LeBron James, Love lead Cavaliers over Celtics

LeBron James scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds while Kevin Love added 20 points and eight rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers romped to a 89-77 NBA win at Boston.

Russian centre Timofey Mozgov added nine points and 10 rebounds while Iman Shumpert came off the bench to score 10 points before suffering a groin injury as the Cavaliers won their third game in a row and improved the best record in the Eastern Conference to 16-7.

Avery Bradley scored 17 points to top the Celtics, who led 46-40 at halftime but shot only 26 per cent in the second half when they managed only 31 points in a physical contest.

"It's fun to have that type of competition," James said.

"We had to take the fight to them and we were ready for it. We love physical games. We can play any type of game. We knew it was going to be physical and we answered the call."

The Celtics, who slid to seventh in the East at 14-11, fell behind during a 12-0 Cavaliers run in the third quarter that included a spectacular reverse slam dunk by James and smothering defensive work.

With Kyrie Irving on the verge of returning from an injury that has kept him out since June's NBA Finals, the Cavaliers could be on the brink of finding their top form and surging ahead of a close pack of rivals.

Australia's Matthew Dellavedova, who had a quiet night on Tuesday with two points on 1-of-6 shooting and four assists, is likely to make way for Irving in the starting five.

"We just want to continue to get better no matter who is in the line-up," James said.

"We have to continue to push our game, to push our envelope and if we continue to do that we will be successful."

At Minneapolis, Kenneth Faried had 19 points and 10 rebounds while reserve guard Randy Foye added 19 points off the bench as the Denver Nuggets defeated Minnesota 112-100.

The Nuggets (11-14) have won five of their past six games after suffering an eight-game losing streak.

At Sacramento, DeMarcus Cousins had 26 points and 12 rebounds to power the host Kings over Houston 107-97.

Israeli Omri Casspi added 19 points while Rudy Gay had 17 points and 13 rebounds for Sacramento, which improved to 10-15. James Harden had a game-high 33 points in a losing cause.

4:38 PM