LeBron’s late 3 helps Cavs outlast Wizards
Kyrie Irving scored 11 of his 23 points in overtime, including a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 35 seconds left, and the Cleveland Cavaliers edged the Wizards, 140-135, in a playoff-type atmosphere last night in Washington.
The loud, sellout crowd was standing, and so were the players on both benches, when LeBron James somehow missed an easy layup late in the fourth quarter. Moments later, he banked in a maximum-degree-ofdifficulty, step-back 3 with 0.3 seconds left to send the game overtime, where he fouled out and Irving took control for Cleveland.
James finished with 32 points and a career-high 17 assists. Kevin Love had 39 points and 12 rebounds for the Eastern Conference leaders, who ended surging Washington’s winning streaks of 17 in a row at home and seven in a row overall.
Bradley Beal had 41 points and eight assists for the Wizards, but he missed a potential tying 3 with about five seconds left in overtime.
Pacers 93, Thunder 90 — In Indianapolis, Paul George had 21 points and eight rebounds, Jeff Teague scored 17 points and Indiana rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to drop Oklahoma City.
The Pacers have won seven straight games — their longest winning streak in almost two years.
Russell Westbrook led Oklahoma City with 27 points, a season-high 18 rebounds and nine assists, falling just short of his 26th triple-double this season.
Raptors 118, Clippers 109 — DeMar DeRozan had 31 points and host Toronto overcame a triple-double from Blake Griffin to beat Los Angeles.
Griffin, who had his fifth career tripledouble and first of the season in three quarters, finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. It wasn’t enough to prevent the Clippers from a third straight defeat against the Raptors and their seventh in eight games in Toronto.
DeRozan, who had missed seven of Toronto’s past eight games with a sprained ankle, was 11-of-22 from the floor, while Kyle Lowry scored 24 points and Jonas Valanciunas had 21 points and 12 rebounds for his 20th double-double of the season.
Lakers 121, Knicks 107 — Lou Williams scored 22 points, Nick Young had 17 and visiting Los Angeles handed New York an embarrassing defeat to stop a 12-game losing streak on the road.
Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram added 14 points apiece for the struggling Lakers, who won for only the third time in 13 games overall. They had dropped 17 of their previous 18 away from home, with the only road victory during that stretch coming on Dec. 16 in Philadelphia.
Pistons 113, 76ers 96 — In Auburn Hills, Mich., Andre Drummond had 16 points and 17 rebounds, and Detroit pulled away at the start of the third quarter for an easy win against Philadelphia.
Pelicans 111, Suns 106 — Anthony Davis capped his 34-point night with a key rebound and six made free throws in the final half-minute, Jrue Holiday scored five of his 30 points in the last minute and a half, and host New Orleans ended a four-game slide with a victory against Phoenix.
Jazz 120, Hawks 95 — Gordon Hayward scored 30 points and visiting Utah broke open a close game with 10 straight points in the third quarter to drub Atlanta.
Hayward, who scored a season-high 33 points in Utah’s 105-98 win against Charlotte on Saturday, had 15 points as the Jazz built a 27-14 lead in the first quarter.
Heat 115, Timberwolves 113 — In Minneapolis, Goran Dragic scored 33 points and hit a career-high seven 3-pointers to lead Miami to its 11th straight victory, beating Minnesota.
Nuggets 110, Mavericks 87 — Will Barton scored 31 points, connecting on five 3-pointers, and host Denver overcame the absence of three starters to beat Dallas.
Grizzlies 89, Spurs 74 — Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph scored 15 points each, Mike Conley added 12 points and nine assists and host Memphis held San Antonio to a season low in points.
Bulls 112, Kings 107 — Dwyane Wade had 31 points and visiting Chicago held off a big fourth-quarter rally by Sacramento to pull out the victory.
Elsewhere in the NBA — Warriors coach Steve Kerr was fined $25,000 by the league for his outburst directed at official Bill Spooner late in the third quarter of Golden State’s three-point overtime loss at Sacramento on Saturday night.