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The Golden State Warriors may be sitting near the bottom of the Western Conference, but because of their fast-paced style they are rarely an easy out.

The Cavaliers nearly found that out the hard way on Monday night.

The visiting Cavs let a double-digit lead slip away late in the fourth quarter, but held on for a 117-114 victory at the Oracle Arena thanks to a scoring burst from their superstar, LeBron James.

James scored 15 of his team’s final 18 points, doing most of his damage from inside the paint and at the free-throw line.

“He was great,” said Cavs coach Mike Brown. ”He said he wanted the ball on the post… He got it done. He’s capable of doing that every game.”

James finished with 37 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists to pace the Cavaliers, who tied their second-highest scoring output of the season.

That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering the Warriors allow a league-high 111.9 points per game.

The Cavs shot nearly 54 percent from the floor in the contest and dished out 26 assists. They seemed to get whatever the wanted offensively, whether it be a three-pointer for Jawad Williams, a layup for Delonte West or anything in between.

Even with their swiss-cheese like defense, Don Nelson’s club found themselves with a chance to tie the game at the buzzer.

The Warriors got the ball with five seconds after a missed three-pointer by James. Instead of calling a timeout to set up a play, they opted to try and catch the Cavalier defense off guard.

It didn’t work.

The Cavaliers swarmed guard Monta Ellis after he passed half court, forcing him to give up the ball to point guard Stephen Curry. Curry was left with a 34-foot off-balance heave that never had a chance.

“I thought the open court was the best way,” said Nelson. ”The couple seconds we lost when Monta was looking at me might have a cost us a better look at a three, but you always get a better look in the open court.”

Still, the Warriors, who are just 11-25 on the season, gave the Cavaliers all they could handle.

They trailed by 14 points with 5:18 remaining in the game, but scored 20 of the game’s next 29 points.

Leading the way over that stretch were Ellis, Curry and Corey Maggette. They finished the game 30, 21 and 32 points, respectively.

Golden State causes problems for many NBA teams because of their ability to score in bunches and provide quirky matchups, which they did with some success against the Cavs.

Centers Ronny Turiaf and Andris Biedrins played a total of just 14 minutes as Nelson went with a smaller lineup throughout much of the game. Even the 6-foot-6 Maggette saw some time at center.

“They really jump the game up, and play five smalls and kinda just run around out there,” said Brown. ”We know that is their style and we were able to hang on to win.”

The Cavaliers are one of the best defensive teams in the league, but even James will admit it isn’t easy to guard the Warriors.

“Sometimes you have the five man or the four man bringing the ball up and sometimes you have the point guard in the post,” said James. ”It’s a game where you are in positions that you are not accustomed to, but at the same time you have to talk as much as possible to try and get through some of the sets.”

The Cavs did a good job of exploiting their opponent at the other end of the floor by punishing them inside.

They scored 54 points in the paint, led by big men Shaquille O’Neal, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao. Each scored in double figures.

“Our frontcourt is very powerful,” said James.”…We are doing a good job of trying to control the paint.”

Even though some of the stats may look ugly– the Cavs turned the ball over 20 times and gave up 32 fastbreak points– wins against the odd Warriors are usually just that…ugly.

“It’s a different challenge, but at the same time you have to do it,” said James. ”You have to be able to win that game, and we were able to do that.”