CLEVELAND — Kevin Love scored a season-high 32 points Tuesday night, LeBron James added 30 and the Cleveland Cavaliers withstood a 40-point performance by Giannis Antetokounmpo to beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 124-119.
The Cavs have been one of the NBA’s biggest surprises this season – for all the wrong reasons. But after losing 5 of 6, they did enough to hand the Bucks their fourth straight loss.
Love, who was briefly hospitalized Sunday after scoring just four points in a surprising loss to Atlanta, also had 16 rebounds. J.R. Smith found his shooting stroke and added a season-high 20 points for the Cavs.
Still a few weeks shy of his 23rd birthday, the multi-talented Antetokounmpo finished 16 of 21 from the floor. He also had nine rebounds and eight turnovers before fouling out with 18 seconds left. Malcolm Brogdon added 22 points and Khris Middleton finished with 20 for Milwaukee.
Cleveland’s start to the season has been puzzling on many levels. Loaded with as much talent as any team in the league, the Eastern Conference champions have been beating good teams and losing to others they should be handling.
MAVERICKS 113, WIZARDS 99: Harrison Barnes scored 31 points, rookie Dennis Smith Jr. had 22 and Dallas won at Washington to snap a six-game losing streak.
Wesley Matthews made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points for Dallas, which has won 14 of its last 15 meetings with Washington. It was just the second win of the season for the Mavericks.
John Wall had 23 points and 14 assists in his return from a sprained left shoulder, but the Wizards lost for the fifth time in seven games. Otto Porter Jr. finished with 13 points.
KNICKS 118, HORNETS 113: Kristaps Porzingis scored 28 points, including a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 1:48 remaining, and New York Knicks won at home for its third straight victory.
Porzingis was held below 30 for only the third time in 10 games this season but delivered when it mattered, scoring seven points in the final 1:32.
Reserve Doug McDermott added a season-high 20 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. had 19 for the Knicks, who have won 6 of 7 after an 0-3 start. New York shot 60 percent from the field to catch up and eventually pass Charlotte.
RAPTORS 119, BULLS 114: DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Toronto won at home for its first three-game winning streak over the Bulls since 2009.
Kyle Lowry scored 17 points and Serge Ibaka had 16 for the Raptors, who had lost 11 straight meetings with the Bulls before the current streak began with an overtime victory on March 21. Toronto beat Chicago 117-100 on Oct. 19, the opening game of the season for both teams.
Bobby Portis of Chicago had 21 points and 13 rebounds in his first game of the season, Robin Lopez scored 20 and Justin Holiday had 15.
PELICANS 117, PACERS 112: Anthony Davis had 37 points and 14 rebounds, and Demarcus Cousins added 32 points and 13 boards as New Orleans rallied at Indianapolis.
Davis was 14 of 18 from the field in New Orleans’ third straight win. Darius Miller scored 12 points and Jameer Nelson had 10.
NOTES
SUNS-BUCKS: Phoenix traded disgruntled guard Eric Bledsoe to Milwaukee for big man Greg Monroe and two 2018 draft picks.
Bledsoe hasn’t been with the team since Oct. 22 when he posted “I Don’t wanna be here” on Twitter, the same day the Suns fired Coach Earl Watson. He had been averaging 15.7 points per game, second behind Devin Booker, and was the team’s on-court leader.
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