Injury-riddled Hawks squeak past Cavaliers
CLEVELAND » Dennis Schroeder scored 28 points and the injury-riddled Atlanta Hawks ended an eightgame losing streak, beating the skidding Cleveland Cavaliers 117-115 on Sunday.
Missing five players, Atlanta won for the first time since topping Dallas in the season opener.
Cleveland’s Kevin Love was taken to a hospital with an illness, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said without disclosing the problem. Love left in the third quarter.
Coming off his 57-point performance Friday night at Washington, LeBron James had 26 points and 13 assists for Cleveland. The Cavaliers have lost five of seven. ROCKETS 137, JAZZ 110 » James Harden scored a career-high 56 points and added 13 assists in just 35 minutes to lead the Houston Rockets to a 137-110 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday night.
Harden finished 19 of 25 from the field after missing his last three attempts. The MVP runner-up was 7 for 7 from beyond the arc until he missed a step-back 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter as the shot clock was about to expire.
Even when the Jazz could deny Harden his shot, he passed it off for someone else to score. Eric Gordon scored 20 points, Trevor Ariza had 14 and Nene scored 13 off the bench.
Harden received a standing ovation from the Toyota Center crowd, which rained down “MVP! MVP!” chants at multiple points during the game. He had 22 points in both the first and third quarters, 30 at halftime and sat for the final 7:32 of the blowout.
Donovan Mitchell Utah with 17 points. WIZARDS 107, RAPTORS 96 » Bradley Beal scored 38 points, Otto Porter Jr. had 19 and Washington overcame the absence of AllStar point guard John Wall to beat Toronto, winning for the second time in 11 meetings with the Raptors.
Marcin Gortat had 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Markieff Morris and Kelly Oubre Jr. each scored 10 points for the Wizards. Wall sat out because of a sprained left shoulder sustained led Friday in a 130-122 loss to Cleveland. He is expected to return for Tuesday’s home game against Dallas.
Toronto lost its starting point guard when Kyle Lowry was ejected with 8:08 remaining in the second quarter after picking up two technical fouls in quick succession for arguing. Lowry finished with two points in 12 minutes. DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points and Norman Powell had 19 as Toronto lost for the first time in three home games this season. KNICKS 108, PACERS 101 » Kristaps Porzingis scored a career-high 40 points, carrying the New York Knicks back from a 19-point deficit to a 108-101 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night.
Porzingis added eight rebounds and six blocked shots in his seventh 30-point performance in nine games this season.
Rookie Frank Ntilikina made the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 1:34 remaining as the Knicks won for the fifth time in six games after an 0-3 start. He had 10 points and the bench.
Thaddeus Young scored 18 points and Victor Oladipo had 17 for the Pacers, who led 84-65 with under 2 minutes remaining in the third quarter. TIMBERWOLVES 112, HORNETS 94 » Jeff Teague had 18 points and 12 assists and Minnesota beat Charlotte for its fifth straight victory.
Andrew Wiggins led Minnesota with 20 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns, Jimmy Butler, Gorgui Dieng and Jamal Crawford all reached double figures seven assists off in scoring.
The Timberwolves moved to 7-3, just a half-game behind Houston for the top spot in the Western Conference. The last time Minnesota won five games in a row was Jan. 2-10, 2009.
Cody Zeller led Charlotte with 16 points. CELTICS 104, MAGIC 88 » Jaylen Brown scored 18 points and Al Horford added 14 points and 10 rebounds to spark Boston to a victory over Orlando.
The Eastern Conferenceleading Celtics (8-2) have won eight straight after beginning the season with back-to-back losses. Orlando (6-4), which was tied with the Celtics for the best record in the NBA coming into Friday night, has lost two straight.
Kyrie Irving struggled with his shot in the second half, but Marcus Morris, Marcus Smart, Brown and Horford carried Boston offensively. Morris had 12 points in his second game of the season, rookie Jayson Tatum finished with 13 and Smart contributed 11. HEAT 104, CLIPPERS 101 » James Johnson made two free throws with 8.7 seconds left and Miami recovered after blowing a 25-point lead, bouncing back to beat Los Angeles.
The Clippers began the fourth quarter with a 16-0 run and surged to take a 101-100 edge with 16.3 seconds left. They missed a chance to extend the lead when Austin Rivers missed two foul shots. Johnson put Miami ahead and, after Blake Griffin missed a 3-pointer, Josh Richardson added two more foul shots.
Hassan Whiteside had 21 points and 17 rebounds for the Heat and Tyler Johnson scored 17 points. Griffin had 23 points, and Lou Williams had 22 for Los Angeles.