Bucks  82    Cavaliers  85

Milwaukee Bucks (11-12) at Cleveland Cavaliers (19-7), 8 p.m.

Sports Network | December 18, 2009

(Sports Network) - LeBron James and his streaking Cleveland Cavaliers shoot for a fifth straight win Friday night when they welcome their Central Division rivals, the Milwaukee Bucks, to Quicken Loans Arena.

The Cavs, who lead the second place Bucks by a comfortable 6 1/2 games, earned their fourth consecutive triumph in the City of Brotherly Love Wednesday when James scored 36 points and dished out seven assists, as Cleveland earned a hard-fought 108-101 decision over the struggling Philadelphia 76ers.

Mo Williams started slow but broke a tie game late in the fourth quarter with five quick points, ending with 12 for the Cavaliers. Anderson Varejao had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Shaquille O'Neal chipped in 10 and nine boards.

"Late in the game LeBron was who he is. He made some big shots for us. I don't coach that," Cavs' coach Mike Brown said.

The Bucks, meanwhile, are coming off a heartbreaking overtime loss to the defending NBA champs on Wednesday. Kobe Bryant hit a jumper over Charlie Bell at the end of the extra frame to give the Los Angeles Lakers the dramatic 107-106 victory.

Playing with a broken right index finger, Bryant had seven of his game-high 39 points in the extra session as Los Angeles rallied for the final seven points of OT, all from Bryant, to win for the 13th time in 14 games.

With the game tied at 95, Bell defended well against the reigning Finals MVP at the end of regulation, forcing a poor shot. Bryant, though, benefited from a controversial blocking foul call in OT to help spur the Lakers to victory.

Michael Redd logged a season-high 25 points for the Bucks, who shot 10-of-29 from three-point range. Redd was 2-of-8 in such situations.

Ersan Ilyasova posted a career-high 24 points for Milwaukee, which had a two- game winning streak broken and lost for the ninth time in 12 contests. Andrew Bogut had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Bucks, who were coming off a thrilling double-overtime win over Portland on Saturday.

Cleveland has won five straight over the Bucks and is an impressive 10-2 at "The Q" this season. On the other hand, Milwaukee has struggled mightily on the road, compiling a miserable 2-8 mark as the visitor.