Wade, Love, James lead Cavaliers over Bulls
CHICAGO » Dwyane Wade and Kevin Love each scored 24 points, LeBron James had 23 and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls 113-91 Monday night for their 12th straight win.
Backed by a trio of stars, the Cavaliers matched their longest winning streak since the 2014-15 season.
Wade made 9 of 13 shots in his first game in Chicago since agreeing to a buyout with his hometown team in late September. Love grabbed 13 rebounds and made 8 of 13 from the field. James finished 9 of 15 with seven rebounds and six assists. The Cavaliers shot just under 52 percent. WARRIORS 125, PELICANS 115 » Stephen Curry had 31 points and 11 assists but sprained his ankle late in the game, and Golden State came back from 21 points down late in the first half to defeat New Orleans.
Klay Thompson scored 22 points and Kevin Durant and Draymond Green each had 19 for the Warriors, who won their fourth straight. After it was over, Curry went for X-rays on his right ankle. CELTICS 111, BUCKS 100 » Kyrie Irving had 19 of his 32 points in the second half, helping offset a 40-point night by Giannis Antetokounmpo as Boston held off Milwaukee.
Al Horford added 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Jayson Tatum chipped in 17 points to help Boston improve to an NBAbest 21-4. The Celtics have won five of their last six. HORNETS 104, MAGIC 94 » Kemba Walker had 29 points and seven assists in his return from a shoulder injury, Dwight Howard reached a rebounding milestone and Charlotte beat Orlando to snap a four-game losing streak.
Walker, who missed the previous two games, was the spark plug all night for the Hornets and became the first player in franchise history with 200 career 20-point games. He made all 14 free throw attempts. KNICKS 115, PACERS 97 » Thaddeus Young scored 20 points to lead seven Indiana players in double figures as the Pacers routed shorthanded New York.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 19 points and Victor Oladipo added 16 for the Pacers, who led by 26 at half and 95-65 after three quarters
The Knicks were without leading scorers Kristaps Porzingis (25.8 ppg) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (17.8 ppg) for a second consecutive loss. Porzingis is dealing with a sprained right ankle and illness and Hardaway has a lower left leg injury.
Michael Beasley led Knicks with 13 points. GRIZZLIES 95, TIMBERWOLVES 92 » Marc Gasol scored 21 points, Tyreke Evans added 16 — including two key free throws with 12.7 seconds left — and Memphis snapped an 11game skid with a victory over Minnesota.
Memphis, which hadn’t won since Nov. 7, had to wait a bit longer after Evans’ free throws. On the ensuing possession, Jimmy Butler’s offbalance, 26-footer over Andrew Harrison bounced off the backboard and grazed the rim, snapping the Grizzlies skid. MAVERICKS 122, NUGGETS 105 » Harrison Barnes scored 22 points, Dennis Smith Jr. added 20 and Dallas beat short-handed Denver.
Six Dallas players scored in double figures as the Mavericks earned their second straight wire-to-wire win after beating the Clippers by 26 on Saturday. Dallas had its highest scoring game of the the season and has won five of eight since starting 2-14.
Will Barton led Denver with 23 points, Jamal Murray added 22 and Gary Harris had 21.
Denver played without two-thirds of its starting frontcourt as Paul Millsap (left wrist injury) and Nikola Jokic (sprained left ankle) remained out. NETS 110, HAWKS 90 » Caris LeVert scored a seasonhigh 17 points, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 16 points and Brooklyn used a strong third quarter to grab momentum and beat Atlanta.
Brooklyn, avenging Saturday’s home loss to Atlanta, had everything working in its favor in the second half. It began the third trailing by one but went on a 17-0 run to go ahead 70-54 on DeMarre Carroll’s 3-pointer. The lead swelled to 29 in the fourth as the Nets earned their largest win of the season.
Dennis Schroder finished with 19 points and Kent Bazemore and DeAndre’ Bembry each had 13 for Atlanta, which dropped to 5-18, second-worst in the NBA.