Cavaliers fall to Wizards’ trick

Los Angeles, March 26: John Wall tallied 37 points as the Washington Wizards defeated LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers 127-115, tightening the race atop the Eastern Conference standings on Saturday night.

The Wizards now trail the Boston Celtics by two games and the defending NBA champion Cavaliers by 2 1/2 for first place. Also, Cleveland’s lead over Boston is now just a half-game.

Wall delivered 18 of his 37 points in the first quarter shooting eight-ofeight from the field.

Bradley Beal added 27 points for the Wizards, who are now 19-7 when all five starters score in double figures.

Superstar James shook off the eye injury suffered Friday night to score 24 points, grab 11 rebounds, and hand out eight assists.

“I haven’t been in too much light the last 24 hours, I mean all day since I got home last night and today I stayed away from it because it was bothering me a little bit too much,” said James, who suffered a corneal abrasion to his right eye.

James started Saturday’s contest wearing plastic goggles but took them off with about three minutes left in the first quarter.

Clippers sail past Utah Elsewhere, Jamal Crawford far this season and the 18th time in the team’s past 20 meetings.

Blake Griffin had 15 points, Chris Paul added 14 and DeAndre Jordan grabbed 15 rebounds for the Clippers. Joe Johnson came off the bench to score 17 for the Jazz.

Raptors seal playoffs berth In Dallas, the visiting Toronto Raptors clinched a playoff spot with a 94-86 victory over the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center arena.

Toronto won their 44th game of the season and their fifth in a row.

DeMar DeRozan and forward Serge Ibaka each scored 18 points to lead the Raptors.