In brief: Lakers, fans lose cool in loss to Cavs

NBA: The yellow foam hands came flying in from every corner of the lower bowl, sailing onto the court in dozens of frisbee-style arches late in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ dominant victory.

LeBron James was more worried than amused by this unusual display of frustration from the Los Angeles Lakers’ fans – and he got a bit more concerned when at least one water bottle followed the foam.

Despite that bit of surreality in response to the officiating of a physical game, the Cavaliers were hands-down better than the defending NBA champions in a 102-87 victory on Friday night.

“The only thing that you hope doesn’t happen is one of the players getting hit or a referee getting hit, especially by a full water bottle,” James said. The fans were driven to throw up their hands – not the usual foam No. 1 fingers, but a representation of two puppet hands making the “LA” symbol in a tie-in to Nike’s LeBron-and-Kobe Bryant marketing campaign – by Lamar Odom’s ejection with 4:04 to play. After Bryant received the Lakers’ fifth T with 3:45 left, more hands took flight – along with that water bottle.

Mo Williams scored 28 points and James added 26, while Shaquille O’Neal had five dunks among his 11 points in his latest Los Angeles return. The Cavaliers dominated the Lakers with sharp shooting and physical defense, prompting several technical fouls and retaliation hits.

Bryant scored 35 points for the Lakers, who had won 16 of 17 before Cleveland’s decisive victory behind Williams, James and the Cavs’ impressive interior play.

Cleveland, which never trailed in the final 41 minutes, streaked to a 20-point lead in the second quarter during a run that included little help from James, sitting out while Williams sparked the Cavs. James had just two points and four assists in the quarter, which he ended with a half-court shot just after the buzzer.

•Roy’s 41 too much for Nuggets: Brandon Roy had 41 points while wearing a thin brace to protect his sore left shoulder and Steve Blake added a season-high 17 to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 107-96 win over the Denver Nuggets at Portland.

Roy, who missed Wednesday’s win at San Antonio, had 25 points in the first half and made a career-high 16 field goals for Portland, which has won four straight and six of seven despite a spate of injuries. Blake hit five 3-pointers, including three in the final 4:05 as the Blazers pulled away.

Andre Miller had 14 points and eight rebounds and LaMarcus Aldridge added 10 points and 13 rebounds for Portland.

Carmelo Anthony had 32 points and nine rebounds for the Northwest Division-leading Nuggets.

•Wade leads Heat past Knicks: Dwyane Wade had 30 points and nine rebounds, and the Miami Heat spoiled New York’s return to Christmas competition, snapping the Knicks’ three-game winning streak with a 93-87 victory at New York.

Michael Beasley added 13 of his 19 points after halftime for the Heat, who opened a comfortable lead by limiting New York to 31 points across the middle two quarters. Then Miami held on after the Knicks finally got on track in the final minutes. Jermaine O’Neal finished with 11 points and eight boards, making a jumper with 51 seconds left after Miami’s lead had been sliced to three points.

Danilo Gallinari scored 26 points and David Lee had 19 points and 16 rebounds for the Knicks, who had a six-game home winning streak snapped. They were playing in their NBA-leading 45th Christmas game, but first since beating Toronto in 2001.

•Rondo’s near triple-double lifts Celtics: Rajon Rondo had 17 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, and the Boston Celtics bullied the Orlando Magic with strong defense in an 86-77 victory at Orlando, Fla.

Ray Allen added 18 points and Tony Allen scored 16 in place of the injured Paul Pierce for the Celtics, who rolled to their 14th win in the last 15 games.

The only big blow for the Celtics came in the final minutes when Kevin Garnett jumped to block a shot by Vince Carter only to land awkwardly and go tumbling to the ground. He hobbled back to the bench holding his back and didn’t return.

Vince Carter finished with 27 points, and Rashard Lewis had 19 points for the Magic. Orlando had no answer to Boston’s relentless pressure, which held Dwight Howard to five points and Orlando to a season low in points.

•Seven Suns reach double figures in rout of Clippers: Amare Stoudemire led seven Phoenix players in double figures with 26 points and the Suns beat the Los Angeles Clippers for the sixth straight time in a 124-93 rout at Phoenix.

Jared Dudley and J.R. Richardson each added 18 for the Suns in their most lopsided victory this season. Dudley, scoreless in Phoenix’s home loss to Oklahoma City on Wednesday night, made 4 of 5 3-pointers.

The Suns shot 54 percent, including 12 of 24 3s. They entered the game losers of two in a row, both at US Airways Center, after starting the season 10-0 at home.

Rasual Butler scored 22 and Chris Kaman had 19 for the Clippers, winners of two of their previous three games.