CLEVELAND (AP) -- LeBron James was jolted forward when the massive crowd swelled from the sidewalks and into Cleveland's streets, surrounding the convertible that he and his family were riding in. This wasn't supposed to happen.

James looked at his wife, Savannah, their baby daughter and two sons and feared for their safety.

"We were kind of afraid for a second," James said.

The Utah Jazz overcame injuries and a sloppy first half to beat the young Los Angeles Lakers.

It wasn't pretty, it wasn't much fun for the most part, to be honest, but the Utah Jazz (19-13) moved into the 6th spot in the Western Conference, getting the win over the Los Angeles Lakers (12-23) 102-100 behind Gordon Hayward's big night, (31 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists) Derrick Favors' return, (8 points, 6 rebounds) and Joe Ingles (13 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists) who hit a critical three-pointer late in the fourth quarter. The two teams acted like they had been visited by Jacob Marley and his ghostly ensemble over Christmas during the first 2.5 quarters, as they were determined to give each other the ball, combining for 44 turnovers. Still, the score remained close after both teams settled down, and the Lakers played gritty, aggressive basketball, but couldn't get it done down the stretch, seeing their hopes dashed on a D'Angelo Russell airball at the buzzer.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Golden State Warriors held off the Toronto Raptors 121-111 in a game that included crunch-time struggles and a large, lost lead. It was a bit like Sunday's loss to Cleveland, but with a larger margin for error and sans Kyrie Irving's late brilliance. It should also be noted that Stephen Curry was conspicuously more involved throughout Wednesday's affair, finishing with 28 points, seven assists and seven boards.

Boston’s starting backcourt came up big, and Gerald Green added some much needed offense off the bench.

The last time Isaiah Thomas played the Grizzlies, he dropped a career high 44 points. He didn’t quite match that, but he still kept up his “Eastern Conference Player of the Week” form. He extended his 20-points-in-a-game streak to 16, the longest in the NBA this season. He wasn’t alone though, as Avery Bradley (23 points) and Gerald Green (19) posted some nice scoring numbers as well.

The Spurs won their ninth-straight game against the Suns and extended their current home winning-streak to six behind a great second-half defensive performance where they limited the Suns to just 34 points.

Kawhi Leonard missed his first game of the season suffering through a bout of gastroenteritis and the Spurs gave up a whopping 64 points and allowed the Suns to shoot 68% from the field in the first half of Wednesday night’s contest. Phoenix’s bench dropped in 43 of those 64. In one half. Against the third best defense in the league. What a weird start.

The Spurs won their fifth Christmas Day game (out of 11 in franchise history) and their first since 2008 (over the Phoenix Suns) as they took care of the Chicago Bulls on Sunday afternoon in the AT&T Center.

The two biggest stars on the team carried the bulk of the load for San Antonio as Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge had efficient nights while the team as a whole played well and shared the ball. The team finished with 30 assists on their 48 buckets.

Butler’s buzzer-beater caps off late Bulls run

The Bulls really had no business beating the lowly Nets at home thanks to a miserable performance throughout most of Wednesday night’s game, but a superhuman effort by Jimmy Butler and a timely Brooklyn collapse resulted in a 101-99 victory.

The Cleveland Cavaliers won Christmas Day in a last-second fracas.

The Cleveland Cavaliers topped the Golden State Warriors 108-109 in a memorable Christmas Day rematch that featured old man Richard Jefferson having flashbacks to 2004, Stephen Curry bottled by aggressively physical defense, mental lapses on both sides, and a wild last two minutes.

The Warriors led for 40+ minutes of the game, including a double-digit lead in the early part of the fourth quarter built off the outstanding performance by Kevin Durant. 2016, however, is the year of the Cavalier comeback. The game served as a microcosm of the 2016 NBA Finals, replete with late-game heroics by Kyrie Irving and Draymond Green turnovers borne from senseless aggression.