CLEVELAND — It was Mike Brown’s kind of ugly, and the result was beautiful for the Cavaliers and their coach. With LeBron James guarding Kobe Bryant down the stretch, Cleveland held the Los Angeles Lakers to 12 points in the final quarter and emerged with a 94-90 victory Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena. “We [...]

CLEVELAND — It gave moronic sportswriters who appear on television talk shows something to blabber about for a few minutes, but Cavaliers coach Mike Brown and superstar LeBron James insist their bump Wednesday night in Madison Square Garden was totally accidental. That didn’t prevent the incident, which occurred as James was walking to the bench [...]

BEREA — It’s too simplistic to say that Cleveland’s signing of left guard Eric Steinbach reversed the fortunes of the Bengals and the Browns in 2007. But it definitely had an impact. Steinbach was the Browns’ top free-agent pickup, agreeing to a seven-year, $49.5 million deal to leave the Bengals after four seasons. He immediately [...]

BEREA — For the most part, Browns cornerback Leigh Bodden has defended Cincinnati’s Chad Johnson as well as anyone in the NFL. Bodden, however, can’t stop Johnson if he can’t stop his back from hurting. The 26-year-old did not practice Thursday, putting his status in doubt for the teams’ rematch at Paul Brown Stadium. Cleveland [...]

COLUMBUS — A backup cornerback for Ohio State has been suspended for an undisclosed violation of team rules and will not play in the national championship game against LSU, the school said Thursday. Eugene Clifford, a freshman from Cincinnati, will not practice or play with the top-ranked Buckeyes (11-1) on Jan. 7 at the Superdome. [...]

The sport that comes so easily to Haruki Nakamura — the one that fuels his passion, paid for his college education and that could someday soon earn him an NFL paycheck — was at one time outlawed by his mother. Nakamura, a senior free safety at the University of Cincinnati and an Elyria native, was [...]