LeBron James set aside first-half foul trouble to finish with 28 points in only 25 minutes on Friday night, while Kyrie Irving scored 25 points to help the surging Cleveland Cavaliers overwhelm the Washington Wizards 127-89.
Cleveland led by as many as 22 points before halftime and as many as 40 after to win for the 15th time in their past 17 games.
The 38-point margin was Washington’s largest loss of the season.
The Cavaliers also produced the most points by a Washington opponent in a first quarter (35) and first half (65).
About the only glaring mistake the Cavs made was Kevin Love’s flubbed attempt at a driving, two-handed dunk — the basketball hit the front of the rim.
All-Star point guard John Wall had 18 points and nine assists for Washington.
RAPTORS 105, HAWKS 80
In Atlanta, Georgia, Lou Williams made seven of 10 three-pointers and scored 26 points as Toronto routed Atlanta in a matchup of the Eastern Conference’s top teams.
DeMar DeRozan added 21 points for Toronto.
The Raptors outscored the Hawks 28-13 in the third quarter to open a 23-point lead.
Williams had four of Toronto’s 15 steals and the Raptors blocked nine shots.
Atlanta still have a 5.5 game lead over Toronto in the Eastern Conference standings, but the Raptors won the season series 3-1. No other team has two wins over the Hawks.
The Hawks have lost four of seven games following a record 19-game winning streak.
Friday’s other results:
‧ Heat 111, Knicks, 87
‧ Warriors 110, Spurs 99
‧ Kings 109, Celtics 101
‧ Bucks 89, Nuggets 81
‧ Pistons 100, Bulls 91
‧ Pacers 106, 76ers 95
‧ Mavericks 111, Rockets 100
‧ Timberwolves 111, Suns 109
‧ Magic 95, Pelicans 84
‧ Jazz 92, Trail Blazers 76
‧ Nets 114, Lakers 105
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
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