LeBron James had a head cold, the Cavaliers had two starters out hurt, and the entire team was playing on very little sleep after a late night of travel.
Not that any of that matters when Cleveland is playing at home.
James shook off a poor shooting night against the Bulls to finish with 29 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, and the Cavaliers won their 20th straight at The Q, 92-78 over the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.
Sasha Pavlovic, making his first start this season, added 19 points, Mo Williams had 17 and Wally Szczerbiak 15 for the Cavs, playing their final game before a four-game trip out West.
“The true difference between the teams,” Hornets coach Byron Scott said, “is the fact that they were playing with a purpose as far as winning the championship.”
The win gives the Cavaliers some more breathing room in the Central Division over Detroit, which lost 89-79 to the hapless Oklahoma City Thunder.
me since January 2005, and scored 82 or fewer in the three games that ended in regulation. Only three teams have lower scoring averages than Detroit’s 93.6 points.
“They jumped right on us offensively. We couldn’t turn their water off,” Allen Iverson said. “They got hot and they got into an offensive rhythm. We couldn’t stop it”
In other games Friday night, Kobe Bryant’s 15th career triple-double wasn’t enough to overcome big games by Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 109-103 loss to the Orlando Magic, and it was Minnesota 105, Phoenix 103; Philadelphia 109, San Antonio 87; Utah 101, Memphis 91; Milwaukee 129, Sacramento 122; Washington 96, the New York Knicks 89; Indiana 111, Toronto 104; Golden State 119, Atlanta 114.
In Cleveland, where almost everything seems to be right with the Cavaliers, nothing was going right for Chris Paul – even though he claims to practically live there.
The Hornets star was hit with two technical fouls and tossed from the game, then tried to explain the offending incident.
no reason to lie. I didn’t say any curse words, but I got ejected. Do you think that’s a reason to get ejected from a game?”
David West scored 23 and Paul had 18 for New Orleans, which was whistled for five technical fouls in all. James Posey was also ejected in the closing minutes.
Frustration hasn’t boiled over like that quite yet for the Pistons, who’d won seven games in a row before losing to Portland on Jan. 7.
Still, Iverson said it’s up to first-year coach Michael Curry to figure out what’s wrong.
“That’s not something that I can change or put a finger on. That’s something for the coach to figure out,” Iverson said. “That’s why he’s the coach – to figure out what we have to do to get a lot better on the offensive end. I think it will happen.
“Obviously if we won seven games in a row, it can work. We’re just struggling right now.”
Magic 109, Lakers 103
Jameer Nelson scored 15 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter for visiting Orlando, and Dwight Howard had 25 points and 20 rebounds for his league-leading 30th double-double.
Kobe Bryant had 28 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for Los Angeles, but missed two jumpers in the waning moments. The triple-double his 15th but first since April 1, 2005.
Timberwolves 105, Suns 103
and the visiting Timberwolves rallied from an 11-point third-quarter deficit to win for the sixth time in seven games.
Jason Richardson missed a potential winning 3 from the corner at the buzzer.
Shaquille O’Neal and Leandro Barbosa each scored 22 for the Suns.
76ers 109, Spurs 87
At Philadelphia, Thaddeus Young scored a career-high 27 points, Andre Iguodala added 21 and the 76ers (19-20) won their sixth straight game.
Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 20 points and Matt Bonner had 13.
Jazz 101, Grizzlies 91
Deron Williams scored 27 points and Ronnie Brewer added 21 to help the visiting Jazz snap a five-game road skid and win their seventh straight against the Grizzlies.
Rookie guard O.J. Mayo led the Grizzlies with 23 points and Hakim Warrick and Mike Conley came off the bench to score 15 apiece.
Memphis forward Rudy Gay, averaging 18.8 points, was held to five points.
Bucks 129, Kings 122
At Sacramento, Calif., Michael Redd scored a season-high 44 points and the Bucks withstood a late rally after leading by as many as 23.
Charlie Villanueva added 25 points and 12 rebounds, Luke Ridnour had 17 points and 10 assists, and both Richard Jefferson and Luc Mbah a Moute scored 16 for the Bucks.
oints.
Wizards 96, Knicks 89
Antawn Jamison scored 28 points and the host Wizards used a 15-0 run late in the game to snap a six-game slide. Mike James added 19 points and Nick Young 13 for Washington.
The Knicks were led by Al Harrington’s 18 points. Wilson Chandler had 16 and David Lee had 15 points while matching a career high with 21 rebounds.
Pacers 111, Raptors 104
At Indianapolis, Danny Granger scored 23 points and Mike Dunleavy made all three free throws with less than a minute left to preserve the victory.
Chris Bosh had 25 points and 16 rebounds for Toronto. Andrea Bargnani added 20 points.
Warriors 119, Hawks 114
At Oakland, Calif., Jamal Crawford scored 29 points and hit the go-ahead basket late in the fourth quarter to send the Hawks to their fifth loss in six games.
Stephen Jackson, in his first game back from a hamstring injury, added 24 points for Golden State. Joe Johnson scored 25 points for the Hawks.
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