LeBron James, Cavs dunk Raptors

LeBron James scored 28 points including a few signature dunks, Mo Williams added 22 and the Cleveland Cavaliers began a long stretch of home games over the next month with a 108-100 win against the Toronto Raptors last night.

James had 11 assists and nine rebounds as the Cavs, who just returned from a long road trip, improved to 15-3 at Quicken Loans Arena, where they will play 10 of their next 12 before Feb. 19.

The Eastern Conference leaders will host the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow night.

Cleveland’s Shaquille O’Neal added 16 points and became the fifth player in NBA history to surpass 28,000 in his career.

With a layup in the opening minute, O’Neal joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Michael Jordan (32,292) and Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) as the only players to reach the milestone.

Chris Bosh scored 21 for Toronto but was limited to just five after halftime by Cleveland’s defense, which allowed 60 points in the opening half. The Raptors only scored 17 in the fourth.

Williams left briefly with a left shoulder strain but came back and hit the game’s biggest shot, a 3-pointer with 5:27 left that gave the Cavs a 98-94 lead. James found a cutting Anderson Varejao for a basket to put the Cavs up by six and then James slammed one to make it 102-94.

Cleveland’s defense, nearly nonexistent for three quarters, put its talons in the Raptors in the fourth quarter. Toronto went 7-of-20 from the field in the final 12 minutes.

Andrea Bargnani scored 19 for Toronto, which lost for just the fourth time in 14 games.

Heat 113, Pacers 83 - Dwyane Wade scored 18 of his 32 points in the first quarter as host Miami ran out to a commanding early lead to beat Indiana.

Michael Beasley scored 21 for Miami, which led 36-19 after one quarter and by 23 at one point in the opening half. Wade shot 12-of-20 and passed the career 11,000-point mark with a second-quarter layup.

Brandon Rush scored 17 for the Pacers, who are 4-17 on the road and 0-3 against the Heat this season.

Elsewhere in the NBA - The NBA denied the Atlanta Hawks’ protest over a shot-clock error. Commissioner David Stern ruled the mistake didn’t have a “clear impact” on last month’s loss at Cleveland.

The Hawks protested their Dec. 30 defeat after officials failed to notice that the 24-second clock was not reset after a miss by Cleveland with 1:56 remaining. Atlanta was leading 99-98 but did not get its allotted time and wound up making a costly turnover while rushing to get off a shot. The Cavaliers won 106-101.

Coach Mike Woodson asked that the game be replayed from the point of the mistake. . . .

Sacramento Kings rookie Tyreke Evans is being sued over a fatal shooting committed by a teenage cousin in his vehicle. Evans is among four people sued over the November 2007 drive-by shooting near his home in Chester, Pa., just south of Philadelphia.