CLEVELAND (AP) — Thaddeus Young scored 26 points, Darren Collison had 25 and the Indiana Pacers sent the Cleveland Cavaliers to their fourth straight loss, 124-107 on Wednesday night.
LeBron James had 33 points and 11 assists, but it wasn’t enough to keep Cleveland from losing for the fifth time in six games and falling to 3-5.
The Cavaliers held a lengthy meeting before Tuesday’s practice to discuss their struggles, but the defending Eastern Conference champions have lost by a combined margin of 58 points in their losing streak.
James was upbeat about the meeting, but the Cavaliers still have issues to work out, especially on the defensive end. Cleveland led 69-68 in the third quarter, but Indiana hit four straight 3-pointers and built an eight-point lead. Indiana was 16 of 26 from 3-point range.
Victor Oladipo scored 23 points for the Pacers. Bojan Bogdanovic added 17, and Domantas Sabonis had 15 points and 12 rebounds.
CELTICS 113, KINGS 86
BOSTON (AP) — Kyrie Irving and Jaylen Brown each scored 22 points in three quarters, and Boston coasted past skidding Sacramento for its sixth straight victory.
It was the Celtics’ 11th consecutive win over the Kings in Boston, dating to their last loss on Jan. 19, 2007. Terry Rozier added 12 points, and Daniel Theis had 10 points with 10 rebounds.
Buddy Hield scored 17 points and Zach Randolph 16 for the Kings, who lost their sixth in a row — the last three by an average of 24 points.
SUNS 122, WIZARDS 116
WASHINGTON (AP) — T.J. Warren scored 28 of his career-high 40 points in the second half and Phoenix overcame a 22-point deficit to beat Washington.
Warren also had 10 rebounds and Devin Booker added 22 points to help the Suns improve to 4-1 under interim coach Jay Triano following an 0-3 start that led to Earl Watson’s firing.
Bradley Beal scored a season-high 40 points for Washington, which built the lead to 22 by the second quarter but saw it completely disappear early in the fourth.
John Wall added 21 points, and Marcin Gortat had 13 rebounds for Washington.
ROCKETS 119, KNICKS 97
NEW YORK (AP) — James Harden had 31 points and nine assists, and Houston its 3-pointers falling again in a victory over New York.
Harden made six 3-pointers and the Rockets hit 19 to bounce back after two straight losses.
Ryan Anderson added 21 points for the Rockets. They won their eighth straight at Madison Square Garden, a streak that lasts so long that Mike D’Antoni was the Knicks’ coach last time they beat Houston at home, back on Jan. 26, 2009.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 23 points for the Knicks, but Kristaps Porzingis was held to 19 as their three-game winning streak was snapped.
HORNETS 126, BUCKS 121
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kemba Walker had 26 points, rookie Malik Monk had a huge fourth quarter and the Charlotte put the clamps on the NBA scoring leader Giannis Antetokounmpo to beat Milwaukee.
Walker was 8 for 12 from the field, including 3 for 4 from 3-point range, and 7 for 7 from the foul line to help Charlotte win its third straight game. Monk, the team’s first-round draft pick from Kentucky, had 18 of his 25 points in the fourth.
Antetokounmpo came in averaging 33.7 points, but struggled with foul trouble and finished with a season-low 14 points along with 13 rebounds. He was limited to five points in the final three quarters.
Khris Middleton led Milwaukee with 43 points on 15-for-28 shooting.
TIMBERWOLVES 104, PELICANS 98
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Jimmy Butler hit a go-ahead 20-foot jumper as he was fouled with 34 seconds left to cap off a 23-point performance, and Minnesota beat New Orleans.
Andrew Wiggins scored 18 points for Minnesota, which has won three straight, but nearly blew a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter.
DeMarcus Cousins had 35 points and nine rebounds, and the Pelicans tied it at 96 when Cousins bounced a pass to Anthony Davis cutting down the lane for a two-handed dunk. Davis had 24 points and 10 rebounds.
MAGIC 101, GRIZZLIES 99
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Evan Fournier scored 22 points, Aaron Gordon added 19 and Orlando held on to beat Memphis.
The Magic held the lead through much of the fourth quarter before a rally keyed by Tyreke Evans, who finished with 32 points for Memphis, tied it at 97 with 1:45 left on Marc Gasol’s basket.
A 3-pointer from Gordon with 52 seconds remaining put the Magic ahead for good and Memphis missed long-range jumpers from Mario Chalmers and Dillon Brooks in the final 20 seconds.
Gasol had 22 points and nine rebounds.
NUGGETS 129, RAPTORS 111
DENVER (AP) — Jamal Murray scored 16 of his 24 points in a decisive third-quarter spurt, and big man Nikola Jokic added 16 rebounds and 10 assists in Denver’s victory over Toronto.
Paul Millsap added 20 points in his best offensive output since joining Denver. He signed a three-year, $90 million deal with Denver in July, but has recently struggled with his jumper.
Murray erupted in the third to help turn a 60-51 lead into a 36-point advantage over a matter of minutes. The 43 points in the third was the biggest quarter for the Nuggets this season.
Norman Powell led the Raptors with 14 points.
JAZZ 112, TRAIL BLAZERS 103, OT
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Rookie Donovan Mitchell scored a career-high 28 points and Utah beat Portland in overtime.
The Jazz ran their offense through Mitchell in overtime and he didn’t disappoint. He accounted for the first six Utah points with a 3-pointer, a pair of free throws and Rudy Gobert’s two free throws that Mitchell set up with a pass to the cutting big man.
Ricky Rubio, who finished with a season-high 30 points, buried a 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 30.9 seconds left in overtime to give the Jazz a seven-point lead and put the game away.
Damian Lillard had 33 points for Portland.
HEAT 97, BULLS 91
MIAMI (AP) — Goran Dragic scored 20 points, Tyler Johnson added 19 and Miami beat Chicago to snap a three-game slide.
Hassan Whiteside returned from a five-game absence with a bruised knee and had 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Heat.
Lauri Markkanen scored 25 points and Robin Lopez added 22 for the Bulls, who were 7 for 28 from 3-point range and got five of those makes in the final 2 minutes. Chicago fell to 1-5, matching its worst start since 2007-08.
76ERS 119, HAWKS 109
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ben Simmons had 19 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, and Joel Embiid had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead Philadelphia past Atlanta for its third straight victory.
Robert Covington scored 22 points to help the Sixers (4-4) reach .500 for the first time in four years. Dennis Schroder had 25 points for Atlanta.
CLIPPERS 119, MAVERICKS 98
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Blake Griffin scored 20 points and Austin Rivers had 19 to help Los Angeles roll past Dallas.
Lou Williams added 17 points as the Clippers snapped a two-game skid and handed the Mavericks their fourth straight loss and eighth in nine games this season.
Rookie guard Dennis Smith Jr. led Dallas with 18 points despite shooting just 6 for 15 from the field. Harrison Barnes added 14 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 13 points and eight rebounds.
Los Angeles, coming off a 141-113 loss to Golden State, led by 26 and sat its starters for the final nine minutes.
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