The Cleveland Cavaliers took their winning streak into double figures with a 102-86 victory over a slumping Miami Heat on Thursday, LeBron James sparking the 10th straight triumph with a 36-point haul.
Daniel Gibson also made a telling contribution in the second half after visiting his pregnant fiancee in hospital. He started the third quarter and finished with 12 points.
Cleveland (40-11) held a 56-52 lead at halftime, before the NBA leaders pulled clear with a 10-0 run that spanned the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Miami’s Dwyane Wade scored 18 points in the first half, but could only add six more in the second, losing a third straight duel against James, who also tallied eight assists and seven rebounds.
“We did not make any adjustments [on Wade], we just tried to be aware of where he is at all times and we did double him occasionally,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown told reporters. “We just tried to keep the lane crowded and stay in front of him.”
The defeat was a fourth in a row for Miami (24-26), who have now dropped six of their last seven contests.
The Heat remained in contention in the first half as Wade and James waged a duel. James had 19 in the first two quarters that were reminiscent of their previous match-up on Jan. 25 when each tallied 32 in a one-point Cleveland win.
This time James had his way, making nine-of-16 shots from the field and 17-of-21 free-throws.
With guards Mo Williams and Delonte West both sidelined through injury, James has had to take on the added role of ball-handler for Cleveland.
Relishing the responsibility, he has averaged 11.6 assists per game in his last five games for the Cavaliers.
“The disadvantage is I can’t run down the court and get ahead of the ball,” James said. “It’s a sacrifice I have to make with our point guards being out. I have no choice but to handle the ball at certain points of the game — I’ll do whatever it takes for our team to win.”
■TRAIL BLAZERS 96, SPURS 93
AFP, PORTLAND, Oregon
LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 28 points and 13 rebounds as the Portland Trail Blazers came from behind to beat San Antonio on Thursday.
Martel Webster finished with 21 points and made all five of his three-pointers for the Blazers, who swept the three-game series over San Antonio this season. The Blazers have won their last five against the Spurs.
“We have a bunch of guys who want to play basketball and a bunch of guys who are good. We just play hard,” Aldridge said.
Manu Ginobili led the Spurs with 21 points, while Tim Duncan had 15 points and 12 rebounds.
San Antonio led by 10 points early in the final quarter, but the Blazers made it 85-83 on Nicolas Batum’s layup.
After Ginobili hit a jump shot for the Spurs, Webster’s three-pointer cut it to 87-86 with 3 minutes, 38 seconds left.
Aldridge nailed a jumper with just under three minutes left to give the Blazers the lead and Webster dropped another three to make it 91-87 with 22.9 seconds to go.
“We just tried to contain [Tony] Parker and Duncan,” Aldridge said.
The game marked the return of guard Parker, who missed the previous three games with a left ankle sprain. Parker came out quickly with 16 first-half points and finished with 18.
Portland remained without all-star guard Brandon Roy, who continues to nurse a left hamstring injury. Roy has missed 11 of the Blazers’ last 12 games.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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