LeBron James started Friday night by making history and finished with a scoring flurry as he led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 107-102 win over the New Orleans Pelicans at Quicken Loans Arena.
James finished with 27 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds and helped the defending Eastern Conference champions maintain a grip on the No. 3 seed in the process.
Had Cleveland (46-30) lost, it would have dropped to the fifth seed since the Philadelphia 76ers (45-30) beat the Atlanta Hawks on Friday and the Indiana Pacers (45-31) own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Cavs.