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WITH LeBron James grabbing a rare night off to rest, the Cleveland Cavaliers proved no match for the Washington Wizards, losing 113-99 in an NBA matchup.
Washington guard John Wall had 21 points and 13 assists while Otto Porter added 21 points and Bradley Beal had 17 for the hosts.
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said that after James scored 25 points in 40 minutes in a Friday win over Toronto, he wanted to give him a break after playing 56 of the team’s prior 57 contests this season.
“We have three games in four nights,” Lue said. “I just felt today was a good game to give him some rest.”
James leads the Cavaliers with 24.7 points and 35 minutes a game.
The Eastern Conference-leading Cavaliers fell to 41-17 while the Wizards improved to 28-30.
The Wizards led after each quarter and by as many as 30 points in the second half on the way to inflicting Cleveland’s third loss in four games.
Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers with 28 points. Kevin Love added 12 points, but didn’t score in the second half.
“Our top leader [wasn’t] playing tonight. It’s another opportunity for guys to step in and relish that opportunity,” Irving said. “But our intensity level just wasn’t there.”
The Cavaliers fell to 0-2 this season without James and 3-12 when he sits since the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player returned to Cleveland before the 2014-15 season.
Lue benched his starters in the third quarter, including guard J.R. Smith.
“We can’t play basketball like this going down the stretch,” said Smith. “After losing a game to the number two team in the East and then you come out and get trashed, make it look good at the end. We can’t do that.
“If we’re serious about who we’re supposed to be, we can’t do this.”
Center Al Horford had his 200th career double-double and the Atlanta Hawks took advantage of the Charlotte Hornet’s early shooting troubles for an 87-76 win.
Horford tallied 16 rebounds to go with 13 points and the Hawks won the season series against Charlotte.
(SD-Agencies)
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