Irving again dominant as Cavs beat Orlando

NBA round up…

(The Sports Xchange) – LaMarcus Aldridge recorded 24 points, 10 rebounds and five assists leading Portland to a 113-97 win over Toronto.

Aldridge entered the contest averaging 25.9 points and 12.9 rebounds in his last nine meetings with the Raptors and continued his dominance against them.

Portland (44-20) have now won 12 of the last 13 meetings with Toronto (39-27), who have now lost five of six overall.

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Rockets 100, Clippers 98

James Harden scored 34 points as the Houston Rockets held on for a 100-98 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Chris Paul, who finished with 23 points, missed a shot at the buzzer that would have forced overtime.

The win ended a two-game skid for the Rockets (44-22), who also got 19 points from Trevor Ariza and 16 from Terrence Jones.

Blake Griffin returned for the Clippers after missing 15 games following surgery on his right elbow. he had 11 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

The Clippers (42-24) fell into a sixth-place tie in the Western Conference with the Dallas Mavericks.

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Thunder 109, Bulls 100

Russell Westbrook scored 36 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 109-100 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

The Bulls (40-28) have dropped five of their last six games and are tied in the loss column with the Washington Wizards for fourth in the Eastern Conference Standings.

The Thunder (37-29) are now a half-game ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans for eighth place in the Western Conference.

Thunder center Enes Kanter posted 18 points and 18 rebounds for his sixth double-double since being traded to Oklahoma City.

Nikola Mirotic paced the Bulls with 27 points off the bench.

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Spurs 123, Timberwolves 97

Kawhi Leonard scored a team-high 15 points as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 123-97.

Leonard was one of seven San Antonio players to score in double figures as the Spurs (41-24) completed a four-game season sweep of Minnesota (14-51). The Spurs also earned their seventh win in eight games.

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Cavaliers 123, Magic 108

Kyrie Irving scored 33 points while hitting 12 of 15 shots, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a dominating 123-108 victory over the Orlando Magic.

Irving, who scored 57 points on Thursday in San Antonio, also made five of six shots from three-point range. The Cavaliers (43-25) won their fourth consecutive game and their 10th consecutive over the Magic.

LeBron James had 21 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds.

The Magic (21-47) were led by guard Victor Olidipo who had 25 points and seven assists.

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Nuggets 118, Pelicans 111 (double overtime)

Danilo Gallinari scored five points in the second overtime, including an open three-pointer, and Kenneth Faried added a layup to lift the Denver Nuggets to a 118-111 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.

The game was tied 109-109 at the end of the first overtime, but the Nuggets outscored the Pelicans 9-2 in the second period.

The loss for the Pelicans (36-30) wasted a monster game by forward Anthony Davis, who had a game-high 36 points, 14 rebounds, nine blocks and a career-high seven assists.

It also dropped New Orleans one game behind Oklahoma City in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

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Hawks 91, Lakers 86

Playing without three starters and losing another to injury, the Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta Hawks overcame the Los Angeles Lakers for a road win.

Dennis Schroder scored 24 points and handed out 10 assists and Al Horford added 21 points for Atlanta (52-14), who rested point guard Jeff Teague and forwards Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll.

Sharpshooter Kyle Korver started but sustained a broken nose in the second quarter and did not return.

Still, the Hawks had enough to contain the Lakers (17-48).

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Suns 102, Knicks 89

Brandan Wright stepped up for injured center Alex Len and produced 18 points and 11 rebounds as the Phoenix Suns shook off a poor first quarter to beat the New York Knicks.

Suns guard Eric Bledsoe added 21 points and 11 assists, and he just missed his third triple-double of the season, finishing with eight rebounds.

Phoenix (35-33) moved within two games of the ninth-place New Orleans Pelicans.