LeBron James scored 29 points, including 16 in the first quarter, as the Cleveland Cavaliers broke a four-game losing streak with a comfortable 106-74 win over the Orlando Magic on Monday night.
After bluntly assessing his performance at Monday’s shootaround by saying: “I stink,” James took control early and sparked his team to a much-needed win.
After averaging 18.5 points and shooting 41 percent from the field in the losing streak, James was nine-for-17 from the field on Monday and tied a season-high with 11 assists while not playing the fourth quarter. James hit four shots from the field, including a three-pointer, made all seven of his free-throws and had four assists in the opening period.
He finished the first half with 22 points, including a fadeaway jumper from the top of the key to end the second quarter.
CLIPPERS 113, HORNETS 92
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Blake Griffin had 22 points and a season-high 16 rebounds, while Chris Paul had 22 points and a season-high 15 assists as the Los Angeles Clippers handed the Hornets their sixth straight loss.
Griffin was 10 of 23 from the field and finished one assist shy of a triple-double.
The Clippers were 15-of-32 from three-point range, while the Hornets were just 2 of 20. Jamal Crawford had 21 points and JJ Redick added 17 for the sharp-shooting duo to combine for nine-of-17 from beyond the arc.
Paul came into the game averaging 9.5 assists for the Clippers (8-5).
Cody Zeller led the way for Charlotte with a career-high 17 points off the bench. Al Jefferson had 16 points and nine rebounds, while Kemba Walker added 15 points for the Hornets (4-11), who have lost eight of their past nine games.
TRAIL BLAZERS 114, 76ERS 104
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, LaMarcus Aldridge had 15 of his 33 points during the pivotal third quarter to help Portland defeat Philadelphia, sending the 76ers to their 14th straight loss to open the season.
Wesley Matthews added 17 points, Damian Lillard had 16 and Robin Lopez chipped in 12 for Portland (11-3), who won their eighth in a row.
Michael Carter-Williams led Philadelphia (0-14) with 24 points.
The 76ers moved within one loss of matching the franchise mark for consecutive losses to begin a season and will look to avoid an 0-15 opening when they host Brooklyn today. They are just four losses shy of tying the 2009-2010 Nets’ NBA record of worst start to a season (0-18). If the losing streak continues, Philadelphia could set a new high for losses to start the season on Dec. 5 when they host Oklahoma City.
RAPTORS 104, SUNS 100
In Toronto, Jonas Valanciunas had a career-high 27 points and 11 rebounds, while DeMar DeRozan scored 23 as the Raprtors won their fifth straight game by beating Phoenix Suns 104-100.
Lou Williams scored 17, Kyle Lowry had 14 and Terrence Ross added 13 for the Raptors, who improved 9-1 at home and 4-0 against Western Conference opponents.
Eric Bledsoe scored 25 points and Markieff Morris had 17 for the Suns, whose four-game winning streak was snapped. Phoenix had not lost since the opening game of their six-game road trip on Nov. 15 against the Clippers.
Isaiah Thomas scored 12 of his 16 in the fourth quarter and Gerald Green had 13 for Phoenix, but made a costly turnover in the final seconds.
Toronto’s Chuck Hayes scored the opening basket of the fourth quarter to give the Raptors a 17-point lead and put the score at 83-66. Suns coach Jeff Hornacek called timeout and his team responded with a 14-0 run over the next two minutes, including three straight three-pointers by Thomas.
ROCKETS 91, KNICKS 86
In Houston, Texas, James Harden had 36 points to lead a depleted Houston to victory over the slumping New York Knicks.
Houston (11-3) played without center Dwight Howard (knee) and point guard Patrick Beverley (hamstring), but Harden had half of the Rockets’ 14 three-pointers to overwhelm the Knicks, who played the second half without star forward Carmelo Anthony.
Anthony left the game with less than two minutes remaining in the first half and did not return, suffering from back spasms, the team said. He had 14 points.
Pacers 111, Mavericks 100
In Dallas, Donald Sloan scored 29 points and seven Indiana players scored in double figures in a victory over the Mavericks.
The Pacers led the entire second half and set a season high in points while equaling their season high in field-goal percentage (48.1).
Indiana got a double-double from Luis Scola, who scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Solomon Hill and Rodney Stuckey each scored 12 points, while Chris Copeland and Damjan Rudez each
Bulls 97, Jazz 95
In Salt Lake City, Jimmy Butler scored 25 points and Pau Gasol added 23 points and nine rebounds to lead Chicago to a victory over Utah.
Derrick Rose scored 18 points in his return to the Bulls’ lineup. Chicago beat the Jazz for the ninth time in their past 12 meetings.
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