Sports FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2016

WASHINGTON: Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James hangs from the rim after dunking in front of forward Otto Porter Jr (22), Marcin Gortat (13) and guard Garrett Temple (17) during the second half. — AP James scores 34 as Cavaliers top Wizards

WASHINGTON: LeBron James scored 34 shooting. He played 33 minutes and appeared won their seventh straight game despite the Chicago and Cleveland. The Nets haven’t won points, Kyrie Irving took over in the fourth to have no problems with mobility. Russell absence of Blake Griffin, who has missed six at Barclays Center since beating Philadelphia quarter and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Westbrook added 20 points, seven rebounds games because of a partially torn left quadrei- on Dec. 10. Brook Lopez had 24 points and 13 injury-ravaged Washington Wizards 121-115 and seven assists for the Thunder. Mario ceps tendon. DeAndre Jordan had 14 points rebounds for Brooklyn. on Wednesday night for their fifth straight vic- Chalmers led the Grizzlies with 23 points. and 14 rebounds. Damian Lillard had 20 tory. Irving scored 21 of his 32 points in the points and nine assists for Portland. The Trail PISTONS 99, CELTICS 94 fourth quarter, including a run of 10 straight MAVERICKS 100, PELICANS 91 Blazers were without guard CJ McCollum Reggie Jackson 24 points, Kentavious that put the game away. James had 10 scored 22 points in a because of a “clerical error.” McCollum was Caldwell-Pope finished with 20 and Detroit rebounds, and JR Smith added 25 points for game Dallas chose to rest four starters, and mistakenly left off the team’s active roster beat Boston. Isaiah Thomas led the Celtics Cleveland. Garrett Temple led the Wizards the Mavericks defeated New Orleans. Dallas that is turned in before the game. Although with 22 points, scoring their final 15 over the with 21 points and John Wall had 20. Playing coach Rick Carlisle sat out Dirk Nowitzki, the Blazers initially said that McCollum was last 7:24 after missing 14 of his first 15 shots. without Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair and , Zaza Pachulia and Wesley active, he did not start. The team announced Drew Gooden, Washington lost its second Matthews after they each played 40-plus min- he was inactive shortly before halftime. SUNS 111, HORNETS 102 straight game. utes in a double-overtime victory over Mirza Teletovic made five of the Suns’ sea- Sacramento on Tuesday night. Chandler PACERS 95, MAGIC 86 son-high 19 3-pointers as Phoenix ended a KNICKS 98, HEAT 90 Parsons, the only usual starter in uniform, Paul George had 20 points and nine-game skid by beating Charlotte. Brandon Carmelo Anthony scored 25 points and scored 19 of his 21 in the first half. Anthony scored nine of his 19 in the fourth quarter, lead- Knight added 18 points and seven assists for New York shot 56 percent to end a streak of Davis had 26 points and 12 rebounds for the ing Indiana over Orlando. George, who scored at the Suns. Kemba Walker had 25 points to lead eight consecutive losses to Miami. Anthony Pelicans. least 31 points in his previous three games, shot the Hornets, who lost their fifth straight. made 9 for 12. In his first two games against 5 of 13 but led a second-quarter rally that put the Heat, Anthony shot 10 for 29 and totaled SPURS 123, JAZZ 98 the Pacers ahead for good. It was the Pacers’ NUGGETS 78, TIMBERWOLVES 74 32 points. added a season-high Tim Duncan scored a season-high 18 sixth straight victory (two this season) against Danilo Gallinari had 20 points, seven 19 points for the Knicks, who won their third points and San Antonio had eight other play- the Magic, who have lost four in a row overall. rebounds and four assists to help Denver end game in a row. Chris Bosh scored 28 points for ers in double figures to beat Utah and remain a six-game losing streak with a victory over the Heat. unbeaten at home. The Spurs matched the RAPTORS 91, NETS 74 Minnesota. Jusuf Nurkic had 15 points and 10 best start in franchise history by winning their Jonas Valanciunas had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and the Nuggets overcame 35.8 THUNDER 112, GRIZZLIES 94 21st straight home game to open the season. rebounds, and Toronto handed Brooklyn its percent shooting by hitting eight of 20 3- Kevin Durant had 26 points and a season- Trey Burke had 21 points for the Jazz and eighth straight home loss. Kyle Lowry had 17 pointers. Denver had lost nine of its previous high 17 rebounds after missing the previous Gordon Hayward had 18. points, eight rebounds and six assists. He 10 games. Karl-Anthony Towns had 14 points game with a sprained right big toe, and made all seven shots inside the arc but was 0 and 14 rebounds, and Nikola Pekovic scored Oklahoma beat Memphis. Durant, who began CLIPPERS 109, TRAIL BLAZERS 98 for 7 from 3-point range as the Raptors 12 points in his season debut for the reeling the day as the NBA’s No 3 scorer, broke loose had 21 points and 19 assists to bounced back after giving up nearly 120 Timberwolves. Minnesota has lost four for 17 points in the second half on 7-for-8 lead Los Angeles past Portland. The Clippers points per game in consecutive losses to straight games and eight of nine. — AP