NBA wRap: Cavs win third straight behind Love

MANILA, Philippines – The Cleveland Cavaliers pushed their winning streak to three on Sunday, November 30, while their conference rival the Charlotte Hornets hit rock bottom in a blowout loss to the Atlanta Hawks. All that and more in today’s NBA wRap:

 

Dallas Mavericks (13-5) 110 – 103 Philadelphia 76ers (0-16)

DAL: Tyson Chandler 20 points, 13 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 assists

PHI: Michael Carter-Williams 18 points, 16 assists, 10 rebounds

Playing on a back to back, the Mavericks rested Dirk Nowitzki but managed to still come away with the win. Outside of Chandler’s impressive game, Chandler Parsons also played well for Dallas, finishing with 17 points, while Monta Ellis scored 18. The Mavs improved to 6-3 on the road, and swept their season series with the 76ers.

Philly established a new record for most losses to start an NBA season. They’re now just two defeats shy of the 2009-2010 New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets’ NBA record of 0-18 for most losses to open an NBA year. The 76ers next two opponents are the Spurs and T-Wolves, so things aren’t looking good for them right now.

One positive outlook for Philadelphia is that their rookie big man, Nerlens Noel, seems to be healthy and back from his ACL injury. Check out this lob:

But the night still belonged to the Mavs, who had a nice highlight of their own:

 

Washington Wizards (10-5) 83 – 80 New Orleans Pelicans (7-8)

WAS: Marcin Gortat 24 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals, 2 assists

NOP: Anthony Davis 30 points, 13 rebounds, 1 steal

The Pelicans had a season-low 12 assists, and missed shooting guard Eric Gordon for the third straight game due to a shoulder injury.

Washington played again without big man Nene, but received a combined 12 points from back-ups Kris Humphries and Drew Gooden. John Wall finished with just 11 points while Bradley Beal had 12. Paul Pierce put up 10, but had an important block on a critical 3-point attempt by Ryan Anderson.

 

Atlanta Hawks (9-6) 105 – 75 Charlotte Hornets (4-14)

ATL: Paul Millsap 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals

CHA: Gerald Henderson 14 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds

The game wasn’t as close as the final score indicates, which goes to show how terrible the Hornets, now losers of nine straight, were against the Hawks, who improved to 7-2 at home.

At one point, Charlotte trailed Atlanta 80-36. We should go back to calling them the Charlotte Bobcats at this point.

 

Tweet of the Day:

1,000 words pic.twitter.com/Ssu5ZhChcr

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) November 30, 2014

 

Cleveland Cavaliers (8-7) 109 – 97 Indiana Pacers (7-10)

CLE: Kevin Love 28 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals

IND: Lavoy Allen 10 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist

After dropping four straight last week, the Cavs have now won three straight games, albeit two of which came against non-playoff teams. Nonetheless, Cleveland looked impressive against Indiana, who played without Roy Hibbert, Paul George, and George Hill.

LeBron James put up 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists, while Kyrie Irving registered 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists.

Rebounding the ball then throwing an outlet pass doesn’t sound all too impressive. But doing it in one motion? Kudos, Kyrie:

LeBron James does a lot of things really well, but his greatest attribute might be his passing ability, which was in full display here:

 

Los Angeles Clippers (11-5) 112 – 96 Utah Jazz (5-12)

LAC: Blake Griffin: 28 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists

UTA: Gordon Hayward: 30 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists

 

Houston Rockets (13-4) 117 – 103 Milwaukee Bucks (10-8)

HOU: James Harden 34 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals

MIL: Jabari Parker 19 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals 

Fantasy Line of the Day: James Harden hurt the Bucks from all angles on Sunday. He finished with 34 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, and even had a block. He threw 5 turnovers, but went 9-of-14 from the field, 4-of-5 from downtown, and 12-of-13 from the foul line.

– Rappler.com