The red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers won a franchise-best 10th home game in a row in a 118-82 blowout of the New York Knicks on Wednesday.
LeBron James, who has been linked with a future move to New York, led a balanced scoring effort with 21 points and added six assists and five rebounds to power the Cavs to a 15-3 record.
Despite constant questions about his plans for 2010, when he becomes a free agent, last season’s NBA top scorer again proved the speculation was no distraction to him or his team.
“It’s a distraction for the Knicks, not for us,” James told reporters after sitting out the fourth period. “We’re good. We’re going to stay humble and play every game like it’s our last.”
Off-season acquisition Mo Williams added 16 points, while center Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavs in their biggest-ever win against the Knicks.
Cleveland led 61-35 at halftime and was able to give its starters significant rest as the team easily secured a 14th win in their last 15 contests.
Al Harrington scored 20 points, while David Lee recorded 16 points and 16 rebounds for the short-handed Knicks, beaten by the Cavs for the second time in eight days.
The Knicks were without five players, including estranged point guard Stephon Marbury, who has been told to stay away from the team after refusing to play against Detroit last month.
To add insult to injury for New York, forward Quentin Richardson was tossed from the contest after receiving his second technical foul during the second quarter.
“I think everybody’s frustrated,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “You usually get frustrated when you’re tired, and I thought that got to us.”
New York (8-10) has lost six of its last eight and has struggled for consistency since trading away two of its top players, Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph, on Nov. 21.
The move cleared financial space for the Knicks, ostensibly to make an attempt at signing James when he becomes a free agent in 2010.
Cleveland has won its last six games by more than 10 points, and leads the Central Division by 3.5 games.
Wednesday’s win was Cleveland’s 14th in 15 games. The 36-point margin of victory was the Cavs’ largest in 171 games against New York.
CELTICS 114, PACERS 96
At Boston, Rajon Rondo notched his first career triple-double and Ray Allen scored 31 points, leading the Boston Celtics over the Indiana Pacers for their 10th straight victory.
Rondo scored 16 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and handed out a career-high 17 assists. Kevin Garnett added 26 points and 14 rebounds for the Celtics, who matched their longest winning streak since their 2007-2008 championship season, a 10-game run from Feb. 24 to March 12.
LAKERS 114, 76ERS 102
At Philadelphia, Kobe Bryant tormented his hometown team again, scoring 32 points to help Los Angeles rebound from a last-second loss with a victory over Philadelphia.
Also on Wednesday it was:
• Hornets 104, Suns 91
• Trail Blazers 98, Wizards 92
• Rockets 103, Clippers 96
• Hawks 105, Grizzlies 95
• Heat 93, Jazz 89
• Magic 100, Timberwolves 89
• Bobcats 103, Thunder 97
• Bucks 97, Bulls 90
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
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier