James scores 29, Cavaliers rout Magic 104-79

The Magic have lost 13 consecutive games to the Cavs, but that streak predated James’ return to Cleveland following the 2013-14 season.

That elevation began with James improving his already impeccable overall game by honing in on his jump shot – going 11-for-18 from the field overall and 4-of-7 from 3 – while simultaneously limiting himself to zero turnovers for the first time all season.

“They were sprinting. We were jogging”, Skiles said. There was none of that first quarter woes we have seen before because the Cavaliers were keeping the opposition in front of them and helping when it was needed.

Center Tristan Thompson had 10 points and 12 rebounds and guard Kyrie Irving scored 13 points for the Cavs, who have won their last three games.

LeBron hasn’t topped the 30-point plateau against Orlando since he returned to Cleveland previous year, but he hasn’t had to – with the Wine and Gold topping the Magic by an average of exactly 20 points over that span.

The Magic really did themselves in when they scored only 13 points in the 1st quarter, as they played their worst half of the season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers recorded their 13th straight win over the Orlando Magic, rolling 104-79 Saturday night at Quicken Loans Arena in a game that was over soon after the opening tip.

“I had some good, I had some bad moments”, James said.

Forward Aaron Gordon scored 11 points and guards Mario Hezonja and Shabazz Napier each had 10 points for the Magic, all off the bench. Orlando fouled Cleveland’s 3-point shooters five times.

After dropping the first two games of their recent West Coast junket, the Cavs split the trip with a pair of wins in Phoenix and Denver.

James moved into 21st place on the all-time assist list with 6,477, passing Nate Archibald. “Hopefully I can try to shake whatever I got going on and it doesn’t linger the next couple days”. More important, he went diving headfirst into an empty row of seats chasing a loose ball and came away unscathed. As physically imposing as James is, his multi-faceted game is an even bigger threat. “I think there was a gasp of air, not only from my teammates and the staff, but also everyone in the building”.

With Kyrie Irving back and playing more minutes, the Cavaliers are capable of sharing the ball-handling duties better and relieve LeBron James of some of that burden.

“That was one of those moments we all talk about as athletes when you come back from surgery and you’re like, ‘That was the moment for me, ‘” Irving said.

Magic: Evan Fournier scored nine points to lead Orlando’s starters. I actually bumped my knee on the floor; it felt better when I got back up. As the Magic look to be more physical after getting, in the words of Victor Oladipo, “punked” on Friday night in Washington, this could be a matchup to keep an eye on. “But for the most part we’ve played some pretty good basketball”. Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic scored four apiece, Channing Frye had three and Elfrid Payton was scoreless….

During the third quarter, he passed up a contested 3-pointer from the left corner and swung the ball to his right to Shumpert.

Magic: visit Detroit on Monday.