Cleveland ? Jason Richardson was up for the challenge of facing LeBron James.

Richardson scored 31 points in a shooting duel with Cleveland’s All-Star to lead the Golden State Warriors over the Cavaliers 99-91 on Saturday night.

James regained his shooting touch to score 33 points for Cleveland, but it wasn’t enough as the Warriors overcame the loss of guard Baron Davis to snap a seven-game road losing streak.

“He’s averaging 30 points, so you want to go out there and match him,” Richardson said.

The Warriors guard did exactly that – especially with the game on the line.

Seconds after Damon Jones hit a three-pointer to pull Cleveland within 91-89, Richardson countered with a three from well beyond the arc to put the Warriors back in command with 2:22 to play.

Golden State played without leading rebounder and No. 3 scorer Troy Murphy. The forward, averaging 15.9 points and 9.5 rebounds, missed his second straight game with a sprained left ankle.

Then Davis, averaging 19.1 points and 9.4 assists, sprained his right ankle with 1:17 left in the first quarter and did not return.

Derek Fisher filled some of the void, coming off the bench to score 18 points. Mike Dunleavy added 14 points and Andris Biedrins 11 as the Warriors’ bench outscored Cleveland’s reserves 43-29.

“Guys really pulled together,” Richardson said. “Fish came in and stepped up huge. He pretty much played point guard the whole game.”

James, coming off an 18-point performance on 6-for-23 shooting in a 12-point loss at Washington on Friday night, scored all but one of Cleveland’s first 13 points.

“We stood around and watched LeBron,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. “We didn’t ever give ourselves a chance to win. We played defense for 10 to 15 seconds on each possession, then they eventually got what they wanted. Offensively, we didn’t execute at all, especially late.”

Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 14 points despite missing his first seven shots, while Marshall and Eric Snow scored 12 apiece for Cleveland.

Hornets 100, Timberwolves 94

Minneapolis – Speedy Claxton had 28 points and seven assists and hit two huge shots in the final two minutes to lift New Orleans over reeling Minnesota.

Kirk Snyder added a career-high 28 points for the Hornets, who won their second in a row without star rookie Chris Paul, who missed another game with bruised ribs.

Ricky Davis led Minnesota with 23 points.

Rockets 102, Jazz 88

Houston – Yao Ming scored 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting, and Rafer Alston had a season-high 13 assists as Houston won for the fifth time in six games.

Tracy McGrady added 25 points to shake out of a slump, and David Wesley scored 17 as the Rockets improved to 7-16 at home.

Milt Palacio scored 20 points and had six assists for the Jazz.

Bucks 99, Bobcats 93

Milwaukee – Michael Redd scored 18 points as Milwaukee held off short-handed Charlotte for its third win in four games.

The Bucks have held their last eight opponents to 94 or fewer points.

The Bobcats, again playing without their top three scorers because of injuries, received 21 points from Melvin Ely.