CLEVELAND, 6 December 2004 — Drew Gooden scored 27 points and LeBron James had 27, his final field goal coming on a monstrous dunk that sent the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 105-97 win yesterday over the feuding Toronto Raptors, who didn’t have Vince Carter.
“That took the life out of them,” Gooden said. “I knew he was going to dunk it. What did you think he was going to do?”
Gooden added 15 rebounds and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who made their final four shots and their last six free throws in the final three minutes to put the Raptors away.
It’s still early in the season, but James likes his team’s lofty status.
“I’d rather be in first than last,” said James, who added 10 assists and six rebounds. “It’s good to get off to such a good start.”
The Raptors played without Carter, who came down with food poisoning shortly after the club arrived from Boston. Carter stayed back at the hotel while his teammates tried to regroup one night after coach Sam Mitchell benched Rafer Alston and Loren Woods during the second half in Boston for picking up costly technical fouls.
Mitchell kept the pair on the bench for the start, using Milt Palacio and Jerome Moiso instead. Alston led the Raptors with 20 points and 10 assists but had six turnovers.€
Nets 109, Hawks 88
In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Eric Williams scored 21 points as New Jersey shot a season-high 54.4 percent, sending Atlanta to its ninth straight loss.
Richard Jefferson rebounded from his worst game of the season — seven points and no field goals against Washington — with 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Rodney Buford, who has struggled with his shooting all season, added a season-high 18 points as New Jersey won for just the fourth time in 16 games.
Al Harrington had 17 points and Antoine Walker 15 for Atlanta.
Bobcats 107, Knicks 101€
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Steve Smith scored 20 points and hit two clutch shots in the final three minutes as Charlotte overcame a 41-point performance from Jamal Crawford to beat New York.
Smith hit a contested 3-pointer from the right wing with 2:29 left to break a tie, then drained a fallaway jumper with 1:52 left to put the Bobcats ahead 101-97.
Emeka Okafor added 20 points and 18 rebounds _ his sixth straight double-double _ while Brevin Knight had 18 assists and hit two clinching free throws with 38.8 seconds left. Crawford shot 17-of-25 but managed just four points in the final quarter and missed his last five shots. He also had a turnover with 44 seconds left and the Knicks trailing by four.€
Magic 96, Grizzlies 91€
In Orlando, Florida, Grant Hill had 23 points and seven assists, and Orlando Magic took advantage of Memphis’ sloppiness.
Hedo Turkoglu and Steve Francis each scored 16 points, with Francis adding eight assists, five rebounds and five steals. He also had seven of the Magic’s 17 turnovers. Dwight Howard blocked four shots to go with his nine points and six rebounds.
Orlando, by winning for the fifth time in six games, put itself six games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2001-02 season.
Pistons 92, Hornets 69
In New Orleans, Ben Wallace made nine of his first 10 shots and finished with 22 points to lead Detroit to an easy victory against New Orleans, which is yet to win at home in eight tries.
Wallace had 11 first-quarter points, including a pair of alley-oop dunks, as Detroit took an early double-digit lead and never looked back. Richard Hamilton scored 21 for Detroit, which shot 54.4 percent, while Tayshaun Prince added 14. Wallace also had two blocked shots and two steals, while Rasheed Wallace grabbed 10 rebounds.
Lee Nailon led New Orleans with 18 points, 14 in the first quarter.€
Wizards 95, Bulls 88
In Washington, Gilbert Arenas scored a season-high 34 points, and Larry Hughes padded his NBA lead with seven of his team’s 17 steals as Washington beat Chicago.
The Bulls led most of the game despite committing a season-high 29 turnovers. The Wizards shot just 35 percent and were outrebounded 50-35, but they closed the game with a 18-9 run for their fourth straight win and seventh in eight games.
The Wizards, who have epitomized losing for more than a decade, improved to 10-5, their best 15-game record since the 1974-75 team that started 11-4 and won a franchise record 60 games.
Tyson Chandler had 15 points and a season-high 21 rebounds for the Bulls, who fell to 2-12.€
Spurs 104, Bucks 83
In Milwaukee, Tim Duncan’s 20 points led San Antonio over Milwaukee to improve the Spurs’ record to 15-3 for the best start in franchise history.
The Spurs also got 13 points apiece from Tony Parker, Beno Udrih and Devin Brown and 12 from Manu Ginobili in winning their NBA-best seventh straight game.
The Spurs, coming off a last-second win over Detroit at home the night before and playing their fourth game in five nights, looked tired and slow _ but still more energetic and quicker than the Bucks, who lost for the ninth time in 10 games despite the return of Joe Smith from a three-game absence.
Smith scored 10 points in 23 minutes. Desmond Mason led Milwaukee with 18 points and Michael Redd had 15.€
Mavericks 109, Jazz 86
In Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki followed up his 53-point outburst with 30 points and seven rebounds as Dallas downed Utah.
Nowitzki wasn’t quite as sharp as he was two nights earlier in setting a franchise scoring record against Houston, but his 10-for-19 field goal shooting and 8-for-8 performance from the free throw line were good enough to send the Mavericks to their fourth victory in five games.
Jason Terry scored a season-high 19 points and added nine assists, and Jerry Stackhouse added 18 points for Dallas. Josh Howard contributed 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Matt Harpring’s 22 points paced the Jazz, who’ve lost four straight and five of six.€
Rockets 77, 76ers 76
In Houston, Tracy McGrady had 17 points, including the winning basket with 25 seconds to play, as Houston edged Philadelphia to end a five-game losing streak.
Marc Jackson, who scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, hit two free throws with 37 seconds left to put Philadelphia ahead 76-75. McGrady then hit a 20-foot jumper from above the left of the key to give Houston the final lead.
Jackson missed two shots, and Kyle Korver and Aaron McKie each missed one in the final nine seconds, including McKie’s 10-foot jumper at the buzzer.
It was Jeff Van Gundy’s 300th career coaching victory and came in his 100th game with the Rockets.€
