LeBron James has season-high 14 assists, Cavaliers beat Raptors in thriller

Unless Demar pulls a Kobe Bryant, 38, by scoring 40-60 points this game, he may not be enough to get past Cavs. George, who is averaging 21.0 ppg, scored just 13 points on 5-for-13 shooting against Orlando.

The Indiana Pacers made most of LeBron James’ absence as they upstaged the Cleveland Cavaliers, while the Golden State Warriors were too good for the Toronto Raptors. “I wasn’t trying to slam it on goal”, Lowry said. This is a really good, nearly great team. “We had some good looks and we came out with an aggressive mindset”, Irving said. Kevin Love tossed in 16 of his 19 points in the first half for Cleveland, while Brampton’s Tristan Thompson scored 15, missing only one of eight field goal attempts and added 11 rebounds.

“In Year 1 of us playing together, we didn’t really know how to do that”, Love said. “The cool thing I find is when I see people say: ‘The mid-range game is not dead.’ That’s the cool thing for me because I never let nobody tell me how I should play basketball”.

No LeBron James-led team has ever started a season 10-1. “We went out there to perform well today”, said Pacers center Myles Turner, who had eight points, seven rebounds and four blocks.

The Pacers are now 6-1 at home on the season, and still have four of their next five games in their building.

Channing Frye’s three-pointer from the top of the key with 59 seconds left put the Cavs up by one.

James blocked a shot by Frank Kaminsky that led to Jefferson’s basket and scored in the lane, putting Cleveland ahead 81-76.

Cleveland’s LeBron James had won the two previous awards.

Frye was 7 of 15 from the field, including 6 of 12 on 3-pointers. Lue said he was hopeful Smith would be ready to play against the Pacers, but now Lue is hopeful to have him back for Friday’s game against Detroit.

And then there’s point guard Jeff Teague, who continues growing into his new role with his new team.

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Hornets: C Spencer Hawes missed a breakaway dunk as time ran down in the second. The Pacers would still be without Rodney Stuckey who would still be out indefinitely due to injury. They lost the series when James dominated Game 6 at Air Canada Centre. IN never led by more than 13, but maintained its lead from midway through the first quarter until the final buzzer. “Then they’d make the shots when they needed to build the lead back up”. “We made them put the ball on the floor, which some of their guys don’t like to do”. “That’s helped give us some efficiency on the offensive end”.

Love had 25 and Irving had 20 through three quarters, but no other Cavalier had more than six. “Because once you know you play well against those teams with tough schedules like this, you know what you are capable of”. “It’s an exciting time”. The Cavs had a chance to cut that margin in half, but Love’s 3-point miss led to a 14-6 run by in and an 80-68 deficit with a quarter left.

McMillan received quality contributions for nearly every player on the Pacers’ roster.

And exhausted of being the fourth worst defensive team in the league, an intolerable mark for a defensive stalwart like George – who finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists.