Indianapolis • LeBron James has been the first-round king for 12 years.
On Sunday night, he needed Kyle Korver’s 3-point shooting to put him in position to extend his reign.
The two combined for all of Cleveland’s points in a late 10-2 run, helping the Cavaliers to a 104-100 victory over the Indiana Pacers to even the series at 2. James drew boos from the crowd after flipping the ball up the court to run out the clock.
“You don’t ever want to go down 3-1 against anybody, no matter if it’s the first round or if you’re fortunate enough to get all the way to the finals,” James said. “It’s just too difficult.”
James finished with 32 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and another crowning achievement — his 100th career playoff game with 30 or more points, second all-time to Michael Jordan.
This has been no typical series for James, who started the playoffs with an NBA-record 21 consecutive wins in the first round.
He’s already seen the Pacers go wire-to-wire in Game 1, miss a potential tying 3-pointer in the last 35 seconds of Game 2, rally from a 17-point deficit to win Game 3 and erase a 16-point, first-half deficit to take the lead early in the fourth.
This one looked and felt a lot like the three previous games — tough and physical down to a confusing sequence in the final seconds when Lance Stephenson was whistled for wrestling Jeff Green to the court while hoping for a jump ball.
Indiana still led 93-91 with 4:28 to go on Sunday.
Then James and Korver reverted to their old ways.
Korver’s 3 with 3:48 left made it 94-93, James followed with a layup, Korver knocked down another 3 and James added another layup to give the Cavs a 101-95 lead with 1:52 left.
Indiana never recovered.
Korver wound up with 18 points and four 3s to give him 200 in his postseason career.
And without those two 3s, James knew he might have been staring at a 3-1 deficit at the earliest stage of the playoffs in his career.
“He’s one of the all-time leaders in 3-pointers made,” James said. “His four 3s were huge. We needed every last one of them, obviously.”
SPURS 109, WARRIORS 90 • In San Antonio, Manu Ginobili scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter of what could have been his final home game with the Spurs, and San Antonio beat Golden State to avoid a series sweep as coach Gregg Popovich remained out following the death of his wife.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Spurs, but they were willed to the finish by the 40-year-old Ginobili, who has said he will decide in the offseason if he will return for a 17th season.
Kevin Durant had 34 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors, who can wrap up the series in Game 5 at home Tuesday.
Popovich missed his second straight game after his wife, Erin, passed away Wednesday following a prolonged illness. Lead assistant Ettore Messina led the Spurs again, but to a much different showing than in Game 3.
BUCKS 104, CELTICS 102 • In Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 27 points, including tipping in the go-ahead basket with 5 seconds left, and Milwaukee beat Boston to tie its first-round playoff series at two games apiece.
Boston's Marcus Morris missed a 14-footer at the buzzer with Khris Middleton's hand in his face to seal a nail-biting win for the Bucks.
Seconds earlier, the 6-foot-11 Antetokounmpo jumped and reached up with his left arm around Boston's Jayson Tatum to put back Malcolm Brogdon's missed layup for the game-winner.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Boston.
Jaylen Brown had 34 points for the Celtics, while Tatum added 21. Tatum's 18-footer with 52 seconds left gave the Celtics a brief 100-99 lead.
WIZARDS 106, RAPTORS 98 • In Washington, John Wall took over down the stretch after Bradley Beal fouled out, having a hand in 10 of Washington's last 14 points and finishing with 27 points and 14 assists as the No. 8 seed Wizards came back to beat No. 1 Toronto and even the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series at 2-all.
The game was tied at 92 with about five minutes left when Beal — who led Washington with 31 points — drew his sixth foul on a play in which he and DeMar DeRozan collided while Toronto had the ball. Beal raced along the sideline, put his hands on his head, then returned to the Wizards' bench area and threw a red towel before being restrained by teammates.
The Raptors went up by two, but Wall pulled the Wizards even with a layup that drew a goaltending call, then put the hosts in front to stay by feeding Markieff Morris for a layup off the glass. As the final seconds ticked away, Wall held up two fingers on each hand. Yep, it's 2-2, and the home team has won every game so far.
Toronto will host Game 5 on Wednesday.
DeRozan started 0 for 6, before winding up with 35 points, six assists and six rebounds. Kyle Lowry scored 19 points for Toronto.