NBA Game Summary - Cleveland at Boston

Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - LeBron James scored a season-high 41 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers overcame a 19-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Boston Celtics 122-121 on Friday night.

Kyrie Irving scored 15 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter for Cleveland, including 12 during a big run, but missed a one-handed floater to give the ball back to Boston with seven seconds remaining and a chance to win the game.

But Celtics guard Rajon Rondo bobbled his dribble against Shawn Marion at the other end and didn't get a shot off before the buzzer, giving Cavaliers coach and Boston native David Blatt a win in his first game in his home town.

"I lost the ball," said Rondo. "I give them credit -- they played good defense. I lost the ball and I didn't get the shot off in time."

Anderson Varejao scored 16 and Kevin Love had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who have won three in a row since a 1-3 start.

James scored a season high four days after going for 32 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists against New Orleans. (He was originally credited with a triple-double before the NBA took back one rebound and one assist.)

Kelly Olynyk scored 21 points in a well-balanced attack for the Celtics, who have lost two in a row to open a three-game homestand. Seven players scored at least 12 points, including Jared Sullinger and Jeff Green, who each had 19.

Boston scored 42 points in the third quarter.

"We gave up a 40-point quarter and that's unacceptable if we want to continue to grow, but we showed growth in the fourth quarter and that's huge for our team being a young team," said James. "We just kept fighting, we kept getting stops, we kept executing offensively, and we walk out of here with a win."

The Cavs cut a 14-point deficit to four with a 14-4 run early in the fourth quarter keyed by a trio of 3-pointers from Irving, who also had a three-point play during the flurry.

Later, a 13-2 burst led by James gave the Cavs a three-point lead with 44.1 seconds remaining.

Irving's one-handed miss in the final seconds was set up by James stripping Rondo near the basket, and the ball going out of bounds off the Boston guard's right leg.

Boston was outscored 38-20 in the fourth quarter despite shooting 50 percent.

Earlier, Sullinger and Olynyk combined to score 21 points and the Celtics shot almost 73 percent in a big third quarter after the score was tied 59-59 at halftime.

They scored 17 of the last 21 points in the quarter to carry a 101-84 lead into the fourth.

"This team defensively is playing in spurts and not playing consistently on that end of the floor," said Blatt. "When we do (play consistently on defense) we'll have a chance to be very, very good and until we do we're going to have to win games like this."

James scored 22 points in the first half, including six during an 8-0 run in the second quarter that turned a seven-point deficit into a lead for the Cavs.