LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Darren Collison scored 22 points and Victor Oladipo tallied 19 as the Indiana Pacers rallied from a 22-point deficit to edge the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers 97-95 on Friday.

Lance Stephenson finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Pacers who improved to 22-20 on the season in front of a crowd of 17,900 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse arena.

The loss was the third straight for the three-time defending Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers.

Cleveland would need a monumental effort from LeBron James in order to halt their losing streak. But it wasn’t enough, as the four-time MVP finished with 27 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds, while Kevin Love had 21 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

Oladipo gave the Pacers the lead for good on a three pointer with just over two minutes to play.

James then had two opportunities in the final two seconds to win it, but failed on both.

James stepped out of bounds with 1.7 seconds to go, a call that was confirmed by video replay. Then, after Collison made a free throw to give the Pacers a 97-95 lead, James’ desperation shot from beyond the arc rattled off the rim at the buzzer.

Following the game, James said the out-of-bounds call was correct, but he also made mention of a prior ‘no-call’ that allowed Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo to score the winning basket over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“Definitely stepped out by a tiny bit after seeing it over again! Great call. Needed to be in OKC on that drive. Lol. Live and you Learn,” James wrote on Twitter.

James was also slapped with a technical foul after losing his cool and retaliating against Stephenson with 7:53 minutes left in the game.

James shoved Stephenson in the chest after the two made contact with each other.

After the game, James described Stephenson as a “dirty” player.

“I should have known, I’ve known since school, it’s not the guy who tells the joke that gets caught, it’s the guy who laughs,” James said.

Cleveland, which lost its previous two games by a combined 62 points, was outscored 84-61 over the final three quarters.

Elsewhere, Kevin Durant scored 26 points, Draymond Green added 21, and the Golden State Warriors defeated the host Milwaukee 108-94.

The Warriors, who were without injured star Stephen Curry, clamped down on defence against the Bucks.

“It definitely wasn’t easy,” said Durant of the Warriors’ 11th consecutive road victory. “They played tough. They were physical with us all night. We were patient and slowed it down a bit.”

Durant had 17 first-half points to help Golden State build its 63-49 half-time lead. With Curry out, the Warriors focused on tight defence and making quick passes.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 23 points to lead the Bucks.