LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kristaps Porzingis combined for 66 points Sunday as the New York Knicks stunned the struggling Cavaliers 114-95 in Cleveland.
The Knicks notched their first win over the Cavs since October 30, 2014, ending a 10-game losing streak against the NBA Eastern Conference powerhouse.
Hardaway scored 34 points and Porzingis added 32 with 12 rebounds for the Knicks, who handed LeBron James and the Cavaliers a fourth defeat in eight days.
A day after falling to the New Orleans Pelicans, the Cavaliers looked lethargic as they fell behind by 18 points in the third quarter.
They trimmed the deficit to 94-88 on a James layup with 8:20 to play before the Knicks regained control.
Kevin Love again led Cleveland with 22 points and 11 rebounds. James added 16 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Derrick Rose returned after four games sidelined by a sprained left ankle and scored 15 points against his former team.
In Indianapolis, Victor Oladipo drained the game-winning three-pointer with 10.3 seconds remaining as the Indiana Pacers downed the San Antonio Spurs 97-94.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 26 points to lead perennial Western Conference contenders San Antonio, who have lost two in a row.
The Pacers led much of the game before the Spurs rallied to take a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter.
“We just stayed poised,” said Oladipo, who finished with 23 points. “It’s a long game, there’s a lot of ups and downs. It’s a game of runs. You’ve just got to lift each other up. We did a good job of that.”
Oladipo admitted that his shot from 30 feet away, which put the Pacers up 95-94, was “maybe too deep.”
“Honestly, I didn’t really want to shoot it that far, but the move felt good and I just held my follow-through and it went in,” he said.
“He was deep and he was off-balance, but give him credit, he knocked it down,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
San Antonio’s LaMarcus Aldridge missed a jump shot with 5.1 seconds left. Cory Joseph was fouled with 3.4 seconds remaining and hit both free throws to push the lead to 97-94 before San Antonio’s Patty Mills missed a potential game-tying three-pointer just before the buzzer.
Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 33 points — his fifth 30-point game of the young season — to lead the Bucks to a 117-106 win over the Hawks in Atlanta.
With 12 rebounds and five assists, Greece’s Antetokounmpo notched his fourth double-double of the season and the Bucks won their second straight.
The Bucks also got a season-high 27 points from Khris Middleton, who also pulled down seven rebounds and handed out eight assists.
© Agence France-Presse
