Cavaliers hit first 11 3-point attempts, rout Hawks
CLEVELAND — LeBron James scored 32 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers made their first 11 3-point attempts, including nine in the first quarter, to rout the Atlanta Hawks 127-94 on Saturday night.
The Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to go 9 for 9 or better from behind the arc in a quarter, according to information provided to the team by the Elias Sports Bureau.
James hit three 3-pointers in the period, while Kevin Love and Joe Harris had two apiece. The Cavaliers set a team record by going 19 for 31 on 3s.
Cleveland, which rallied from a 19-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Boston on Friday, needed no dramatics this time. The Cavaliers, who have won four straight, scored 41 points in first quarter, including 11 by James in the opening 3:34.
“Coming off a back-toback I didn’t want us to have a slow start,” James said. “I feel like the guys feed off my energy and I wanted to go out and be aggressive and see where it takes us. It got us to a huge lead.”
Paul Millsap scored 16 points for the Hawks, whose four-game winning streak was snapped.
James, who didn’t play in the fourth quarter, was 13 of 20 from the field. Kyrie Irving added 20 points and six players reached double figures for Cleveland.
Millsap scored the game’s first basket, but James’ 3-pointer gave Cleveland the lead for good as the Cavaliers hit 14 of 18 from the field in the quarter.
Cleveland scored 38 points in the final period Friday in its comeback win at Boston and continued its blistering offense against the Hawks.
Already leading 49-27 early in the second quarter, the Cavaliers scored the next 13 points to take their largest lead of the half with 6:58 remaining.
James, who scored 41 points Friday, added six rebounds and seven assists.
Mike Muscala scored 13 points for Atlanta. Al Horford and John Jenkins each added 12.
OTHER GAMES
Pacers 99, Bulls 90 at Chicago: A.J. Price, Luis Scola and Solomon Hill all scored 21 points, and injury-plagued Indiana beat Chicago.
Chris Copeland added 13 points for the Pacers, who were without six injured players.
Jimmy Butler had 32 points for the Bulls, who played without the injured Derrick Rose.
The Pacers had lost seven of nine and fell 108-87 to the Nuggets on Friday after trailing by as much as 33.
The Bulls had won six of seven.
The Pacers shot 7 for 18 from beyond the arc and 48 percent overall. The Bulls shot just 4 for 17 from 3-point range and 42 percent from the field. The Pacers also outrebounded the Bulls 46-34.
Hill grabbed 12 rebounds and Scola had 11.
Pau Gasol finished with 12 points and six rebounds for the Bulls after averaging 19.3 and 11.1. The Bulls ended their streak of having at least five players score in double figures in all their games. Kirk Hinrich scored 15.
Mavericks 131, Timberwolves 117 at Dallas: Monta Ellis scored a seasonhigh 30 points and Dallas handed the road-weary Timberwolves their fifth straight loss to finish a sixgame trek that included a stop in Mexico City.
Dirk Nowitzki was another of eight players in double figures with 15 as Dallas had a season high in points, two nights after setting a club record with a 53-point win over Philadelphia.
The Timberwolves finished a two-week trip covering more than 5,600 air miles on a back-toback that started with a franchise-worst, 48-point loss in New Orleans.
Kevin Martin scored a season-high 34 points for Minnesota, which gets three days off before starting a four-game homestand.
Raptors 111, Jazz 93 at Toronto: DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points, Jonas Valanciunas set season highs with 17 points and 14 rebounds to help Toronto capture its sixth win in seven games.
Kyle Lowry had 19 points, Patrick Patterson added 16 and Lou Williams scored 10 of his 13 in the fourth quarter as the Raptors won their third straight over the Jazz and scored 100 or more for the ninth time in 10 games this season.
Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors each had 18 points, and Gordon Hayward and Trey Burke both scored 12 for the Jazz, who dropped to 0-3 on the second night of back-to-backs as they wrapped up a fivegame Eastern Conference road trip.
Kings 94, Spurs 91 at Sacramento, Calif: DeMarcus Cousins had 25 points and 10 rebounds, helping Sacramento snap a nine-game losing streak to the Spurs, who had won 21 of the past 22 meetings.
Manu Ginobili had 21 points for San Antonio.
Wizards 98, Magic 93 at Washington: Nene and reserve Kris Humphries scored 16 points apiece, John Wall had 15 points and 10 assists as the Wizards won their third straight and moved to 7-2, Washington’s best start since opening 7-1 during the 1974-75 season.
Reserve Otto Porter added 13 points as the Wiza rds bench outscored Orlando’s reserves 48-13.
All five Orlando starters scored in double figures, led by Tobias Harris with 19 points and Victor Oladipo with 18.
Trail Blazers 97, Nets 87 at Portland, Ore.: Damian Lillard had 28 points and 10 assists, and Portland won despite missing AllStar power forward LaMarcus Aldridge due to an upper respiratory illness.
Brook Lopez scored 21 points for the road-weary Nets, who lost all three games on their western trip.
Warriors 112, Hornets 87 at Oakland, Calif: Klay Thompson scored 21 points, Stephen Curry added 19 points and nine assists, and the Golden State Warriors extend their best start in 20 years.
Andrew Bogut had 13 points and nine rebounds, Harrison Barnes scored 17 points and Marreese Speights had 13 off the bench to help Golden State to its second straight win following consecutive losses.