LeBron joins elite list, leads Cavs past Magic
CLEVELAND (AP):
LeBron James joined Oscar Robertson on an exclusive NBA list and Kevin Love scored a season-high 34 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers remained unbeaten at home with a 117-103 win over the Orlando Magic on Monday night.
James had 15 points and 13 assists and joined Robertson as the only players in league history to rank in the top 25 in career points and assists.
With his fifth assist, James moved past Norm Nixon (6,386) into 25th place and moved alongside Robertson, who finished his Hall of Fame career with 26,710 points and 9,887 assists. James will soon eclipse Robertson's scoring total and the unselfish superstar is a good bet to pass the guard on the assist list as well.
Love scored 27 in the first half for the Cavs, now 8-0 at home and an Eastern Conference-leading 11-3.
Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant had 27 points and six rebounds in his return from a hamstring injury as the Thunder downed the Utah Jazz 111-89.
Durant was 10 for 13 from the field in his first game since he got hurt on November10 at Washington. Russell Westbrook narrowly missed his third triple-double of the season with 20 points, seven rebounds and nine assists.
HEAT BEAT KNICKS
In Miami, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh each scored 16 points as the Heat downed the Knicks 95-78 to end New York's four-game winning streak.
Goran Dragic had 13 points and nine assists for the Heat, who went on a 36-8 run in the first half. Tyler Johnson scored 12 and Hassan Whiteside had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points for New York, who have lost 13 of their last 16 games in Miami.
The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated Philadelphia 100-95 to keep the 76ers winless this season after Andrew Wiggins scored 17 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter.
Kevin Garnett had eight points and 10 rebounds and the Timberwolves (6-8) won at home for the first time in seven games this season. They dropped Philadelphia to 0-15 and avoided another embarrassing home loss to the Sixers, who snapped a 0-17 start to last season with a win at Target Center.
In other games, Greg Monroe had 20 points and 13 rebounds in his first game against his former team, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to a 109-88 victory over the Detroit Pistons, the Charlotte Hornets downed the Los Angeles Kings 127-122 in overtime and the San Antonio Spurs were 98-84 winners over the Phoenix Suns.