A pair of unlikely guards helped spark the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder to a 121-113 home victory over Cleveland on Sunday, snapping the Cavaliers’ seven-game winning streak.

Isaia Joe had a season high-tying 22 points and a career-best five steals and Cason Wallace finished with 20 points and 10 assists for his first career double-double as the NBA-best Thunder improved to 2-3 without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdominal strain) and Jalen Williams (strained right hamstring). Joe entered the game averaging 10.5 points with Wallace at 8.1 points per game.

Oklahoma City (44-14) got off to a blazing start, scoring the game’s first nine points en route to building a 28-5 lead in the opening eight minutes. The Thunder made 8 of 12 shots from 3-point range in the first quarter and finished the game 21 of 41 from beyond the arc.

The Cavaliers (36-22) fought back, cutting the deficit to nine points at half-time and took their first lead on Jarrett Allen’s dunk just over three minutes into the third quarter.

Two minutes later, however, Joe made a pair of free throws and on Cleveland’s next possession, Wallace stole the ball from Allen and finished with a dunk and Oklahoma City never trailed again.

Isaiah Hartenstein also helped the Thunder pull away, scoring 11 of his 13 points after the Cavs took their only lead, while Chet Holmgren added 17 points and a season-high-tying 15 rebounds.

James Harden, Donovan Mitchell and Sam Merrill each scored 20 for Cleveland, which lost for the first time in six games with Harden in the lineup.

 

Short-handed Warriors run by Nuggets in 4th

Brandin Podziemski scored 15 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, leading the Golden State Warriors to a 128-117 comeback win over the Denver Nuggets, despite another impressive box score from Nikola Jokić.

In a game of large swings, the Warriors saw a 14-point lead disappear before the Nuggets led by eight just before the end of the third quarter.

Golden State won the fourth quarter 33-16, however, shooting 13 of 19 from the field and making six 3-pointers.

The Warriors earned the win despite continuing to play with their star players, as Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green and Kristaps Porziņģis were all sidelined.

Sunday’s win was a welcome change of pace for the Warriors (30-27), who had last eight of their previous 12 games.

Podziemski added 15 rebounds and nine assists in his 36 minutes off the bench, while Moses Moody scored a team-high 23 points.

Jokić totalled 35 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists for his league-leading 20th triple-double of the season but also had five turnovers as the Nuggets (36-22) dropped to 3-6 in their last nine games.

 

Celtics spoil James’ milestone

LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to score 43,000 career points, but the achievement was bittersweet as the Boston Celtics routed the Los Angeles Lakers 111-89.

The league’s all-time leading scorer, who finished with 20 points, scored his 43,000th point midway through the third quarter with a layup as he continued his unprecedented 23rd NBA season.

Jaylen Brown had 32 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Payton Pritchard added 30 points off the bench as the Celtics swept the season series between the NBA’s two most storied franchises.

The Lakers, who shot 39.1% from the field, stayed in the game largely due to 20 points off 14 Boston turnovers but struggled in the half-court offence.

Luka Doncic scored a team-high 25 points for the Lakers, but Los Angeles was outscored by 21 points in his 32 minutes.

The win for the Celtics (37-19) was their third in a row and their eighth in the last nine games.

The Lakers (34-22) fell to 2-17 this season when scoring fewer than 110 points.