Cavs stretch home win streak to 12
Thomas close, but his Cleveland debut won’t be against Warriors
LeBron James scored 34 points, Kevin Love added 27 and the Cleveland Cava-liers won their 12th straight home game, 115-112 over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night as injured point guard Isaiah Thomas moved even closer to his return — but ruled out playing against the Warriors on Christmas. James had 11 points in the fourth quarter and dropped a pair of free throws with 11.1 seconds left as the Cays won for the 19th time in 21 games and ended Chicago's seven-game winning streak. With Cleveland's Jae Crowder guarding him closely, Chicago's Denzel Valentine was short with a tying 3-pointer in the final second. Rookie Lauri Mark-kanen scored 25 points for the Bulls. Cavs coach Tyronn Lue missed the game with an undisclosed illness. As-sistant coach Larry Drew filled in for Lue, who con-ducted his usual media session about 90 minutes before tip-off and was in Cleveland's locker room be-fore the team announced he was sick. Cleveland assigned Thomas to its Canton G-League team so he could practice and scrimmage with the Charge on Thurs-day, a significant develop-ment in his recovery from a torn labrum in his right hip that was aggravated in the playoffs last season with the Boston Celtics. Thomas said his workout with Canton went well, and he'll wait for Cleveland's medical staff to clear him to play in a game. Thomas said facing the Warriors on Christmas was never his goal. "No, that was a target for my kids," he said. "So they mad, but I'm fine with it. I have no rhythm, so there is no way I can play in an ac-tual game right now and be very effective like I'm used to being. Slowly that will come back and I'll get a feel for it." The Cays have said since October that they believed Thomas would be able to play in NBA games by Jan. 1. Thomas, who averaged 28.9 points last season as one of the NBA's top play-makers, said he wants to be "special" when he returns to the floor and not "just an-other body." RAPTORS 114, 76ERS 109» De-Mar DeRozan scored a ca-reer-high 45 points and To-ronto overcame a 22-point deficit to beat Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia. Kyle Lowry added 23 points to help the Raptors win their fifth straight and 11th in 12 games. Ben Simmons scored 20 points for Philadelphia. Embiid missed two games with back tightness after logging a career-high 49 minutes in a triple-over-time loss to Oklahoma City last Friday. Embiid didn't show any discomfort dur-ing pregame drills, but was ruled out about 30 minutes before tipoff. JAZZ 100, SPURS 89 » Rod-ney Hood scored 29 points and Utah fended off multi-ple comeback attempts by San Antonio. Hood took over in the fourth quarter after San Antonio cut the lead to 82-81. Utah went on a 13-2 run with Hood scoring nine straight points, including a contested pull-up 3-pointer from the corner and a spin-ning, mid-range jumper to push the lead to 12. Ricky Rubio had 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Der-rick Favors finished with 14 points and nine rebounds. SUNS 97, GRIZZLIES 95 » For-mer Memphis guard Troy Daniels hit a 3-pointer with 17 seconds to play to give Phoenix the lead, and the Suns held off the Griz-zlies for their third victory in four games. T.J. Warren led the Suns with 27 points, and Daniels — acquired from the Griz-zlies in September — added 14 off the bench. Phoenix won at home for the first time since Nov. 19 against Chicago. KNICKS 102, CELTICS 93» Mi-chael Beasley scored 28 of his season-high 32 points in the second half, helping New York shake off Kristaps Porzingis' dismal return. Porzingis was 0 for 11 from the field and fin-ished with one point after missing two games with a sore left knee. The "MVP! MVP!" chants he has heard this season instead went to Beasley, who also had 12 re-bounds. Kyrie Irving scored 32 points for the Celtics.