Cavs stars hold off Lakers
CLEVELAND — LeBron James recorded his 59th career tripledouble in front of Lonzo Ball and his brothers, Kevin Love scored 28 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers won for the 16th time in 17 games, 121-112 over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.
James finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists to move a tie with Larry Bird for sixth place on the career triple-doubles list. He also put the Lakers away with a dunk and short runner in the final two minutes.
Love scored 13 in the third quarter, when the Cavs opened an 11-point lead on the way to their 10th straight home win. Jose Calderon added a season-high 17 points for Cleveland.
Brandon Ingram scored 26 for the Lakers and Ball had 13 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.
KNICKS 111, NETS 104
In New York, Courtney Lee scored 18 of his 27 points in the second half, Michael Beasley added 15, and New York held on to beat Brooklyn after losing star forward Kristaps Porzingis to a sore left knee early in the second half.
Porzingis motioned to the bench with 9:25 remaining in the third quarter after contesting a shot made by Brooklyn’s Rondae HollisJefferson. The Knicks’ leading scorer had scored 13 points in nearly 18 minutes in the first half.
Enes Kanter had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks, who earned just their second road victory of the season. Their only other one was Oct. 29 at Cleveland.
Spencer Dinwiddie had 26 points for the Nets, who have dropped the first two games to their city rivals. Hollis-Jefferson added 25 points on 10-for-16 shooting and Caris LeVert added 15.
TIMBERWOLVES 119, KINGS 96
In Minneapolis, Karl-Anthony Towns had 30 points and 14 rebounds in his league-leading 23rd double-double, Jimmy Butler added 21 points and nine assists and the Minnesota Timberwolves cruised past Sacramento.
Andrew Wiggins scored 22 points for Minnesota (17-12), which has won three of four and is off to the third-best start in franchise history after 29 games.
Zach Randolph had 15 points and nine rebounds for Sacramento. George Hill scored 16 points for the Kings.
PISTONS 105, HAWKS 91
In Atlanta, Andre Drummond had 12 points, 19 rebounds and a careerhigh nine assists, Tobias Harris added 19 points and Detroit snapped a seven-game slide with a victory over NBA-worst Atlanta.