CLEVELAND, Dec. 7 (US): Donovan Mitchell scored a season-high 43 points and Jarrett Allen returned from injury to add 24 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 116-102 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Lakers on LeBron James. Just visit home this season.
With Anthony Davis missing the last three quarters due to illness, the Cavs improved to an NBA-leading 11-1 at home, their best home start since 2015-16, when James led them to the championship, The Associated Press reports.
Mitchell, who Cleveland fans dream of another title, took over in the second half and scored 29 points with the same performance James has routinely delivered in 11 seasons with the Cleveland team.
With Cleveland leading by 12 in the fourth, Mitchell buried a three-pointer from the left wing to finish off the Lakers. After dropping the shot, the All-Star guard strutted around the floor of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and nodded as James watched helplessly.
Darius Garland added 21 points and 11 assists for Cleveland.
James finished with 21 points and 17 rebounds, for only the third time in 20 games against the Cavs.
DENVER: Dorian Feeney-Smith hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 17.3 seconds left, and Dallas rallied after squandering a late lead to beat Denver.
Nikola Jokic had a chance to tie the game with 12 seconds left, but missed the first two free throws. Spencer Dinwiddie hit two free throws to seal the win for the Mavericks.
Tim Hardaway, Jr. scored a season-high 29 points and Luka Doncic had a career-high triple-double and fifty-five with 22 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
The Mavericks didn’t look weary as they took on the second game of a back-to-back game. They beat the Western Conference-leading Phoenix Suns the night before.
Aaron Gordon scored 27 points, while Jokic added 19 points, eight assists and eight rebounds for the Nuggets, who lost their third consecutive game on one night when he recorded 17 turnovers.
Presses 116, heat 96
Miami: Bojan Bogdanovic scored 28 of his 31 points in the second half, Alec Burks added 18, and Detroit ran wide in the final two quarters to beat Miami.
Siddig Bay scored 14 points, Isaiah Stewart 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Corey Joseph finished with 11 points for the Pistons, who trailed 50-47 in the first half and then outscored Miami 69-46 in the final two quarters.
It was Detroit’s largest margin of victory this season. The Pistons have won only one game by more than seven points, a 128-114 victory over Golden State on October 30.
Tyler Hero led the scoring charts with 34 points for the season, losing three of its last four games. The Heat started 11-14 for the third time in the past five seasons.