CLEVELAND — It wasn’t always pretty, but the Cleveland Cavaliers held on for a 105-99 victory over the Orlando Magic Saturday to stay unbeaten in the fledgling NBA season.
Shooting guard J.R. Smith, whose contract dispute dragged on through training camp before the reigning NBA champs inked him to a four-year deal worth as much as $57 million, gave good value with three three-pointers in the final three and a half minutes as Cleveland won after letting most of an 18-point lead get away.
Superstar LeBron James had 23 points, nine assists and six rebounds, Kyrie Irving added 20 and Smith shook off another slow start to score 16 points — 11 of them in the fourth quarter.
Kevin Love fouled out in the final minute with 19 points and five rebounds as the Cavaliers improved to 3-0 for the season less than a week after raising their 2015-16 championship banner.
Evan Fournier scored 22 points and Serge Ibaka had 19 points and seven rebounds for Orlando, which has lost 15 straight to the Cavaliers.
Trail Blazers 115, Nuggets 113 (OT): Damian Lillard hit a floating 7-footer with 0.3 seconds left in overtime and Portland rallied from a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat Denver.
Lillard finished with 37 points and C.J. McCollum had 23 and 10 rebounds for the Trail Blazers.
Nikola Jokic had 23 points and a career-high 17 rebounds and Emmanuel Mudiay had 21 points for the Nuggets.
Bucks 110, Nets 108: John Henson tipped in a Jabari Parker miss as time expired, giving Milwaukee a victory over Brooklyn.
The Bucks led by seven with 3:18 remaining after Rashad Vaughn hit the third of his three 3-pointers in the final quarter, but the Nets rallied late with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 108 on Bojan Bogdanovic’s 3-pointer with 11.6 seconds left.
Vaughn recorded six 3-pointers and led Milwaukee with a career-high 22 points. Bogdanovic finished with 26 points to pace the Nets.
Spurs 98, Pelicans 79: San Antonio never trailed after the first quarter and blew the game open with a 17-4 run late in the third quarter to cruise past New Orleans.
Kawhi Leonard didn’t score a field goal until a dunk with 2:22 to go in the first half, but put in 16 of his team-high 20 points in the second half. He was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line to remain perfect at 28-for-28.
The Spurs held the Pelicans’ Anthony Davis, who scored 95 points in his first two games, to 18.
Knicks 111, Grizzlies 104: Kristaps Porzingis led five players in double figures with 21 points to help New York defeat Memphis in its home opener.
Carmelo Anthony added 20 points and five assists. The veteran forward was 9 of 12 from the line.
Marc Gasol paced Memphis with 20 points and James Ennis added 16.
Bulls 118, Pacers 101: Doug McDermott scored 23 points off the bench and was one of six Chicago players to reach double figures in the victory over Indiana.
McDermott was 9 of 14 from the field and 5 of 6 from 3-point range to pace the Bulls. Jimmy Butler had 16 points for Chicago to go along with 14 by Dwyane Wade and 12 each by Robin Lopez and Taj Gibson.
Paul George and Myles Turner each had 20 points for the Pacers, who also got 11 points apiece from Joe Young and Glenn Robinson III.
Other results: Celtics 104, Hornets 98; Kings 106, Timberwolves 103; Hawks 104, 76ers 72. — Agencies
