LeBron James scored 24 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 21 and the Cleveland Cavaliers won their third straight game after an 0-3 start, beating the Washington Wizards 105-74 Saturday.
"We're just getting started," James said. "We're getting better every game."
Drew Gooden added 15 rebounds and 14 points while Jeff McInnis had 13 points and 11 assists for the Cavaliers.
James scored nine of the Cavaliers' first 11 in the fourth, taking over just as he did Wednesday when he outscored Phoenix 17-14 in the final 12 minutes and the Cavs overcame a 19-point deficit to win.
"He's the best," Cavs coach Paul Silas said. "He's unbelievable. He wants the ball and he wants the responsibility. Everything we need, he provides. He's so special."
The reigning rookie of the year came into the game as the NBA's secon d leading scorer and Cleveland's undisputed leader. Entering the game, James had accounted for 40 percent of the Cavaliers' points in the fourth quarter.
Gilbert Arenas scored 25 points to lead the Wizards. Antawn Jamison had 14 and nine rebounds for Washington, which was held to 28 points under its average.
Mavericks 94, Nets 78
In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Jerry Stackhouse hit all five of his third-quarter shots and scored a season-high 28 points, leading Dallas over New Jersey.
Dirk Nowitzki added 31 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four of Dallas' 12 steals in helping the revamped Mavericks win for the sixth time in seven games.
Richard Jefferson had 28 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Nets, who lost for the third time in four home games. Point guard Zoran Planinic had a career-high 16 points and Eric Williams added 15.
Acquired from Washington in the offseason to give Dallas a threat off the bench, Stackhouse had struggled with his shot. He came into the game shooting 36.4 percent, including a 4-of-14 effort in a loss at Orlando this week.
Warriors 103, Bobcats 87
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Jason Richardson scored 27 points and Troy Murphy added 22 to lead Golden State over expansion Charlotte.
It was the first win for coach Mike Montgomery, who opened his NBA career with six consecutive losses and put Golden State in danger of besting the franchise futility mark set at the start of the 1997-1998 season by opening 0-9.
The Warriors built a 22-point, first-half lead. Gerald Wallace led Charlotte with 22 points.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
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