Garland scores 27 to lead Cavs past Spurs
Cavaliers 105, Spurs 92: Darius Garland scored 27 points in his return from a back injury and Caris Levert added 11 in his debut for Cleveland, leading the Cavaliers to a 105-92 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night in their last home game before hosting the All-star Game.
Garland, who missed the past four games with a sore lower back, showed why he was selected as an All-star for the first time. He made 12 of 15 shots, added six assists, five rebounds and got Cleveland’s offense back on track.
Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell scored 18 apiece and All-star Dejounte Murray had 16 for the Spurs, who opened an eight-game road trip.
San Antonio trimmed a 23-point deficit to seven in the fourth quarter before Garland hit a jumper and Levert fed Jarrett Allen for a layup to put the Cavs back in control.
Bulls 121, Hornets 109: Demar Derozan scored 36 points, Nikola Vucevic added 18 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, and the Chicago Bulls handed the Charlotte Hornets their sixth consecutive loss, 121-109 on Wednesday.
Zach Lavine chipped in with 27 points for the Bulls (34-21), who pulled within one game of the Eastern Conference-leading Miami Heat.
Lamelo Ball had 33 points and nine rebounds for Charlotte, which continued to struggle with its 3-point shooting and made just 13 of 43. During their six-game losing streak, the Hornets are shooting 27.9% (66 of 236) from beyond the arc.
Raptors 117, Thunder: Pascal Siakam had 27 points and 16 rebounds, Fred Vanvleet made six 3-pointers and added 21 points, and visiting Toronto beat Oklahoma City for its seventh straight victory.
Siakam started quickly en route to a 13-for-17 shooting performance. He had 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the first nine minutes of play.
The spark led the Raptors to outscore the Thunder 34-22 in the opening quarter, shooting 68.4% from the field while the Thunder shot just 31.8%.
Jazz 111, Warriors 85: Bojan Bogdanovic
scored 23 points and Donovan Mitchell had 14 points with 10 rebounds to power host Utah past Golden State and snap the Warriors’ nine-game winning streak.
Hassan Whiteside had nine points, 17 rebounds and seven blocks as the Jazz nearly held the Warriors to their lowest shooting percentage this season until a garbage-time hot streak helped them finish at 36%.
Mitchell tallied eight assists in a bid to mark Utah’s first triple-double since Carlos Boozer did it 14 years ago.
Trail Blazers 107, Lakers 105: Anfernee Simons scored 29 points and host Portland snapped a six-game losing streak with a victory over Los Angeles.
Jusuf Nurkic added 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers, who kept it close through the first three quarters before rallying in the fourth – despite a roster depleted by a flurry of recent trades.
Lebron James had 30 points for the Lakers, who didn’t have Russell Westbrook because of lower back tightness. It was the first game the former league MVP had missed this season.