Leah Still motivates Cleveland Cavs’ LeBron James

Toronto will need to contain James and bring down as many rebounds as possible if they are to beat the Cavs.

After the Wizards shot 73 percent from the field in the first 12 minutes of the second half and erased the Cavaliers’ 18-point advantage, James picked up his game and made five of his nine shots, including a four-for-seven performance from three-point range in the third quarter. An updated balloting list should be released soon, and the guards were bunched tightly enough that Irving could slip out of a starter’s spot before voting closes in a couple of weeks. It’s taken a handful of games for the Cavs guard to get his legs back under him, but the Washington Wizards found out that he’s getting there quite quickly.

Bosnian forward Mirza Teletovic drained five of Phoenix’s 19 three-pointers as the Suns snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 111-102 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

A jumper from backup center Timofey Mozgov extended the Cavs’ lead to 108-87 with 6:13 left, the first 20-point lead of the game.

The man who has won 29 East player of the month awards still has that one fresh in his mind as Cleveland (23-9) starts its longest road trip of the season.

Reggie Jackson, who played his college ball at nearby Boston College, scored nine of his game-high 24 points in the final 6:01 as the Pistons won for the third time in four games.

“Every stretch (of games) for us is huge right now”, Wall said.

Leah, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in June of 2014, wore her James jersey to the game, watched James score 34 points and then for the big treat, she visited with James and other Cavaliers, including Kyrie Irving, in the locker room after Cleveland’s 121-115 victory.

Australia’s Matthew Dellavedova had a quiet night for the Cavs, scoring just three points. Tristan Thompson added 14 points with 11 rebounds, and Kevin Love scored 14 as Cleveland improved to 15-1 at home. The Cleveland Cavaliers are averaging 100.5 points on 44.8 percent shooting and allowing 94.7 points on 43.5 percent shooting. John Wall had 20 points and 12 assists. In 31 outings this season, LeBron has tallied 20 points or more 26 times and has done so in 33 of his 39 regular season matchups with the Wizards, including each of the previous 10. “But he did make a valid point on me only playing two games and he was Eastern Conference Player of the Month, so that kind of goes without saying, so when you have feats like that, accomplishments like that, all you can do is respect it”.

All NBA games are featured this season at bet365 Sports. Smith posted his 14th game of at least eight three-pointers in Monday night’s shootout with Toronto – second-best mark in National Basketball Association history behind only Stephen Curry’s 16. Dudley was 2-of-4 from long-distance – and 5-of-7 from the floor overall – in Washington’s win over Cleveland and can get as hot as anyone in the league when he’s rolling.

But James didn’t stop there on Wednesday night.