LeBron James scored 33 points in his only visit to Madison Square Garden this season, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 100-91 victory over the New York Knicks on Friday night.
One night after managing just 42 second-half points in an ugly home loss to Chicago, the Cavaliers rang up 40 in the first quarter, leaving New York fans with little left to do besides cheer for the Yankees in attendance and enjoy another mesmerizing performance by James.
He added nine assists and eight rebounds, but fell just shy of passing Kobe Bryant as the active scoring leader at the Garden. James improved his average to 30.4 points, with Bryant averaging 30.5 in 11 visits, according to STATS LLC
James had scored 50 or more in two of his last three visits, joining Michael Jordan as the only visiting players with multiple 50-point games at the current building.
Suns 110, Celtics 103 -- At Boston: Jason Richardson bounced back from his worst game of the season to score 34 points with 10 rebounds, and the Phoenix Suns rebounded from their only defeat.
Magic 110, Pistons 103 -- At Orlando, Fla.: Dwight Howard had 22 points and 12 rebounds to help the Orlando Magic hold off Charlie Villanueva and Detroit. Villanueva scored 22 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter.
Bucks 87, Timberwolves 72 -- At Minneapolis: Andrew Bogut bested Al Jefferson inside with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Luke Ridnour had 16 points off the bench and Milwaukee used a second-half surge to top Minnesota.
Rookie Brandon Jennings had his first clunker for the Bucks, putting up nine points on 4 for 16 shooting, but his backup Ridnour helped counter a career-high 20 points by Timberwolves rookie Jonny Flynn.
Heat 96, Nuggets 88 -- At Miami: Dwyane Wade scored 22 points, Jermaine O'Neal added 18 and Miami dealt Denver its first loss of the season. Mario Chalmers scored 16 points, Quentin Richardson added 13 and Udonis Haslem finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who are 5-1 for only the third time in their 22 seasons and beat Denver for the first time since Dec. 17, 2004.
Pacers 102, Wizards 86 -- At Indianapolis: Tyler Hansbrough scored 13 points in his pro debut. The first-round draft pick from North Carolina missed the preseason and the first four regular-season games with a right shin injury.
76ers 97, Nets 94 -- At Philadelphia: Andre Iguodala scored 16 points, including a late 3-pointer to give Philadelphia the lead. Lou Williams scored 18 points and Jason Kapono had 14 for Philadelphia, which rebounded from a 31-point loss to Boston three days earlier.
Raptors 107, Hornets 90 -- At New Orleans: Chris Bosh scored 27 points and Toronto used a 27-4 run in the third quarter to take control.
Bobcats 103, Hawks 83 -- At Charlotte, N.C.: Raja Bell scored 24 points and the Charlotte Bobcats looked nothing like the NBA's lowest scoring team against road-weary Atlanta.
Rockets 105, Thunder 94 -- At Houston: Trevor Ariza and Carl Landry scored 21 points apiece and the Houston Rockets extended their winning streak over the Oklahoma City franchise to 11.
