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NBA Monday recap: LeBron James records triple double in Cavs win, Hornets stun Spurs with comeback

LeBron James was huge in the Cavaliers win over the Denver Nuggets

Cleveland Cavaliers 124-91 Denver Nuggets

LeBron James registered his 19th career 30+ point triple double with 33 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists as the Cleveland Cavaliers made light work of Denver Nuggets winning 124-91. J.R. Smith had a handy contribution with 15 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals.

With the Toronto Raptors fast approaching, Cleveland increased the lead for the first seed with the win. The win also helped the Cavs get to 50 wins for only the fourth time in franchise history (James has played on three of those four teams). The team also sealed the division title with this game, winning it for a fourth straight year with James on the roster.

For the Nuggets, it is the team’s fourth loss in the last five games. Off the bench, Will Barton was the biggest contributor with 27 points on 9 of 12 shooting from the field. 

Golden State Warriors 109-104 Minnesota Timberwolves

Stephen Curry finished with 19 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds while Draymond Green had 24 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists as the short-handed Golden State Warriors came away with a victory on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Although the Wolves are no big team, grinding out a win against them without Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala will surely bring some confidence back into the team after a disappointing loss at San Antonio on Saturday. The win also helped the Warriors get into the record books:

 

 

Karl-Anthony Towns (24 points, 11 rebounds), Ricky Rubio (20 points, 11 assists) and Andre Wiggins (25 points) came up big for the Wolves as they did give the Warriors a tough fight but eventually failed to come away with the win.

The Warriors didn’t completely look like themselves last night but an important part of their game re-surfaced sharing the ball. Golden State had 31 assists on their 43 field goals. 

Charlotte Hornets 91-88 San Antonio Spurs

The Charlotte Hornets have been among the top five teams since the All-Star break and they continued that form against the San Antonio Spurs, picking up a huge upset win at home. After scoring just 7 points in the first quarter, the Hornets came back from 23 points down to win the game behind a huge Jeremy Lin fourth quarter.

Coming off the bench, Lin scored 15 of his 29 points in the final period to help his team outscore the Spurs 24-16. San Antonio’s 23 point lead was their biggest blown lead in a loss during the Tim Duncan era. Previously the Spurs were 22-0 when they lead by 20+ points after the first quarter but on Monday that streak was broken.

San Antonio received double doubles from Tim Duncan (16 points, 10 rebounds) and LaMarcus Aldridge (18 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists) but it wasn’t enough to bag the win. The loss means five of the seven opponents to beat the Warriors have lost their next game.

Detroit Pistons 92-91 Milwaukee Bucks

With 7.5 seconds remaining and no timeouts, Andre Drummond tipped in a game winner off of a miss by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to give the Detroit Pistons a much-needed victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. The win allowed the Pistons to stay in the race for the seventh and eighth spot in the Eastern Conference Playoff standings.

Milwaukee Bucks got handy contributions from Giannis Antetokounmpo (21 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists) and Greg Monroe (18 points, 10 rebounds) but were beaten at the buzzer.

Indiana Pacers 91-75 Philadelphia 76ers

Paul George (IND): 15 pts, 6 rebs, 3 asts and 2 stls

Washington Wizards 117-102 Atlanta Hawks

John Wall (WAS): 27 pts and 14 asts

Al Horford (ATL): 14 pts, 9 rebs and 9 asts

Chicago Bulls 109-102 Sacramento Kings

DeMarcus Cousins (SAC): 19 pts, 18 rebs and 3 asts

Pau Gasol (CHI): 14 pts, 14 rebs, 3 asts and 3 blks

Memphis Grizzlies 103-97 Phoenix Suns

Zach Randolph (MEM): 14 pts, 12 rebs and 2 asts

Brandon Knight (PHO): 13 pts, 7 asts and 6 rebs

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