LeBron’s 29 leads Cavs past Wizards, Popovich-less Spurs beat Indiana

CLEVELAND, USA – LeBron James produced game highs of 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists Wednesday, November 26 (Thursday PH time) to spark the Cleveland Cavaliers over Washington 113-87, avenging a loss to the Wizards five days earlier.

James, a four-time NBA Most Valuable Player who rejoined Cleveland this season after four years at Miami, has struggled to pull the team’s talent together after only one month of the NBA season.

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But after a four-game losing skid, the Cavaliers have improved to 7-7, 1.5 games behind Central division leader Chicago, while the Wizards, who lead the atlantic division, fell to 9-5.

Kevin Love added 21 points and point guard Kyrie Irving contributed 18 points for the Cavaliers, who also had 15 points off the bench from guard Dion Waiters.

Wizards reserve Rasual Butler led Washington with 23 points while Paul Pierce paced the starters with 15 points and Polish center Marcin Gortat added 12 points in a losing cause.  

Italy’s Messina coaches Spurs over Pacers 

SAN ANTONIO – Assistant coach Ettore Messina guided San Antonio over the Indiana Pacers 106-100 Wednesday, becoming the first Italian to coach an NBA game while replacing Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

Popovich, the NBA’s longest-tenured coach, missed the game with what the team called a minor medical procedure. The coach who guided the Spurs to last season’s NBA title will miss an undisclosed period of time.

“He will be back soon,” said Messina, an Italian Basketball Hall of Fame member and two-time Euroleague Coach of the Year.

French guard Tony Parker and forward Kawhi Leonard each scored 21 points for San Antonio while Leonard also contributed 13 rebounds for the Spurs, who improved to 10-4.

Tim Duncan added 17 points for the Spurs, who were two games behind Southwest division leader Memphis.

Rodney Stuckey scored 22 points to lead Indiana, which also had 13 points from Luis Scola and 12 from reserve Chris Copeland.

The Pacers fell to 6-9, three games behind pace-settler Chicago in the Central division. 

– Rappler.com