Timberwolves cruise to home win over Cavs

Andrew Wiggins had 25 points in three quarters, Jimmy Butler pitched in 21 points and tight defense on LeBron James, and the Minnesota Timberwolves cruised to a 127-99 victory over Cleveland on Monday night that stopped a 12game home losing streak to the Cavaliers.

Karl-Anthony Towns (19 points, 12 rebounds) and Taj Gibson (16 points, 13 rebounds) were tenacious around the basket for the Timberwolves, who outrebounded the Cavs 56-37 and had a 6042 advantage in points in the paint.

James had just 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting, taking his first loss at Minnesota since Feb. 17, 2005. Cleveland fell behind by as much as 41 points in the third quarter after a dunk by Wiggins.

Butler had plenty to do with that, contributing nine assists and eight rebounds before resting during the fourth quarter, too. The Wolves led 69-42 at halftime.

Jeff Green scored 22 points off the bench to lead the Cavs, who’ve lost six of their past nine. SPURS 107, KINGS 100 » LaMarcus Aldridge had 31 points and 12 rebounds, and San Antonio came back from 13 down in the second half to beat Sacramento.

Davis Bertans scored a career-high 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting with six 3-pointers. Patty Mills added 14 points and five assists, and Bryn Forbes scored 12 to help the Spurs to their 12th consecutive win over the Kings. CLIPPERS 108, HAWKS 107 » C.J. Williams hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with nine seconds left to lift host Los Angeles over Atlanta. RAPTORS 114, NETS 113 » DeMar DeRozan scored 35 points, including a goahead three-point play with 26.1 seconds left in overtime, and Toronto shook off a late injury to Kyle Lowry to beat Brooklyn.

The Raptors lost a 10-point lead in the final 4½ minutes of regulation and then lost Lowry after a hard fall in OT, but at least won the game, just as they always do against the Nets.

Toronto beat Brooklyn for the 10th straight time and won its fifth in a row overall.

PACERS 109, BUCKS 96 » Domantas Sabonis had 17 points and 10 rebounds and three of his teammates each scored 15 to lead host Indiana past Milwaukee.

Indiana has won two straight since a five-game losing streak. Victor Oladipo, Thaddeus Young and Myles Turner all scored 15 points.

The Bucks were led by Khris Middleton with 19 points and Giannis Antetokoumpo with 17.

It was a complete reversal from the Bucks’ 21-point victory over Indiana last week.

This time, the Pacers dominated most of the final 42 minutes by creating turnovers and forcing Milwaukee into bad shots after hitting 18 of their first 25 attempts.

ROCKETS 116, BULLS 107 » Eric Gordon and Chris Paul each had 24 points and nine assists, Gerald Green scored 22 and Houston beat host Chicago.

Trevor Ariza hit six 3-pointers and scored 18 to go with nine rebounds. Clint Capela added 15 points and 16 rebounds, and the Rockets won for the third time in 10 games despite blowing a 21-point lead.

Bobby Portis led the Bulls with 22 points. Denzel Valentine and Kris Dunn each scored 19, but Chicago lost for the fifth time in six games.

With NBA scoring leader James Harden missing his fourth consecutive game because of a strained hamstring, the Rockets regained control after falling behind early in the third.

PELICANS 112, PISTONS 109 » DeMarcus Cousins scored 16 of his 20 points after Anthony Davis left with an ankle injury in the third quarter, and New Orleans held off visiting Detroit. Rajon Rondo capped a 12-point, 15-assist performance with two transition layups in the last 1:21.