Thunder strike from long range to halt Cavs' seven-game win streak

The Oklahoma City Thunder drilled 21 three-pointers in a 121-113 victory over Cleveland on Sunday that halted the Cavaliers’ seven-game NBA winning streak.

Isaiah Joe scored 22 points and Cason Wallace added 20 points and 10 assists for the short-handed Thunder, who improved their Western Conference-leading record to 44-14 despite the absence of injured starters Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams as well as Ajay Mitchell and Alex Caruso.

“It’s a lot of fun just getting the ball rolling,” said Wallace, who had just one turnover and excelled in a tough assignment of guarding James Harden.

“Early game, so we tried to get our legs into it right from the jump. I feel like we came out and we had a little bit of momentum early in the game,” added Wallace after a contest in which the Thunder scored the first nine points and led by as many as 23 in the first quarter.

The teams traded the lead in the third, but Oklahoma City took the lead into the fourth and did not relinquish it.

Seven Thunder players scored in double figures, with center Chet Holmgren contributing a 17-point, 15-rebound double-double.

Harden and Donovan Mitchell scored 20 points apiece for Cleveland.

In San Francisco, Golden State’s Brandin Podziemski scored 15 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Warriors beat the Denver Nuggets 128-117.

Podziemski added 15 rebounds and nine assists, helping the Warriors withstand Denver star Nikola Jokic’s 19th triple-double of the season.

Jokic scored 35 points with 20 rebounds and 12 assists and Jamal Murray added 21 for the Nuggets, who were coming off a 54-point win over Portland but never led in the first half.

They asserted themselves after the break against a Golden State team missing not only injured Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler but also ailing Kristaps Porzingis and Draymond Green — ruled out late with lower back trouble.

Denver were up by five midway through the fourth quarter but the Warriors, with Podziemski leading the way, surged home on a 17-8 scoring run.

“He was brilliant, and we needed it,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Podziemski, whose efforts backed up a 23-point performance from teammate Moses Moody.

Celtics top Lakers 

Boston star Jaylen Brown’s 32 points, eight rebounds and seven assists propelled the Celtics to a 111-89 victory over the Lakers in Los Angeles.

The latest game in the historic rivalry turned into a rout, the Lakers pulling their starters after Payton Pritchard drilled a step-back three-pointer to push the Celtics’ lead to 22 points with 3:24 remaining.

Pritchard scored 30 points off the bench, making six of the Celtics’ 14 three-pointers as Boston, second in the Eastern Conference, notched their ninth win in 11 games.

Luka Doncic scored 25 points and LeBron James added 20 for the Lakers, who were held to their second-lowest point total of the season.

Even in defeat, superstar James hit another NBA milestone. The league’s scoring leader, playing in his 1,600th regular-season game, surpassed 43,000 career points.

Elsewhere, the Dallas Mavericks halted their 10-game losing streak with a 134-130 victory over the Indiana Pacers. Khris Middleton scored 25 points, P.J. Washington added 23 and six Mavs players scored in double figures.

The Toronto Raptors, fueled by 32 points from Immanuel Quickley, beat Milwaukee 122-94 to end the Bucks’ three-game winning streak.

Kevin Porter Jr. and Ryan Rollins scored 21 points each for Milwaukee, who were again without star Giannis Antetokounmpo because of a calf strain.