AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — LeBron James huffed and puffed about being pushed and shoved by the Detroit Pistons.

Then, he stopped lobbying for help from the officials and blew the Pistons down.

James scored 11 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, lifting the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 79-68 victory last night over Detroit and a 3-0 lead in the first-round series.

"Once he decided to say, 'Hey, I'm not getting calls. I'm going to will this team to a win,' our whole team changed," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "Watching him flip that switch, it was very exciting."

The Cavaliers' Joe Smith had a career playoff-high 19 points and 10 rebounds.

The Pistons will host Game 4 tomorrow.

CLEVELAND 18 26 9 26—79

DETROIT 18 19 16 15—68

CLEVELAND-James 9-19 7-11 25, Varejao 3-4 1-4 7, Ilgauskas 6-13 0-0 13, M.Williams 1-11 0-1 2, West 0-7 2-2 2, Smith 6-8 6-7 19, Gibson 2-5 3-3 9, B.Wallace 1-1 0-2 2, Pavlovic 0-0 0-0 0, Szczerbiak 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-68 19-30 79.

DETROIT-Prince 3-10 0-0 7, McDyess 4-10 0-0 8, R.Wallace 2-6 0-0 5, Stuckey 5-11 2-4 12, Hamilton 6-17 2-2 15, Maxiell 0-0 0-0 0, Bynum 2-8 2-2 6, Herrmann 1-2 0-0 3, Afflalo 3-4 2-2 8, Brown 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 27-71 10-12 68.

3-Point Goals—Cleveland 4-22 (Gibson 2-5, Smith 1-1, Ilgauskas 1-2, West 0-3, James 0-5, M.Williams 0-6), Detroit 4-12 (R.Wallace 1-1, Hamilton 1-2, Herrmann 1-2, Prince 1-4, Afflalo 0-1, Stuckey 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Cleveland 52 (James 11), Detroit 45 (McDyess, Hamilton 8). Assists—Cleveland 20 (James 9), Detroit 17 (Hamilton 6). Total Fouls—Cleveland 17, Detroit 25. Technicals—Brown, R.Wallace. A—22,076 (22,076).

76ers 96, Magic 94: Held in check all night, Thaddeus Young delivered at the end.

Young's driving layup with 2 seconds left lifted host Philadelphia to a victory over Orlando, giving the 76ers a surprising 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

"It was the biggest shot ever for me," Young said. "It was a lucky shot. I'm glad I hit it. I'm glad the ball was in my hands."

Dwight Howard had 36 points and 11 rebounds for the Magic, who won 59 games during the regular season. Andre Iguodala led the Sixers with 29 points, Andre Miller added 24 and Young had six.

ORLANDO 21 28 28 17—94

PHILADELPHIA 27 33 20 16—96

ORLANDO-Turkoglu 2-12 6-6 11, Lewis 5-13 1-1 14, Howard 12-16 12-14 36, Alston 6-13 4-7 17, Lee 2-9 1-1 6, Pietrus 2-4 0-0 6, Johnson 0-3 0-0 0, Battie 2-3 0-0 4, Gortat 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-73 24-29 94.

PHILADELPHIA-Iguodala 9-15 9-13 29, Young 3-7 0-0 6, Dalembert 2-5 0-0 4, Miller 10-21 3-4 24, Green 6-9 0-0 12, Marshall 2-4 0-0 5, Ratliff 2-2 0-0 4, Williams 3-7 2-5 8, Evans 0-0 2-2 2, Ivey 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 37-71 18-26 96.

3-Point Goals—Orlando 8-20 (Lewis 3-5, Pietrus 2-4, Alston 1-3, Turkoglu 1-3, Lee 1-4, Johnson 0-1), Philadelphia 4-10 (Iguodala 2-4, Miller 1-1, Marshall 1-2, Williams 0-1, Green 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Orlando 40 (Howard 11), Philadelphia 49 (Dalembert, Miller 9). Assists—Orlando 18 (Lee 5), Philadelphia 16 (Miller 7). Total Fouls—Orlando 22, Philadelphia 24. Technicals—Philadelphia defensive three second. A—16,492 (20,318).

Rockets 86, Trail Blazers 83: Luis Scola scored 19 points, Houston's defense bottled up Brandon Roy, and the host Rockets beat Portland to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Roy, who scored 42 points in Game 2, had 19 points, but went 6 for 18 from the field.

"They were collapsing everybody," said Roy, the NBA's No. 10 scorer.

PORTLAND 15 22 22 24—83

HOUSTON 21 27 18 20—86

PORTLAND—Batum 0-1 0-0 0, Aldridge 6-15 0-0 13, Przybilla 1-1 0-0 2, Blake 6-11 0-0 16, Roy 6-18 7-8 19, Outlaw 2-11 0-0 4, Oden 3-5 0-0 6, Fernandez 6-9 0-0 17, Frye 2-5 2-2 6. Totals 32-76 9-10 83.

HOUSTON—Battier 6-10 2-2 16, Scola 8-15 3-3 19, Yao 2-7 3-3 7, Brooks 3-11 5-8 11, Artest 3-8 2-2 9, Wafer 3-9 0-0 6, Landry 5-7 0-0 10, Lowry 2-2 4-6 8, Hayes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-69 19-24 86.

3-Point Goals—Portland 10-23 (Fernandez 5-7, Blake 4-7, Aldridge 1-1, Batum 0-1, Roy 0-3, Outlaw 0-4), Houston 3-9 (Battier 2-4, Artest 1-1, Wafer 0-2, Brooks 0-2). Fouled Out—Roy. Rebounds—Portland 40 (Aldridge 8), Houston 47 (Yao 13). Assists—Portland 19 (Blake 10), Houston 21 (Brooks 5). Total Fouls—Portland 25, Houston 16. Technicals—Przybilla. A—18,371 (18,043).

NOTES

Sixth-Man Award: Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry was presented yesterday with the NBA sixth-man award. He averaged 19.6 points and 3.4 assists.