Cavaliers 87, 76ers 86: LeBron James had 20 points, 11 rebounds and six assists as Cleveland survived a sluggish affair to run its home winning streak to 16 games.

Kyrie Irving finished with 17 points while Timofey Mozgov added 14 and 10 boards for the Cavaliers, who moved 2 1/2 games up on Chicago for second place in the Eastern Conference. Kevin Love also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds before leaving in the fourth quarter with a back issue.

Robert Covington led Philadelphia with 19 points but missed two big free throws with a minute left, part of a stretch run that saw both teams go scoreless for the final 3:57. Ish Smith and Furkan Aldemir had 11 points apiece as the 76ers fell to 6-31 on the road.

The Cavaliers led 26-20 after one quarter and went up by as many as 11 in the second before settling for a 53-45 advantage at halftime. Philadelphia burst out of the locker room with an 11-3 run, capped by Covington's game-tying 3-pointer, and Isaiah Canaan hit one of his own to begin the fourth and pull the 76ers into a tie at 72.

Cleveland opened up a four-point lead on J.R. Smith's 3-pointer midway through the period and again on Mozgov's putback that made it 87-83 with 4:04 left. Covington answered with a triple moments later before both teams went ice cold, with the 76ers missing four straight free throws and Nerlens Noel failing on a jumper with 2.8 seconds left.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Cavaliers G Iman Shumpert injured his left ankle late in the first half and did not return. ... James has 24,814 career points, two away from passing Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing and taking over 20th place on the all-time NBA scoring list. ... Aldemir's 11 points represent a career high, while Noel finished with 11 rebounds.