Cavs rally in fourth quarter to stun Wizards
Pacers pound Warriors to sweep season series
>> LOS ANGELES: The Cleveland Cavaliers were already getting into NBA play-off mode even before coach Tyronn Lue returned to the bench on Thursday night.
LeBron James scored 13 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter as Cleveland made sure Lue’s return was a successful one with a 119-115 win over the Washington Wizards.
James helped the Cavaliers claw their way back from a 17-point deficit and hold onto the No.3 postseason spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
“I don’t have a quit bone in me, so if I’m on the floor I’ve got to try to make plays happen no matter what the score is,” James said. “That’s just my mindset.”
The Cavaliers are 10-1 since March 17 when Lue was forced to leave a game in Chicago with chest pains. Lue says he has changed his diet and is taking sleep medication as he gets set to guide his troops into the first round of the play-offs.
Jeff Green delivered 21 points and Kevin Love had 16 for the Cleveland, who fell behind 104-87 with just over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Markieff Morris scored a basket with 3:16 minutes left to give the Wizards a 110-100 lead. James then went to work, scoring six straight points and dishing to Green for a lay-up. Rodney Hood made two free throws to cap a 10-0 surge as the Wizards failed to put Cleveland away down the stretch.
Wizards coach Scott Brooks said nothing James does surprises him anymore.
“Like I said before the game, I’ll say it after the game and probably five years from now I’ll say the same thing. He’s the best player in the league and he does that every night. You don’t get to see players like him often,” said Brooks.
John Wall finished with 28 points and 14 assists for the Wizards, who have lost seven of their last nine and are jockeying with Milwaukee and Miami for a play-off seed. Wall was playing in his third game since returning from knee surgery.
Elsewhere, Bojan Bogdanovic scored 28 points and Victor Oladipo added 21 and the Indiana Pacers pulled away from the defending champions Golden State Warriors for a 126-106 lopsided win.
Bogdanovic had a nearly perfect shooting game for the Pacers who took the lead for good on Lance Stephenson’s three pointer with 9:46 minutes left in the first half. They never allowed Golden State to get closer than 10 after half-time.
The win gave Indiana their first season sweep of the Warriors since 2011-12 season.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr pulled five players from the game and sat them on the bench for the final seven minutes with his team down by 21 points. Kevin Durant was included in that group.
“I think just caring, caring in general, that was the main problem,” Kerr said.
“It’s hard to win an NBA game if you don’t put forth an effort at all.
“Yeah, I’m mad. I’m embarrassed. I know that this game doesn’t mean anything in the seeding, but the playoffs start next week. It was an embarrassing effort, a pathetic effort.”
Jamal Murray scored 22 points and Devin Harris made five three-pointers while notching 20 points as the Denver Nuggets recorded a pivotal 100-96 victory over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves.
Both teams are 44-35 with three games remaining. Minnesota hold the tie-breaker edge and currently possess the eighth and final play-off spot in the Western Conference, but the squads close the regular season against one another on Wednesday in Minneapolis.
Donovan Mitchell scored 19 points while Rudy Gobert added 15 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks to lead the Utah Jazz to a 117-95 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in Salt Lake City.
With the defeat, the Clippers are two games out of the last Western Conference play-off position currently held by the Timberwolves, but also two games behind the Nuggets — who sit in ninth.
Fourth-place Utah increased their lead to one game over the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder.