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James leads Cavaliers to fifth straight win

Nov 18, 2006 - 3:45 AM CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- LeBron James gets a lot of credit for the Cleveland Cavaliers' success. The bench deserved a little against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

James scored 37 points and the reserves combined for 31 as the Cavaliers earned their fifth straight win with a 92-76 victory over the Timberwolves.

During Cleveland's five-game surge, the bench has averaged 40 points. James made 12-of-24 shots and collected nine boards and six assists while his teammates filled their roles.

With the Cavs clinging to just a 70-66 lead with 7:43 left, James found Damon Jones for a jumper before locating Sasha Pavlovic in the right corner for a 3-pointer over a minute later for a 75-66 cushion.

Over the next 2 1/2 minutes, James added a free throw, a double-clutch dunk and a tough 3-pointer before Donyell Marshall's 3-pointer capped a 13-2 run for an 83-68 advantage with 3:21 remaining.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers, who held a 45-34 rebounding edge.

Kevin Garnett scored 14 points, grabbed 11 boards and recorded five steals and rookie Craig Smith added 12 and 10 for the Timberwolves, who have lost four in a row on the road.

Cleveland guard Larry Hughes missed the game due to a sprained right ankle suffered Wednesday. He is expected to be out at least one more contest.