Cavaliers’ winning streak ends at 13
INDIANAPOLIS — The Cleveland Cavaliers' winning streaks are over thanks to Victor Oladipo and, more broadly, the three-pointer.
The Indiana Pacers knocked off the Cavs 106-102 on Friday night, stopping Cleveland's overall winning streak at 13 and its road streak at seven. A win for the Cavs would have set franchise records for both.
Oladipo scored 33 points, with six three-pointers, and the Pacers drained 15 threepointers as a team. The Cavs, always a dangerous team in the fourth quarter, especially from three-point range, made just 3 of 12 attempts beyond the arc in the final period.
LeBron James led the Cavs with 29 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Kevin Love added 20 points but shot 6 of 16. J.R. Smith made all three of Cleveland's three-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with 15
points. His desperation three in the corner with 10 seconds left cut the Pacers' lead to 104-102.
Cleveland (18-8) suffered its first loss since falling to the Houston Rockets on Nov. 9. The Cavs' streak of consecutive games with at least 100 points is now at 19.
The Pacers blew out the Cavs in Cleveland on Nov. 1, 124-107, behind 16 three-pointers. Indiana entered the game second in the NBA in three-point percentage (.395) and is now 11-2 when making at least 10 threes.
Oladipo scored 20 points in the third quarter, making 7 of 8 shots to help Indiana forge an 89-86 lead heading into the fourth. His threepointer with 1:01 left in the game put the Pacers ahead by six.
Rose says he has bone spur in ankle
Cavs guard Derrick Rose said he has a bone spur in his left ankle that has caused most of his extended absence from the court this season and might require a procedure to correct it.
"It's all about first getting the area to calm down and then strengthening your leg back up again," Rose said on Friday, in his first comments since leaving the Cavs on Nov. 22 to consider his basketball future. "So, afterwards, we may have to have a procedure, but who knows."
It was not immediately clear whether Rose meant surgery was possible after the season, or at the end of his rehab. The Cavs haven't given a timetable for his return. He has played in just seven games this season because of complications from a sprained ankle originally suffered Oct. 20. He hasn't played at all since Nov. 7.
As for the rest of it — why he left the Cavs, exactly; where did he go; was he going to retire — Rose didn't say.
"I was just figuring things out," he said. "Thinking about this and that. But I'm here for my team. I'm here to win. And that's one of the reasons why I came back." Manu Ginobili hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining and the San Antonio Spurs overcame Kyrie Irving’s 36-point effort to beat Boston, snapping the Celtics’ four-game winning streak. Ginobili set DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points, Serge Ibaka matched his season high with 21 and the Toronto Raptors pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Memphis Grizzlies.