James gets a three-point birthday gift from Varejao

The National staff

• Last Updated: December 31. 2009 6:36PM UAE / December 31. 2009 2:36PM GMT

Cleveland players don party hats on their bench to celebrate LeBron James’s birthday. David Liam Kyle / Getty Images

LeBron James had a big bash to celebrate his 25th birthday on Wednesday.

And Anderson Varejao delivered his gift before the party started.

The Brazilian made his first career three-pointer with 17.2 seconds left to break a 101-101 tie and give Cleveland a 104-101 lead that all but clinched their 106-101 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. Two three throws by Jamario Moon with 2.5 seconds left rounded out the scoring.

James scored a season-high 48 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, but the league’s MVP would have dropped to 0-4 in games on his birthday if not for Varejao.

“That’s a great gift,” James said. “I had Andy in the gift exchange and so he paid me back. That’s what friends are for.”

With the score tied and the shot clock down to its final second, Mo Williams passed the ball to Varejao on the left wing.

The 27-year-old forward, who missed his first 18 career three-point attempts, stepped up and drilled his long shot just before the horn sounded.

When he ran to the other end of the floor, James rushed into his arms.

A birthday present for James?

“That’s what I told him,” Varejao said. “Happy birthday.”

The victory was the Cavaliers’ 11th in 12 games

Elsewhere, Amare Stoudemire and Channing Frye each scored 26 points as the Phoenix Suns handed the high-flying Boston Celtics their third straight defeat, by 116-98.

The Celtics were missing their two best players – Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

“When you take your best two scorers off the floor against a scoring basketball team, and your best defender off the floor, you may not win that game,” the Boston coach Doc Rivers said.

“So this game doesn’t affect me at all.”

The Indiana Pacers slumped to their eighth straight defeat as Rudy Gay scored 31 points for the visiting Memphis Grizzlies.

“We have to assess ourselves and be honest,” said the Pacers forward Dahntay Jones.

“Certain people are not fighting as hard as others. We have to find a way to bring it every night.”

Vince Carter scored 25 points to help the Orlando Magic to a comfortable 117-92 victory at home to the Milwaukee Bucks.

And Chris Bosh recorded 33 points and 13 rebounds as the Toronto Raptors beat the Charlotte Bobcats 107-103 for their fifth straight win.

Marco Belinelli scored 13 points and rookie DeMar DeRozan added 10 as Toronto avenged their worst defeat of the season, a 116-81 loss at Charlotte on November 25.

“It’s always good to retaliate by winning in the fashion that we did,” Bosh said.

“We didn’t lose our composure when they took the lead late in the game.”

The New Jersey Jets claimed only their third win of the season, beating the New York Knicks 104-95 to end a 10-game losing streak.

* With agencies