Cavs listen up, win; now best in East 9-3

Jackson’s pull-up jumper tied it and Drummond made one of two free throws with 2:07 left to give Detroit its first second-half lead, 98-97. Drummond’s work on the boards results in crucial second chance points on offense and a lack of the same chances for the opposing team’s offense. Miller has 25,279 points, which means James only needs 66 to move past the Pacers great.

“It’s still been challenging because I look around the league, we’re the only team that hasn’t kind of had our whole team just yet”, James said.

Ignoring the big picture for a moment, James was asked what he wanted to see out of the Cavs against the Bucks on Thursday night.

J.R. Smith added 18 points to help the Cavaliers improve to an East-best 9-3.

“Andre’s a 40 percent shooter, and despite what I might think about that, it is in the rules and we thought we could steal a couple possessions at a critical point in the game”, Cavs coach David Blatt said.

“The two words him and I talked about were (being) aggressive and decisive”, Van Gundy said. He finished the game with a flourish, knocking down six straight free throws in the final 22 seconds to keep Cleveland from getting a chance to regain the lead.

Cleveland is still missing their superstar point guard, Kyrie Irving, so the brunt of the offensive workload has fallen on James and Kevin Love. James wouldn’t single anybody out, but he clearly feels like the team isn’t giving its all every single game.

On the other side of the coaching carousel is Luke Walton who continues to show promise as the interm-coach for Golden State was head coach Steve Kerr continue his rehabilitation from back surgery in the off-season.

“It’s not always about being Iron Man”, James said. We haven’t had our All-Star point guard or our 2-guard to start the season, so it’s been challenging, but at the same time, it shouldn’t take away from the guys that’s in uniform.

The Pistons will take a 6-5 record to Minnesota for their game against the Timberwolves on Friday night. In his front office duties in Detroit, Van Gundy has been granted a wide financial berth by owner Tom Gores-one of those unicorn billionaires who’s eager to spend money on a sports team to make a community happier-in order to fast-track the Pistons back to relevance. “I’m glad you brought that up”. James ended the game with 30 points, which in turn allowed him to pass Jerry West on the all-time scoring list.

Pistons: Drummond has had a double-double in all 11 games this season.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a career-high 33 points for Milwaukee, and the Bucks rallied from a 21-point deficit in the second quarter to cut the lead to 84-79 late in the third.

NY – Rookie Kristaps Porzingis scored a season-high 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and NY beat Charlotte. When you watch the Cavs play, Love has a tendency to look uninterested and maybe he is frustrated with his role on the team.

A big win for Detroit is a frustrating loss for Cleveland.