LeBron James had 19 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, making his first start at power forward, while Kyrie Irving had 21 points and eight assists in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 108-83 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.
The Cavs shuffled their lineup again in what could be a significant step toward the post-season. Iman Shumpert started in place of Kevin Love, who was resting.
However, Cavs coach Tyronn Lue suggested that Shumpert’s move into the lineup is long term. The Cavs have used the three-guard look to close games before; now they are going to start with it.
Photo: AP
John Wall had 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Wizards, whose four-game winning streak was snapped. Markieff Morris had 13 points and five assists, while Bradley Beal had 11 points off the bench.
The Wizards committed 16 turnovers, trailed by 18 in the first half and by as many as 30 in the fourth quarter.
It was a stark reversal from last weekend when the Wizards led the Cavs by 30 in the fourth quarter at home. Their streak of scoring at least 100 points in six consecutive games also ended.
Timofey Mozgov had 14 points and five rebounds, while Matthew Dellavedova had 12 points off the bench for the Cavs.
James was active across the floor in his first game in the post. He was seven of 18 from the field, but was credited with three of the Cavs’ nine steals, despite sitting out the fourth quarter.
James has long resisted a move to full-time power forward and reiterated again just a couple of weeks ago that he views himself as a wing player.
However, it was about this time last season he began shifting more into the post in preparation for a playoff run. It appears to be happening again.
SUNS 102, MAGIC 84
Unheralded Alex Len scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in leading the Phoenix Suns to a surprise 102-84 victory over the Orlando Magic.
Phoenix (16-46) snapped a 17-game road losing streak.
Tyson Chandler had 10 points and 12 rebounds, while Devin Booker had 14 points and six assists for the Suns. Ronnie Price had 14 points and five rebounds, while Archie Goodwin had 10 points.
RAPTORS 117, TRAIL BLAZERS 115
DeMar DeRozan scored 38 points as the Raptors stretched their franchise-best home winning streak to 12 games with a victory over the Trail Blazers.
DeRozan set an NBA record by draining 24 consecutive free throws before missing his final attempt, with the Raptors setting a franchise mark with 43 free throws.
Kyle Lowry, the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week, added 28 points and six assists, while Jonas Valanciunas had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Toronto (41-19) swept the season series with Portland (33-30).
NETS 121, NUGGETS 120, OT
Brook Lopez scored 20 points, including a game-winning tip-in with 0.4 seconds second left in overtime, as the Nets defeated the Nuggets.
Markel Brown scored a career-high 21 points, while Bojan Bogdanovic had 17 for Brooklyn, who have won three in a row in Denver and five straight overall against the Nuggets.
Emmanuel Mudiay had 25 points and seven assists, while Gary Harris tied a career-high with 21 points, but Denver suffered another tough loss to Brooklyn.
CELTICS 105, KNICKS 104
The Celtics stormed from eight points down in the final 3 minutes, 22 seconds to defeat the Knicks for their 13th straight home victory.
Avery Bradley scored on a tough drive for the winning points with 17.7 seconds remaining.
The victory gave Boston (38-25) their longest home winning streak since 2008-2009 and 16 wins in their past 20 games.
HEAT 112, 76ERS 102
Dwyane Wade had 21 points, while Hassan Whiteside added 19 points and 19 rebounds as the Heat beat the short-handed 76ers for their fourth straight victory.
Goran Dragic collected 15 points and 11 assists for Miami (36-26), who have won 13 of their past 18 to assume the lead in the NBA’s Southeast Division. Luol Deng had 13 points and nine rebounds
Ish Smith had 26 points, while Robert Covington contributed 25 for Philadelphia (8-54), who dropped their 11th straight. The NBA’s worst team dressed only nine players because of injuries to Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel, as well as the illnesses of Nik Stauskas and Kendall Marshall.
HORNETS 108, PACERS 101
Kemba Walker recorded 33 points and Nicolas Batum scored 31, with the Hornets completing a three-game season sweep of the Pacers.
Walker and Batum hit four three-pointers apiece as Charlotte went 13 for 31 from three-point range.
The win allowed the Hornets (33-28) to pick up a full game on Indiana in the race for Eastern Conference playoff positioning. Charlotte have won three straight and nine of their past 11.
GRIZZLIES 94, JAZZ 88
Zach Randolph scored 25 points, while Lance Stephenson added 16 after coming off the bench to lead the Grizzlies over the Jazz.
The win was the seventh in nine games for the Grizzlies (37-24) and the first of the season in three tries over the Jazz (28-33). Utah lost their fifth straight and fell to 9-21 on the road.
Gordon Hayward led the Jazz with 18 points, while Rudy Gobert had 13 points and 18 rebounds.
BUCKS 116, TIMBERWOLVES 101
Khris Middleton made eight three-pointers, while Giannis Antetokounmpo barely missed a triple-double in the Bucks’ victory over the Timberwolves.
Middleton had 32 points, crossing the 30-point mark for the third time in four games, while making 11 of 16 shots from the field and eight of nine from beyond the arc.
Karl-Anthony Towns led Minnesota with 21 points, while Shabazz Muhammad scored 17 off the bench for the Timberwolves.
HAWKS 106, LAKERS 77
Guard Dennis Schroder scored 16 points to lead six Atlanta players in double figures, as the Hawks crushed the Los Angeles Lakers 106-77 at the Staples Center.
Kyle Korver scored 15 points, while Kris Humpries had 14 points and eight rebounds in his Hawks’ debut and Jeff Teague had 12 points and eight assists for Atlanta (34-28), winners of three of their past four.
Paul Milsap chipped in 11 points and Kent Bazemore contributed 10.
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