Best of NBA: Spurs rally past Cavs to stay ideal at home

Cavaliers (27-10) at Rockets (21-19), 9:30 p.m.: The Rockets are playing their best basketball of the season and the Cavs are fresh off a tough loss to San Antonio.

The San Antonio Spurs extended their winning streak to 10 games and remain unbeaten at home following Thursday’s highly anticipated contest against the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose eight-game streak was snapped in the 99-95 defeat.

“They did a good job of taking us out of our sets, but we also had some really good looks that just didn’t go down for us”, said LeBron James after the game.

“We just played better defense”, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. The Spurs will nearly certainly win 50 games for the 17th straight year, and halfway through the season they’re on pace for exactly 70 victories.

Irving was limited to 16 points on 6-for-16 shooting this time, but the game was just as tense as last season.

With Golden State stealing the show through the early part of the season, San Antonio (34-6) has quietly built the best start in the storied franchise’s history. Of course, when you have a guy like LeBron, the whole team plays differently.

The Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard is having the kind of season that puts him in MVP chatter. “As a team we were pretty sharp after that first quarter”. James hit 6-of-10 over the first two quarters, with six of those attempts coming from inside the paint from an average distance of 9.1 feet.

In Philadelphia, Jimmy Butler scored a career-high 53 points and E’Twaun Moore had seven of his 14 in overtime to lead Chicago over Philadelphia.

Tony Parker had another productive night with 24 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Chicago were without star guard Derrick Rose (injured knee) and starting center Pau Gasol (resting).

Kevin Love made three three-pointers and finished with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists in 35 minutes. It was the Lakers’ final regular-season visit to Oracle Arena, and Bryant plans to retire after the season.

The Cavaliers used the momentum from Dellavedova’s shot to propel themselves into the second quarter, and they scored four of the first five baskets of the period, first on a pull-up shot from Irving, which Shumpert followed with a jumper of his own.

James has a long history against the Spurs and this indeed could be yet another NBA Finals preview.

Last year, Cleveland beat the Spurs on the road in overtime.

“When I get on the floor I just try to make an impact, try to contribute, help this team get better”, said West who finished with 13 points and five rebounds.

Because the Cavs have so many options, the Rockets must pick their poison: let LeBron James score, or let others beat them.

Rockets: F/C Donatas Motiejunas has missed the last seven games with lower back soreness….

Backup point guard Cory Joseph connected on nine of his 11 shots from the field to score 19 points for a Raptors team who notched their fourth straight victory.

Nikola Vucevic’s last-second shot from near halfcourt bounced off the rim.

Bucks 108, Hawks 101, OT: Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points and 16 rebounds, Khris Middleton scored 26 points and host Milwaukee won in overtime.

With their defensive intensity turned up a few notches, the Spurs outscored the Cavs 24-18 in the second quarter and held them to 42.1-percent shooting.