The Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday emphatically got back to winning ways in the NBA, coasting to a 109-94 victory over the New York Knicks as their recent star signing, James Harden, scored 20 points.
The Cavs took the lead barely a minute into the game with an Evan Mobley three-pointer and never gave it up in a thoroughly comfortable night for the red-hot Ohio franchise.
Former NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Harden, who was brought in from the Los Angeles Clippers this month, has never won a championship, despite being one of the most decorated players in the league.
Photo: AP
That was a key factor in his move to the seemingly playoff-bound Cavs, where he has only played in one loss across seven games, and “The Beard” excelled again, providing four assists against the Knicks.
“We’re working to build something special and each game is an opportunity to get better,” Harden said. “Tonight was a good step for us.”
It was a return to form after their seven-game winning streak was snapped on Sunday by defending champions the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Photo: Ken Blaze / Imagn Images
Harden, 36, has given Cleveland another strong offensive threat alongside Donovan Mitchell, who led the scoring with 23 points.
The victory was underpinned by a powerful defensive performance that saw Knicks star Jalen Brunson restricted to 20 points.
“Tonight it was a team effort and it’s been like that since I’ve been here. That’s one of the beauties about this team, any guy can get it going,” Harden said.
They drew level on 37 wins and 22 losses with the Knicks — third in the Eastern Conference — with the visitors’ poor with their shooting accuracy, making just 11 points in a shocking third quarter.
Elsewhere, Anthony Edwards poured in 34 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves earned a hard-fought 124-121 win against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Edwards — MVP at this month’s All-Star Game — managed 25 of his points in an explosive first half.
The Charlotte Hornets beat the Chicago Bulls 131-99, with rookie Kon Knueppel racing to his 200th three-pointer.
Aged 20, the Hornets prodigy is the fastest player to reach the mark in NBA history, requiring just 58 games.
Tyrese Maxey sank 32 points, and had nine rebounds and eight assists as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Indiana Pacers 135-114.
The Pacers reached last year’s NBA Finals, but have struggled badly this campaign, sinking to the bottom of the East.
Forward Jonathan Kuminga scored 27 points on his debut for the Atlanta Hawks in a 119-98 win over the Washington Wizards.
The Western Conference-leading Thunder racked up another win, seeing off the Toronto Raptors 116-107, while the Boston Celtics consolidated their grip on second spot in the East with a 97-81 win over the Phoenix Suns.
Paolo Banchero scored 36 points with 10 rebounds and Desmond Bane added 22 points as the Orlando Magic finished off a successful road trip against Western Conference foes with a 110-109 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Marvin Bagley III scored 22 points off the bench as the Dallas Mavericks went ahead for good in the first quarter and held off hosts the Brooklyn Nets 123-114 to get head coach Jason Kidd his 200th victory as the Mavs’ head coach.
In other games, the Milwaukee Bucks beat the visiting Miami Heat 128-117, while the New Orleans Pelicans downed the Golden State Warriors 113-109.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
RSS