CLEVELAND - LeBron James trudged back down the hallway to the Cavaliers' locker room with ice bags strapped to both ankles and knees. He labored like an older man, not like a spry, skywalking 22-year-old. He could use more rest, and the Cleveland Cavaliers may soon give him some. James scored 27 points on a tender left ankle, Drew Gooden added 24 — 19 in the first half — and the Cavs moved halfway to a first-round sweep of Washington with a 109-102 win over the undermanned but not overwhelmed Wizards on Wednesday night.

Cleveland Cavaliers' Drew Gooden (90) celebrates a first-quarter dunk against the Washington Wizards in a first-round NBA playoff basketball game Wednesday, April 25, 2007, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

For the second game in a row, the Cavaliers were less than impressive against the Wizards, who are trying to pull off an upset without All-Stars Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler. Cleveland should be grateful the pair isn't around.

"We definitely have had some lapses we need to work on," Cavs guard Larry Hughes. "We've got to keep getting better."

James added eight rebounds and seven assists in 45 minutes. For a while, it looked like he might be able to sit part of the fourth quarter when the Cavaliers opened a 15-point lead. But the Wizards never gave up and clawed within three points on a 3-pointer by Jarvis Hayes with 18 seconds left.

Hughes then made four free throws to close it out and send the best-of-seven series back to Washington for Game 3.

"It was a good ending for us," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. "We didn't give up, put a little bit pressure on them at the end with some plays. But, you know, they stepped up. Drew Gooden had a good game."

Gooden's first-half flurry — he scored 15 points in just over five minutes of the second quarter — energized the Cavs and pushed them to the commanding advantage in a series that didn't figure to be as close as it has been.

Gooden made six straight jumpers during his one-man show in the second, and following the last one, he wiggled his fingers in front of his smiling face and yelled, "Let it rain!"

"I have to hit four in a row before I can do that," Gooden said. "Every night, another guy has to step up for us. It was my night."

In other playoff action, San Antonio beat Denver 97-88 and Dallas downed Golden State 112-99.

Gooden's performance came exactly one year after he had 24 points and 16 rebounds in Game 2 of the Cavs' first-round series against the Wizards. Cleveland lost that game before winning the series in six.

He wasn't going to let this Game 2 slip away.

"He held down the fort for them in the first half," Hayes said. "And at the end LeBron did."

James, who twisted his ankle in Game 1, still managed put up roughly his statistical averages from the regular season. And when the Wizards trimmed a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to six, James took control.

He scored 13 points in the final period, including nine in the final 5:14. But other than a two-handed dunk in the first half and couple of powerful excursions toward the hoop, James seemed to take it easy on an ankle he said is still sore.

"It felt pretty good," he said. "I'm making progress."

Once again, Antawn Jamison had to do it alone for the Wizards. He scored 31 points but Antonio Daniels (11) was the only other Washington starter in double figures.

But Jamison feels the Wizards still have time to do some damage in the series.

"Now we go home with our crowd and if we continue to play hard and not give up and continue to fight, it looks pretty good," he said. "We still have a lot of confidence as a team, a couple mistakes here, a couple of shots there, it might be a different story. In my eyes we have still yet to shoot well as a team."

Hughes had 19 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16 for the Cavs, who have only been up 2-0 in a series one other time in their 37-year history.

Tempers flared briefly in the third quarter when Wizards center Brendan Haywood got tangled up with Cleveland's Anderson Varejao. Haywood lost his cool, screamed at Varejao and got slapped with a technical foul.

"He grabbed me and said something dirty," said Haywood, who was a factor after playing on five minutes in Game 1. "I just told him, 'Don't play like that.' That's the kind of fire you got to show to win and I showed it."