Indianapolis ? Ron Artest shut down LeBron James and the streaking Cavaliers.

The former defensive player of the year held James to 19 points on 6-of-20 shooting in Indiana’s 98-76 victory over Cleveland on Thursday night.

“It’s nothing personal, like a one-on-one matchup with him,” Artest said. “It’s a team thing. I am a hungry defender and want to win and will guard anybody if that will help us win.”

The victory snapped Cleveland’s eight-game winning streak.

The rest of the Pacers knew that Artest was clearly the key to frustrating James on offense.

“He made him work for everything,” said Jermaine O’Neal, who finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. “We made it tough on him tonight.”

Artest also outplayed James on the offensive end, scoring 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting.

The Pacers (7-3) won their third game in a row while the Cavaliers (9-3) missed the chance to become the first Eastern Conference team to win 10 games.

Cleveland's Zydrunas Ilgauskas, left, is fouled by Indiana's Scot Pollard. The Cavaliers played the Pacers on Thursday night in Indianapolis.

Cleveland averaged a league-best 105 points per game coming in, but was held to 38 percent shooting and tied its season low for points. James called it a combination of the Pacers’ defense and poor execution by the Cavaliers.

“We shot terrible tonight,” he said. “It’s not like we didn’t have good shots. We had great looks … You have to give it to them. They made us look bad.”

James never found his rhythm with Artest guarding him. He missed his first eight shots and didn’t make a field goal until 1:57 left in the first half.

Indiana played its second consecutive top-notch defensive game. The Pacers held Houston to 74 points on Sunday.

“Defensively, we had one of our better efforts,” said Indiana coach Rick Carlisle. “This is a nightmare team to defend because of their ability to slash at the wing positions and their ability to shoot long range. Fortunately, they were missing some they might normally make.”

Drew Gooden scored 16 points and Larry Hughes added 13 for the Cavaliers.

Lakers 108, Sonics 96

Los Angeles – Kobe Bryant scored 29 of his 34 points in the last 18 minutes, and Los Angeles rallied past Seattle.

Bryant had only five points before making a three-pointer with 5:48 remaining in the third quarter. Then, he scored 11 points in the last 1:33 of the period to spark an 11-4 run that gave the Lakers a 79-71 lead.

Bryant kept it going as the final period began, scoring his team’s first seven points capped by an off-balance jumper as the shot clock expired, making it 85-76. The Sonics didn’t pose a serious threat after that. Bryant, who shot 2-of-16 from three-point range in the first 10 games of the season, made four from beyond the arc in this game.