Love, Cavaliers slip by Knicks
CLEVELAND » Kevin Love scored 20 points — nine straight in a 3-point barrage in just over a minute — and Darius Garland had 12 assists as the Cleveland Cavaliers survived a late rally by New York to beat the Knicks 95-93 on Monday night.
Down by 15 in the fourth quarter, the Knicks rallied but came up short as Julius Randle’s 38-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer was way short.
Garland hit a late 3-pointer, rookie Evan Mobley had 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Isaac Okoro scored 14 points for the Cavs, who have won seven of eight and played much better after a sloppy win over Oklahoma City on Saturday.
R.J. Barrett scored 24 points and Randle 18 for the Knicks. New York had several chances in the final two minutes, but Immanuel Quickly missed an illadvised
3-pointer (he was 1 of 10 from the field) and Barrett was long on a 3. BULLS 111, THUNDER 110 » Nicola Vucevic had 26 points and 15 rebounds, and Chicago withstood a fierce rally by Oklahoma City.
Rookie Ayo Dosunmu scored a season-high 24 points and Zach LaVine added 23 for the Bulls.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points and 10 assists and Lu Dort added 16 points for the Thunder, who have lost 11 of 12.
PELICANS 117, PACERS 113 » Devonte Graham scored 25 points, Josh Hart had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and New Orleans defeated Indiana.
The short-handed Pacers stayed in the game — and led for a good portion of it — because of their 3-point shooting. They made 19 of 46 (41.3%) for the game.
Duane Washington Jr., an undrafted rookie out of Ohio State who’d made 17 3s for the season coming in, hit a career-best seven shots (on 12 attempts) from deep for a career-high 21 points. SUNS 115, JAZZ 109 » Devin Booker scored 33 points, Chris Paul had 15 of his season-high 27 points in the fourth quarter, and Phoenix rallied for a win over shorthanded Utah.
Paul was the main catalyst for Phoenix’s final push, dominating the quarter when Booker cooled off following a hot start. The 36-year-old point guard made his first five shots of the period, including two 3-pointers.
Utah was missing AllStars Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley. The Jazz lost for the eighth times in 11 games.