CLEVELAND, Ohio: LeBron James scored 30 points and passed out 12 assists - both game highs - to power the Cleveland Cavaliers past Washington 116-86 Monday in a NBA playoff game.

The reigning Eastern Conference champions seized a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 3 on Thursday at Washington.

But it will take a major reversal for the Wizards to avoid being ousted from the playoffs for the third year in a row.

"We know we're not going to win Game 3 by 30 but we will keep flying around and see what happens," James said.

James also grabbed nine rebounds, matching a game high, and made the Wizards pay dearly for taunts about "King James" being overrated and the Cavaliers being so weak that teams looked forward to meeting them in the playoffs.

"We're not here to talk. We're here to move on," James said. "We want to continue to be aggressive. We outscored them 33-23 in the third quarter and that set the tone for the rest of the game. We're a focused team."

Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16 points and Wally Szczerbiak contributed 15 more for the Cavaliers, who adapted well to a physical style from the Wizards as they tried in vain to find a way to shut down James.

"It starts with me. I'm the guy they're throwing everything at," James said. "They are being physical, throwing triple teams at me, trying to get me out of my comfort zone and get me off my game."

The Wizards hope referees will allow more physical play, especially when it comes to defending James.

"The referees have to loosen up. They can't keep protecting LeBron so much," Washington's Andray Blatche said.

Rockets face a sweep

In Houston, Deron Williams scored 22 points and the Utah Jazz defeated Houston 90-84 on Monday to seize a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.

Turkey's Mehmet Okur added 16 points and 16 points for the Jazz, which also had 13 points from Carlos Boozer in the triumph.

The Jazz, which had the NBA's best home-court record at 37-4, took a pair of road victories and return home for games on Thursday and Saturday with a chance to sweep the Rockets out of the playoffs.

"We didn't want to come in and just split. We wanted to come in here and take two," Williams said. "We did a great job of following our game plan."

That strategy involved shutting down Houston playmaker Tracy McGrady and it worked well in the fourth quarter, when he went 0-for-3 from the field and scored only one point, his lone point in the last period of either loss.

"We wanted to shut down McGrady. We're trying to keep fresh bodies on him the whole game, make him settle for jumpers and not take easy shots," Williams said.

McGrady scored a game-high 23 points and contributed 13 rebounds and nine assists but had no impact when it mattered most, admitting after the game that he was weary after being pushed by the Jazz all night.

He also said that being winless going to Utah will challenge his team's heart.

"It's so tough to win up there. It's going to show what type of team we are," McGrady said. "We're either going to fold going up there 0-2 or we're going to fight back. It's really going to test our character."

AFP

(China Daily 04/23/2008 page22)