CLEVELAND (Ohio) • LeBron James resurrected Cleveland's stagnant season, for one night at least, when he hit a game-winning buzzer-beater to lift the Cavaliers to a 140-138 overtime home win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.

After Cleveland called for a timeout in the backcourt with one second left in the National Basketball Association (NBA) game, James caught a pass near the foul line.

Under pressure from Minnesota's Jimmy Butler, the four-time league Most Valuable Player spun around and launched a fadeaway jumper from the top of the key over the top of the lunging defender.

The ball caught nothing but net, sending the crowd into delirium as the team's recent woes were temporarily forgotten.

"Coach (Tyronn) Lue called up a great play, Jeff Green gave me a heck of a pass and I just trusted my instincts and let it go," James said in a courtside interview.

The win helped ease the pressure on him and the Cavs, who were whipped by the lowly Orlando Magic (17-36) on Tuesday.

"It was a great win for us, we needed this after that tough loss last night to Orlando," added James, who had a triple-double performance of 37 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds.

"They (Minnesota) shot 58 per cent from the field and we were still able to get a win. We played Cavaliers basketball tonight and that's all you could ask."

The win lifted the Cavaliers to 31-22, seven games behind the Eastern Conference leaders the Boston Celtics (39-16) and the Toronto Raptors (37-16).

Cleveland have struggled this season after making the NBA Finals for the past three years, beating the champions Golden State Warriors (41-13) once and losing to the same team the other two times.

The Cavs are now just 7-13 since Christmas.

Amid speculation they will make a significant move by yesterday's trade deadline, the current team pulled out all the stops in avenging their 28-point loss to Minnesota on Jan 8.

Cleveland are ranked No. 15 according to a survey released on Wednesday by Forbes of the most valuable NBA teams - which for the first time said that every franchise was worth at least US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion).

The New York Knicks (23-32) and Los Angeles Lakers (22-31) still top the list, with New York into their third consecutive year at No. 1.

According to Forbes' latest annual assessment, the average value of an NBA team is US$1.65 billion.

The Knicks are worth US$3.6 billion and the Lakers are now worth an estimated US$3.3 billion.

New York are profiting from a US$1 billion renovation to Madison Square Garden, which has provided new revenue opportunities from sponsorships and seating.

The Lakers continued to benefit from raking in almost US$150 million-a-year from their local television and radio deals.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

BOSTON V WASHINGTON

Singtel TV Ch110, 9am