Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James, right, prepares to drive around San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard during the first half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, in San Antonio.
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Westbrook finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his fourth triple-double of the season.
The victory also allowed the Spurs to extend their regular-season home victory streak to 32 games, dating back to an overtime loss to the Cavaliers last March, and granted them their best start after 41 games in franchise history.
“We just played better defense in the second half”, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
The Cavaliers capped six games away from home and were playing for the second straight night, but it was the Rockets who looked exhausted and listless as Cleveland built a double-digit lead by halftime and pushed it to 20 in the third quarter. Through 10 games Irving is averaging 16.5 points on 42 percent shooting from the field.
Instead of folding on defense in the fourth period as they did in their previous home loss to Cleveland, San Antonio rallied in the final quarter Thursday.
Golden State is of course the defending champion, and the year before San Antonio won the Finals over James’ Heat. “We’re playing for each other, that’s the most important thing”, guard James Harden told reporters. Kawhi did a very good job of making him play uncomfortable.
The Cavs, at this stage of the season, don’t have many roadblocks in the Eastern Conference, and the Spurs have held pace with the Warriors all season, trailing by only two games in the Western Conference. Cleveland shot just 39 percent, 23 percent from 3, but grabbed 17 offensive rebounds. He missed all five of his three-point attempts and committed eight of the Rockets’ 19 turnovers.
J.R. Smith added 17 points for the Cavs, and Kevin Love scored 10 with 12 rebounds.
The Cavs scored 32 points in the first quarter, but just 63 the rest of the night.
“I don’t know how to explain that – it is just going to happen”, Parker said. “I’ve got a long way to go”. “It worked out pretty good for us; we got some wide-open 3s”. From one King to Another and to the Greatest PF to Ever play this game, all Love and Respect Timmy D! “It is not easy to do and he still was aggressive offensively”, said Popovich.
West had 13 points as the Spurs’ bench outscored the Cavaliers’ reserves 35-12. The Rockets scored on their first seven possessions, but the Cavs stiffened defensively when Thompson replaced Mozgov midway through the first quarter.
Damian Lillard played like the All-Star that he is, scoring 33 points and adding 10 assists as the Trailblazers beat the Nets 116-104.
Russell Westbrook got the 23rd triple-double of his career to lead Oklahoma City Thunder to a 113-93 win over Minnesota Timberwolves. They haven’t won more than two games in a row since late November and could use a win over the Knicks continue capitalizing on a six-game home stand that ends with NY on Saturday and New Orleans on Monday.
He also noted that those 54 seconds came in the first 54 seconds of a fourth quarter against the Clippers.
“Can’t they send somebody else out here?”
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“I was just shooting the ball”, Butler said. Bradley Beal added 22 points for the Wizards.
