LeBron and Cavs stop their skid

LeBron James scored 34 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers overcame an injury to J.R. Smith to snap their three-game losing streak with a 116-112 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Monday night.

Smith injured his left knee in the first quarter after landing on a jump shot and hobbled to the dressing room in considerable pain. He did not return, and the Cavaliers said X-rays taken at the arena were negative and that the guard would return to Cleveland for further examination.

DeMar DeRozan had 31 points and Kyle Lowry added 24 for Toronto, which had its six-game winning streak snapped.

The win was the Cavaliers’ third straight this season against the Raptors, the team they beat in last season’s Eastern Conference finals. It also prevented Toronto from leapfrogging Cleveland into first place in the conference.

Kevin Love had 28 points and 14 rebounds for his teamleading 13th double-double of the season and his third straight against the Raptors. Kyrie Irving added 24 points, his career-high 10th straight game with at least 20.

The Cavaliers seized control of the game in the third quarter with a 23-11 run, turning a one-point halftime edge into a 13-point lead on Love’s sixth 3-pointer of the game with 3:35 to play in the quarter.

A turnaround jump shot from DeRozan with 24 seconds remaining closed the gap to five, and he followed that up with a 3-pointer 10 seconds later that looked to put the result in doubt, but after review he was ruled out of bounds.