Best of National Basketball Association: LeBron, Cavs beat Knicks for 8th straight win

Williams then nailed a jumper, and after Afflalo missed on the other end, Williams finished it off with four free throws.

James finished with 31 points and Williams scored 20. He largely outplayed James, but was 1-of-9 in the second half with just four points, finishing with a team-high 26, but running out of gas.

Cavs forward Kevin Love contributed 24 points and 14 rebounds to support James, but their team’s eight-game winning streak was ended. He had 14 points and four assists in his second game back. As the Cavs screamed for a foul, the Knicks had a 5 on 4 and Anthony took a long three that was off. Porzingis misfired on the put back while Tristan Thompson wisely threw the ball ahead to James, who never crossed midcourt. He scored six straight points to give Cleveland an 84-82 lead with 76 seconds to play on a fade-away jumper over Anthony and two layups.

“Look, we all make mistakes”, Blatt said.

“Naturally, with LeBron (James) and his capability of making big plays, we went to him and he used the looks that the defence showed him to make plays for himself and Mo (Williams), who made a couple of big shots and big plays for us”.

Following the timeout, the Knicks went on 9-4 run, which cut the Cavaliers’ lead down to 17-12.

James and Williams did damage at the free-throw line.

Portland rallied from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter and held a 100-99 lead when forward Al-Farouq Aminu (16 points) hit a three-pointer with 12.5 seconds to play before Randolph snatched it back.

Despite Anthony’s second half woes, the Knicks still had a shot to beat the best team in the Eastern Conference. It seemed like this was the moment we had all been waiting all game for. “But that’s a bad mistake”. But with Derek Fisher getting quality minutes from Langston Galloway and Lou Amundson, the Knicks extended their lead to 72-66 entering the fourth.

James was almost as good in the first overtime Saturday as he was in the fourth quarter, delivering a three-pointer and quick layup off a drive to tie the game twice with less than 90 seconds left. That basket ignited the Knicks, who went on to outscore the Cavaliers 17-11.

The Cleveland Cavaliers rank 15th in offensive rebounding, while the NY Knicks rank 16th in defensive rebounding.

The Knicks didn’t make field goal in the first 5:53 of the fourth quarter as the Cavaliers inched closer and closer.

James Harden had 25 points and 10 assists and Terrence Jones scored 23 points for the Rockets.

A tough early schedule threatened to wipe out the Knicks’ season nearly before it began, but they have been able to pull a few positives out of the sub-.500 record.

HOUSTON – Raymond Felton scored 23 points and Charlie Villanueva added 19 as Dallas handed Houston its third straight loss. Danilo Gallinari led Denver with 27 points and Emmanuel Mudiay had 11 assists as the Nuggets sprinted to victory.

Cavs expected starting lineup: Williams, J.R. Smith, James, Love and Timofey Mozgov.