Bobcats hold off Cavaliers

Photo by: Chuck Burton

AP

Photo

Cleveland Cavaliers' Anthony Parker, right, takes the final shot as time expires as Charlotte Bobcats' Dominic McGuire, left, defends in the Bobcats' 98-97 win in an NBA basketball game in Charlotte, N.C., Wednesday, March 30, 2011.

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

The Charlotte Bobcats keep losing key players to injury. Then they keep watching their opponents miss game-winning shots at the buzzer.

It adds up to an unlikely playoff push.

Boris Diaw had 26 points and 11 assists and hit the tiebreaking free throw with 14 seconds left on Wednesday night in a 98-97 win over Cleveland, a victory which wasn’t sealed until Anthony Parker’s runner bounced off the rim as time expired.

In their four-game winning streak that keeps them one game behind Indiana for the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot, the Bobcats have seen four key players go down with injuries — and six potential game-winning shots by the opposition fail to fall.

“We’ll take that luck,” guard Gerald Henderson said.

A night after an emotional home victory over LeBron James and Miami, Cleveland again looked nothing like the team with the NBA’s worst record. Ramon Sessions had 24 points and J.J. Hickson overcame foul trouble to score 20 points and grab seven rebounds as the Cavaliers shot 52 percent from the field.

But they couldn’t execute their offense in the closing moments to fall to 5-31 on the road.

“I told the guys after the game [Tuesday] night that we’ve won, it’s been a pretty good game, but we would come out flat the next game,” Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said. “We didn’t do that. We competed a lot better.”

Charlotte trailed by eight points in the third and 97-95 with 2:02 left. Diaw’s half-hook on the next possession tied it, before missed shots by both teams set up a wild finish.

Diaw got the ball in the post and drew a foul on Ryan Hollins. He hit the first free throw but was short on the second.

The Cavaliers grabbed the rebound, but advanced it slightly before calling a timeout, forcing them to put the ball into play from the side in the backcourt. After Sessions struggled to get into the frontcourt, Scott called a second timeout with 2.8 seconds left.

Parker then got the ball on the left side, but Dominic McGuire got a fingertip on his off-balance, 13-footer and it clanged off the rim.