Amir Johnson (left) of the Boston Celtics defends LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers during their NBA game in Boston, Massachusetts, on Tuesday. (AFP)

DPA/Los Angeles


The Cleveland Cavaliers picked up their defensive intensity in the second half and shut down the Boston Celtics.
LeBron James scored 24 points, Kevin Love added 20, and the visiting Cavs pulled away to beat the Celtics 89-77 on Tuesday for their third straight win.
The Celtics average 104 points per game but were held to a season-low, including just 31 in the final two quarters, on a frosty 32 per cent shooting overall.  
“That’s one of our staples we stress every single day, defend at a high level and try to move the ball offensively,” James said.
“They had 46 points at halftime but in the second half, we locked down and started moving the ball and kept them off base.”
Cleveland (16-7) trailed 50-45 three minutes into the third quarter before taking charge.
Love and JR Smith each buried triples while James scored six points to spark a 12-0 run, as part of a 17-2 surge to put the Eastern Conference leaders ahead, 62-52.
The Cavs held their opponents to 5-of-22 shooting in the period and carried a 69-61 advantage into the final frame.
The gap widened to 79-66 on a pair of Iman Shumpert triples with 9:21 left but Boston wasn’t done.
After the Celtics drew to within 79-72, the Cavs went on an 8-0 run.  Love scored six points, including a 3-pointer, and James added a jumper to open up an 87-72 cushion to seal the win.    
“We made the adjustments at halftime and just locked in, in the second half,” Love said. “It allowed us to get a big win on the road.”
Avery Bradley scored 17 points and Jae Crowder added 14 for Boston (14-10) which had taken five of its last seven games but were flat for most of the game.
“Their defence was great,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens echoed. “We’ve got to challenge them better and we didn’t challenge them offensively enough. When you hold those guys to 89 points you need to score more points.”

Elsewhere
Sacramento Kings 107, Houston Rockets 97: DeMarcus Cousins collected 23 points with 12 rebounds, Rudy Gay had 17 and 13 boards, and the short-handed Kings (10-15) won their third in a row while snapping a seven-game slide against the visiting Rockets.
The Kings were without assists leader Rajon Rondo, serving a one-game league suspension without pay for directing derogatory and offensive gay slurs at veteran referee Bill Kennedy for not leaving the court in a timely manner upon his ejection in a December 3 game against Boston in Mexico City.
Kennedy revealed he was gay on Sunday, and Rajon issued an apology for his inexcusable, insensitive homophobic rants.    
James Harden poured in 33 points for Houston (12-14) which lost its second in a row despite converting 29 turnovers into as many points.    

Denver Nuggets 112, Minnesota Timberwolves 100: Randy Foye hit six triples en route to a season-high 19 points, Kenneth Faried also had 19 with 10 rebounds, and the visiting Nuggets (11-14) topped the struggling T-Wolves for their fifth win in the last six games.
Andrew Wiggins tossed in 23 points and Zach LaVine added 20 for Minnesota (9-15) losers in seven of its last eight outings.

LA Lakers 113, Milwaukee Bucks 95: Kobe Bryant scored 22 points, rookie D’Angelo Russell added career-best 19, and the West-worst Lakers (4-21) snapped a six-game skid after sending the Bucks to their 10th straight road loss.
Michael Carter-Williams netted 19 points for the Bucks (10-16), playing their first game since ending Golden State’s record 24-0 start on Saturday.