Spurs dismantle ailing Cavaliers
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points and the San Antonio Spurs dismantled the ailing Cleveland Cavaliers 103-74 on Monday night in a showdown that turned into a major letdown for the defending NBA champions.
LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol added 14 points apiece for the Spurs, who won their fifth straight.
Cleveland (47-26) dropped its second in a row, set a season low for points and fell a half-game behind Boston (48-26) for the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Cavaliers star LeBron James was injured late in the third quarter after taking an elbow to the base of his neck. He headed toward the locker room and didn’t return to the game. His status was not immediately known.
Cleveland has been out of sync recently, losing three of five, and those struggles only got worse against San Antonio. The Spurs led by as many as 33 points to the delight of the sold-out crowd.
San Antonio (57-16) is two games behind Golden State (59-14) for the league’s best record entering a home showdown with the Warriors on Wednesday.
James exited with 25 seconds remaining in the third after taking an elbow to his neck from David Lee on a rebound. James continually rubbed the area before collapsing after he crossed midcourt and remained on the floor for about a minute before walking unassisted to the bench.
THUNDER 92, MAVERICKS 91
In Dallas, Russell Westbrook hit a pull-up jumper with seven seconds left and Oklahoma City erased a 13-point deficit in the final four minutes to beat the Mavericks.
Westbrook scored 37 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter, with 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his third straight triple-double and 37th of the season.
The Thunder finished on a 14-0 run, capped when they gained possession on a replay reversal with 13 seconds to go. Westbrook then hit the decisive shot from just beyond the free throw line over Wesley Matthews.
KNICKS 109, PISTONS 95
In New York, Derrick Rose scored 27 points, Kristaps Porzingis had 25 and the Knicks handed Detroit another damaging defeat.
Carmelo Anthony added 21 points for the Knicks after missing two games with a sore left knee. New York snapped a fivegame losing streak and avoided playoff elimination.
Marcus Morris scored 20 points but the Pistons dropped their fourth straight and fell 1½ games behind Miami for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
RAPTORS 131, MAGIC 112
In Toronto, DeMar DeRozan scored 36 points and Cory Joseph had 15 points and 13 assists as the Raptors defeated Orlando for its sixth straight victory.
DeRozan, selected the Eastern Conference player of the week earlier in the day, scored 18 in the first quarter. Joseph added six rebounds and Jonas Valanciunas had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Raptors (45-29).
Elfrid Payton had 22 points and nine assists for Orlando (27-47). Evan Fournier added 20 points, and Nikola Vucevic had 12 points and 15 rebounds.