote James' new Nike "chalk" shoe, one of several variations he has worn this season.

The Wizards, though, weren't about to be used as props and built a 25-22 lead after one.

But with James on the bench, the Cavaliers, who have built leads all season while he has rested, went on a 20-9 run to open the second and were poised for another early blowout. Jamison wouldn't let it happen as he scored 17 points in the first half to keep the Wizards to 49-47 at halftime. ^

Notes:

The Wizards intended to wear their blue road jerseys, which included a white holiday snowflake on the front. But James wanted to wear blue to match his new Nike "chalk" shoes and the Cavaliers sent an employee to Washington to fetch the Wizards' white jerseys. ... James didn't ask for anything for Christmas, but he got what he wanted anyway. "My girlfriend got me pajamas and a back scratcher," he said. "I always want my back scratched and she doesn't want to do it all the time. I wanted a back scratcher bad as hell."



Written By TOM WITHERS

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