New York Knicks shake off dismal return, beat Boston, 102-93

NEW YORK—Michael Beasley scored 28 of his season32 points in the second half, helping the New York Knicks shake off a dismal return by Kristaps Porzingis to beat the Boston Celtics 102-93 on Thursday night.

Beasley went back to the bench with Porzingis back from a knee injury, but he was on the floor in the fourth quarter while Porzingis watched from the sideline as the former No. 2 overall pick punished the Celtics inside and out to help the Knicks pull away.

Porzingis was 0 for 11 from the field and finished with one point after missing two games with a sore left knee. The “MVP! MVP!” chants he has heard this season instead went to Beasley, who also had 12 rebounds.

He surpassed the 30 points he scored last Saturday against Carmelo Anthony and Oklahoma City with a jumper with 1:06 remaining that stopped a little run by Boston and gave New York an eightpoint lead. The Knicks held on for their fifth victory in six games.

Kyrie Irving scored 32 points for the Celtics, who lost for the second night. They played without starter Jaylen Brown because of left Achilles tendon soreness. Jayson Tatum added 17 points. The Knicks were blown out in Boston to cap their 0-3 start but have since turned things around behind a home-heavy schedule. They have 15 of their 17 victories at Madison Square Garden, where a sellout crowd of 19,812 grew louder with every Beasley basket against the Eastern Conference leaders.

New York jumped to a 13-2 lead and led by 14 in the first quarter, but it appeared the Celtics were starting to take control by the third. Irving made three 3-pointers and one by Tatum gave Boston a ninepoint lead midway through the period before Beasley brought the Knicks back.

He made three consecutive Knicks baskets late in the period to keep it close and it was 68-all going to the fourth. It was still tied before Beasley outscored the Celtics 11-4 to give New York an 86-79 lead, and Boston never got closer than six again.

Cavaliers 115, Bulls 112

CLEVELAND—LeBron James scored 34 points, Kevin Love added 27 and the Cleveland Cavaliers won their 12th straight home game, 115-112 over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night as injured point guard Isaiah Thomas moved even closer to his return.

James had 11 points in the fourth quarter and dropped a pair of free throws with 11.1 seconds left as the Cavs won for the 19th time in 21 games and ended Chicago’s seven-game winning streak.

With Cleveland’s Jae Crowder guarding him closely, Chicago’s Denzel Valentine was short with a tying 3-pointer in the final second.

Dwyane Wade had three steals and two blocks in the fourth quarter for Cleveland, which improved to 3-0 against the Bulls this season.

Rookie Lauri Markkanen scored 25 points, Valentine had 18 and Nikola Mirotic 15 for the Bulls, who lost for the first time since Dec. 6. Chicago’s win streak followed a 10-game losing skid.

The Bulls battled back from a 10-point deficit early in the fourth and were within four at 111-107 when James, who has been so clutch in the fourth quarter all season, sank a fadeaway baseline jumper. Chicago pulled to 113-112 on Valentine’s layup before James made his two free throws and Cleveland got the key defensive stop to end it.

Cavs coach Tyronn Lue missed the game with an undisclosed illness. Assistant coach Larry Drew filled in for Lue, who conducted his usual media session about 90 minutes before tip-off and was in Cleveland’s locker room before the team announced he was sick.

That wasn’t the only news during a hectic pregame for the Cavs as starting guard J.R. Smith was a late scratch with a sore left knee and Thomas took the floor dressed in his uniform and participated in pregame warmups with his teammates for the first time since arriving in Cleveland.

Earlier in the day, Thomas was assigned to the Cavs’ Canton G-League affiliate so he could practice and take part in a fullcourt scrimmage. There’s still no definitive date for Thomas to make his debut with Cleveland, but he’s closer than ever.

Lue did rule Thomas out of Monday’s Christmas Day marquee matchup with Golden State, but it’s possible the 28-year-old All-Star, who was acquired this summer in a blockbuster trade with Boston, could play next week when the team plays at Sacramento and Utah.

Raptors 114, 76ers 109

PHILADELPHIA— DeMar DeRozan scored a career-high 45 points and the Toronto Raptors overcame a 22-point deficit to beat the Joel Embiidless Philadelphia 76ers 114-109 on Thursday night.

DeRozan also set a career high with six 3-pointers. His jumper with 4:13 left put the Raptors ahead to stay after they trailed 76-54 early in the third quarter.

He hit two free throws with 53 seconds left after Philadelphia’s Robert Covington missed a go-ahead 3-point attempt, and then two more with 6.4 seconds left put it away.

Kyle Lowry added 23 points to help the Raptors win their fifth straight and 11th in 12 games.

Ben Simmons scored 20 points and had seven of the Sixers’ 23 turnovers in their fourth straight loss. Covington added 19 points and Dario Saric had 18 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

Philadelphia, which blew a 16-point lead Tuesday night in a loss to Sacramento, fell to 1-7 without Embiid.

It was another day of uncertainty and false hope for the Sixers regarding their oft-injured franchise center, who went from questionable to probable to out in eight hours.

Embiid missed two games with back tightness after logging a career-high 49 minutes in a triple-overtime loss to Oklahoma City last Friday. But the big man participated in shootaround and coach Brett Brown said less than two hours before tipoff that Embiid was “probable” and would play barring a setback in warmups.

Embiid didn’t show any discomfort during pregame drills, but was ruled out about 30 minutes before tipoff.

The Sixers were also without starting shooting guard JJ Redick (right hamstring), but used Covington’s 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range to race ahead by 22.

Things quickly fell apart, as Lowry and Delon Wright (12 points) got hot in a 22-2 run that included bad passes and poor shots by the Sixers.

The Raptors, who looked sleepy for much of the first half a night after winning in Charlotte, recovered to improve to 17-1 agains teams with losing records.