CLEVELAND — They circled this game on their calendar months ago. Last night, the Cleveland Cavaliers checked it off as another win.

Their biggest in a season getting special.

LeBron James scored 38 points, harassed Paul Pierce all over the floor and strengthened his case to be the league's MVP front-runner as the Cavaliers, playing with a bottled-up intensity reserved for the playoffs, improved to 19-0 at home by handing the staggering Boston Celtics their third straight loss, 98-83, last night.

James scored 23 in the second half. He added seven rebounds, six assists, four steals, three blocks and made Pierce's life miserable for 35 minutes.

After the Cavs had built their lead to a comfortable 20 points in the second half, Cleveland fans began chanting "M-V-P!"

There was no debate this night on who was the best player — or which was the better team.

"We want to continue to protect our home court and we want to continue to get better. Tonight I think we got better," James said. "We don't want to take a step back because we got a big picture and a big goal. You don't want to waste a game. We got really better tonight."

With James leading the way, the Cavaliers handed the Celtics their second-worst loss of the season and dropped them to 2-7 since opening a league-record 27-2. Boston had to resort to fouling Ben Wallace to try to trim Cleveland's lead in the fourth quarter, but the Hack-A-Ben strategy was hardly effective as Cleveland's forward, a 44 percent free-throw shooter, made 5 of 10 free throws after being fouled on five straight possessions.

When he was taken out, Wallace shot a menacing stare toward Boston coach Doc Rivers, who pulled his starters with the outcome decided in the final minutes.

"We're good," Pierce said. "That's the God's honest truth. Nobody likes losing, but we're going to stay positive. That's our strength as a team."

Pierce, who came in averaging 19.5 points, was held to 11 on 4 of 15 shooting.

Rockets 98, Thunder 96: Yao ming hit two free throws to break a 93-all tie and Tracy McGrady, who had missed two of visiting Houston's previous three games due to a left knee injury, scored 26 points and made two free throws with 8.2 seconds left for a 97-93 lead in beating Oklahoma City.

Hornets 107, Clippers 80: Rasual Butler hit six of his team's 11 3-pointers en route to a season-high 27 points to lead six teammates in double figures and host New Orleans opened up a 62-49 halftime lead in handing Los Angeles its 10th straight loss.

Raptors 103, Grizzlies 82: Chris Bosh had 32 points and 10 rebounds, and Andrea Bargnani, starting for the sixth straight game in place of Jermaine O'Neal (injured right knee), added 21 points as Toronto rolled past Memphis to extend its home winning streak to a season-high three games.

Magic 121, Hawks 87: Hedo Turkoglu hit all five 3-point attempts and scored 21 points, Dwight Howard added 16 points and 10 rebounds, and host Orlando raced to a 38-point halftime lead in cruising past Atlanta for its 11th straight home victory.

76ers 93, Bobcats 87: Andre Miller scored 22 points, Thaddeus Young had 15 and host Philadelphia, which trailed since taking a 1-0 lead, used a 14-2 run for a 61-54 third-quarter advantage it never lost in beating Charlotte for its third consecutive victory.

Bulls 98, Wizards 86: Ben Gordon scored 22 points and host Chicago hung on to beat Washington after watching a 21-point lead early in the fourth quarter dwindle to 89-82 after Washington's Antawn Jamison soared in for a layup with just under three minutes left.

Bucks 104, Nets 102: Luke Ridnour's 5-foot floater with 0.5 seconds left lifted host Milwaukee over New Jersey, which will be without forward Yi Jianlian, who will miss three to four weeks after breaking the pinkie finger on his right hand in the third quarter.

Pistons 93, Nuggets 90: Tayshaun Prince hit a running jumper with 20 seconds left for an 87-86 lead, Aaron Afflalo hit six straight free throws after that, and visiting Detroit overcame 30 points by Chauncey Billups to beat Denver.

Suns 128, Mavericks 100: Shaquille O'Neal had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Jason Richardson added 21 points and Leandro Barbosa had 20, and host Phoenix outscored Dallas 40-19 in the third quarter for the Suns' highest-scoring game of the season.

HEAT 119, KINGS 115: Dwyane Wade scored nine of his 41 points in overtime to help visiting Miami rally past Sacramento, which led by 10 early in the fourth quarter, but failed to hang on in losing its fifth straight game.

Lakers 121, Pacers 119: Kobe Bryant scored his team's last 11 points, including a tiebreaking jumper with 3 seconds left, and finished with 36 points to help host Los Angeles beat Indiana, which was unable to get off a shot before the final buzzer.