Pacers rally past Cavs, road Warriors extend streak
LOS ANGELES: Darren Collison scored 22 points and Victor Oladipo tallied 19 as the Indiana Pacers rallied from a 22-point deficit to edge the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers 97-95 on Friday.
Lance Stephenson finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Pacers who improved to 22-20 on the season in front of a crowd of 17,900 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse arena.
The loss was the third straight for the three-time defending Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers.
Cleveland would need a monumental effort from LeBron James in order to halt their losing streak.
But it wasn’t enough as the four-time MVP finished with 27 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds while Kevin Love had 21 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
James was also slapped with a technical foul after losing his cool and retaliating against Stephenson with 7:53 left in the game.
James made the mistake of shoving Stephenson in the chest after the two made contact with each other.
After the game, James described Stephenson as a “dirty” player.
“I should have known, I’ve known since school, it’s not the guy who tells the joke that gets caught it’s the guy who laughs,” James said.
Elsewhere, Kevin Durant scored 26 points, Draymond Green added 21 and the Golden State Warriors defeated the host Milwaukee 10894.
The Warriors, who were without injured star Stephen Curry, clamped down on defence against the Bucks.
“It definitely wasn’t easy,” said Durant of the Warriors’ 11th consecutive road victory. — AFP