SAN ANTONIO — Kyrie Irving had a career-high 57 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied for a 128-125 overtime victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.
SAN ANTONIO — Kyrie Irving had a career-high 57 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied for a 128-125 overtime victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.
Irving had the most points in the NBA this season, topping his 55-point game against Cleveland on Jan. 28. He scored nine points in the final minute of regulation to force overtime.
Irving hit a 3-pointer in the face of heavy defense from Danny Green to pull Cleveland to 110-107 with 31 seconds remaining in regulation. After the Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard missed two free throws with 4.3 seconds left, Irving made another 3 — this time over Leonard — to tie it at 110.
Irving made all seven of his 3-point attempts, was 20 of 32 from the field overall, and made 10 free throws without a miss.
LeBron James added 31 points in his first game at the AT&T Center since being blown out in five games by San Antonio in the NBA Finals in his last games with the Miami Heat.
Tony Parker had 31 points for San Antonio and Leonard added 24 points.
Irving scored 11 points in overtime, including a crossover, fadeaway 3-pointer against Boris Diaw with 1:20 remaining to give Cleveland a 122-118 lead.
James was 10 for 20 from the floor in a physical battle with Leonard, but his struggles were lessened by Irving’s wild night.
KNICKS 101, LAKERS 94
LOS ANGELES — Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 22 points, Andrea Bargnani added 16 and New York snapped its five-game losing streak with just its fifth road victory of the season.
Alexey Shved had 14 points and 11 rebounds as the Knicks ended a seven-game road skid against the Lakers, winning for coach Derek Fisher in the former Los Angeles point guard’s return to Staples Center.
The NBA’s worst team (13-51) calmly maintained a lead down the stretch, sweeping the season series with Los Angeles (17-47) and picking up its first road victory over a Western Conference team all season.
Jordan Hill had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers. They have lost six of seven.
JAZZ 109, ROCKETS 91
SALT LAKE CITY — Rudy Gobert had 19 points, 22 rebounds and four blocks and Utah beat Houston for its ninth victory in 11 games.
The Jazz used their size to dominate the paint and ran away in the second half.
Gobert put on a show as the Rockets didn’t have an answer for the 7-foot-1 Frenchman on either end of the floor. He had a double-double in the first quarter and 18 rebounds at halftime.
Teammate Gordon Hayward finished with 29 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Rookie Rodney Hood put up a career high for the second consecutive game with 20 points.
Corey Brewer led the Rockets with 25 points, and James Harden had 15.
WIZARDS 107, GRIZZLIES
WASHINGTON — Facing a watered-down version of the second-best team in the Western Conference, John Wall finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists, leading Washington past Memphis.
The game got chippy late in the third quarter, when Washington’s Kevin Seraphin was called for a flagrant-2 and ejected for knocking Jon Leuer to the court as the Grizzlies’ backup forward dunked. Earlier, Seraphin got tangled on the floor with Jarnell Stokes, which followed another bit of grabbing between Stokes and Washington’s Marcin Gortat.
As it is, both teams were short-handed. Memphis sat three starters: Mike Conley, because of an injured right ankle; Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, resting on the second night of a back-to-back.
Memphis also held out key reserve Tony Allen. The Wizards were without one starter, Nene, for what the team said were personal reasons.
Gorat finished with 22 points for Washington. Stokes and JaMychal Green had 13 apiece for the Grizzlies, who wrapped up a 1-3 trip.
PACERS 109, BUCKS 103, OT
INDIANAPOLIS — Rodney Stuckey scored 25 points and Luis Scola had 17 points and 15 rebounds to help Indiana beat Milwaukee.
Stuckey also had six rebounds and six assists.
David West’s jumper with 2:45 remaining in regulation gave Indiana a five-point lead at 96-91, but Milwaukee’s Ersan Illyasova scored five points in the final 2 minutes to send it to overtime.
Michael Carter-Williams led the Bucks with 28 points. Illyasova had 19 points and 10 rebounds.