NEW YORK — LeBron James scored 25 points, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love also surpassed 20, and the Cleveland Cavaliers crushed the New York Knicks 126-94 on Wednesday night.
NEW YORK — LeBron James scored 25 points, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love also surpassed 20, and the Cleveland Cavaliers crushed the New York Knicks 126-94 on Wednesday night.
James had nothing to say Wednesday morning about Knicks President Phil Jackson and not much more about his decision to not stay with the team in a Donald Trump-branded hotel, but he and the Cavs made a loud statement at Madison Square Garden.
It was their second straight win after a three-game skid, and they handed the Knicks their worst loss of the season. Irving led Cleveland with 28 points, and Love scored 21, 16 in the first quarter.
Brandon Jennings scored 16 points for the Knicks. He started for Derrick Rose, who missed his first game of the season with lower back pain.
It was the first meeting since James was angered when Jackson referred to his friends and business partners as a “posse” last month in an ESPN interview. James refused to answer questions at the Cavs’ shootaround about Jackson, who watched the game from his usual seat a few rows back of center court.
BUCKS 115, TRAIL BLAZERS 107
MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo had his second triple-double of the season to lead Milwaukee past Portland.
Antetokounmpo had 15 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his seventh career triple-double — second-most in franchise history — and is the only NBA player averaging at least 20 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals this season.
ROCKETS 134, LAKERS 95
HOUSTON — Eric Gordon made a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored 26 points to help Houston rout Los Angeles.
James Harden added 25 points in three quarters for the Rockets. They scored a season high and extended their winning streak to a season-best four games.
HAWKS 103, HEAT 95
ATLANTA — Dwight Howard had 23 points and 17 rebounds, Paul Millsap added 21 points and Atlanta beat Miami to snap a seven-game losing streak.
The Hawks had lost 10 of 11 and had gone 14 days without a victory.
HORNETS 87, PISTONS 77
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kemba Walker scored 14 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, and Nic Batum had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Charlotte.
The Hornets won for the third time in four games despite being held to 38 points in the first half on 27 percent shooting.
NETS 116, NUGGETS 111
NEW YORK — Brook Lopez scored 24 points, Sean Kilpatrick had 22 and Brooklyn held off Denver.
Brooklyn led by as many as 29 points midway through the third quarter, but Denver closed to 103-99 on Kenneth Faried’s layup with 4:31 left. Bojan Bogdanovic and Kilpatrick each made two foul shots in the final 13 seconds to help secure the win for the Nets.
CELTICS 117, MAGIC 87
ORLANDO, Fla. — Avery Bradley scored 23 points to help Boston rout Orlando.
Terry Rozier added 16 points, Jae Crowder had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Amir Johnson, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart each had 13 points. D.J. Augustin scored 15 points for Orlando.
PACERS 109, SUNS 94
PHOENIX — Paul George had 25 points and 13 rebounds and Indiana pulled away to beat Phoenix.
Myles Turner added 20 points, and Jeff Teague had 19 points and 11 assists. Indiana had a 9-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to open a 97-87 lead.