CLEVELAND _ The clocks were broken early and the Cavs' jumpers were broken late. But they did just enough to stay unbeaten Saturday.
J.R. Smith made three 3-pointers in the final 3{ minutes and the Cleveland Cavaliers held on for a 105-99 victory after squandering the bulk of an 18-point lead entering the fourth quarter.
LeBron James had 23 points, nine assists and six rebounds, Kyrie Irving scored 20 points and Smith shook off another slow start to score 16 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter. Kevin Love fouled out in the final minute with 19 points and five rebounds for the Cavs, who are 3-0 to begin the season.
The Cavs were in control most of the night, but began the fourth quarter shooting just 2 of 12. After they went more than five minutes without a field goal, a driving basket by Orlando's D.J. Augustin pulled the Magic within 86-80. A jumper by Elfrid Payton made it 88-85 with four minutes left before Smith went to work.
Smith missed most of the preseason because of a contract dispute and coach Tyronn Lue said before the game he is still trying to play his way back into shape. Smith began the night just 4 of 15 from 3-point range in the Cavs' first two games and he missed six of his first seven 3-pointers on Saturday.
But James found Smith in the corner for a big 3-pointer following Payton's jumper to squelch some of the Magic's momentum. He added another 3-pointer on the Cavs' next trip down and capped his big quarter with another 3-pointer in the final minute to extend the lead to 101-95.
"He's playing to exhaustion," Lue said of Smith. "He's giving everything he's got, he's diving on the floor for loose balls, he's in passing lanes, he's blowing up screens. He's playing hard. If there's any way you want to get in shape, you've got to play hard and that's what he's been doing. We know he's going to make shots. But the biggest thing for me is defensively and getting his conditioning."
After playing all of his starters more than 34 minutes in Friday's win at Toronto, Lue wanted to try to limit his star's minutes Saturday. The Magic's late flurry prevented that from happening.
Evan Fournier scored 22 points and Serge Ibaka had 19 points and seven rebounds for the Magic, who fell to 0-3. Augustin scored 13 points off the bench, including 10 in the fourth quarter.
James was in midseason form in just the third game of the season. He crushed Magic center Nikola Vucevic on a dunk within the game's first three minutes, then skipped a pass down the baseline to Mike Dunleavy, even though the odds are high he never even saw Dunleavy in the corner. James capped his ridiculousness with a four-point play in the second quarter when he caught Aaron Gordon swiping at the ball and baited him into a foul while banking in an off-balanced 3-pointer.
The Cavs have now won their last 15 games against the Magic.
"They've grown into what everyone thought they would be when they were put together," said Magic coach Frank Vogel, who saw this Cavs version up close the last few years when he coached the Indiana Pacers. "Cleveland looks like a finished product."
The Cavs led 62-45 at the half and maintained an 80-62 lead entering the fourth, until the Magic staged their rally. The game was delayed at various turns by malfunctioning clocks, including to start the game. The shot clocks were also malfunctioning in the first half, but all of the kinks seemed worked out by the second half.
By the end of the night, the Cavs had enough of their shooting kinks worked out, too.
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