LeBron James takes over in fourth quarter as Cavs beat Knicks

Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James are good friends off the court and enjoy playing against each another on it. It usually brings out the best of each of them. But with the game on the line Friday night, James was much better than Anthony.

The Cavaliers superstar did it to the Knicks again, scoring 12 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter to help Cleveland rally for a 90-84 win at the Garden.

James scored six points during a game-ending 13-2 run that sent the Knicks to their fourth loss in five home games.

Anthony scored 26, but only four came in the second half. He shot 1-for-9 after halftime and was 1-for-6 in the fourth quarter as James clamped down on him defensively.

The Knicks' execution was poor in the final period, forcing Anthony to hoist shots late in the shot clock.

"We are a unit out there at the end of the game," he said. "It's just guys are maybe looking at me a little bit too much instead of making the right play. Once we get past that, we'll be OK."

This was another rough loss for the Knicks, who squandered a 12-point second-half lead in Wednesday night's game in Charlotte and lost in the closing seconds after scoring only 14 points in the fourth quarter.

The Knicks (4-6) blew a 10-point second-half advantage Friday night and scored only 12 points in the final quarter. They failed to take advantage of a seven-minute stretch bridging the third and fourth quarters in which the Cavaliers didn't score.

The Knicks missed their first 10 attempts in the fourth quarter and shot 4-for-21 in the quarter.

"I have to do a better job of putting guys in position to be successful out there," Derek Fisher said. "They're doing what we're asking them to do. It's my job to help the situation get better down the stretch."

Arron Afflalo had 14 points but missed a potential tying jumper with 22.9 seconds left. Kristaps Porzingis added 11 points and seven rebounds but couldn't handle an errant lob from Lance Thomas that could have brought the Knicks within two with 16.9 seconds to go.

Mo Williams scored Cleveland's last six points and finished with 20 for the Cavaliers, who have won eight straight since dropping their opener. But as usual, James was the catalyst for this victory.

It was similar to last week's game, when James scored 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Cavs beat the Knicks in Cleveland.

"Whatever it takes for the team to win, and tonight was another one of those cases," James said.

He was responsible for Cleveland's first eight points of the quarter with six points and an assist. After Porzingis' bank shot put the Knicks up 82-77 with 4:46 remaining, James scored six of Cleveland's next seven points.

James hit a tough turnaround jumper with Anthony in his face to give Cleveland an 84-82 lead with 1:16 left. "He made a tough shot," Anthony said. "Great players make great shots sometimes. I've been on the other side of that before. It happens."

Anthony's last basket and points came with 5:24 left. Still, the Knicks had their chances.

Afflalo scored on a short baseline jumper over the shorter Matthew Dellavedova to tie it at 84 with 59.4 seconds to go.

But Williams' jumper from the wing made it 86-84 with 41.1 seconds left, and he added four more free throws to close it out.

Said Afflalo, "We had ample opportunity throughout this game to either extend our lead to close this game out a little earlier so that it didn't come down to the stretch in that manner."

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.