James leads Cavs to 10th win in a row
LeBron James had yet another double- double, took command of a challenging defensive assignment and stuck around to see the end of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 10th straight victory, 121-114 over the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night.
James had 24 points and 12 assists, and Kevin Love had 25 points and 16 rebounds to help Cleveland hold off Atlanta to extend the NBA’s longest active winning streak. It was James’ 14th double- double in 22 games.
James had frequent exchanges with the officials but avoided serious confrontations following his first ejection in 1,082 career games Tuesday night in a home victory over Miami.
Dennis Schroder, who led Atlanta with 27 points, blew past Cavaliers guard Jose Calderon to score on three straight layups to give Atlanta a 67-58 lead late in the first half.
James took over primary defensive duties on Schroder to close the half and continued covering the super- quick guard in the second half.
The Cavaliers, who lost 117-115 at home to the Hawks on Nov. 4, ended a streak of three straight losses in the series.
Cleveland trailed 67-63 at halftime despite making 8 of 17 3-pointers.
The Cavaliers finished with 18 3s, giving them 11 straight games with 10 or more long-range shots.
The Cavaliers took the lead by outscoring the Hawks 36-23 in the third quarter. Love had 12 points in the period.
• Cavaliers guard Iman Shumpert was set to have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Friday. CELTICS 108, 76ERS 97 » Kyrie Irving scored 36 points and Boston held off weary and short-handed Philadelphia to improve their NBA-best record to 19- 4.
Irving has five games this season with 30 or more points. Al Horford added 21 points and eight rebounds, and Marcus Morris had 17 points for Boston.
Dario Saric led Phila- delphia with 18 points. JJ Redick finished with 17 and Ben Simmons had 15. BUCKS 103, TRAIL BLAZERS 91 » Khris Middleton had 26 points and Eric Bledsoe had 25 to snap a threegame Portland winning streak.
The Bucks led by asmany as 24 points in the third quarter and the Blazers struggled to keep up. Portland was also vexed by turnovers, with 19 compared to Milwaukee’s nine.
Jusuf Nurkic led Portland with 25 points and 11 rebounds, while Damian Lillard added 18 points. JAZZ 126, CLIPPERS 107 » Utah had seven players score in double figures and went on a 21- 4 run in the fourth quarter.
Reserve Alec Burks scored a season- high 28 points to lead Utah, with rookie Donovan Mitchell adding 24 points.
Austin Rivers led the Clippers with 25 points, and Lou Williams had 20. NUGGETS111, BULLS110 » Will Barton capped a careerhigh 37 points with a driving layup with 3.2 seconds left and Denver overcame the loss of Nikola Jokic to a leg injury.
Gary Harris added 21 points, and Kenneth Faried had 14 points and 13 rebounds for Denver.
Jokic went down in with 44 seconds left in the second quarter when he drove to the basket and stepped on Jerian Grant’s foot. Jokic hit two free throws before heading to the locker room with an obvious limp. He didn’t return in the second half.
The Bulls have lost seven straight to finish 2-13 in November. ORLANDO’S ROSSOUT » Forward Terrence Ross has a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee and a non- displaced fracture of the same leg, and will be out indefinitely.
The team says an MRI on Thursday showed the extent of Ross’ injuries and that he will “miss a significant amount of time.”
Ross averaged 9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 26.2 minutes, with nine double- digit scoring efforts and a 22-point game against Minnesota last week.