CLEVELAND, Ohio -- During the first timeout of the fourth quarter, with the Cleveland Cavaliers trailing by one against the Utah Jazz, Kyrie Irving flashed a disheartened look in LeBron James' direction. Then the star point guard delivered some bad news, telling James he was done for the night because of tightness in his left knee.

"I went to Bron and said, 'You got this?' He said, 'Yeah,' and for precautionary reasons I just left the game," Irving said.

It's not expected to be a serious injury, which is good news for the Cavs, as they seem bedeviled by injuries this season.

The Cavs were already without Kyle Korver and Derrick Williams, two important pieces of their enigmatic bench. Iman Shumpert had left the game in the third quarter because of a shoulder sprain. Kevin Love wasn't returning, already at his minute limit, which was set around 20 in his first game back.

That put the burden on James.

"I just play the game how it's supposed to be played," James said. "I had to step up the scoring load a little bit, be a little more aggressive and I was able to do that."

After telling Irving, "I got it," James backed up his words. In the final 8:30 coming out of that stoppage, James scored or assisted on 14 of the Cavs' 17 points. He also dished the assist that set up J.R. Smith's dagger triple to put Cleveland ahead by six with 1:10 remaining.

"It definitely did," Smith said when asked if that made 3-pointer felt good. "Playing significant minutes coming down the stretch of a game that was -- we like to say must win because every game from here on out is a must-win game for us. We've got to put ourselves in the best situation, but getting back to that feel it felt really good."

James finished with 33 points on 13-of-20 from the field to go with 10 rebounds and six assists.

In the fourth quarter, playing the entire period, James tallied 17 of the team's 24 on an efficient 7-of-10 from the field, as he repeatedly plowed through and sped past helpless defenders.

"We were able to get spacing on the floor having Channing (Frye) out there to keep (Rudy) Gobert in the corners, and LeBron was able to attack the basket at will having J.R. (Smith), D-Will (Deron Williams), Channing and R.J. (Richard Jefferson)," Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue said.

"It gave him a lot of spacing on the floor. It was a good win for us."

The fourth quarter was another reminder that the Cavs hold the ultimate trump card.

Even without three starters for the period -- playing a little-used lineup of James, Smith, Frye, Jefferson and Deron Williams -- the Jazz still couldn't find the answers. James outscored Utah by himself, 17-16.

"Sometimes that is what you expect," Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. "You have to try to take something away, but we just made it a little too easy on him. He doesn't need any help out there."

During Thursday's fourth quarter, that much was evident.