Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (No 23) shoots against Miami Heat forward Luol Deng in the third quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports
AFP/Cleveland
LeBron James delivered a dominant performance against his former team on Wednesday leading Cleveland to a 113-93 NBA victory over Miami.
James finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as the Cavs cruised to their 14th win in 15 games despite playing without Kevin Love for most of the second half.
Love departed after he was poked in the right eye by Heat guard Mario Chalmers early in the third quarter. Love was hit in the face as he was going up for a rebound and immediately fell to the court, holding his eye.
After several minutes he rose and headed to the locker room.
The Cavs said he had a corneal abrasion, although he was to travel with the team to Chicago for Thursday’s game against the Bulls—the last game before the NBA breaks for this weekend’s All-Star game festivities.
In Love’s absence, Timofey Mozgov stepped up, scoring 14 of his season-high 20 points in the second half.
Tristan Thompson added 17 points and nine rebounds, Kyrie Irving had 15 points and six assists and Iman Shumpert scored 13. Chalmers scored 18 to lead the Heat, who have lost five of seven with Dwyane Wade sidelined by a hamstring strain and head into the All-Star break with a 22-30 record.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra refused to use Miami’s numerous injuries as an excuse for their position on the edge of playoff contention, in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
“This is a men’s only league,” Spoelstra said. “Don’t feel sorry for yourself, don’t make excuses, forge ahead. We’re in the playoffs right now. The best time of year will be when we come back and have that race to the finish.”
With the victory, the Cavaliers avenged a Christmas Day defeat in Miami, James’ first regular-season game against the Heat team he led to two NBA titles and four straight appearances in the finals.
Celtics snatch 89-88 win over Hawks
Boston Forward Evan Turner’s running shot just before the final buzzer broke Atlanta hearts on Wednesday, lifting the lowly Celtics to an 89-88 NBA victory over the high-flying Hawks.
Turner’s stunner gave the Celtics their only lead of the game with two-tenths of a second to play, an astonishing turnaround for the hosts who trailed by as many as 18 and connected on just 32 percent of their shots from the field.
Atlanta, playing their last game before the All-Star break, appeared on their way to becoming the fifth team in league history to win 44 games before the annual mid-season exhibition. But Boston rallied behind the 17 points and 15 rebounds of Jared Sullinger, rookie Marcus Smart’s seven fourth-quarter points and Turner’s game-winner.
Al Horford finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds and fellow All-Star Jeff Teague added 10 points and eight assists for Atlanta. The defeat saw Atlanta’s club record streak of 13 straight wins against Eastern Conference rivals end.
Western Conference leaders Golden State will take the best record in the league into the All-Star break after a close-run 94-91 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Stephen Curry scored 25 points for the Warriors, despite connecting on just nine of his 23 shots from the field.
Curry handed out eight assists, Klay Thompson had 14 points and Leandro Barbosa and Andrew Bogut scored 10 points apiece for Golden State.
