By ASSOCIATED PRESS
CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 28 points, Darius Garland added 24 and the Cleveland Cavaliers improved to 13-1 at home with a 126-114 victory Thursday night, Dec. 5, over the Denver Nuggets, who wasted a triple-double by Nikola Jokic.
The Cavs made a season-high 22 3-pointers and extended their streak of making at least 10 3s to a club record 28 games dating to last season.
Cleveland outscored Denver 66-18 from behind the arc.
Jokic had 27 points, 20 rebounds and 11 assists, giving him his 139th career triple-double — one more than Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. Jokic only trails Oscar Robertson (181) and teammate Russell Westbrook (200) on the career list.
Caris LeVert added 21 points off the bench, Evan Mobley scored 20 and Jarrett Allen had 15 rebounds for Cleveland, which improved to 5-0 against Western Conference teams.
Michael Porter Jr. scored 24 and Jamal Murray 19 for the Nuggets.
Meanwhile in New Orleans, Brandon Ingram scored 29 points in his return from a five-game absence, Herb Jones capped off his first game back from a shoulder injury by blocking Devin Booker’s last-second shot, and the Pelicans snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 126-124 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
CJ McCollum scored 25 points, but missed a free throw with 3 seconds left, allowing the Suns a final shot for the win or tie. When Booker, who had 28 points, received an inbound pass at the 3-point line, he rose for a shot and had the ball swatted away by Jones, who hadn’t played in 18 games.
Jones had one of this four steals with 2:02 left and made a left corner 3 about 13 seconds later to give New Orleans a 121-117 lead. He finished with 12 points.
Trey Murphy scored 19 points, Dejounte Murray scored 17 and rookie center Yves Missi had 12 rebounds for the Pelicans,
Bradley Beal scored 24 points for Phoenix.
In Memphis, Marcus Smart scored 18 points — the last two on clinching free throws with 2.9 seconds left — and the Grizzlies beat the Sacramento Kings, 115-110.
Desmond Bane also had 18 points along with seven assists. Jaren Jackson Jr. and Santi Aldama scored 15 points each, with Aldama grabbing 10 rebounds as Memphis won its seventh straight at home.
DeMar DeRozan led the Kings with 26 points. Malik Monk had 23 points, De’Aaron Fox added 18 and Domantas Sabonis had 17 points and 13 rebounds. They have lost seven of nine.
In Toronto, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points, Jalen Williams had 20 and the Oklahoma City Thunder routed the Raptors, 129-92, for their sixth win in seven games.
Isaiah Joe scored 16 points and Isaiah Hartenstein had 16 rebounds as the Western Conference-leading Thunder improved to 8-3 on the road.
The Thunder had nine blocks and nine steals in the first half and finished with 11 blocks and 14 steals.
In San Antonio, Nikola Vucevic had a season-high 39 points, Ayo Dosunmu had 27 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds and the Chicago Bulls beat the Spurs, 139-124, with Victor Wembanyama sidelined with a back injury.
Dosunmu had season highs in points, assists and rebounds in collecting the first triple-double of his four-year career.
Keldon Johnson had a season-high 28 points and Devin Vassell added 17 points for San Antonio, which lost for the third time in its last four games.
