James triple-double leads Cavs to another win

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LeBron James changed shoes at halftime on Friday night. Then, he turned the game in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ favor in the second half.

James notched another triple-double and was all over the court during the Charlotte Hornets’ final possession, and the Cavs hung on to beat the Hornets 100-99.

James finished with 27 points, 16 rebounds and 13 assists for his 57th regular-season triple-double and second this season. He was already in double-digit points, rebounds, and assists before the fourth quarter started, but scored just six points on 3-of-8 shooting at halftime.

Then he switched out of a yellow pair of his Nike signature shoe and into a black pair.

“I just wasn’t playing well,” James said. “So, I’m a little weird sometimes. I wasn’t playing well, up to my standards.” He fixed that, and then some. J.R. Smith, who contributed 16 points for the Cavs, put them ahead for good with a free throw with 48.2 seconds left, making the score 100-99.

The Hornets had the ball with 11.1 seconds left and looked to Kemba Walker, but he couldn’t get past James for a layup and gave the ball to Jeremy Lamb. Facing pressure, Lamb heaved a 3-pointer that missed.

James then blocked Walker’s 3-point attempt from 38-feet away as time expired.

“It’s always rewarding (to know they can win with defense), and we had to do that, do that all the way to all the zeroes on the clock,” James said. “We had some great looks, just couldn’t string a few together, especially in the fourth quarter, but defensively we was in tune. We had a couple calls that didn’t go our way in the INDIANA PACERS guard Lance Stephenson (1) celebrates a victory over the Toronto Raptors with center Myles Turner (33) and forward Bojan Bogdanovic (44) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. fourth quarter, but we just stayed with it and it allowed us to win this game.”

The Cavs have won seven straight overall for the longest active streak in the NBA, and eight in a row over Charlotte.

Warriors 143, Bulls 94

Stephen Curry poured in 26 of his game-high 33 points in a second-quarter flurry, propelling Golden State to a thrashing of Chicago.

The Warriors eased to the win, their fifth without a defeat when following a loss this season, despite sitting out Kevin Durant with a sprained ankle and Draymond Green on a scheduled night off.

Green is expected to play, but Durant remains questionable, when the Warriors concluded a rare consecutive-night home sequence Saturday against New Orleans.

Omri Casspi started in place of Durant and played a season-high 25 minutes. He finished with six points, four rebounds and four points.

Pacers 107, Raptors 104

Victor Oladipo scored 21 points, Bojan Bogdanovic added 19 and Lance Stephenson had 18 as the Indiana Pacers held off a late Toronto rally and won their fifth consecutive game 107-104 on Friday night in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The Pacers (11-8) outscored the Raptors (11-7) 57-44 during the final two quarters.

Kyle Lowry led Toronto with 24 points, and Norman Powell and Fred VanVleet each scored 16 as the Raptors lost their second in a row after a four-game winning streak.

Darren Collison added 17 points and eight assists for Indiana, which was 20 of 27 from the line while Toronto was 15 of 20.

Blazers 127, Nets 125

Jusuf Nurkic totaled 29 points and 15 rebounds, including the tiebreaking 3-point play with 27.6 seconds remaining as Portland made the plays down the stretch and held on for a victory over Brooklyn.

Nurkic recorded his fifth double-double of the season by shooting 12 of 19 from the floor but made the biggest basket of the game for Portland, which shot 50 percent.

The game was tied at 123 with 38 seconds on a basket by Spencer Dinwiddie, but Nurkic’s hustle under the rim restored the lead for Portland. He scored off a wild scramble under the basket and converted the subsequent free throw for a 126-123 lead.

Hawks 116, Knicks 104

Atlanta notched its fourth victory of the season with a comeback win over New York.

Trailing nearly the entire first half, Atlanta (4-15) fought back in the third period and took control in the fourth when Marco Belinelli and Taurean Prince each hit a pair of 3-pointers late in the game.

Kristaps Porzingis led all scorers with 28 points while Courtney Lee added a season-high 26 for the Knicks (10-8). Dennis Schroder led Atlanta with 26 points.

Celtics 118, Magic 103

Boston erupted for 40 points in the first quarter and 73 in the first half – both season highs – on its way to a rout that sent Orlando to its seventh straight loss.

The 118 points also marked a season high for Boston and the Celtics also matched their season best with 17 3-pointers.

The win was also the 14th straight for the Celtics, winners of 17 of their last 18, over the Magic, which hasn’t won at TD Garden since 2010.

Pistons 99, Thunder 98

Detroit turned around its momentum and Oklahoma City once again found itself slipping after seemingly gaining some traction.

The Pistons trailed for much of the game but Avery Bradley’s 3-pointer with 2:01 remaining helped Detroit pull off a win at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Andre Drummond led the Pistons with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Ish Smith added 15 points off the bench. Russell Westbrook had 27 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for the Thunder, which was coming off a win over Golden State on Wednesday.

Pelicans 115, Suns 91

Anthony Davis had 23 points and nine rebounds and DeMarcus Cousin added 19 points and 10 rebounds as New Orleans used a 72-point first half to run away from Phoenix.

Davis and Cousins were a combined 15-for-24 from the floor with 19 rebounds and eight assists.

Jrue Holiday added 18 points for New Orleans, which has won three in a row to match its longest winning streak of the season. The Pelicans are 11-8 this season, their best 19-game start since going 13-6 to open the 2010/11 season. (Reuters)