Ty Jerome on Wednesday scored 29 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers bounced back from their first defeat of the season with a 128-100 rout of the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Cavs saw their 15-game unbeaten streak brought to an abrupt end by the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, but dominated New Orleans with a wire-to-wire victory before their home crowd.
Cleveland were always in control against a struggling Pelicans side, who slumped to their ninth loss in 10 games.
Photo: Ken Blaze / Imagn Images
After cruising to a 69-55 halftime lead, the Cavs dropped the hammer in the third quarter, outscoring New Orleans 36-18 to open up a 32-point advantage heading into the final period before cruising to victory.
The Cavaliers had struggled from outside the arc in Tuesday’s NBA Cup defeat to Boston, but enjoyed greater success from three-point range against New Orleans.
Jerome drained seven of 12 attempts from three-point distance, rattling in six of them during a remarkable second-quarter display that saw him bag 20 points.
Photo: AP
Georges Niang also caught fire, shooting six threes to finish with 20 points.
The victory saw Cleveland improve their record to 16-1 at the top of the Eastern Conference. The Pelicans fell to 4-12 and remained one place off the bottom of the Western Conference.
Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson saluted Jerome’s electric second-quarter barrage that had the home crowd on its feet.
Photo: AP
“It was great. Those moments don’t happen a lot in the NBA,” Atkinson said. “It was like a superstar performance quite honestly, that’s so rare. It was great for the crowd, great for the group and great for Ty.”
In other games, Giannis Antetokounmpo bagged his third 40-point game of the season after scoring 41 points with nine rebounds and eight assists in the Milwaukee Bucks’ 122-106 blowout of the Chicago Bulls.
Antetokounmpo was backed by 21 points from Brook Lopez and 20 points from Damian Lillard as Milwaukee improved to 6-9 for the season to move up to 10th in the Eastern Conference.
In Memphis, Joel Embiid shrugged off recent off-court controversy to score 35 points, but it was not enough to stop the Philadelphia 76ers from falling to a 117-111 defeat against the Grizzlies.
Embiid was reportedly taken to task by teammate Tyrese Maxey for his tardiness during a tense locker room discussion following the Sixers’ loss to Miami on Monday.
Embiid responded with a season-high 35 points in what turned out to be a losing effort.
The Sixers are 2-12 for the season and remain rooted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
At the top of the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors dominated the Atlanta Hawks 120-97 to improve to 11-3.
The Warriors took the lead at about midway through the first quarter and led by as much as 31 points early in the third quarter before coasting to victory at Chase Center.
Andrew Wiggins led the Warriors scoring with 27 points, while Stephen Curry chipped in with 23 points.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, second in the Western Conference, kept up their pursuit of Golden State with a 109-99 defeat of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Jalen Williams led the Thunder scoring with 30 points, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 28 points.
The injury-depleted Phoenix Suns’ problems continued with the team slumping to a fifth straight loss in a 138-122 drubbing at home to the New York Knicks.
Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 70 points in an emphatic road win for the Knicks, who improved to 9-6. Brunson posted seven three-pointers with 10 assists on his way to scoring 36 points, while Towns finished on 34 as six New York players cracked double figures.
At the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, Alperen Sengun had 31 points and 12 rebounds as the Houston Rockets used a third-quarter surge to beat the visiting Indiana Pacers 130-113.
At the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, James Harden scored 24 points and Amir Coffey added 18 as the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Orlando Magic 104-93 to extend their home winning streak to six games.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday pulled off a major upset in the DFB-Pokal by defeating defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1 in their semi-final. The third-division team came from behind after Jonathan Tah gave the visitors a 17th-minute lead. Marius Worl replied three minutes later and Maximilian Groser scored Bielefeld’s second goal just before the break. The home team looked more likely to add to that tally as the Leverkusen players looked jaded. “I’m just proud of this team,” Bielefeld coach Mitch Kniat said as most of the fans the small stadium sang around him. “No one will sleep in the city tonight.” Patrik Schick went
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown the team do not need star power to win trophies and with the French Ligue 1 title won with six games to spare, the French champions would look to finish the season without losing, manager Luis Enrique said on Saturday. A 1-0 victory over Angers SCO at the Parc des Princes helped PSG win their fourth straight Ligue 1 title and a record-extending 13th overall. PSG can still break Nantes’ 30-year-old record of 32 games unbeaten. Although Nantes lost one game en route to the title, no French club has ever gone an entire league
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
RECORD WINNERS: The Catalan club, who are still in contention for a historic quadruple this season, are to face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final Barcelona are to face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final after Ferran Torres secured them a 1-0 win at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, progressing 5-4 on aggregate from the semi-final tie. Record 31-time winners Barca had the better of the clash at the Metropolitano after the wild 4-4 first-leg draw. The defeat leaves Diego Simeone’s Atletico with little to play for in the rest of the season. By contrast, the Catalans are on the hunt for a potential quadruple and are unbeaten this year, stretching their run to 21 games without defeat. Atletico were the last team to triumph
RSS