LeBron closes in on landmark
Toronto win 1st game against Spurs in over 2 yrs
Los Angeles, Jan. 20: Kyle Lowry scored 24 points and DeMar DeRozan had 21 as the Toronto Raptors beat the San Antonio Spurs for the first time in over two years with a 86- 83 victory on Friday.
DeRozan also added six assists and seven rebounds for the Raptors who improved to 31- 13 on the NBA season and 17- 3 at the Air Canada Centre arena.
The Spurs, who own the best home record in the league at 19- 2, had won four straight against the Raptors. The last time Toronto beat San Antonio was 97- 94 on December 2015.
Centre Jonas Valanciunas had a doubledouble with 15 points and 11 rebounds in front of a sold out crowd of 19,800.
LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Spurs who were missing several key players with injuries, including Manu Ginobili ( right thigh contusion) and Kawhi Leonard ( quadriceps).
Fred VanVleet, who bruised his knee in Monday’s 111- 117 loss in Philadelphia, did not play for the second game in a row for Toronto.
DeRozan said San Antonio is a tough team even without their stars.
“They’re just a product of the San Antonio Spurs,” said DeRozan.
“What they’re capable of every single night, with their starters or without their starters, they’re a well- rounded group. Everybody understands their roles and they play extremely hard,” he added further.
Elsewhere, Dillon Brooks scored a careerbest 22 points, Ben McLemore had a seasonhigh 21 and the Memphis Grizzlies won their third straight with a 106- 88 win over the Sacramento Kings.
The game marked Zach Randolph’s first game in Memphis since spending eight years as a key player in the franchise. Randolph was greeted with a standing ovation when he was introduced with the starting lineups and the management showed a tribute video between the first and second quarters.
Randolph finished with four points and six rebounds for the Kings, who have lost seven straight games.
Meanwhile, De’Aaron Fox led the Kings with 16 points and six assists.
Tyreke Evans added points for Memphis.
In Detroit, Bradley Beal and Kelly Oubre had 26 points apiece, and the Washington Wizards 14 scored 45 in the third quarter before holding off the Detroit Pistons 122112.
Andre Drummond had 14 points, 21 rebounds and eight assists for the Pistons, who have lost four straight. Los Angeles, Jan. 20: LeBron James is closing in on another milestone as his Cleveland Cavaliers host Oklahoma City needing just 25 points to become the seventh player in NBA history to reach 30,000 career points.
James scored 16 points in the Cavs’ 104- 103 victory over the Orlando Magic on Thursday, taking his career tally to 29,975.
At 33 years and 21 days of age, he is poised to supplant former Lakers legend Kobe Bryant as the youngest player to reach 30,000 points.
Bryant was 34 years and 104 days old when he hit the mark on December 5, 2012. Bryant finished with 33,643 points in 20 NBA seasons.
“I haven’t really even thought about it, to be honest,” James said after Thursday’s game.
“I know I am getting close. This is not one that I’m losing sleep over to be honest. Scoring has never been the end- all, be- all as a basketball player,” he added.
Nevertheless, it would put him in exclusive company alongside Kareem Abdul- Jabbar ( 38,387), Karl Malone ( 36,928), Bryant, Michael Jordan ( 32,292), Wilt Chamberlain ( 31,419) and Dirk Nowitzki ( 30,808).
More pressing for James is the need to keep the Cavs on track for a return to a fourth straight NBA Finals, what would be the eighth in a row for James and ninth overall after his run with Miami. Two Cleveland losses to the Golden State Warriors in the championship series were sandwiched around the Cavs’ triumph in 2016.
Thursday’s win over Magic, in which Cavs led by as many as 23 points in the second quarter, snapped four- game losing streak.