James leads new group to victory over Celtics
LeBron James shook off a first-quarter leg injury to score 24 points with 10 assists and eight rebounds in the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers’ 121-99 win over the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
In their first appearances since being acquired at the trade deadline, Jordan Clarkson scored 17 points, Rodney Hood had 15, George Hill had 12 and Larry Nance Jr. scored five. The foursome practiced with the Cavaliers for the first time on Saturday.
“I know the guys that are here are very excited about this opportunity,” James said. “It’s my job as the leader of this team to make sure that I acclimate the four new guys to be around a culture that’s built around winning.”
The Celtics, who were led by Terry Rozier’s 21 points, made it 64-55 on the first basket of the third quarter but never got within 10 the rest of the way.
THUNDER 110, GRIZZLIES 92 >> Paul George scored 33 points for Oklahoma City, which beat Memphis despite Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony sitting out with ankle injuries.
Marc Gasol scored 18 points for the Grizzlies. PACERS 121, KNICKS 113 >> Victor Oladipo had 30 points and nine assists to help Indiana beat New York, which got 17 points apiece from Enes Kanter and Tim Hardaway Jr. TIMBERWOLVES 111, KINGS 106 >> Karl-Anthony Towns scored 29 points, and Jeff Teague added 12 points and 10 assists to lead Minnesota over Sacramento despite 17 turnovers that allowed 22 second-chance points for the Kings.
ROCKETS 104, MAVERICKS 97 >> James Harden scored 27 points and Chris Paul added 25 for Houston, which beat in-state rival Dallas for its 12th victory in 13 games. RAPTORS 123, HORNETS 103 >> DeMar DeRozan had 25 points and C.J. Miles added 24 for Toronto, which beat Charlotte for its fifth straight win and the 300th of Dwane Casey’s career as head coach of the team. HAWKS 118, PISTONS 115 >> Dewayne Dedmon gave Atlanta the lead with a threepoint play and then padded the margin with a 3-pointer to lift Atlanta past Detroit, which has lost two in a row following a five-game winning streak after getting Blake Griffin in a trade with the Clippers.
JAZZ 115, TRAIL BLAZERS 96 >> Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points and newcomer Jae Crowder had 15 in his Utah debut to help the Jazz win their 10th straight game. It is Utah’s longest winning streak since winning nine in a row in 2010.
Damian Lillard, coming off a 50-point game against Sacramento on Friday night, scored 39 points for Portland, which had its nine-game home winning streak snapped.
KINGS WAIVE JOHNSON >> Three days after being acquired at the trade deadline, Joe Johnson was waived by the Sacramento Kings.
Johnson, 36, appeared in 32 games for Utah and averaged 7.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 21.9 minutes per game. CELTICS HONOR PIERCE >> Paul Pierce became the 23rd person in franchise history to have his number or name enshrined by the Boston Celtics. Sunday’s honor capped a 19-year career for Pierce, who was NBA Finals MVP in 2008 when the Celtics captured their 17th championship.
Pierce tops the Celtics’ all-time lists in 3-pointers made (1,823), free throws (6,434) and steals (1,583). He is Boston’s second alltime leading scorer with 24,021 points, trailing only John Havlicek.