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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: LeBron James scores 31 as Cavs rally past Jazz

From staff and wire reports

LeBron James tied a season high with 31 points including 17 in the fourth quarter to rally Cleveland to a 118-114 victory over visiting Utah. Cleveland trailed 95-86 midway through the fourth when James took over starting the Cavs on a 10-0 run to take the lead. Mo Williams added 29 for the Cavs while Alec Burks had 24 for Utah and Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors each added 17.

Heat turn back Lakers

Chris Bosh scored a season-high 30 points with 11 rebounds, Hassan Whiteside had 19 points and 15 rebounds and the Heat pulled away in the second half to beat the Lakers 101-88 in Miami. Luol Deng added 14 points and Dwyane Wade 12 for Miami. Nick Young scored 17 and Lou Williams and Meta World Peace each added 14 while Kobe Bryant sat the game out with a back problem.

Celtics roll past Bucks

Isaiah Thomas scored 20 points to lead visiting Boston to a 99-83 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. David Lee and Evan Turner each added 13 points and Jared Sullinger finished with 11 pointa and 10 boards for the Celtics. Greg Monroe had 17 points and 14 rebounds in a losing cause and Giannis Antenokounmpo scored 16 for the Bucks.

Pelicans get first victory

Anthony Davis scored 17 points before leaving at halftime with a bruised right hip and New Orleans beat the visiting Dallas Mavericks 120-105 for its first win of the season. Davis helped the Pelicans build an 18-point halftime lead that never fell below 14 even after he left the game. Ryan Anderson finished with 25 points, Ish Smith had 17 points and 12 assists for his first career double-double and Eric Gordon added 17. Dirk Nowitzki finished with 18 points for Dallas.

Gerald Green will return to Heat

Gerald Green will return to the Miami Heat, but only after the shooting guard serves a two-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team.

The specifics of that conduct, however, remain a mystery.

Green was briefly hospitalized last week for still-undisclosed reasons and has not been with the team since.

Green was suspended for Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers and will also miss Thursday’s game against the Utah Jazz. The next game Green would be eligible to play in is Nov. 17 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Miami trades Mario Chalmers to Memphis

Mario Chalmers and James Ennis were traded from Miami to the Memphis Grizzlies, in exchange for Beno Udrih and Jarnell Stokes in a move that gets the Heat closer to avoiding luxury-tax penalties.

Chalmers was averaging 5.5 points on 31-percent shooting this season for the Heat, and Ennis had been scoreless in seven minutes of action. Udrih averaged 5.9 points in eight games with the Grizzlies, and Stokes was scoreless in four minutes off the bench.

Chalmers started at point guard on Miami’s championship teams in 2012 and 2013. He is in his eighth NBA season, only with the Heat, and remains known for the overtime-forcing jumper that lifted Kansas past Memphis for the 2008 NCAA title.

Kevin Durant strains hamstring

Kevin Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder’s game at the Washington Wizards at halftime with a strained left hamstring.

After getting fouled by Kris Humphries on a drive to the basket with 54.2 seconds left in the second quarter, Durant limped a bit and grabbed at the back of his left leg.

Durant made both free throws and stayed in the game for the rest of the half.

He had 14 points and 10 rebounds at halftime, playing 17 minutes.

Durant, who entered the night second in the NBA in scoring average, can become a free agent after this season, and the Wizards are among many teams expected to try to sign him. He was born in Washington and went to high school in nearby Rockville, Maryland.

He is a six-time All-Star and was the NBA MVP in the 2013-14 season.

UConn’s Stewart preseason choice

Breanna Stewart is now part of an elite group – just the fourth player to be chosen as a unanimous preseason Associated Press All-American twice.

The UConn star senior joined Maya Moore of Connecticut, Alana Beard of Duke and Brittney Griner of Baylor.

“That’s great company to be in,” Stewart said. “To be named with those players is humbling since they’ve had so much success.”

Stewart has already accomplished more than those three in college, winning national championships in her first three years. She’ll try for an unprecedented fourth title this season.

Accompanying Stewart on the preseason All-America team were teammate Moriah Jefferson, South Carolina’s Tiffany Mitchell, Baylor’s Nina Davis and Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell. The five players were chosen by a 32-member national media panel.

New York nixes fantasy sports sites

New York’s attorney general ordered the daily fantasy sports companies DraftKings and FanDuel to stop accepting bets in the state, saying their operations amount to illegal gambling.

In a pair of letters sent to the companies, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said that after a one-month investigation, his office had concluded that the daily contests are essentially games of chance, not skill.

He drew a sharp distinction between the operations of daily fantasy sports sites and traditional fantasy leagues, which he said were legal partly because they relied on months of smart play over the course of several months. DraftKings and FanDuel contests, he wrote, are about “instant gratification” and involve no long-term strategy.

Schneiderman also said advertisements by the two companies, including one from Draft Kings promoting the site as “the simplest way of winning life-changing piles of cash,” misled players about their chances of winning. The top 1 percent of players, he wrote, take home most of the prizes.

“Daily fantasy sports is neither victimless nor harmless, and it is clear that DraftKings and FanDuel are the leaders of a massive, multibillion-dollar scheme intended to evade the law and fleece sports fans across the country,” Schneiderman said.

Both companies insisted that their games are legal and based on skill and said they were reviewing their legal options.

Schneiderman’s actions could serve as a warning for other companies with similar operations. Fantasy sports has been a popular U.S. pastime for years, but daily contests have exploded in popularity recently.