CAVALIERS 121, LAKERS 112
CLEVELAND -- LeBron James recorded his 59th career triple-double in front of Lonzo Ball and his brothers, Kevin Love scored 28 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers won for the 16th time in 17 games, 121-112 over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.
James finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists to move a tie with Larry Bird for sixth place on the career triple-doubles list. He also put the Lakers away with a dunk and short runner in the final two minutes.
Love scored 13 in the third quarter, when the Cavs opened an 11-point lead on the way to their 10th consecutive home victory. Jose Calderon added a season-high 17 points for Cleveland.
Brandon Ingram scored 26 for the Lakers and Ball had 13 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds.
It was the first on-court meeting between James and Ball, the Lakers' highly touted rookie whose outspoken father LaVar has brought both attention and animosity toward his son. LaVar Ball did not attend the game.
James can be a free agent next summer and because of his connections to Los Angeles (he owns a film production company, and recently bought another home there), the Lakers are already one of the teams being mentioned as a possible landing spot for the three-time NBA champion.
KNICKS 111, NETS 104
NEW YORK -- Courtney Lee scored 18 of his 27 points in the second half, Michael Beasley added 15, and New York held on to beat Brooklyn after losing star forward Kristaps Porzingis to a sore left knee early in the second half.
Porzingis motioned to the bench with 9:25 remaining in the third quarter after contesting a shot made by Brooklyn's Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. The Knicks' leading scorer had scored 13 points in nearly 18 minutes in the first half.
Enes Kanter had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks, who earned just their second road victory of the season. Their only other one was Oct. 29 at Cleveland.
Spencer Dinwiddie had 26 points for the Nets, who have dropped the first two games to their city rivals. Hollis-Jefferson added 25 points on 10-for-16 shooting and Caris LeVert added 15.
TIMBERWOLVES 119, KINGS 96
MINNEAPOLIS -- Karl-Anthony Towns had 30 points and 14 rebounds in his league-leading 23rd double-double, Jimmy Butler added 21 points and nine assists and the Minnesota Timberwolves cruised past Sacramento.
Andrew Wiggins scored 22 points for Minnesota (17-12), which has won 3 of 4 and is off to the third-best start in franchise history after 29 games.
Zach Randolph had 15 points and nine rebounds for Sacramento. George Hill scored 16 points for the Kings, who lost rookie point guard DeAaron Fox to an injury in the first quarter.
PISTONS 105, HAWKS 91
ATLANTA -- Andre Drummond had 12 points, 19 rebounds and a career-high 9 assists, Tobias Harris added 19 points and Detroit snapped a seven-game slide with a victory over NBA-worst Atlanta.
Avery Bradley finished with 18 points and Langston Galloway scored 17 as Detroit won for the first time since beating Phoenix on Nov. 29.
Ersan Ilyasova had 23 points, John Collins scored 15 and Dennis Schroder had 10 assists for Atlanta, which dropped to 6-22 and has lost 3 in a row.
Sports on 12/15/2017