CLEVELAND CAVALIERS’ LeBron James (23) shoots over Toronto’s Jonas Valanciunas during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland on Tuesday. The Cavaliers won, 121-117.
LeBron James had 28 points and 14 assists, Kyrie Irving scored 24 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Toronto Raptors 121-117 on Tuesday night to match the best start in franchise history after 10 games.
It was another tense matchup between the teams who met in last season’s Eastern Conference finals and could get there again.
Channing Frye’s 3-pointer from the top of the key with 59 seconds left put the Cavs up by one. Cleveland then buckled down on defense, holding the Raptors scoreless until letting Kyle Lowry make a layup with 2.8 seconds left.
Kevin Love added 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Cavs, who are 9-1 for the first time since 1976-77.
Lowry scored 28 and DeMar DeRozan added 26 for the Raptors.
Hawks 93, Heat 90
MIAMI (AP) — Dennis Schroder scored 18 points, Paul Millsap and Tim Hardaway Jr. each scored 15 and Atlanta pushed its winning streak to five games by beating reeling Miami.
Mike Muscala scored 14 and Kent Bazemore added 12 for the Hawks. Dwight Howard had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks, before leaving with 3:06 left in the third quarter with a bruised left thigh.
Hassan Whiteside scored 19 points and grabbed an NBA season-high 25 rebounds for Miami, which has now dropped six straight. The eight Heat losses so far this season have come by an average of 6.9 points — with three of the last four coming by four points or less.
Josh Richardson also scored 19 for Miami, which got 14 points from Tyler Johnson, 13 from James Johnson and 11 from Dion Waiters.
Hornets 115, T-Wolves 108
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) —
Kemba Walker scored 30 points and Charlotte blitzed Minnesota in the third quarter.
Frank Kaminsky scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter for the Hornets (7-3), who snapped a two-game skid. Nicolas Batum had 16 points and seven assists, and Charlotte outscored Minnesota 36- 17 in the third quarter to wipe out a 12-point halftime deficit.
Andrew Wiggins scored 29 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Timberwolves, who fell to 1-2 on their four-game homestand. Minnesota turned the ball over 18 times, which led to 20 points for Charlotte.
Bulls 113, T-Blazers 88
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Jimmy Butler had 27 points and 12 rebounds, and Chicago opened a six-game road trip with a victory over Portland.
Dwyane Wade had 19 points for Chicago, which extended its modest winning streak to three games. Former Blazers center Robin Lopez added 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The Blazers, who had won five of six, were cold from the start, falling behind by as many as 26 points. Damian Lillard, who made just two shots from the field in the first half, finished with 19 points.
Lakers 125, Nets 118
LOS ANGELES (AP) — D’Angelo Russell scored 32 points and Julius Randle added 17 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists for his second career triple-double in surprising Los Angeles’ victory over Brooklyn.
Timofey Mozgov had 20 points and six rebounds for the Lakers, who maintained a steady lead down the stretch of their fourth win in five games at Staples Center this season.
Russell hit seven 3-pointers and had eight rebounds during the highest-scoring performance by any Lakers player in their impressive start to the season.
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