Cavaliers sail to 10th straight win, 101-93, eye franchise record

Cleveland is one victory shy of tying the franchise record of 11 straight wins.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — LeBron James scored 29 points, Mo Williams added a season-high 27 and the Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to their 10th consecutive victory, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 101-93 on Wednesday night.

Anderson Varejao added 15 points, and Ben Wallace had 10 rebounds for the Central Division-leading Cavaliers, who improved to 19-3 overall and 7-3 on the road. They are one win shy of tying the franchise record of 11 straight wins set during the 1988-89 season.

Andre Iguodala scored a season-high 27 points for the 76ers.

Andre Miller added 22, and Lou Williams had 13 for Philadelphia. The 76ers have dropped two straight and seven of nine to fall to 9-13. Elton Brand had 10 rebounds for Philadelphia, which also has lost five consecutive home games.

A larger-than-usual crowd of 15,550, many of whom donned Cavaliers attire with James’ No. 23, watched Cleveland build a 21-point advantage at 84-63 on a layup by Delonte West with four seconds left in the third quarter.

Cleveland, 17-1 in its last 18 games, began the third with an 18-3 run to take a 66-49 lead. During the spurt, the Sixers missed 12 of their 14 field goals.

The Cavaliers built an 84-65 advantage after the third quarter. When the buzzer sounded, a large number of fans booed the Sixers as they headed back to their bench.

The boos continued throughout the fourth as the Cavaliers steadily maintained a comfortable lead. But Cleveland may something to worry about after starting center Zydrunas Ilgauskas limped to the locker room with 9:39 left in the fourth with a sprained left ankle. He did not return.

Philadelphia did stage a late rally to get within 95-89 on two free throws by Miller with two minutes remaining.

Williams responded with a baseline jumper and Wallace slammed home a James miss for a commanding 99-89 lead.

The Cavaliers trailed by as many as six points early but rallied for a 48-46 lead at halftime. James and Williams shot a combined 13-of-17 in the first half.