nba roundup Tuesday’s games

Cavaliers 109, Bucks 80

MILWAUKEE

J.R. Smith scored 21 points and went 7 of 11 from 3-point range to lead the hot-shooting Cleveland Cavaliers to a victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Kevin Love added 17 points and shot 3 of 6 from behind the arc for the Cavaliers, who maintained a 3 1/2-game lead over Toronto for the best record in the Eastern Conference. Good shooting in the first half made for an easy night for Cleveland, which led by 24 by halftime. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Moving the ball quickly around the perimeter, the Cavaliers found open shooters while the Bucks played catch-up.

76ers 107, Pelicans 93

PHILADELPHIA

Carl Landry scored 22 points to lead Philadelphia to a victory over the injury-depleted New Orleans Pelicans, ensuring that the 76ers won’t tie their own league record for fewest victories in an 82-game season. Philadelphia improved to 10-68 and now is one win clear of the 1972-73 76ers, who set an NBA mark for futility with a 9-73 mark. The 76ers have four games remaining. Isaiah Canaan added 16 points for the 76ers, who snapped a 12-game losing streak while winning for just the second time in the last 27 contests.

Raptors 96, Hornets 90

TORONTO

DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points, Kyle Lowry had 12 of his 21 in the fourth quarter and the Toronto Raptors beat Charlotte, handing the Hornets back-to-back losses for the first time in more than two months. Jonas Valanciunas had 12 points and 12 rebounds and Corey Joseph added 11 points, including two key free throws in the closing seconds, as the Raptors won for the third time in four games. Charlotte, which lost at Cleveland on Sunday, had not lost consecutive games since defeats at Utah and Portland on Jan. 27 and 29.

Grizzlies 108, Bulls 92

MEMPHIS, TENN.

Zach Randolph had 27 points and 10 rebounds, Vince Carter added 17 points and the Memphis Grizzlies snapped a six-game losing streak with a victory over the Chicago Bulls. Memphis used a strong defense missing in recent games to turn back the Bulls, who had won three of four. Chicago never got the deficit under double digits in the fourth quarter of a loss that damaged its playoff hopes. Matt Barnes scored 16 points for Memphis, and Jordan Farmar had 15.

Hwaks 103, Suns 90

ATLANTA

Jeff Teague scored 20 points, Kent Bazemore added 17 and the Atlanta Hawks rallied from 13 down in the third quarter to beat the Phoenix Suns. Atlanta avoided its first three-game losing streak since Feb. 19-22 and moved one-half game ahead of idle Boston for third place in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks began the night with a one-half game lead in the Southeast Division with Miami and Charlotte.

Heat 107, Pistons 89

MIAMI

Goran Dragic scored 22 points to lead six Miami players in double figures, Dwyane Wade added 16 and the Heat beat the Detroit Pistons. Josh Richardson also had 16 for Miami (45-32), which remained in fifth place in the airtight Eastern Conference playoff race. No. 3 Atlanta (46-32) beat Phoenix on Tuesday, No. 4 Boston (45-32) was idle but holds the tiebreaker over the Heat and No. 6 Charlotte (44-33) lost in Toronto to fall a game behind Miami.

Associated Press