Wizards hold off revamped Cavs, Sixers edge Bulls

The Cleveland Cavaliers returned from the NBA All-Star break with a thudThursday, falling 110-103 to the Washington Wizards despite 32 pointsfrom LeBron James.The Cavs had not lost since trading half a dozen players and receivingfour at the February 8 trade deadline, winning four straight headinginto the All-Star break.James, who earned his third All-Star Most Valuable Player award onSunday in his 14th straight start in the mid-season exhibition,connected on 13 of 18 shots from the floor, pulled down nine reboundsand handed out eight assists.He became the seventh player in NBA history with 11,000 career baskets, scoring Cleveland’s last 14 points in defeat.“We got some really, really good looks,” James said. “We played hard. Ithink the legs, being off for nine days kind of got to us, especiallyafter the first quarter.”The Cavs had led by 12 in the second period, but they finished justeight-of-35 from three-point range as the Wizards, still without injuredfive-time All-Star point guard John Wall, gained the win.Bradley Beal scored 18 points to lead the Wizards, who are now half agame behind Cleveland for third place in the Eastern Conference.Trailing 82-79 going into the fourth, Cleveland took an 89-88 lead on Kyle Korver’s three-pointer with 9:42 remaining.But Washington scored nine straight points to regain the lead.“It’s still a work in progress for us,” James said. “It’s not going tobe overnight no matter the excitement before the break. We’ve got a lotof things to work on... we still played our game, we just didn’t make alot of shots.”If the All-Star break slowed the Cavs, it seemed to have energised thereigning champion Golden State Warriors, who held off the determined LosAngeles Clippers 134-127 in Oakland.“Obviously the break came at a good time for us,” said Warriors star Stephen Curry, who scored 44 points.Kevin Durant added 21 with eight assists, Klay Thompson scored 19 pointsand Draymond Green chipped in 13 points with seven rebounds and sixassists for a Golden State team that coach Steve Kerr described as“mentally fried” as they lumbered into the All-Star break.Curry connected on 14 of his 19 shots from the field, including eight of 11 from three-point range.Golden State led 104-93 early in the fourth quarter before the Clippersput together a 9-0 scoring run to trim the deficit to two.With less than two minutes remaining, Curry’s deep three-pointer had theWarriors’ lead back to seven points and the Clippers wouldn’t getcloser than five from there.“We’ve still got some stuff to work on,” Curry said. “But I like ourcompetitive spirit. We found a way to win down the stretch.”On Saturday the Warriors host the Oklahoma City Thunder, who edged theKings in Sacramento 110-107 thanks to Russell Westbrook’s game-winningthree-pointer as time expired.Trailing 44-21 after the first period, the Kings had battled back to lead 90-85 going into the final frame.It was tied at 107-107 with one second left, but after a timeoutWestbrook nailed the game-winner over Sacramento’s Garrett Temple.“Couldn’t make nothing in the second half, but I made the one thatcounted,” said Westbrook, who finished with 17 points, 15 rebounds and12 assists, his 18th triple-double of the season.