LeBron James leads the National Basketball Association in clutchness this season

Jarrett Jack’s mid-court heave was painfully close to going in, but it rimmed out, pushing the Cavs to 9-0 at Quicken Loans Arena. But it didn’t come easy. James shot 4-of-13 and scored a season-low 12 points in the back end of team’s first back-to-back and committed a season-high seven turnovers in its second set. The Hornets were playing the fifth game of a seven-game homestand.

With the game locked at 88-88 after Joe Johnson hit three clutch free-throws, LeBron once again took matterrs into his own hands for the Cavs. Smith ran into Johnson on a 3-point shot and Johnson made all three attempts.

“I spent a lot of years with Tristan”, Joseph said, promising there’d be a lot of chatter between them all night.

James leads the league in scoring when games are in the final minute and the score is within 3 points – the most important time of games.

Kyle Lowry makes sure everyone knows the Raptors aren’t a team to take lightly as he leads Toronto past LeBron James and the Cavaliers.

The Hornets’ next game is another Sunday matinee, as they host the Milwaukee Bucks at 2 p.m. EST. Fans to call-in shows were freaking out that Love wasn’t included in LeBron’s pics on social media. “That’s the nature of the game”.

The Cavaliers starting point guard, Kyrie Irving, is still sidelined due to an injury he sustained during the first game of the 2015 NBA Finals. Lopez punished the Cavs’ interior defense and the Nets got whatever they wanted early, leading by as many as 12 in the first half while the Cavs struggled to find their legs.

With Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton sitting courtside in a Larry Johnson jersey, the Hornets led most of the way and took a 76-72 advantage into the fourth quarter.

“I thought we made the effort the whole game”, Blatt said. “We definitely have to work on that”. “It’s a tough game”.

The Nets have played better of late following a dismal 0-7 start, but coach Lionel Hollins knows he’s still undermanned on many nights. This was one of them.

“Yeah, just the way I drew it up”, Blatt said. Still dealing with the league and the team but I’m not happy about it all. The Cavs improved to 4-4 on the road while the Hornets, whose four-ga, e win streak was snapped, fell to 4-1 in their 7-game home stand. Cavaliers: Timofey Mozgov started at center for the second straight night after missing three games with a strained right shoulder…. The superstar was held to 20 points on 44.4 percent shooting in four meetings with the Nets last season.

But here they are, 17 games played in 31 days, and they’re finding a way to win while still working toward doing the things they’ll need to do if they want to be the team they hope to become from April through June.

“We had our chances down the stretch”, Hollins said. “I was watching the tape and I had to ask who that was because he looks like he’s in better shape”. He’s a great guy, he’s always had that motor that he plays with.

The Nets pushed the Cavaliers for every minute of Saturday night’s game.

Thunder 103, Pistons 87 – Oklahoma City cruised at home to its fourth straight win as Kevin Durant totaled 34 points and 13 rebounds.