LeBron James was in street clothes. Shaquille O’Neal was nowhere to be found, and Antawn Jamison was in the locker room icing his sore knee.
If they had lost, the Cleveland Cavaliers had plenty of excuses. They didn’t have to use one.
Mo Williams made two free throws with 9 seconds left and Delonte West made the kind of plays down the stretch reserved for James as the Cavs won for the first time in three seasons without their superstar, beating the San Antonio Spurs 97-95 Monday night.
Cleveland had been 0-9 since 2007-08 without James.
“We had a great opportunity. Not many teams can come here and win,” said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who scored a season-high 38. “LeBron wasn’t playing, Jamison didn’t play the second half and Shaq wasn’t there. We blew a big one.”
KNICKS 99, HAWKS 98: Host New York beat Atlanta for the third time this season, after video replay showed Al Horford’s basket came after the buzzer.
GRIZZLIES 107, NETS 101: Mike Conley and Rudy Gay had 21 points each, and Marc Gasol added 19 points and 13 rebounds as Memphis snapped an eight-game home losing streak.
HORNETS 135, WARRIORS 131: Darren Collison had 16 points and a career-high 20 assists, and host New Orleans Hornets snapped a four-game losing streak.
MAVERICKS 125, TIMBERWOLVES 112: In Minneapolis, Shawn Marion had 29 points as Dallas stretched the league’s longest active winning streak to 12.
