SAN ANTONIO (AP) -LeBron James scored 27 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat San Antonio 90-88 on Thursday night in the teams’ first meeting since the Spurs swept the NBA finals last season.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 17 points, and Anderson Varejao scored 12 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Cleveland, which has won three in a row.
Manu Ginobili scored 31 points for the Spurs, and Tony Parker added 23 points but missed two free throws with 29.4 seconds to play that would have tied the game at 90.
Tim Duncan scored 20 points and had 11 rebounds for San Antonio, which has now lost four games at home and dropped to 5-5 in their last 10 overall. The Spurs swept the Cavaliers 4-0 in June’s finals.
Duncan tied it at 88 before James’ basket gave the Cavs a 90-88 lead with 33.6 seconds left. Parker, with a chance to tie, missed his two free throws and Ginobili’s last-second attempt didn’t fall.
Suns 106, Lakers 98
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Leandro Barbosa scored 22 points, Shawn Marion added 20 points and 16 rebounds, and the Phoenix Suns regained the Western Conference lead.
Boris Diaw scored 19 points, Amare Stoudemire and Raja Bell added 16 each, and Steve Nash had 13 points and a season-high 20 assists for the Suns (27-12), who won for the eighth time in 11 games to move a half-game ahead of the Lakers.
Kobe Bryant scored 30 points, Lamar Odom had 19 points and 19 rebounds to match his career high, and Jordan Farmar added 16 points for the Lakers (26-12), who had their seven-game winning streak snapped. Los Angeles lost for just the fourth time in their last 21 games.
The Suns bounced back from a 40.7 percent shooting performance in a 97-90 loss to the Clippers two nights earlier, shooting 51.9 percent to 37.9 percent for the Lakers, playing their second game since center Andrew Bynum injured his left knee.
Nuggets 120, Jazz 109
DENVER (AP) – Linas Kleiza scored a career-high 41 points and Allen Iverson added 28 for the Nuggets. Carmelo Anthony scored 23 points, and Marcus Camby had 24 rebounds and 11 blocks for the Nuggets, who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Deron Williams had 23 points to lead the Jazz, whose four-game winning streak ended.
Kleiza had 36 at the end of the third quarter, helping Denver grab a lead as large as 13 points.
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