Ty Jerome on Wednesday scored 29 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers bounced back from their first defeat of the season with a 128-100 rout of the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Cavs saw their 15-game unbeaten streak brought to an abrupt end by the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, but dominated New Orleans with a wire-to-wire victory before their home crowd.
Cleveland were always in control against a struggling Pelicans side, who slumped to their ninth loss in 10 games.
Photo: Ken Blaze / Imagn Images
After cruising to a 69-55 halftime lead, the Cavs dropped the hammer in the third quarter, outscoring New Orleans 36-18 to open up a 32-point advantage heading into the final period before cruising to victory.
The Cavaliers had struggled from outside the arc in Tuesday’s NBA Cup defeat to Boston, but enjoyed greater success from three-point range against New Orleans.
Jerome drained seven of 12 attempts from three-point distance, rattling in six of them during a remarkable second-quarter display that saw him bag 20 points.
Photo: AP
Georges Niang also caught fire, shooting six threes to finish with 20 points.
The victory saw Cleveland improve their record to 16-1 at the top of the Eastern Conference. The Pelicans fell to 4-12 and remained one place off the bottom of the Western Conference.
Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson saluted Jerome’s electric second-quarter barrage that had the home crowd on its feet.
Photo: AP
“It was great. Those moments don’t happen a lot in the NBA,” Atkinson said. “It was like a superstar performance quite honestly, that’s so rare. It was great for the crowd, great for the group and great for Ty.”
In other games, Giannis Antetokounmpo bagged his third 40-point game of the season after scoring 41 points with nine rebounds and eight assists in the Milwaukee Bucks’ 122-106 blowout of the Chicago Bulls.
Antetokounmpo was backed by 21 points from Brook Lopez and 20 points from Damian Lillard as Milwaukee improved to 6-9 for the season to move up to 10th in the Eastern Conference.
In Memphis, Joel Embiid shrugged off recent off-court controversy to score 35 points, but it was not enough to stop the Philadelphia 76ers from falling to a 117-111 defeat against the Grizzlies.
Embiid was reportedly taken to task by teammate Tyrese Maxey for his tardiness during a tense locker room discussion following the Sixers’ loss to Miami on Monday.
Embiid responded with a season-high 35 points in what turned out to be a losing effort.
The Sixers are 2-12 for the season and remain rooted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
At the top of the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors dominated the Atlanta Hawks 120-97 to improve to 11-3.
The Warriors took the lead at about midway through the first quarter and led by as much as 31 points early in the third quarter before coasting to victory at Chase Center.
Andrew Wiggins led the Warriors scoring with 27 points, while Stephen Curry chipped in with 23 points.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, second in the Western Conference, kept up their pursuit of Golden State with a 109-99 defeat of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Jalen Williams led the Thunder scoring with 30 points, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 28 points.
The injury-depleted Phoenix Suns’ problems continued with the team slumping to a fifth straight loss in a 138-122 drubbing at home to the New York Knicks.
Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 70 points in an emphatic road win for the Knicks, who improved to 9-6. Brunson posted seven three-pointers with 10 assists on his way to scoring 36 points, while Towns finished on 34 as six New York players cracked double figures.
At the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, Alperen Sengun had 31 points and 12 rebounds as the Houston Rockets used a third-quarter surge to beat the visiting Indiana Pacers 130-113.
At the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, James Harden scored 24 points and Amir Coffey added 18 as the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Orlando Magic 104-93 to extend their home winning streak to six games.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Taiwanese gymnast Tang Chia-hung on Sunday topped the men’s horizontal bar event at the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, scoring 15.233 to take his third title this season. Tang delivered an outstanding performance in the final, earning a difficulty score of 6.500 and an execution score of 8.633 with a 0.1 stick bonus. His closest competitor was Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan, who finished second with 14.933 points. It was Tang’s third gold medal in the FIG World Cup series this year, following his horizontal bar wins in Azerbaijan on March 8, and in Turkey on March
The Daredevils yesterday took eight catches in the final as they eked out a victory in the Taiwan Cricket Triangular Tournament against PCCT at Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District. PCCT’s batting lineup collapsed after they asked the Daredevils to bowl in the T20 decider of the weekend tournament that also involved the Formosa Cricket Club. PCCT were bundled out for 76 in 16.2 overs against a disciplined Daredevils attack. Ninad Malwade was the top scorer in the innings with 21, but he was among those who offered chances to the fielders. Shane Ferreira and Jason Cameron took three wickets each, with
This year’s Taiwan Athletics Open, which offers Taiwanese athletes an opportunity to compete against their international peers, would be held under a new name after its organizers had earlier announced the event’s cancelation. In a statement issued yesterday, the Chinese Taipei Athletics Association said the competition would still take place on June 6-7 at Banciao Stadium, but under the name “New Taipei City Athletics Open 2026.” The event was given a new name to emphasize its local identity and conform with the international practice of naming World Athletics Tour events after cities, the association said. It said it would soon
Taiwanese shortstop Cheng Tsung-che on Friday made history for the Boston Red Sox’s Triple A affiliate, hitting the Worcester Red Sox’s first cycle, while netting two runs, as they beat fellow Taiwan teammate Stuart Fairchild’s Columbus Clippers. The 24-year-old former Pittsburgh Pirates prospect went 4-4, completing a full cycle, starting with a triple in the second inning off Ryan Webb in the WooSox’s 9-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians’ Triple A affiliate. He scored in the same inning after teammate Vinny Capra, a fellow former Pirate, grounded out. The Pingtung County native followed that up with a walk in the third, an
RSS