Kevin Love has hit five triples on the way to 29 points, Melbourne-born Kyrie Irving has had 28, and the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers have rolled to their third straight NBA victory over the Detroit Pistons.
All-Star LeBron James on Friday collected 20 points with nine rebounds and eight assists for the Eastern Conference-best Cavs (33-12), who improved to 3-1 since Tyronne Lue replaced fired head coach David Blatt a week ago.
With Irving pushing the pace, Cleveland led 66-58 at halftime behind 19 Love points.
The gap grew to 20 in the third quarter before the Cavs carried a 96-78 cushion into the final 12 minutes and never allowed the lead to dip below nine on the way to their 10th win in the past 11 games, finishing 114-106.
First-time All-Star Andre Drummond had 20 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 19 for the Pistons (25-22), who won the first meeting but were victimised by the Cavs' Big Three.
Elswhere, Dwyane Wade scored 24 points and hit a long jumper with 44.5 seconds left, and the Miami Heat won their third straight road game by beating the Milwaukee Bucks 107-103.
Wade led a balanced scoring effort with all five Miami starters scoring in double figures. Chris Bosh added 20.
Russell Westbrook's sixth triple-double of the season helped the Thunder defeat the Houston Rockets 116-108.
Westbrook finished with 26 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds. It was the 25th triple-double of his career.
Chris Paul scored 27 points and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Lakers 105-93 for its franchise-record ninth straight victory over its city rivals.
Austin Rivers added 17 points off the bench for the Clippers, who improved to 14-3 without Blake Griffin. Their star forward is out for at least a month with a broken right hand after punching a team staff member on the road last weekend.
Kelly Olynyk and Marcus Smart scored 16 points apiece as the Boston Celtics won a season-high fifth straight game, beating the slumping Orlando Magic 113-94.
Carmelo Anthony had 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in his return from a two-game absence, and the New York Knicks ended a four-game losing streak with a 102-84 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Also on Friday, the Portland Trail Blazers had a 109-91 victory over the Charlotte Hornets, the Utah Jazz beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 103-90 and Chandler Parsons had 19 points and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Brooklyn Nets 91-79.
Share
