CLEVELAND — Former high school football star LeBron James got a chance to play quarterback Thursday night.

With Mo Williams and Delonte West out with injuries and Daniel Gibson at the hospi­tal with his pregnant fiancee at tip-off, James started at point guard and led the Cavaliers to an impressive 102-86 win over the Miami Heat at Quicken Loans Arena.

“Running the point is like playing quarterback,” James said after putting up 36 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. “I decided not to play quarterback in high school (foot­ball). I decided to get out in the open.”

Forced to handle the ball most of the night, James was equally efficient operating in space or in traffic, as he went 9-of-16 from the field and 17-of-21 at the line. Eleven of his free throw attempts came in the first quarter, when he not only called the plays, but also called his own number most of the time.

“I knew I was going to have the ball in my hands a lot,” said James, who set sea­son highs for free throws made and attempted. “I was the starting point guard or point four (power forward), whatever you want to call it, Magic Johnson.

“With me being able to get the ball off out­lets and rebounds, I can go coast to coast. I can do a lot of things point guards can’t do, so I was aggressive and they fouled me.”

While James was making jumpers, dunks and tons of free throws — the Cavaliers outscored Miami 29-10 at the line — Heat superstar Dwyane Wade shrunk and faded quicker than a cheap T-shirt purchased in the Caribbean.

Wade, who twice fell to the floor after crash­ing into 7-foot-1, 325-pound former team­mate Shaquille O’Neal, missed his first nine shots in the second half. His first points after intermission came with 7:18 to go in the game, at which time the Heat was down 15.

Wade finished with 24 points on 11-of-26 shooting, three rebounds, nine assists and six turnovers. He had just six points in the second half and attempted only two free throws all night.

In beating the Heat for the third time this season, the Cavaliers improved their league­best record to 40-11. They have won 10 straight games, pulling them within one vic­tory of equaling the longest streak in the league this season (Boston, Los Angeles Lak­ers). The Heat, which lost to Boston on Wednesday, fell to 24-26.

“I understand this (Cleveland) team has NBA championship aspirations,” Wade said. “We don’t. We don’t have that. We’re focusing on trying to get to the playoffs. This team is trying to get to the championship. It’s totally different.”

While James won the individual battle with good friend Wade, he also had a better sup­porting cast, even with all Cleveland’s injury problems.

An energetic J.J. Hickson, who had another handful of dunks and made great blocks of Jermaine O’Neal and Wade in the third quar­ter, added 12 points, while O’Neal had 13 points and eight boards. Gibson started the third period and scored 12 big points in the second half, while rookie Danny Green had five points in emergency first-half duty.

“It’s impressive,” James said after Cleveland improved to 8-0 without Williams and 7­0 without West. “You take two point guards off any team in this league and they automati­cally go down. It just shows the depth we have.”

It also shows just how good James is.

“He gets better every year,” Wade said. “Last year he played awesome, so I can’t say this is his best, but he’s playing just as good.

“Tonight, it seemed like he didn’t miss a shot. He was very aggressive and very accu­rate. … He’s playing phenomenally. He’s play­ing MVP basketball. That’s what you expect out of him.”

Jawad Williams made the first start of his career for the Cavaliers because Gibson was with pregnant fiancee Keyshia Cole, an R&B singer. Gibson, who averaged 13.5 points and scored in double figures in each of his six starts, arrived at the arena after the game started and was in uniform and on the bench midway through the second quarter. He started the second half and went on to post his seventh straight double-figure scoring game.

Early on, it looked like James and Wade were headed for another epic showdown. James had 14 points in the first period, which ended with the Cavaliers up 29-28, and Wade had 13.

With both superstars on the bench to start the second quarter, the Cavaliers fell behind for the first time since Indiana led in the first period a week ago. Cleveland didn’t trail against the Pacers over the final three quarters and led from start to finish in wins over the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis, meaning it didn’t trail for 12 quarters.

The Cavaliers regrouped to lead 56-52 at intermission, then held Miami, which got 21 points and 12 rebounds from Michael Beasley and 14 points from Jermaine O’Neal, to 34 points on 15-of-42 shooting in the second half. The Heat scored just 13 points in the fourth quarter.

“We were locked in on that end of the floor,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. “Even though we got a lead, we didn’t relax.”

Next up

• Who: Cleveland vs. New York
• When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
• Where: The Q
• TV/radio: FSN Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

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