Cavaliers beat Hornets for ninth win

The Sports Xchange) – Highlights of Monday’s National Basketball Association games:

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Raptors 95, Magic 82

Lou Williams came off the bench to score 18 points as the Toronto Raptors continued their domination of the Orlando Magic with a comfortable victory on Monday.

The win was the third in a row for the Raptors (19-6), who defeated the Magic for a 10th consecutive time to remain top of the Eastern Conference standings.

Tobias Harris led the Magic with 18 points.

 

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Cavaliers 97, Hornets 88

After racing to a 21-0 lead over the stumbling Charlotte Hornets, the Cavaliers held on for a ninth consecutive win in contests against Eastern Conference rivals.

Cleveland (14-9) forward LeBron James had 27 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds, and forward Kevin Love had 22 points and a season-high 18 rebounds.

 

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Pacers 110, Lakers 91

C.J. Miles came off the bench to score 16 of his 20 points during a dominating first half, and Indiana crushed the Lakers to end an eight-game losing streak.

Guard Rodney Stuckey had 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for Indiana (8-17).

Kobe Bryant, who one night earlier passed Michael Jordan for third on the all-time scoring list, had 21 points for the Lakers (8-17), who were playing their third road game in four days.

 

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Hawks 93, Bulls 86

Al Horford did a little bit of everything — scoring, rebounding and even leading fast breaks — to lift Atlanta to an exciting win over the Bulls.

Horford finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and point guard Jeff Teague made two free throws with 10.8 seconds remaining to seal the Hawks’ (17-7) 10th win in 11 games.

Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 22 points, and Derrick Rose added 14 points and eight assists as Chicago (15-9) saw its three-game winning streak snapped.

 

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Celtics 105, 76ers 87

Kelly Olynyk scored a career-high 30 points off the bench as the Boston Celtics blasted the Philadelphia 76ers.

Avery Bradley added 15 points for Boston, who snapped a three-game losing streak and dropped Philadelphia to 2-22.

 

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Trail Blazers 108, Spurs 95

Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge scored 23 points apiece to lift the Portland Trail Blazers over the San Antonio Spurs.

Lillard grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to go with six assists for Portland (19-6).

Kawhi Leonard collected 21 points and nine rebounds for the Spurs (17-8), who played without three regular starters.

 

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Bucks 96, Suns 94

Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton hit an off-balance, 25-foot bank shot just before the buzzer as the Bucks rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final eight minutes to hand the Phoenix Suns their sixth straight loss.

Markieff Morris scored 25 points and put the Suns (12-14) ahead 94-93 on a 15-footer with 3.5 seconds left.

The Bucks (13-12) lost forward Jabari Parker to a sprained left knee in the third period.