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A loss on Tuesday night seemed out of the realm of possibilites for the Cavaliers. Playing against the injury-riddled Warriors, statistically the worst defensive team in the NBA, a fourth-straight victory was expected to come easy for LeBron James and Co.

Golden State had other plans.

The Cavaliers narrowly escaped Quicken Loans Arena with a 114-108 victory after struggling to put away the high-flying visitors for most of the evening. It was a gutsy effort by the Warriors, who had just seven  healthy players. After holding a double-digit lead throughout much of the first three quarters, the Cavs headed into the fourth leading by 11 points. But with three minutes left in the game found their advantage cut to one. It looked as if the Warriors might leave Cleveland with a victory, but the ‘big three’ of the night had other plans.

James, J.J. Hickson and Mo Williams combined for over half of the Cavaliers points in the contest, including the team’s final seven after Anthony Morrow’s three-pointer with 3:02 remaining cut the Warriors deficit to 107-106.

Hickson set a career-high in points for the third-straight game, scoring 21 points on a perfect 9-9 from the field. The Cavaliers are 5-0 since Hickson entered the starting lineup, a role that he seems to have grown comfortable with in a hurry.

“He’s doing really well,” said James about his young teammate. “I’m excited for him that he’s getting an opportunity to play.”

James had another solid game himself as he scored 31 points on 11-19 shooting. Maybe the most eye-popping stat for the seventh-year pro, though, was his 12 assists. He spent much of the first half, in which he dished out eight assists, looking to get others involved against the Warriors suspect defense as the Cavs shot 58 percent from the field and hit on 9-20 three-pointers.

Still, the Warriors weren’t the only team who had trouble guarding the opposition.

“Defensively we have not been consistently good as of late,” said Cavaliers coach Mike Brown. ”We have stretches where we have been good, but we have stretches where we are not.”

Brown’s team has now given up at least 100 points in three-straight games after allowing just 91.4 points per game a season ago. It may not be the Cavaliers style to win these up-and-down games, but it’s hard to knock success.

“Tonight we just found a way,” Brown said. ”It wasn’t pretty, but we did found a way to close the game and get the (win).”

The Cavs were without Shaquille O’Neal, who has a strained shoulder, for the second-straight game, as well as Anderson Varejao, who has a hip injury. Added pressure was subsequently put on the team’s other big men to perform, and they did not disappoint.

Darnell Jackson scored all five of his points in the fourth quarter. The second-year forward had played just four minutes all season, but was vital in holding off the Warriors in the game’s final period.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas earned the start for the second-consecutive game in the absence of O’Neal. He played a major role in the first half, scoring 12 of his 14 points, and seems to be finding his stroke again after some poor shooting games throughout the first two weeks of the season.

A total of five Cavaliers scored in double-figures, including the team’s point guard, Williams. He had possibly his best all-around performance of the season. He scored 16 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out six assists. The veteran seems to be getting back to his All-Star form from a year ago, having shot at least 50 percent from the field in each of his last five games.

Williams’ backup point guard, Daniel Gibson, also played well. Gibson scored 13 points off the bench, hitting 3-4 shots from beyond the arc.

Fellow reserve Delonte West returned to the floor after sitting out three-straight games. The troubled guard scored two points in 14 minutes for the home team, who are now 8-3 on the season.

A more lopsided victory against the Warriors may have been preferred by the Cavaliers, but against an offensive juggernaut like the Warriors, anything can happen.

“It’s a very good scoring team that we went against,” said James. They just spread the floor and make plays.”