LeBron scores 33, but Suns top Cavs

Associated Press

PHOENIX

LeBron James scored 33 points in his return from a two-week layoff but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Cleveland Cavaliers from going down to their sixth straight loss, 107-100 to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night.

Markieff Morris scored a career-high 35 points on 15-of-21 shooting for the Suns, who outscored the Cavs 11-3 over the last 3:31.

The Cavaliers rallied from a 19-point, third-quarter deficit to go ahead in the fourth, the first of eight lead changes down the stretch.

J.R. Smith, who joined the Cavaliers during James’ absence, scored 29, going 8 of 14 on 3-pointers.

James, who took the time off to rest his sore left foot and lower back, made 11 of 18 shots.

The Cavaliers were 1-7 in James’ absence and have lost nine of 10 overall to fall below .500 at 19-20.

Kyrie Irving, who averages 21 points, scored nine of 4-of-14 shooting.

Cleveland was down 80-61 with 3:26 to play in the third quarter, then finished the period with an 18-5 run.

In the final seconds of the quarter, James made a thunderous dunk, then Smith stole the ball in backcourt and sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Suns’ lead to 85-79 entering the fourth.

The Cavaliers took their first lead since the opening minutes when Tristan Thompson dunked off a pass from James to make it 90-88 with 7:31 to play.