DALLAS – Even without his trademark headband, LeBron James had 27 points and took over sole possession of the Cavaliers’ career assists record as Cleveland beat the Dallas Mavericks, 127-94, on Tuesday night.
James was one of four players with more than 20 points for the Central Division-leading Cavaliers, who have won 12 of their last 13 games against Western Conference opponents and broke a 14-game losing streak in Texas.
Kyrie Irving scored 22 points, while Kevin Love had 21 points and 14 rebounds. J.R. Smith also scored 21 points and Timofey Mozgov, the other starter, had 17.
Chandler Parsons led Dallas with 18 points, while Monta Ellis had 17 and Amare Stoudemire 15. Dirk Nowitzki scored 13 points on only 3-of-10 shooting.
James first took off his headband in the second quarter of Cleveland’s home game Saturday and never put it back on against Phoenix, saying afterward, “It just happened.”
While James never slipped on a headband against the Mavericks, No. 23 was still easily recognized by how he played. He finished 10-of-14 shooting with seven rebounds and eight assists.
Dallas started the second quarter with a 31-26 lead, but James hit consecutive 3-pointers and then took the Cavs’ assist record all to himself with a pass to James Jones for another 3-pointer that made it 35-all less than 2 minutes into the quarter.
That was James’ first assist of the game and his 4,207th in a Cleveland uniform, breaking a tie with Mark Price for the franchise record.
The trio of 3s started a 41-point second quarter for Cleveland, which led for good after Iman Shumpert had a steal and passed ahead to James for a fast-break layup that made it 39-38. The Cavs led 67-53 by halftime.
Back in Cleveland after four seasons with the Miami Heat, James was already the Cavaliers’ career leader for points, field goals made and attempted, 3-pointers made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, steals and minutes played. He played his first seven NBA seasons with the Cavs.
In Los Angeles, Jordan Hill led seven Lakers in double figures with 16 points, and Los Angeles beat the Detroit Pistons, 93-85, to snap a five-game losing streak.
The injury-riddled Lakers (17-46) beat the Pistons for the 11th time in the last 12 meetings behind 46 points in the paint and a 46-41 rebounding edge, but were officially eliminated from playoff contention before their game ended when New Orleans beat Brooklyn.
Greg Monroe had 24 points and nine rebounds for the Pistons, but missed a pair of critical free throws with 1:09 remaining and Detroit trailing by three. Andre Drummond had 21 rebounds along with 14 points, but couldn’t prevent Detroit’s seventh straight loss.
The Pistons trailed by as many as nine before slicing the deficit to 78-74 with a fast-break dunk by Monroe and a 3-pointer by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 5:55 remaining. They got as close as 85-82 on a fast-break layup by former Laker Jodie Meeks with 1:42 left. But Hill helped put it away with a 20-footer in the final minute and Jeremy Lin added four free throws.
Caldwell-Pope hit a 3-pointer with 5.3 seconds left in the half to give the Pistons a 50-49 lead at intermission. But they missed their first eight shots of the third as the Lakers went on an 8-0 run that Detroit’s Tayshaun Prince ended on a driving layup with 5:43 left in the quarter.
In other results, Indiana clobbered Orlando, 118-86; New Orleans beat Brooklyn 111-91; San Antonio subdued Toronto, 117-107; and Utah held off New York, 87-82.