SAN ANTONIO — Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points Monday night and the San Antonio Spurs dismantled the ailing Cleveland Cavaliers 103-74 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 straight and fell a half-game behind Boston (48-26) for the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
In addition to scoring a season-low 17 points, LeBron James of the Cavaliers was injured late in the third quarter after taking an elbow to the base of his neck. He remained on the bench for a while receiving medical attention, then headed toward the locker room and didn’t return to the game.
His status wasn’t immediately known.
KNICKS 109, PISTONS 95: Derrick Rose scored 27 points, Kristaps Porzingis had 25 and New York won at home.
Carmelo Anthony returned from a two-game absence due to a sore left knee and added 21 as the Knicks snapped a five-game losing streak and avoided playoff elimination.
THUNDER 92, MAVERICKS 91: Russell Westbrook hit a pull-up jumper with seven seconds left and Oklahoma City erased a 13-point deficit in the final four minutes at Dallas.
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.
RAPTORS 131, MAGIC 112: DeMar DeRozan scored 36 points, and Cory Joseph had 15 points and 13 assists as Toronto won at home for its sixth straight victory.
DeRozan, selected the Eastern Conference player of the week earlier in the day, set the pace early by scoring 18 in the first quarter. Joseph added six rebounds and Jonas Valanciunas had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Raptors (45-29).
NOTES
LAKERS: A battle over control of the team is over after an agreement was reached to have Jeanie Buss serve as controlling owner for the rest of her life, making permanent the arrangement her late father, owner Jerry Buss, said in his will that he wanted.
The agreement states that Jim and Johnny Buss agreed their sister will serve as the controlling owner. The filing ends weeks of uncertainty about control of the franchise.
ROCKETS: The owner, Leslie Alexander, donated a combined $4 million to 20 charities in Houston.
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