MINNEAPOLIS — Andrew Wiggins had 25 points in three quarters, Jimmy Butler pitched in 21 points and tight defense on LeBron James, and the Minnesota Timberwolves cruised to a 127-99 victory over Cleveland on Monday night that stopped a 12-game home losing streak to the Cavaliers.
Karl-Anthony Towns (19 points, 12 rebounds) and Taj Gibson (16 points, 13 rebounds) were tenacious around the basket for the Timberwolves, who outrebounded the Cavs 56-37 and had a 60-42 advantage in points in the paint.
James had just 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting, taking his first loss at Minnesota since Feb. 17, 2005. Cleveland fell behind by as much as 41 points in the third quarter after a dunk by Wiggins set up by a driving pass by Tyus Jones, who had grabbed his own miss from 3-point range. That matched the largest deficit James has ever faced in the regular season, since a game at Orlando on April 3, 2009.
Butler had plenty to do with that, contributing nine assists and eight rebounds before resting during the fourth quarter, too. The Wolves led 69-42 at halftime, matching their largest first-half score from just two nights ago, after a rainbow 3-pointer from the top of the key by Butler brought the fans to their feet. That also tied the most points allowed by the Cavs in a half this season.
ROCKETS 116, BULLS 107: Eric Gordon and Chris Paul each had 24 points and nine assists, Gerald Green scored 22 and Houston won in Chicago.
Trevor Ariza hit six 3-pointers and scored 18 to go with nine rebounds. Clint Capela added 15 points and 16 rebounds, and the Rockets won for the third time in 10 games despite blowing a 21-point lead.
PELICANS 112, PISTONS 109: Anthony Davis had 30 points and 10 rebounds as New Orleans beat visiting Detroit.
DeMarcus Cousins also had a double-double, finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Rajon Rondo had 12 points and 15 assists.
PACERS 109, BUCKS 96: Domantas Sabonis had 17 points and 10 rebounds and three of his teammates each scored 15 to lead Indiana to a victory over visiting Milwaukee.
Indiana has won two straight since a five-game losing streak. Victor Oladipo, Thaddeus Young and Myles Turner all scored 15 points.
The Bucks were led by Khris Middleton with 19 points and Giannis Antetokoumpo with 17.
It was a complete reversal from the Bucks’ 21-point victory over Indiana last week.
RAPTORS 114, NETS 113: DeMar DeRozan scored 35 points, including a go-ahead three-point play with 26.1 seconds left in overtime, and Toronto shook off a late injury to Kyle Lowry to win in Brooklyn.
The Raptors lost a 10-point lead in the final 41/2 minutes of regulation and then lost Lowry after a hard fall in OT, but at least won the game, just as they always do against the Nets.
Toronto beat Brooklyn for the 10th straight time and won its fifth in a row overall.
NOTES
WARRIORS: Forward Draymond Green has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for publicly criticizing the league’s officiating.
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